diff --git a/1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/0=ocfl_object_1.0 similarity index 100% rename from 1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/0=ocfl_object_1.0 rename to 1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/0=ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/extra_dir/README b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/extra_dir/README new file mode 100644 index 0000000..00adefd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/extra_dir/README @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +I am in an illegal extra directory in an OCFL Object root, +not allowed per https://ocfl.io/draft/spec/#object-structure \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_dir_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/extra_file b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/extra_file new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91d6428 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/extra_file @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +I am an extra file that is not allowed in an OCFL Object root +per https://ocfl.io/draft/spec/#object-structure \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_extra_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/content/my_content/dracula.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/content/my_content/dracula.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51ee313 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/content/my_content/dracula.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15973 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Dracula + +Author: Bram Stoker + +Release Date: August 16, 2013 [EBook #345] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + DRACULA + + + + + + DRACULA + + _by_ + + Bram Stoker + + [Illustration: colophon] + + NEW YORK + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + _Publishers_ + + Copyright, 1897, in the United States of America, according + to Act of Congress, by Bram Stoker + + [_All rights reserved._] + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES + AT + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + + + TO + + MY DEAR FRIEND + + HOMMY-BEG + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + Page + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 1 + +CHAPTER II + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 14 + +CHAPTER III + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 26 + +CHAPTER IV + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 38 + +CHAPTER V + +Letters--Lucy and Mina 51 + +CHAPTER VI + +Mina Murray's Journal 59 + +CHAPTER VII + +Cutting from "The Dailygraph," 8 August 71 + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mina Murray's Journal 84 + +CHAPTER IX + +Mina Murray's Journal 98 + +CHAPTER X + +Mina Murray's Journal 111 + +CHAPTER XI + +Lucy Westenra's Diary 124 + +CHAPTER XII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 136 + +CHAPTER XIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 152 + +CHAPTER XIV + +Mina Harker's Journal 167 + +CHAPTER XV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 181 + +CHAPTER XVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 194 + +CHAPTER XVII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 204 + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 216 + +CHAPTER XIX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 231 + +CHAPTER XX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 243 + +CHAPTER XXI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 256 + +CHAPTER XXII + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 269 + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 281 + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Dr. Seward's Phonograph Diary, spoken by Van Helsing 294 + +CHAPTER XXV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 308 + +CHAPTER XXVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 322 + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Mina Harker's Journal 338 + + + + +DRACULA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + +(_Kept in shorthand._) + + +_3 May. Bistritz._--Left Munich at 8:35 P. M., on 1st May, arriving at +Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an +hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I +got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the +streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived +late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The +impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the +East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is +here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish +rule. + +We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. +Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or +rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was +very good but thirsty. (_Mem._, get recipe for Mina.) I asked the +waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and that, as it was a +national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the +Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I +don't know how I should be able to get on without it. + +Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the +British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library +regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the +country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a +nobleman of that country. I find that the district he named is in the +extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, +Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian +mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe. I was +not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the +Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare +with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post +town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter +here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my +travels with Mina. + +In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: +Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the +descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the +East and North. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended +from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered +the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. I +read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the +horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of +imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (_Mem._, I +must ask the Count all about them.) + +I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had +all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my +window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been +the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was +still thirsty. Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous +knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. +I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour +which they said was "mamaliga," and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a +very excellent dish, which they call "impletata." (_Mem._, get recipe +for this also.) I had to hurry breakfast, for the train started a little +before eight, or rather it ought to have done so, for after rushing to +the station at 7:30 I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour +before we began to move. It seems to me that the further east you go the +more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China? + +All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of +beauty of every kind. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the +top of steep hills such as we see in old missals; sometimes we ran by +rivers and streams which seemed from the wide stony margin on each side +of them to be subject to great floods. It takes a lot of water, and +running strong, to sweep the outside edge of a river clear. At every +station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts +of attire. Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I +saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets and round hats +and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque. The women +looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy +about the waist. They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, +and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something +fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of course there +were petticoats under them. The strangest figures we saw were the +Slovaks, who were more barbarian than the rest, with their big cow-boy +hats, great baggy dirty-white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous +heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass +nails. They wore high boots, with their trousers tucked into them, and +had long black hair and heavy black moustaches. They are very +picturesque, but do not look prepossessing. On the stage they would be +set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands. They are, +however, I am told, very harmless and rather wanting in natural +self-assertion. + +It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a +very interesting old place. Being practically on the frontier--for the +Borgo Pass leads from it into Bukovina--it has had a very stormy +existence, and it certainly shows marks of it. Fifty years ago a series +of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate +occasions. At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent +a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war +proper being assisted by famine and disease. + +Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I +found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of +course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. I was +evidently expected, for when I got near the door I faced a +cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress--white +undergarment with long double apron, front, and back, of coloured stuff +fitting almost too tight for modesty. When I came close she bowed and +said, "The Herr Englishman?" "Yes," I said, "Jonathan Harker." She +smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirt-sleeves, +who had followed her to the door. He went, but immediately returned with +a letter:-- + + "My Friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting + you. Sleep well to-night. At three to-morrow the diligence will + start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo + Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust + that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you + will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. + +"Your friend, + +"DRACULA." + + +_4 May._--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, +directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on +making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and +pretended that he could not understand my German. This could not be +true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he +answered my questions exactly as if he did. He and his wife, the old +lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of +way. He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that +was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could +tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, +and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak +further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask +any one else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means +comforting. + +Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a +very hysterical way: + +"Must you go? Oh! young Herr, must you go?" She was in such an excited +state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and +mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all. I +was just able to follow her by asking many questions. When I told her +that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, +she asked again: + +"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. +She shook her head as she said again: + +"Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?" On +my saying that I did not understand, she went on: + +"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when +the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have +full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" +She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but +without effect. Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not +to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very +ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business +to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it. I therefore +tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked +her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go. She then rose and +dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me. I +did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been +taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it +seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a +state of mind. She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the +rosary round my neck, and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out +of the room. I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting +for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still +round my neck. Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly +traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I +am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual. If this book should +ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. Here comes the +coach! + + * * * * * + +_5 May. The Castle._--The grey of the morning has passed, and the sun is +high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or +hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are +mixed. I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, +naturally I write till sleep comes. There are many odd things to put +down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I +left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they +called "robber steak"--bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red +pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple +style of the London cat's meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which +produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not +disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else. + +When I got on the coach the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him +talking with the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every +now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting +on the bench outside the door--which they call by a name meaning +"word-bearer"--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them +pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for +there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my polyglot +dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not +cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"--Satan, "pokol"--hell, +"stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both of which mean the same +thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is +either were-wolf or vampire. (_Mem._, I must ask the Count about these +superstitions) + +When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time +swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and +pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a +fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he would not answer at +first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a +charm or guard against the evil eye. This was not very pleasant for me, +just starting for an unknown place to meet an unknown man; but every one +seemed so kind-hearted, and so sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I +could not but be touched. I shall never forget the last glimpse which I +had of the inn-yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing +themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of +rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the +centre of the yard. Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered +the whole front of the box-seat--"gotza" they call them--cracked his big +whip over his four small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on +our journey. + +I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty of the +scene as we drove along, although had I known the language, or rather +languages, which my fellow-passengers were speaking, I might not have +been able to throw them off so easily. Before us lay a green sloping +land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned +with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the +road. There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom--apple, +plum, pear, cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under +the trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out amongst these +green hills of what they call here the "Mittel Land" ran the road, +losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut out by the +straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the +hillsides like tongues of flame. The road was rugged, but still we +seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste. I could not understand then +what the haste meant, but the driver was evidently bent on losing no +time in reaching Borgo Prund. I was told that this road is in summertime +excellent, but that it had not yet been put in order after the winter +snows. In this respect it is different from the general run of roads in +the Carpathians, for it is an old tradition that they are not to be kept +in too good order. Of old the Hospadars would not repair them, lest the +Turk should think that they were preparing to bring in foreign troops, +and so hasten the war which was always really at loading point. + +Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes +of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves. Right +and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon +them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, +deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where +grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and +pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where +the snowy peaks rose grandly. Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the +mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again +the white gleam of falling water. One of my companions touched my arm as +we swept round the base of a hill and opened up the lofty, snow-covered +peak of a mountain, which seemed, as we wound on our serpentine way, to +be right before us:-- + +"Look! Isten szek!"--"God's seat!"--and he crossed himself reverently. + +As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind +us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us. This was +emphasised by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the +sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink. Here and there +we passed Cszeks and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but I noticed +that goitre was painfully prevalent. By the roadside were many crosses, +and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves. Here and there +was a peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine, who did not even +turn round as we approached, but seemed in the self-surrender of +devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the outer world. There were +many things new to me: for instance, hay-ricks in the trees, and here +and there very beautiful masses of weeping birch, their white stems +shining like silver through the delicate green of the leaves. Now and +again we passed a leiter-wagon--the ordinary peasant's cart--with its +long, snake-like vertebra, calculated to suit the inequalities of the +road. On this were sure to be seated quite a group of home-coming +peasants, the Cszeks with their white, and the Slovaks with their +coloured, sheepskins, the latter carrying lance-fashion their long +staves, with axe at end. As the evening fell it began to get very cold, +and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the +gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which +ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the +Pass, the dark firs stood out here and there against the background of +late-lying snow. Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods +that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of +greyness, which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a +peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and +grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset +threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the +Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes the +hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could +only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, +but the driver would not hear of it. "No, no," he said; "you must not +walk here; the dogs are too fierce"; and then he added, with what he +evidently meant for grim pleasantry--for he looked round to catch the +approving smile of the rest--"and you may have enough of such matters +before you go to sleep." The only stop he would make was a moment's +pause to light his lamps. + +When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the +passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as +though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses unmercifully +with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on +to further exertions. Then through the darkness I could see a sort of +patch of grey light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the +hills. The excitement of the passengers grew greater; the crazy coach +rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a +stormy sea. I had to hold on. The road grew more level, and we appeared +to fly along. Then the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each +side and to frown down upon us; we were entering on the Borgo Pass. One +by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed +upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial; these were +certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good +faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that strange mixture of +fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at +Bistritz--the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye. +Then, as we flew along, the driver leaned forward, and on each side the +passengers, craning over the edge of the coach, peered eagerly into the +darkness. It was evident that something very exciting was either +happening or expected, but though I asked each passenger, no one would +give me the slightest explanation. This state of excitement kept on for +some little time; and at last we saw before us the Pass opening out on +the eastern side. There were dark, rolling clouds overhead, and in the +air the heavy, oppressive sense of thunder. It seemed as though the +mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got +into the thunderous one. I was now myself looking out for the conveyance +which was to take me to the Count. Each moment I expected to see the +glare of lamps through the blackness; but all was dark. The only light +was the flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our +hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud. We could see now the sandy +road lying white before us, but there was on it no sign of a vehicle. +The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock +my own disappointment. I was already thinking what I had best do, when +the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something which I +could hardly hear, it was spoken so quietly and in so low a tone; I +thought it was "An hour less than the time." Then turning to me, he said +in German worse than my own:-- + +"There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He will +now come on to Bukovina, and return to-morrow or the next day; better +the next day." Whilst he was speaking the horses began to neigh and +snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up. Then, +amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a universal crossing +of themselves, a calèche, with four horses, drove up behind us, overtook +us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see from the flash of our +lamps, as the rays fell on them, that the horses were coal-black and +splendid animals. They were driven by a tall man, with a long brown +beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide his face from us. I +could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red +in the lamplight, as he turned to us. He said to the driver:-- + +"You are early to-night, my friend." The man stammered in reply:-- + +"The English Herr was in a hurry," to which the stranger replied:-- + +"That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot +deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift." As he +spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with +very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my +companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore":-- + + "Denn die Todten reiten schnell"-- + ("For the dead travel fast.") + +The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a +gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time +putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. "Give me the Herr's +luggage," said the driver; and with exceeding alacrity my bags were +handed out and put in the calèche. Then I descended from the side of the +coach, as the calèche was close alongside, the driver helping me with a +hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel; his strength must have been +prodigious. Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we +swept into the darkness of the Pass. As I looked back I saw the steam +from the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected +against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves. Then +the driver cracked his whip and called to his horses, and off they swept +on their way to Bukovina. As they sank into the darkness I felt a +strange chill, and a lonely feeling came over me; but a cloak was thrown +over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the driver said in +excellent German:-- + +"The night is chill, mein Herr, and my master the Count bade me take all +care of you. There is a flask of slivovitz (the plum brandy of the +country) underneath the seat, if you should require it." I did not take +any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the same. I felt a +little strangely, and not a little frightened. I think had there been +any alternative I should have taken it, instead of prosecuting that +unknown night journey. The carriage went at a hard pace straight along, +then we made a complete turn and went along another straight road. It +seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground +again; and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was +so. I would have liked to have asked the driver what this all meant, but +I really feared to do so, for I thought that, placed as I was, any +protest would have had no effect in case there had been an intention to +delay. By-and-by, however, as I was curious to know how time was +passing, I struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch; it was +within a few minutes of midnight. This gave me a sort of shock, for I +suppose the general superstition about midnight was increased by my +recent experiences. I waited with a sick feeling of suspense. + +Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road--a +long, agonised wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by +another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which +now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed +to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp +it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to +strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly, and they +quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from +sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each +side of us began a louder and a sharper howling--that of wolves--which +affected both the horses and myself in the same way--for I was minded to +jump from the calèche and run, whilst they reared again and plunged +madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them +from bolting. In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to +the sound, and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able +to descend and to stand before them. He petted and soothed them, and +whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse-tamers +doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became +quite manageable again, though they still trembled. The driver again +took his seat, and shaking his reins, started off at a great pace. This +time, after going to the far side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a +narrow roadway which ran sharply to the right. + +Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the +roadway till we passed as through a tunnel; and again great frowning +rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in shelter, we +could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled through the +rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. +It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall, +so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket. The +keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew +fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer +and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. I +grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, +however, was not in the least disturbed; he kept turning his head to +left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. + +Suddenly, away on our left, I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The +driver saw it at the same moment; he at once checked the horses, and, +jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness. I did not know +what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer; but while +I wondered the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a word took +his seat, and we resumed our journey. I think I must have fallen asleep +and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be repeated +endlessly, and now looking back, it is like a sort of awful nightmare. +Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the darkness +around us I could watch the driver's motions. He went rapidly to where +the blue flame arose--it must have been very faint, for it did not seem +to illumine the place around it at all--and gathering a few stones, +formed them into some device. Once there appeared a strange optical +effect: when he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, +for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. This startled me, but +as the effect was only momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me +straining through the darkness. Then for a time there were no blue +flames, and we sped onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the +wolves around us, as though they were following in a moving circle. + +At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he +had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble worse +than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause +for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether; but just +then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the +jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw +around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, +with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more +terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled. +For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man +feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand +their true import. + +All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had +some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared, and +looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see; +but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side; and they +had perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for +it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the +ring and to aid his approach. I shouted and beat the side of the +calèche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from that side, so as +to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came there, I know +not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and +looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway. As he swept his +long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves +fell back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across +the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness. + +When I could see again the driver was climbing into the calèche, and the +wolves had disappeared. This was all so strange and uncanny that a +dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time +seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost complete +darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. We kept on +ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main +always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the +driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a +vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, +and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit +sky. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +_5 May._--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully +awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In +the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark +ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than +it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight. + +When the calèche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand +to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious +strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have +crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps, and placed +them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and +studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of +massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was +massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and +weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the +reins; the horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one +of the dark openings. + +I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell +or knocker there was no sign; through these frowning walls and dark +window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The +time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon +me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? +What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a +customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to +explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor's +clerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor--for just before leaving +London I got word that my examination was successful; and I am now a +full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if +I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I +expected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with +the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and again felt +in the morning after a day of overwork. But my flesh answered the +pinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awake +and among the Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and to +wait the coming of the morning. + +Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching +behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming +light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of +massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise +of long disuse, and the great door swung back. + +Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white +moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck +of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver +lamp, in which the flame burned without chimney or globe of any kind, +throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the +open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with a courtly +gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange intonation:-- + +"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!" He made no +motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his +gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that +I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and +holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, +an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed as cold as +ice--more like the hand of a dead than a living man. Again he said:-- + +"Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the +happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so much akin to +that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that +for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was +speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:-- + +"Count Dracula?" He bowed in a courtly way as he replied:-- + +"I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in; +the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest." As he was +speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, +took my luggage; he had carried it in before I could forestall him. I +protested but he insisted:-- + +"Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not +available. Let me see to your comfort myself." He insisted on carrying +my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and +along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang +heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced +to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper, +and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, +flamed and flared. + +The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing +the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit +by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing +through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a +welcome sight; for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with +another log fire,--also added to but lately, for the top logs were +fresh--which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The Count himself +left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he closed the +door:-- + +"You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your +toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come +into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared." + +The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have +dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal state, +I discovered that I was half famished with hunger; so making a hasty +toilet, I went into the other room. + +I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of the +great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of +his hand to the table, and said:-- + +"I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse +me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup." + +I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me. +He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile, he handed +it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of +pleasure. + +"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant +sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to +come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in +whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy +and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is +discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall +be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take +your instructions in all matters." + +The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I +fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese +and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was +my supper. During the time I was eating it the Count asked me many +questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had +experienced. + +By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn +up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, +at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an +opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked +physiognomy. + +His face was a strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bridge of the +thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and +hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His +eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy +hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I +could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather +cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over +the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a +man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops +extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm +though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. + +Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees +in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeing +them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather +coarse--broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in +the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp +point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not +repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a +horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could +not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a +grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his +protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the +fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the +window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a +strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from +down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes +gleamed, and he said:-- + +"Listen to them--the children of the night. What music they make!" +Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he +added:-- + +"Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the +hunter." Then he rose and said:-- + +"But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow you +shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon; +so sleep well and dream well!" With a courteous bow, he opened for me +himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom.... + +I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, +which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the +sake of those dear to me! + + * * * * * + +_7 May._--It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the +last twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my +own accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had +supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the +pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the table, on which +was written:-- + +"I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.--D." I set to and +enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, so that I +might let the servants know I had finished; but I could not find one. +There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, considering the +extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The table service +is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it must be of immense value. +The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and sofas and the hangings of +my bed are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have +been of fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, +though in excellent order. I saw something like them in Hampton Court, +but there they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of +the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my +table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I +could either shave or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant +anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. +Some time after I had finished my meal--I do not know whether to call it +breakfast or dinner, for it was between five and six o'clock when I had +it--I looked about for something to read, for I did not like to go about +the castle until I had asked the Count's permission. There was +absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing +materials; so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of +library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found it locked. + +In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English +books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and +newspapers. A table in the centre was littered with English magazines +and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The books +were of the most varied kind--history, geography, politics, political +economy, botany, geology, law--all relating to England and English life +and customs and manners. There were even such books of reference as the +London Directory, the "Red" and "Blue" books, Whitaker's Almanac, the +Army and Navy Lists, and--it somehow gladdened my heart to see it--the +Law List. + +Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Count +entered. He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a good +night's rest. Then he went on:-- + +"I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much that +will interest you. These companions"--and he laid his hand on some of +the books--"have been good friends to me, and for some years past, ever +since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many, many hours +of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your great England; and to +know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of +your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of +humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes +it what it is. But alas! as yet I only know your tongue through books. +To you, my friend, I look that I know it to speak." + +"But, Count," I said, "you know and speak English thoroughly!" He bowed +gravely. + +"I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet I +fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I know +the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them." + +"Indeed," I said, "you speak excellently." + +"Not so," he answered. "Well, I know that, did I move and speak in your +London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is not +enough for me. Here I am noble; I am _boyar_; the common people know me, +and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one; men +know him not--and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am +like the rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or pause in his +speaking if he hear my words, 'Ha, ha! a stranger!' I have been so long +master that I would be master still--or at least that none other should +be master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of my friend Peter +Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in London. You +shall, I trust, rest here with me awhile, so that by our talking I may +learn the English intonation; and I would that you tell me when I make +error, even of the smallest, in my speaking. I am sorry that I had to be +away so long to-day; but you will, I know, forgive one who has so many +important affairs in hand." + +Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might +come into that room when I chose. He answered: "Yes, certainly," and +added:-- + +"You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are +locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is reason that +all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with +my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand." I said I was sure of +this, and then he went on:-- + +"We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are +not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from +what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of +what strange things there may be." + +This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he wanted to +talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding +things that had already happened to me or come within my notice. +Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by +pretending not to understand; but generally he answered all I asked most +frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked +him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as, for +instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue +flames. He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a +certain night of the year--last night, in fact, when all evil spirits +are supposed to have unchecked sway--a blue flame is seen over any place +where treasure has been concealed. "That treasure has been hidden," he +went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be +but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by the +Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil +in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, +patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the +Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out +to meet them--men and women, the aged and the children too--and waited +their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep +destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader +was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been +sheltered in the friendly soil." + +"But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when +there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?" +The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, +sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:-- + +"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only +appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he +can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he +would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of who +marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight +even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to +find these places again?" + +"There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where even +to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters. + +"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you +have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went into my +own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in +order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as I +passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp +lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit +in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa, +reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's Guide. When I +came in he cleared the books and papers from the table; and with him I +went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested in +everything, and asked me a myriad questions about the place and its +surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the +subject of the neighbourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much +more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered:-- + +"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there +I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan--nay, pardon me, I +fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first--my friend +Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He will be +in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law with my +other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!" + +We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at +Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the +necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to +Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a +place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which I +inscribe here:-- + +"At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as seemed to +be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place +was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of ancient structure, +built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of +years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with +rust. + +"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old _Quatre +Face_, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of +the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded by +the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which +make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or +small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear and +flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large and of all +periods back, I should say, to mediæval times, for one part is of stone +immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily barred with +iron. It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an old chapel or +church. I could not enter it, as I had not the key of the door leading +to it from the house, but I have taken with my kodak views of it from +various points. The house has been added to, but in a very straggling +way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must +be very great. There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very +large house only recently added to and formed into a private lunatic +asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds." + +When I had finished, he said:-- + +"I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and to +live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable in a +day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice +also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles love +not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. I seek not +gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and +sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I am no longer young; +and my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead, is not +attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken; the +shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken +battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow, and would +be alone with my thoughts when I may." Somehow his words and his look +did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his +smile look malignant and saturnine. + +Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my papers +together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of +the books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally at +England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at it I found in +certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I noticed +that one was near London on the east side, manifestly where his new +estate was situated; the other two were Exeter, and Whitby on the +Yorkshire coast. + +It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned. "Aha!" he +said; "still at your books? Good! But you must not work always. Come; I +am informed that your supper is ready." He took my arm, and we went into +the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on the table. The +Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on his being away from +home. But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted whilst I ate. +After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the Count stayed with +me, chatting and asking questions on every conceivable subject, hour +after hour. I felt that it was getting very late indeed, but I did not +say anything, for I felt under obligation to meet my host's wishes in +every way. I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified +me; but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes over one at +the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. +They say that people who are near death die generally at the change to +the dawn or at the turn of the tide; any one who has when tired, and +tied as it were to his post, experienced this change in the atmosphere +can well believe it. All at once we heard the crow of a cock coming up +with preternatural shrillness through the clear morning air; Count +Dracula, jumping to his feet, said:-- + +"Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so +long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of +England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by +us," and, with a courtly bow, he quickly left me. + +I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little to +notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the +warm grey of quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again, and have +written of this day. + + * * * * * + +_8 May._--I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too +diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for +there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I +cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had +never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling on +me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk to I +could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak with, +and he!--I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. Let +me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me to bear up, and +imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am lost. Let me say +at once how I stand--or seem to. + +I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could +not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window, +and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, +and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good-morning." I started, for +it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass +covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, +but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count's +salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. +This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I +could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in +the mirror! The whole room behind me was displayed; but there was no +sign of a man in it, except myself. This was startling, and, coming on +the top of so many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague +feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at +the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was +trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half +round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my face, his +eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at +my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which +held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed +so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there. + +"Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself. It is more +dangerous than you think in this country." Then seizing the shaving +glass, he went on: "And this is the wretched thing that has done the +mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it!" and +opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung +out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones +of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very +annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or +the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal. + +When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could +not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is strange that +as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very +peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle. I +went out on the stairs, and found a room looking towards the South. The +view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every opportunity +of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A +stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without +touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree +tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and +there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through +the forests. + +But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I +explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and +bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there +an available exit. + +The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me. +I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of +every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my +helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I look back after a +few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much +as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me +that I was helpless I sat down quietly--as quietly as I have ever done +anything in my life--and began to think over what was best to be done. I +am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of +one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making my ideas known to +the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it +himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive +me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only +plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes +open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, +or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and +shall need, all my brains to get through. + +I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below +shut, and knew that the Count had returned. He did not come at once into +the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making +the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along +thought--that there were no servants in the house. When later I saw him +through the chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in the +dining-room, I was assured of it; for if he does himself all these +menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. +This gave me a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it +must have been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that +brought me here. This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it +mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his +hand in silence. How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the +coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the +crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless +that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! for it is a +comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing +which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous +should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there +is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, +a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Some +time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my +mind about it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count +Dracula, as it may help me to understand. To-night he may talk of +himself, if I turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, +however, not to awake his suspicion. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few +questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject +wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of +battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he +afterwards explained by saying that to a _boyar_ the pride of his house +and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their +fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said "we," +and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could put +down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most +fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He +grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his great +white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands as +though he would crush it by main strength. One thing he said which I +shall put down as nearly as I can; for it tells in its way the story of +his race:-- + +"We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood +of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, +in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from +Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their +Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, +and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the +were-wolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found +the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, +till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those +old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the devils in the +desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as +Attila, whose blood is in these veins?" He held up his arms. "Is it a +wonder that we were a conquering race; that we were proud; that when the +Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his +thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when +Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he found us +here when he reached the frontier; that the Honfoglalas was completed +there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were +claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries +was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkey-land; ay, and more +than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for, as the Turks say, +'water sleeps, and enemy is sleepless.' Who more gladly than we +throughout the Four Nations received the 'bloody sword,' or at its +warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was +redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the +flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who +was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat +the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that +his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the +Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, +indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and +again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, +when he was beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had +to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being +slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They +said that he thought only of himself. Bah! what good are peasants +without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart to +conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohács, we threw off the +Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for +our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the +Szekelys--and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains, and +their swords--can boast a record that mushroom growths like the +Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over. +Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace; and +the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told." + +It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. (_Mem._, this +diary seems horribly like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," for +everything has to break off at cockcrow--or like the ghost of Hamlet's +father.) + + * * * * * + +_12 May._--Let me begin with facts--bare, meagre facts, verified by +books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not +confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own +observation, or my memory of them. Last evening when the Count came from +his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the +doing of certain kinds of business. I had spent the day wearily over +books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the +matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn. There was a certain +method in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put them down in +sequence; the knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to me. + +First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more. I +told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not be +wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as only +one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to militate +against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to +ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one man to +attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case +local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking +solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not by any +chance mislead him, so he said:-- + +"I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from under +the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far from +London, buys for me through your good self my place at London. Good! Now +here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange that I have +sought the services of one so far off from London instead of some one +resident there, that my motive was that no local interest might be +served save my wish only; and as one of London residence might, perhaps, +have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus afield to +seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest. Now, suppose +I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to Newcastle, or +Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it not be that it could with more +ease be done by consigning to one in these ports?" I answered that +certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of +agency one for the other, so that local work could be done locally on +instruction from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing +himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by +him without further trouble. + +"But," said he, "I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it not so?" + +"Of course," I replied; and "such is often done by men of business, who +do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person." + +"Good!" he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making +consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of +difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded +against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability, +and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made a +wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of or +foresee. For a man who was never in the country, and who did not +evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were +wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had +spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books +available, he suddenly stood up and said:-- + +"Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter +Hawkins, or to any other?" It was with some bitterness in my heart that +I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of +sending letters to anybody. + +"Then write now, my young friend," he said, laying a heavy hand on my +shoulder: "write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will +please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now." + +"Do you wish me to stay so long?" I asked, for my heart grew cold at the +thought. + +"I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, +employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, +it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not +stinted. Is it not so?" + +What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins's interest, not +mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, while Count +Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing +which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I +could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his +mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but +in his own smooth, resistless way:-- + +"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things +other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please your +friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to getting +home to them. Is it not so?" As he spoke he handed me three sheets of +note-paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest foreign +post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, +with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood +as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for +he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only formal notes +now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for +to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle the Count, if he +did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a +book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to +some books on his table. Then he took up my two and placed them with his +own, and put by his writing materials, after which, the instant the door +had closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which +were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so, for +under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way +I could. + +One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The +Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the third was to +Coutts & Co., London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth, +bankers, Buda-Pesth. The second and fourth were unsealed. I was just +about to look at them when I saw the door-handle move. I sank back in my +seat, having just had time to replace the letters as they had been and +to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter in his +hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped +them carefully, and then turning to me, said:-- + +"I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this +evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish." At the door he +turned, and after a moment's pause said:-- + +"Let me advise you, my dear young friend--nay, let me warn you with all +seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any +chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has +many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be +warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then +haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be +safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then"--He finished his +speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were +washing them. I quite understood; my only doubt was as to whether any +dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom +and mystery which seemed closing around me. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no +doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is +not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed--I imagine that +my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain. + +When he left me I went to my room. After a little while, not hearing any +sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could look out +towards the South. There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, +inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow darkness +of the courtyard. Looking out on this, I felt that I was indeed in +prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air, though it were of +the night. I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. +It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and am full of all +sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is ground for my +terrible fear in this accursed place! I looked out over the beautiful +expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was almost as light as +day. In the soft light the distant hills became melted, and the shadows +in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness. The mere beauty seemed +to cheer me; there was peace and comfort in every breath I drew. As I +leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a storey +below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of +the rooms, that the windows of the Count's own room would look out. The +window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though +weatherworn, was still complete; but it was evidently many a day since +the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework, and looked +carefully out. + +What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not +see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his +back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had +so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and +somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest +and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to +repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the +window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, +_face down_ with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At +first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the +moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept looking, and it could +be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the +stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus +using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable +speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall. + +What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the +semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering +me; I am in fear--in awful fear--and there is no escape for me; I am +encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of.... + + * * * * * + +_15 May._--Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion. +He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good +deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head +had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without +avail--the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I +knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to +explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and +taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had +expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went down the +stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could +pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains; but the +door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's +room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and +escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs +and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two +small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in +them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, +however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it +seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, +and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came +from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door +rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have +again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that +I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right +than the rooms I knew and a storey lower down. From the windows I could +see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the +windows of the end room looking out both west and south. On the latter +side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle +was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was +quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or +bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, +impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the +west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged +mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with +mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and +crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle +occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of +comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the +yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to +see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over +all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My +lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was +glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place +which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better +than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the +presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I +found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak +table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much +thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my +diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is +nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my +senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own +which mere "modernity" cannot kill. + + * * * * * + +_Later: the Morning of 16 May._--God preserve my sanity, for to this I +am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. +Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not +go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it +is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this +hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I +can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his +purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way +lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which +have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant +when he made Hamlet say:-- + + "My tablets! quick, my tablets! + 'Tis meet that I put it down," etc., + +for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock +had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. +The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me. + +The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens +me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold upon +me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say! + +When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book and +pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count's warning came into my mind, +but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me, +and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The soft +moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom +which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the +gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat +and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for +their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great +couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay, I could look +at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring for +the dust, composed myself for sleep. I suppose I must have fallen +asleep; I hope so, but I fear, for all that followed was startlingly +real--so real that now sitting here in the broad, full sunlight of the +morning, I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep. + +I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I +came into it; I could see along the floor, in the brilliant moonlight, +my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of +dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by +their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming +when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they threw +no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some +time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline +noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes that seemed to be +almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was +fair, as fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes +like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it +in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the +moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like +pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something +about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some +deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would +kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some +day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth. +They whispered together, and then they all three laughed--such a +silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have +come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, +tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. +The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her +on. One said:-- + +"Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to +begin." The other added:-- + +"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all." I lay quiet, +looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. +The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement +of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent +the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter +underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood. + +I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under +the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply +gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling +and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips +like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining +on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp +teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of +my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. Then she +paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked +her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the +skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that +is to tickle it approaches nearer--nearer. I could feel the soft, +shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, +and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. +I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited--waited with beating +heart. + +But at that instant, another sensation swept through me as quick as +lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his +being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I +saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with +giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the +white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with +passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to +the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light +in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His +face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; +the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar +of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman +from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating +them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the +wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to +cut through the air and then ring round the room he said:-- + +"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when +I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware +how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me." The fair girl, +with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:-- + +"You yourself never loved; you never love!" On this the other women +joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the +room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure +of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, +and said in a soft whisper:-- + +"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it +not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall +kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work +to be done." + +"Are we to have nothing to-night?" said one of them, with a low laugh, +as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and which +moved as though there were some living thing within it. For answer he +nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my +ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a +half-smothered child. The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with +horror; but as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful +bag. There was no door near them, and they could not have passed me +without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the rays of the +moonlight and pass out through the window, for I could see outside the +dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely faded away. + +Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +I awoke in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must +have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but +could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were +certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by +in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am +rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and +many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been +evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, from some cause or +another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof. Of one +thing I am glad: if it was that the Count carried me here and undressed +me, he must have been hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I +am sure this diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not +have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look round this +room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of +sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who +were--who _are_--waiting to suck my blood. + + * * * * * + +_18 May._--I have been down to look at that room again in daylight, for +I _must_ know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the +stairs I found it closed. It had been so forcibly driven against the +jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered. I could see that the bolt +of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the inside. +I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise. + + * * * * * + +_19 May._--I am surely in the toils. Last night the Count asked me in +the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying that my work here +was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days, +another that I was starting on the next morning from the time of the +letter, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at +Bistritz. I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present state +of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I +am so absolutely in his power; and to refuse would be to excite his +suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and +that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only chance is to +prolong my opportunities. Something may occur which will give me a +chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something of that gathering wrath +which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from him. He explained +to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that my writing now would +ensure ease of mind to my friends; and he assured me with so much +impressiveness that he would countermand the later letters, which would +be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would admit of my +prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have been to create new +suspicion. I therefore pretended to fall in with his views, and asked +him what dates I should put on the letters. He calculated a minute, and +then said:-- + +"The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June +29." + +I know now the span of my life. God help me! + + * * * * * + +_28 May._--There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being able to +send word home. A band of Szgany have come to the castle, and are +encamped in the courtyard. These Szgany are gipsies; I have notes of +them in my book. They are peculiar to this part of the world, though +allied to the ordinary gipsies all the world over. There are thousands +of them in Hungary and Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. +They attach themselves as a rule to some great noble or _boyar_, and +call themselves by his name. They are fearless and without religion, +save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany +tongue. + +I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to have them +posted. I have already spoken them through my window to begin +acquaintanceship. They took their hats off and made obeisance and many +signs, which, however, I could not understand any more than I could +their spoken language.... + + * * * * * + +I have written the letters. Mina's is in shorthand, and I simply ask Mr. +Hawkins to communicate with her. To her I have explained my situation, +but without the horrors which I may only surmise. It would shock and +frighten her to death were I to expose my heart to her. Should the +letters not carry, then the Count shall not yet know my secret or the +extent of my knowledge.... + + * * * * * + +I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars of my window +with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to have them posted. The +man who took them pressed them to his heart and bowed, and then put them +in his cap. I could do no more. I stole back to the study, and began to +read. As the Count did not come in, I have written here.... + + * * * * * + +The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his smoothest +voice as he opened two letters:-- + +"The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not whence they +come, I shall, of course, take care. See!"--he must have looked at +it--"one is from you, and to my friend Peter Hawkins; the other"--here +he caught sight of the strange symbols as he opened the envelope, and +the dark look came into his face, and his eyes blazed wickedly--"the +other is a vile thing, an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is +not signed. Well! so it cannot matter to us." And he calmly held letter +and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed. Then he +went on:-- + +"The letter to Hawkins--that I shall, of course, send on, since it is +yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend, that +unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it again?" He held +out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow handed me a clean +envelope. I could only redirect it and hand it to him in silence. When +he went out of the room I could hear the key turn softly. A minute later +I went over and tried it, and the door was locked. + +When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room, his +coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the sofa. He was very +courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been +sleeping, he said:-- + +"So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. There is the surest rest. I +may not have the pleasure to talk to-night, since there are many labours +to me; but you will sleep, I pray." I passed to my room and went to bed, +and, strange to say, slept without dreaming. Despair has its own calms. + + * * * * * + +_31 May._--This morning when I woke I thought I would provide myself +with some paper and envelopes from my bag and keep them in my pocket, so +that I might write in case I should get an opportunity, but again a +surprise, again a shock! + +Every scrap of paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my memoranda, +relating to railways and travel, my letter of credit, in fact all that +might be useful to me were I once outside the castle. I sat and pondered +awhile, and then some thought occurred to me, and I made search of my +portmanteau and in the wardrobe where I had placed my clothes. + +The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and +rug; I could find no trace of them anywhere. This looked like some new +scheme of villainy.... + + * * * * * + +_17 June._--This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed +cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding +and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard. +With joy I hurried to the window, and saw drive into the yard two great +leiter-wagons, each drawn by eight sturdy horses, and at the head of +each pair a Slovak, with his wide hat, great nail-studded belt, dirty +sheepskin, and high boots. They had also their long staves in hand. I +ran to the door, intending to descend and try and join them through the +main hall, as I thought that way might be opened for them. Again a +shock: my door was fastened on the outside. + +Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me +stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, +and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they +laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised +entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away. +The leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick +rope; these were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks +handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved. When +they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one corner of the +yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the Szgany, and spitting on +it for luck, lazily went each to his horse's head. Shortly afterwards, I +heard the cracking of their whips die away in the distance. + + * * * * * + +_24 June, before morning._--Last night the Count left me early, and +locked himself into his own room. As soon as I dared I ran up the +winding stair, and looked out of the window, which opened south. I +thought I would watch for the Count, for there is something going on. +The Szgany are quartered somewhere in the castle and are doing work of +some kind. I know it, for now and then I hear a far-away muffled sound +as of mattock and spade, and, whatever it is, it must be the end of some +ruthless villainy. + +I had been at the window somewhat less than half an hour, when I saw +something coming out of the Count's window. I drew back and watched +carefully, and saw the whole man emerge. It was a new shock to me to +find that he had on the suit of clothes which I had worn whilst +travelling here, and slung over his shoulder the terrible bag which I +had seen the women take away. There could be no doubt as to his quest, +and in my garb, too! This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he will +allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may both leave +evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages posting my own +letters, and that any wickedness which he may do shall by the local +people be attributed to me. + +It makes me rage to think that this can go on, and whilst I am shut up +here, a veritable prisoner, but without that protection of the law which +is even a criminal's right and consolation. + +I thought I would watch for the Count's return, and for a long time sat +doggedly at the window. Then I began to notice that there were some +quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were +like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in +clusters in a nebulous sort of way. I watched them with a sense of +soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me. I leaned back in the +embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy more +fully the aërial gambolling. + +Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far +below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight. Louder it seemed to +ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to +the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to +awake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, +and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I +was becoming hypnotised! Quicker and quicker danced the dust; the +moonbeams seemed to quiver as they went by me into the mass of gloom +beyond. More and more they gathered till they seemed to take dim phantom +shapes. And then I started, broad awake and in full possession of my +senses, and ran screaming from the place. The phantom shapes, which were +becoming gradually materialised from the moonbeams, were those of the +three ghostly women to whom I was doomed. I fled, and felt somewhat +safer in my own room, where there was no moonlight and where the lamp +was burning brightly. + +When a couple of hours had passed I heard something stirring in the +Count's room, something like a sharp wail quickly suppressed; and then +there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me. With a +beating heart, I tried the door; but I was locked in my prison, and +could do nothing. I sat down and simply cried. + +As I sat I heard a sound in the courtyard without--the agonised cry of a +woman. I rushed to the window, and throwing it up, peered out between +the bars. There, indeed, was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her +hands over her heart as one distressed with running. She was leaning +against a corner of the gateway. When she saw my face at the window she +threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace:-- + +"Monster, give me my child!" + +She threw herself on her knees, and raising up her hands, cried the same +words in tones which wrung my heart. Then she tore her hair and beat her +breast, and abandoned herself to all the violences of extravagant +emotion. Finally, she threw herself forward, and, though I could not see +her, I could hear the beating of her naked hands against the door. + +Somewhere high overhead, probably on the tower, I heard the voice of the +Count calling in his harsh, metallic whisper. His call seemed to be +answered from far and wide by the howling of wolves. Before many minutes +had passed a pack of them poured, like a pent-up dam when liberated, +through the wide entrance into the courtyard. + +There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but +short. Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips. + +I could not pity her, for I knew now what had become of her child, and +she was better dead. + +What shall I do? what can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful +thing of night and gloom and fear? + + * * * * * + +_25 June, morning._--No man knows till he has suffered from the night +how sweet and how dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. When the +sun grew so high this morning that it struck the top of the great +gateway opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me +as if the dove from the ark had lighted there. My fear fell from me as +if it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth. I must +take action of some sort whilst the courage of the day is upon me. Last +night one of my post-dated letters went to post, the first of that fatal +series which is to blot out the very traces of my existence from the +earth. + +Let me not think of it. Action! + +It has always been at night-time that I have been molested or +threatened, or in some way in danger or in fear. I have not yet seen the +Count in the daylight. Can it be that he sleeps when others wake, that +he may be awake whilst they sleep? If I could only get into his room! +But there is no possible way. The door is always locked, no way for me. + +Yes, there is a way, if one dares to take it. Where his body has gone +why may not another body go? I have seen him myself crawl from his +window. Why should not I imitate him, and go in by his window? The +chances are desperate, but my need is more desperate still. I shall risk +it. At the worst it can only be death; and a man's death is not a +calf's, and the dreaded Hereafter may still be open to me. God help me +in my task! Good-bye, Mina, if I fail; good-bye, my faithful friend and +second father; good-bye, all, and last of all Mina! + + * * * * * + +_Same day, later._--I have made the effort, and God, helping me, have +come safely back to this room. I must put down every detail in order. I +went whilst my courage was fresh straight to the window on the south +side, and at once got outside on the narrow ledge of stone which runs +around the building on this side. The stones are big and roughly cut, +and the mortar has by process of time been washed away between them. I +took off my boots, and ventured out on the desperate way. I looked down +once, so as to make sure that a sudden glimpse of the awful depth would +not overcome me, but after that kept my eyes away from it. I knew pretty +well the direction and distance of the Count's window, and made for it +as well as I could, having regard to the opportunities available. I did +not feel dizzy--I suppose I was too excited--and the time seemed +ridiculously short till I found myself standing on the window-sill and +trying to raise up the sash. I was filled with agitation, however, when +I bent down and slid feet foremost in through the window. Then I looked +around for the Count, but, with surprise and gladness, made a discovery. +The room was empty! It was barely furnished with odd things, which +seemed to have never been used; the furniture was something the same +style as that in the south rooms, and was covered with dust. I looked +for the key, but it was not in the lock, and I could not find it +anywhere. The only thing I found was a great heap of gold in one +corner--gold of all kinds, Roman, and British, and Austrian, and +Hungarian, and Greek and Turkish money, covered with a film of dust, as +though it had lain long in the ground. None of it that I noticed was +less than three hundred years old. There were also chains and ornaments, +some jewelled, but all of them old and stained. + +At one corner of the room was a heavy door. I tried it, for, since I +could not find the key of the room or the key of the outer door, which +was the main object of my search, I must make further examination, or +all my efforts would be in vain. It was open, and led through a stone +passage to a circular stairway, which went steeply down. I descended, +minding carefully where I went, for the stairs were dark, being only lit +by loopholes in the heavy masonry. At the bottom there was a dark, +tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour, the +odour of old earth newly turned. As I went through the passage the smell +grew closer and heavier. At last I pulled open a heavy door which stood +ajar, and found myself in an old, ruined chapel, which had evidently +been used as a graveyard. The roof was broken, and in two places were +steps leading to vaults, but the ground had recently been dug over, and +the earth placed in great wooden boxes, manifestly those which had been +brought by the Slovaks. There was nobody about, and I made search for +any further outlet, but there was none. Then I went over every inch of +the ground, so as not to lose a chance. I went down even into the +vaults, where the dim light struggled, although to do so was a dread to +my very soul. Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments +of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a +discovery. + +There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a +pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep, I +could not say which--for the eyes were open and stony, but without the +glassiness of death--and the cheeks had the warmth of life through all +their pallor; the lips were as red as ever. But there was no sign of +movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart. I bent over him, +and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain. He could not have lain +there long, for the earthy smell would have passed away in a few hours. +By the side of the box was its cover, pierced with holes here and there. +I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw +the dead eyes, and in them, dead though they were, such a look of hate, +though unconscious of me or my presence, that I fled from the place, and +leaving the Count's room by the window, crawled again up the castle +wall. Regaining my room, I threw myself panting upon the bed and tried +to think.... + + * * * * * + +_29 June._--To-day is the date of my last letter, and the Count has +taken steps to prove that it was genuine, for again I saw him leave the +castle by the same window, and in my clothes. As he went down the wall, +lizard fashion, I wished I had a gun or some lethal weapon, that I might +destroy him; but I fear that no weapon wrought alone by man's hand would +have any effect on him. I dared not wait to see him return, for I feared +to see those weird sisters. I came back to the library, and read there +till I fell asleep. + +I was awakened by the Count, who looked at me as grimly as a man can +look as he said:-- + +"To-morrow, my friend, we must part. You return to your beautiful +England, I to some work which may have such an end that we may never +meet. Your letter home has been despatched; to-morrow I shall not be +here, but all shall be ready for your journey. In the morning come the +Szgany, who have some labours of their own here, and also come some +Slovaks. When they have gone, my carriage shall come for you, and shall +bear you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence from Bukovina to +Bistritz. But I am in hopes that I shall see more of you at Castle +Dracula." I suspected him, and determined to test his sincerity. +Sincerity! It seems like a profanation of the word to write it in +connection with such a monster, so asked him point-blank:-- + +"Why may I not go to-night?" + +"Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away on a mission." + +"But I would walk with pleasure. I want to get away at once." He smiled, +such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was some trick +behind his smoothness. He said:-- + +"And your baggage?" + +"I do not care about it. I can send for it some other time." + +The Count stood up, and said, with a sweet courtesy which made me rub my +eyes, it seemed so real:-- + +"You English have a saying which is close to my heart, for its spirit is +that which rules our _boyars_: 'Welcome the coming; speed the parting +guest.' Come with me, my dear young friend. Not an hour shall you wait +in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that +you so suddenly desire it. Come!" With a stately gravity, he, with the +lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he +stopped. + +"Hark!" + +Close at hand came the howling of many wolves. It was almost as if the +sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great +orchestra seems to leap under the bâton of the conductor. After a pause +of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back +the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it +open. + +To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlocked. Suspiciously, I +looked all round, but could see no key of any kind. + +As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder +and angrier; their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed +feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door. I knew then that +to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such +allies as these at his command, I could do nothing. But still the door +continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gap. +Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my +doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There +was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and +as a last chance I cried out:-- + +"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my +hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. With one sweep of his +powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and the great bolts clanged +and echoed through the hall as they shot back into their places. + +In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went +to my own room. The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand +to me; with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that +Judas in hell might be proud of. + +When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a +whispering at my door. I went to it softly and listened. Unless my ears +deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count:-- + +"Back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have +patience! To-night is mine. To-morrow night is yours!" There was a low, +sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open the door, and saw +without the three terrible women licking their lips. As I appeared they +all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away. + +I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees. It is then so near +the end? To-morrow! to-morrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am +dear! + + * * * * * + +_30 June, morning._--These may be the last words I ever write in this +diary. I slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself +on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me +ready. + +At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the morning +had come. Then came the welcome cock-crow, and I felt that I was safe. +With a glad heart, I opened my door and ran down to the hall. I had seen +that the door was unlocked, and now escape was before me. With hands +that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and drew back the +massive bolts. + +But the door would not move. Despair seized me. I pulled, and pulled, at +the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its +casement. I could see the bolt shot. It had been locked after I left the +Count. + +Then a wild desire took me to obtain that key at any risk, and I +determined then and there to scale the wall again and gain the Count's +room. He might kill me, but death now seemed the happier choice of +evils. Without a pause I rushed up to the east window, and scrambled +down the wall, as before, into the Count's room. It was empty, but that +was as I expected. I could not see a key anywhere, but the heap of gold +remained. I went through the door in the corner and down the winding +stair and along the dark passage to the old chapel. I knew now well +enough where to find the monster I sought. + +The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the lid +was laid on it, not fastened down, but with the nails ready in their +places to be hammered home. I knew I must reach the body for the key, so +I raised the lid, and laid it back against the wall; and then I saw +something which filled my very soul with horror. There lay the Count, +but looking as if his youth had been half renewed, for the white hair +and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, +and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than +ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the +corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, +burning eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches +underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were +simply gorged with blood. He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his +repletion. I shuddered as I bent over to touch him, and every sense in +me revolted at the contact; but I had to search, or I was lost. The +coming night might see my own body a banquet in a similar way to those +horrid three. I felt all over the body, but no sign could I find of the +key. Then I stopped and looked at the Count. There was a mocking smile +on the bloated face which seemed to drive me mad. This was the being I +was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come +he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and +create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the +helpless. The very thought drove me mad. A terrible desire came upon me +to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, +but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the +cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the +hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell full +upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to +paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, +merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my +hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade +caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid +thing from my sight. The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, +blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its +own in the nethermost hell. + +I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed +on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over me. As I +waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices coming +closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and the +cracking of whips; the Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count had +spoken were coming. With a last look around and at the box which +contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count's +room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be opened. +With strained ears, I listened, and heard downstairs the grinding of the +key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy door. There must +have been some other means of entry, or some one had a key for one of +the locked doors. Then there came the sound of many feet tramping and +dying away in some passage which sent up a clanging echo. I turned to +run down again towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance; +but at the moment there seemed to come a violent puff of wind, and the +door to the winding stair blew to with a shock that set the dust from +the lintels flying. When I ran to push it open, I found that it was +hopelessly fast. I was again a prisoner, and the net of doom was closing +round me more closely. + +As I write there is in the passage below a sound of many tramping feet +and the crash of weights being set down heavily, doubtless the boxes, +with their freight of earth. There is a sound of hammering; it is the +box being nailed down. Now I can hear the heavy feet tramping again +along the hall, with many other idle feet coming behind them. + +The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key +in the lock; I can hear the key withdraw: then another door opens and +shuts; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt. + +Hark! in the courtyard and down the rocky way the roll of heavy wheels, +the crack of whips, and the chorus of the Szgany as they pass into the +distance. + +I am alone in the castle with those awful women. Faugh! Mina is a woman, +and there is nought in common. They are devils of the Pit! + +I shall not remain alone with them; I shall try to scale the castle wall +farther than I have yet attempted. I shall take some of the gold with +me, lest I want it later. I may find a way from this dreadful place. + +And then away for home! away to the quickest and nearest train! away +from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his +children still walk with earthly feet! + +At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the +precipice is steep and high. At its foot a man may sleep--as a man. +Good-bye, all! Mina! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Letter from Miss Mina Murray to Miss Lucy Westenra._ + + +"_9 May._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed +with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. +I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together +freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard +lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have +been practising shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I shall +be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I +can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for +him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard. He +and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a +stenographic journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I +shall keep a diary in the same way. I don't mean one of those +two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a +sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I do not +suppose there will be much of interest to other people; but it is not +intended for them. I may show it to Jonathan some day if there is in it +anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try +to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing +descriptions and trying to remember conversations. I am told that, with +a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears +said during a day. However, we shall see. I will tell you of my little +plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan +from Transylvania. He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I +am longing to hear all his news. It must be so nice to see strange +countries. I wonder if we--I mean Jonathan and I--shall ever see them +together. There is the ten o'clock bell ringing. Good-bye. + +"Your loving + +"MINA. + +"Tell me all the news when you write. You have not told me anything for +a long time. I hear rumours, and especially of a tall, handsome, +curly-haired man???" + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_17, Chatham Street_, + +"_Wednesday_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"I must say you tax me _very_ unfairly with being a bad correspondent. I +wrote to you _twice_ since we parted, and your last letter was only your +_second_. Besides, I have nothing to tell you. There is really nothing +to interest you. Town is very pleasant just now, and we go a good deal +to picture-galleries and for walks and rides in the park. As to the +tall, curly-haired man, I suppose it was the one who was with me at the +last Pop. Some one has evidently been telling tales. That was Mr. +Holmwood. He often comes to see us, and he and mamma get on very well +together; they have so many things to talk about in common. We met some +time ago a man that would just _do for you_, if you were not already +engaged to Jonathan. He is an excellent _parti_, being handsome, well +off, and of good birth. He is a doctor and really clever. Just fancy! He +is only nine-and-twenty, and he has an immense lunatic asylum all under +his own care. Mr. Holmwood introduced him to me, and he called here to +see us, and often comes now. I think he is one of the most resolute men +I ever saw, and yet the most calm. He seems absolutely imperturbable. I +can fancy what a wonderful power he must have over his patients. He has +a curious habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to +read one's thoughts. He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter +myself he has got a tough nut to crack. I know that from my glass. Do +you ever try to read your own face? _I do_, and I can tell you it is not +a bad study, and gives you more trouble than you can well fancy if you +have never tried it. He says that I afford him a curious psychological +study, and I humbly think I do. I do not, as you know, take sufficient +interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions. Dress is a +bore. That is slang again, but never mind; Arthur says that every day. +There, it is all out. Mina, we have told all our secrets to each other +since we were _children_; we have slept together and eaten together, and +laughed and cried together; and now, though I have spoken, I would like +to speak more. Oh, Mina, couldn't you guess? I love him. I am blushing +as I write, for although I _think_ he loves me, he has not told me so in +words. But oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him! There, that +does me good. I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire +undressing, as we used to sit; and I would try to tell you what I feel. +I do not know how I am writing this even to you. I am afraid to stop, +or I should tear up the letter, and I don't want to stop, for I _do_ so +want to tell you all. Let me hear from you _at once_, and tell me all +that you think about it. Mina, I must stop. Good-night. Bless me in your +prayers; and, Mina, pray for my happiness. + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--I need not tell you this is a secret. Good-night again. + +"L." + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_24 May_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter. It was so +nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy. + +"My dear, it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. +Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a +proposal till to-day, not a real proposal, and to-day I have had three. +Just fancy! THREE proposals in one day! Isn't it awful! I feel sorry, +really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Mina, I am so +happy that I don't know what to do with myself. And three proposals! +But, for goodness' sake, don't tell any of the girls, or they would be +getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured +and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at +least. Some girls are so vain! You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and +are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can +despise vanity. Well, I must tell you about the three, but you must keep +it a secret, dear, from _every one_, except, of course, Jonathan. You +will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell +Arthur. A woman ought to tell her husband everything--don't you think +so, dear?--and I must be fair. Men like women, certainly their wives, to +be quite as fair as they are; and women, I am afraid, are not always +quite as fair as they should be. Well, my dear, number One came just +before lunch. I told you of him, Dr. John Seward, the lunatic-asylum +man, with the strong jaw and the good forehead. He was very cool +outwardly, but was nervous all the same. He had evidently been schooling +himself as to all sorts of little things, and remembered them; but he +almost managed to sit down on his silk hat, which men don't generally do +when they are cool, and then when he wanted to appear at ease he kept +playing with a lancet in a way that made me nearly scream. He spoke to +me, Mina, very straightforwardly. He told me how dear I was to him, +though he had known me so little, and what his life would be with me to +help and cheer him. He was going to tell me how unhappy he would be if I +did not care for him, but when he saw me cry he said that he was a brute +and would not add to my present trouble. Then he broke off and asked if +I could love him in time; and when I shook my head his hands trembled, +and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared already for any one +else. He put it very nicely, saying that he did not want to wring my +confidence from me, but only to know, because if a woman's heart was +free a man might have hope. And then, Mina, I felt a sort of duty to +tell him that there was some one. I only told him that much, and then he +stood up, and he looked very strong and very grave as he took both my +hands in his and said he hoped I would be happy, and that if I ever +wanted a friend I must count him one of my best. Oh, Mina dear, I can't +help crying: and you must excuse this letter being all blotted. Being +proposed to is all very nice and all that sort of thing, but it isn't at +all a happy thing when you have to see a poor fellow, whom you know +loves you honestly, going away and looking all broken-hearted, and to +know that, no matter what he may say at the moment, you are passing +quite out of his life. My dear, I must stop here at present, I feel so +miserable, though I am so happy. + +"_Evening._ + +"Arthur has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I left +off, so I can go on telling you about the day. Well, my dear, number Two +came after lunch. He is such a nice fellow, an American from Texas, and +he looks so young and so fresh that it seems almost impossible that he +has been to so many places and has had such adventures. I sympathise +with poor Desdemona when she had such a dangerous stream poured in her +ear, even by a black man. I suppose that we women are such cowards that +we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him. I know now +what I would do if I were a man and wanted to make a girl love me. No, I +don't, for there was Mr. Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never +told any, and yet---- My dear, I am somewhat previous. Mr. Quincey P. +Morris found me alone. It seems that a man always does find a girl +alone. No, he doesn't, for Arthur tried twice to _make_ a chance, and I +helping him all I could; I am not ashamed to say it now. I must tell you +beforehand that Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang--that is to say, +he never does so to strangers or before them, for he is really well +educated and has exquisite manners--but he found out that it amused me +to hear him talk American slang, and whenever I was present, and there +was no one to be shocked, he said such funny things. I am afraid, my +dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits exactly into whatever else he +has to say. But this is a way slang has. I do not know myself if I shall +ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it, as I have never +heard him use any as yet. Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked +as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see all the same that he was +very nervous. He took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly:-- + +"'Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your +little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you +will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won't +you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road +together, driving in double harness?' + +"Well, he did look so good-humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem +half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward; so I said, as +lightly as I could, that I did not know anything of hitching, and that I +wasn't broken to harness at all yet. Then he said that he had spoken in +a light manner, and he hoped that if he had made a mistake in doing so +on so grave, so momentous, an occasion for him, I would forgive him. He +really did look serious when he was saying it, and I couldn't help +feeling a bit serious too--I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid +flirt--though I couldn't help feeling a sort of exultation that he was +number two in one day. And then, my dear, before I could say a word he +began pouring out a perfect torrent of love-making, laying his very +heart and soul at my feet. He looked so earnest over it that I shall +never again think that a man must be playful always, and never earnest, +because he is merry at times. I suppose he saw something in my face +which checked him, for he suddenly stopped, and said with a sort of +manly fervour that I could have loved him for if I had been free:-- + +"'Lucy, you are an honest-hearted girl, I know. I should not be here +speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit, right +through to the very depths of your soul. Tell me, like one good fellow +to another, is there any one else that you care for? And if there is +I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again, but will be, if you will +let me, a very faithful friend.' + +"My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy +of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great-hearted, true +gentleman. I burst into tears--I am afraid, my dear, you will think +this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one--and I really felt very +badly. Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want +her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say +it. I am glad to say that, though I was crying, I was able to look into +Mr. Morris's brave eyes, and I told him out straight:-- + +"'Yes, there is some one I love, though he has not told me yet that he +even loves me.' I was right to speak to him so frankly, for quite a +light came into his face, and he put out both his hands and took mine--I +think I put them into his--and said in a hearty way:-- + +"'That's my brave girl. It's better worth being late for a chance of +winning you than being in time for any other girl in the world. Don't +cry, my dear. If it's for me, I'm a hard nut to crack; and I take it +standing up. If that other fellow doesn't know his happiness, well, he'd +better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal with me. Little girl, +your honesty and pluck have made me a friend, and that's rarer than a +lover; it's more unselfish anyhow. My dear, I'm going to have a pretty +lonely walk between this and Kingdom Come. Won't you give me one kiss? +It'll be something to keep off the darkness now and then. You can, you +know, if you like, for that other good fellow--he must be a good fellow, +my dear, and a fine fellow, or you could not love him--hasn't spoken +yet.' That quite won me, Mina, for it _was_ brave and sweet of him, and +noble, too, to a rival--wasn't it?--and he so sad; so I leant over and +kissed him. He stood up with my two hands in his, and as he looked down +into my face--I am afraid I was blushing very much--he said:-- + +"'Little girl, I hold your hand, and you've kissed me, and if these +things don't make us friends nothing ever will. Thank you for your sweet +honesty to me, and good-bye.' He wrung my hand, and taking up his hat, +went straight out of the room without looking back, without a tear or a +quiver or a pause; and I am crying like a baby. Oh, why must a man like +that be made unhappy when there are lots of girls about who would +worship the very ground he trod on? I know I would if I were free--only +I don't want to be free. My dear, this quite upset me, and I feel I +cannot write of happiness just at once, after telling you of it; and I +don't wish to tell of the number three until it can be all happy. + +"Ever your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--Oh, about number Three--I needn't tell you of number Three, need +I? Besides, it was all so confused; it seemed only a moment from his +coming into the room till both his arms were round me, and he was +kissing me. I am very, very happy, and I don't know what I have done to +deserve it. I must only try in the future to show that I am not +ungrateful to God for all His goodness to me in sending to me such a +lover, such a husband, and such a friend. + +"Good-bye." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +(Kept in phonograph) + +_25 May._--Ebb tide in appetite to-day. Cannot eat, cannot rest, so +diary instead. Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty +feeling; nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be worth +the doing.... As I knew that the only cure for this sort of thing was +work, I went down amongst the patients. I picked out one who has +afforded me a study of much interest. He is so quaint that I am +determined to understand him as well as I can. To-day I seemed to get +nearer than ever before to the heart of his mystery. + +I questioned him more fully than I had ever done, with a view to making +myself master of the facts of his hallucination. In my manner of doing +it there was, I now see, something of cruelty. I seemed to wish to keep +him to the point of his madness--a thing which I avoid with the patients +as I would the mouth of hell. + +(_Mem._, under what circumstances would I _not_ avoid the pit of hell?) +_Omnia Romæ venalia sunt._ Hell has its price! _verb. sap._ If there be +anything behind this instinct it will be valuable to trace it afterwards +_accurately_, so I had better commence to do so, therefore-- + +R. M. Renfield, ætat 59.--Sanguine temperament; great physical strength; +morbidly excitable; periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I +cannot make out. I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the +disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish; a possibly +dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men caution +is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of +on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is +balanced with the centrifugal; when duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed +point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of +accidents can balance it. + + +_Letter, Quincey P. Morris to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_25 May._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"We've told yarns by the camp-fire in the prairies; and dressed one +another's wounds after trying a landing at the Marquesas; and drunk +healths on the shore of Titicaca. There are more yarns to be told, and +other wounds to be healed, and another health to be drunk. Won't you let +this be at my camp-fire to-morrow night? I have no hesitation in asking +you, as I know a certain lady is engaged to a certain dinner-party, and +that you are free. There will only be one other, our old pal at the +Korea, Jack Seward. He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our +weeps over the wine-cup, and to drink a health with all our hearts to +the happiest man in all the wide world, who has won the noblest heart +that God has made and the best worth winning. We promise you a hearty +welcome, and a loving greeting, and a health as true as your own right +hand. We shall both swear to leave you at home if you drink too deep to +a certain pair of eyes. Come! + +"Yours, as ever and always, + +"QUINCEY P. MORRIS." + + +_Telegram from Arthur Holmwood to Quincey P. Morris._ + +"_26 May._ + +"Count me in every time. I bear messages which will make both your ears +tingle. + +"ART." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_24 July. Whitby._--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and +lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in +which they have rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the +Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the +harbour. A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through which the +view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is +beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land +on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to +see down. The houses of the old town--the side away from us--are all +red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the +pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby +Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of +"Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble +ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is +a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. Between it and +the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big +graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in +Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the +harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness +stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that +part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been +destroyed. In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches +out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside +them, through the churchyard; and people go and sit there all day long +looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze. I shall come and +sit here very often myself and work. Indeed, I am writing now, with my +book on my knee, and listening to the talk of three old men who are +sitting beside me. They seem to do nothing all day but sit up here and +talk. + +The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite wall +stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of it, in +the middle of which is a lighthouse. A heavy sea-wall runs along outside +of it. On the near side, the sea-wall makes an elbow crooked inversely, +and its end too has a lighthouse. Between the two piers there is a +narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly widens. + +It is nice at high water; but when the tide is out it shoals away to +nothing, and there is merely the stream of the Esk, running between +banks of sand, with rocks here and there. Outside the harbour on this +side there rises for about half a mile a great reef, the sharp edge of +which runs straight out from behind the south lighthouse. At the end of +it is a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in a +mournful sound on the wind. They have a legend here that when a ship is +lost bells are heard out at sea. I must ask the old man about this; he +is coming this way.... + +He is a funny old man. He must be awfully old, for his face is all +gnarled and twisted like the bark of a tree. He tells me that he is +nearly a hundred, and that he was a sailor in the Greenland fishing +fleet when Waterloo was fought. He is, I am afraid, a very sceptical +person, for when I asked him about the bells at sea and the White Lady +at the abbey he said very brusquely:-- + +"I wouldn't fash masel' about them, miss. Them things be all wore out. +Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say that they wasn't in +my time. They be all very well for comers and trippers, an' the like, +but not for a nice young lady like you. Them feet-folks from York and +Leeds that be always eatin' cured herrin's an' drinkin' tea an' lookin' +out to buy cheap jet would creed aught. I wonder masel' who'd be +bothered tellin' lies to them--even the newspapers, which is full of +fool-talk." I thought he would be a good person to learn interesting +things from, so I asked him if he would mind telling me something about +the whale-fishing in the old days. He was just settling himself to begin +when the clock struck six, whereupon he laboured to get up, and said:-- + +"I must gang ageeanwards home now, miss. My grand-daughter doesn't like +to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to +crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em; an', miss, I lack +belly-timber sairly by the clock." + +He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could, down +the steps. The steps are a great feature on the place. They lead from +the town up to the church, there are hundreds of them--I do not know how +many--and they wind up in a delicate curve; the slope is so gentle that +a horse could easily walk up and down them. I think they must originally +have had something to do with the abbey. I shall go home too. Lucy went +out visiting with her mother, and as they were only duty calls, I did +not go. They will be home by this. + + * * * * * + +_1 August._--I came up here an hour ago with Lucy, and we had a most +interesting talk with my old friend and the two others who always come +and join him. He is evidently the Sir Oracle of them, and I should think +must have been in his time a most dictatorial person. He will not admit +anything, and downfaces everybody. If he can't out-argue them he bullies +them, and then takes their silence for agreement with his views. Lucy +was looking sweetly pretty in her white lawn frock; she has got a +beautiful colour since she has been here. I noticed that the old men did +not lose any time in coming up and sitting near her when we sat down. +She is so sweet with old people; I think they all fell in love with her +on the spot. Even my old man succumbed and did not contradict her, but +gave me double share instead. I got him on the subject of the legends, +and he went off at once into a sort of sermon. I must try to remember it +and put it down:-- + +"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that's what it be, an' +nowt else. These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' barguests an' bogles +an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women +a-belderin'. They be nowt but air-blebs. They, an' all grims an' signs +an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome beuk-bodies an' +railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do +somethin' that they don't other incline to. It makes me ireful to think +o' them. Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on paper +an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them on the +tombstones. Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them +steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, +is acant--simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on +them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of +them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' +the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less +sacred. Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or another! My +gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they +come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an' tryin' to +drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them +trimmlin' and ditherin', with their hands that dozzened an' slippy from +lyin' in the sea that they can't even keep their grup o' them." + +I could see from the old fellow's self-satisfied air and the way in +which he looked round for the approval of his cronies that he was +"showing off," so I put in a word to keep him going:-- + +"Oh, Mr. Swales, you can't be serious. Surely these tombstones are not +all wrong?" + +"Yabblins! There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin' where they make +out the people too good; for there be folk that do think a balm-bowl be +like the sea, if only it be their own. The whole thing be only lies. Now +look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth." I +nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite +understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church. +He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be +happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again. "Then that be just where +the lie comes in. Why, there be scores of these lay-beds that be toom as +old Dun's 'bacca-box on Friday night." He nudged one of his companions, +and they all laughed. "And my gog! how could they be otherwise? Look at +that one, the aftest abaft the bier-bank: read it!" I went over and +read:-- + +"Edward Spencelagh, master mariner, murdered by pirates off the coast of +Andres, April, 1854, æt. 30." When I came back Mr. Swales went on:-- + +"Who brought him home, I wonder, to hap him here? Murdered off the coast +of Andres! an' you consated his body lay under! Why, I could name ye a +dozen whose bones lie in the Greenland seas above"--he pointed +northwards--"or where the currents may have drifted them. There be the +steans around ye. Ye can, with your young eyes, read the small-print of +the lies from here. This Braithwaite Lowrey--I knew his father, lost in +the _Lively_ off Greenland in '20; or Andrew Woodhouse, drowned in the +same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year +later; or old John Rawlings, whose grandfather sailed with me, drowned +in the Gulf of Finland in '50. Do ye think that all these men will have +to make a rush to Whitby when the trumpet sounds? I have me antherums +aboot it! I tell ye that when they got here they'd be jommlin' an' +jostlin' one another that way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice +in the old days, when we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' +tryin' to tie up our cuts by the light of the aurora borealis." This was +evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his +cronies joined in with gusto. + +"But," I said, "surely you are not quite correct, for you start on the +assumption that all the poor people, or their spirits, will have to +take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment. Do you think +that will be really necessary?" + +"Well, what else be they tombstones for? Answer me that, miss!" + +"To please their relatives, I suppose." + +"To please their relatives, you suppose!" This he said with intense +scorn. "How will it pleasure their relatives to know that lies is wrote +over them, and that everybody in the place knows that they be lies?" He +pointed to a stone at our feet which had been laid down as a slab, on +which the seat was rested, close to the edge of the cliff. "Read the +lies on that thruff-stean," he said. The letters were upside down to me +from where I sat, but Lucy was more opposite to them, so she leant over +and read:-- + +"Sacred to the memory of George Canon, who died, in the hope of a +glorious resurrection, on July, 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at +Kettleness. This tomb was erected by his sorrowing mother to her dearly +beloved son. 'He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.' +Really, Mr. Swales, I don't see anything very funny in that!" She spoke +her comment very gravely and somewhat severely. + +"Ye don't see aught funny! Ha! ha! But that's because ye don't gawm the +sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was +acrewk'd--a regular lamiter he was--an' he hated her so that he +committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put on +his life. He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that +they had for scarin' the crows with. 'Twarn't for crows then, for it +brought the clegs and the dowps to him. That's the way he fell off the +rocks. And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often heard him +say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was so pious +that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to addle where +she was. Now isn't that stean at any rate"--he hammered it with his +stick as he spoke--"a pack of lies? and won't it make Gabriel keckle +when Geordie comes pantin' up the grees with the tombstean balanced on +his hump, and asks it to be took as evidence!" + +I did not know what to say, but Lucy turned the conversation as she +said, rising up:-- + +"Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favourite seat, and I cannot +leave it; and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a +suicide." + +"That won't harm ye, my pretty; an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome to +have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap. That won't hurt ye. Why, I've +sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't done me +no harm. Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie +there either! It'll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the +tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field. +There's the clock, an' I must gang. My service to ye, ladies!" And off +he hobbled. + +Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we +took hands as we sat; and she told me all over again about Arthur and +their coming marriage. That made me just a little heart-sick, for I +haven't heard from Jonathan for a whole month. + + * * * * * + +_The same day._ I came up here alone, for I am very sad. There was no +letter for me. I hope there cannot be anything the matter with Jonathan. +The clock has just struck nine. I see the lights scattered all over the +town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and sometimes singly; +they run right up the Esk and die away in the curve of the valley. To my +left the view is cut off by a black line of roof of the old house next +the abbey. The sheep and lambs are bleating in the fields away behind +me, and there is a clatter of a donkey's hoofs up the paved road below. +The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further +along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street. +Neither of the bands hears the other, but up here I hear and see them +both. I wonder where Jonathan is and if he is thinking of me! I wish he +were here. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 June._--The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to +understand the man. He has certain qualities very largely developed; +selfishness, secrecy, and purpose. I wish I could get at what is the +object of the latter. He seems to have some settled scheme of his own, +but what it is I do not yet know. His redeeming quality is a love of +animals, though, indeed, he has such curious turns in it that I +sometimes imagine he is only abnormally cruel. His pets are of odd +sorts. Just now his hobby is catching flies. He has at present such a +quantity that I have had myself to expostulate. To my astonishment, he +did not break out into a fury, as I expected, but took the matter in +simple seriousness. He thought for a moment, and then said: "May I have +three days? I shall clear them away." Of course, I said that would do. I +must watch him. + + * * * * * + +_18 June._--He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several +very big fellows in a box. He keeps feeding them with his flies, and +the number of the latter is becoming sensibly diminished, although he +has used half his food in attracting more flies from outside to his +room. + + * * * * * + +_1 July._--His spiders are now becoming as great a nuisance as his +flies, and to-day I told him that he must get rid of them. He looked +very sad at this, so I said that he must clear out some of them, at all +events. He cheerfully acquiesced in this, and I gave him the same time +as before for reduction. He disgusted me much while with him, for when a +horrid blow-fly, bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, +he caught it, held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger +and thumb, and, before I knew what he was going to do, put it in his +mouth and ate it. I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it +was very good and very wholesome; that it was life, strong life, and +gave life to him. This gave me an idea, or the rudiment of one. I must +watch how he gets rid of his spiders. He has evidently some deep problem +in his mind, for he keeps a little note-book in which he is always +jotting down something. Whole pages of it are filled with masses of +figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the +totals added in batches again, as though he were "focussing" some +account, as the auditors put it. + + * * * * * + +_8 July._--There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in +my mind is growing. It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, +unconscious cerebration! you will have to give the wall to your +conscious brother. I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I +might notice if there were any change. Things remain as they were except +that he has parted with some of his pets and got a new one. He has +managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed it. His means +of taming is simple, for already the spiders have diminished. Those that +do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by +tempting them with his food. + + * * * * * + +_19 July._--We are progressing. My friend has now a whole colony of +sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated. When I came +in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour--a very, +very great favour; and as he spoke he fawned on me like a dog. I asked +him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his voice and +bearing:-- + +"A kitten, a nice little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, +and teach, and feed--and feed--and feed!" I was not unprepared for this +request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and +vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows +should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and the spiders; so +I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a +cat than a kitten. His eagerness betrayed him as he answered:-- + +"Oh, yes, I would like a cat! I only asked for a kitten lest you should +refuse me a cat. No one would refuse me a kitten, would they?" I shook +my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but +that I would see about it. His face fell, and I could see a warning of +danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong look which meant +killing. The man is an undeveloped homicidal maniac. I shall test him +with his present craving and see how it will work out; then I shall know +more. + + * * * * * + +_10 p. m._--I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner +brooding. When I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and +implored me to let him have a cat; that his salvation depended upon it. +I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon +he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the corner +where I had found him. I shall see him in the morning early. + + * * * * * + +_20 July._--Visited Renfield very early, before the attendant went his +rounds. Found him up and humming a tune. He was spreading out his sugar, +which he had saved, in the window, and was manifestly beginning his +fly-catching again; and beginning it cheerfully and with a good grace. I +looked around for his birds, and not seeing them, asked him where they +were. He replied, without turning round, that they had all flown away. +There were a few feathers about the room and on his pillow a drop of +blood. I said nothing, but went and told the keeper to report to me if +there were anything odd about him during the day. + + * * * * * + +_11 a. m._--The attendant has just been to me to say that Renfield has +been very sick and has disgorged a whole lot of feathers. "My belief is, +doctor," he said, "that he has eaten his birds, and that he just took +and ate them raw!" + + * * * * * + +_11 p. m._--I gave Renfield a strong opiate to-night, enough to make +even him sleep, and took away his pocket-book to look at it. The thought +that has been buzzing about my brain lately is complete, and the theory +proved. My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I shall have to +invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoöphagous +(life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he +can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way. He +gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then +wanted a cat to eat the many birds. What would have been his later +steps? It would almost be worth while to complete the experiment. It +might be done if there were only a sufficient cause. Men sneered at +vivisection, and yet look at its results to-day! Why not advance science +in its most difficult and vital aspect--the knowledge of the brain? Had +I even the secret of one such mind--did I hold the key to the fancy of +even one lunatic--I might advance my own branch of science to a pitch +compared with which Burdon-Sanderson's physiology or Ferrier's +brain-knowledge would be as nothing. If only there were a sufficient +cause! I must not think too much of this, or I may be tempted; a good +cause might turn the scale with me, for may not I too be of an +exceptional brain, congenitally? + +How well the man reasoned; lunatics always do within their own scope. I +wonder at how many lives he values a man, or if at only one. He has +closed the account most accurately, and to-day begun a new record. How +many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives? + +To me it seems only yesterday that my whole life ended with my new hope, +and that truly I began a new record. So it will be until the Great +Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a balance to +profit or loss. Oh, Lucy, Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be +angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on +hopeless and work. Work! work! + +If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there--a +good, unselfish cause to make me work--that would be indeed happiness. + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_26 July._--I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here; it +is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time. And +there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it +different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I +had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned; but +yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from +him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said the enclosed +had just been received. It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, +and says that he is just starting for home. That is not like Jonathan; +I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy. Then, too, Lucy, +although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in +her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided +that I am to lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra has +got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and +along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over +with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place. Poor dear, she is +naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy's +father, had the same habit; that he would get up in the night and dress +himself and go out, if he were not stopped. Lucy is to be married in the +autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is +to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan +and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to +make both ends meet. Mr. Holmwood--he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only +son of Lord Godalming--is coming up here very shortly--as soon as he can +leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is +counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up to the seat +on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it +is the waiting which disturbs her; she will be all right when he +arrives. + + * * * * * + +_27 July._--No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him, +though why I should I do not know; but I do wish that he would write, if +it were only a single line. Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I +am awakened by her moving about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so +hot that she cannot get cold; but still the anxiety and the perpetually +being wakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and +wakeful myself. Thank God, Lucy's health keeps up. Mr. Holmwood has been +suddenly called to Ring to see his father, who has been taken seriously +ill. Lucy frets at the postponement of seeing him, but it does not touch +her looks; she is a trifle stouter, and her cheeks are a lovely +rose-pink. She has lost that anæmic look which she had. I pray it will +all last. + + * * * * * + +_3 August._--Another week gone, and no news from Jonathan, not even to +Mr. Hawkins, from whom I have heard. Oh, I do hope he is not ill. He +surely would have written. I look at that last letter of his, but +somehow it does not satisfy me. It does not read like him, and yet it is +his writing. There is no mistake of that. Lucy has not walked much in +her sleep the last week, but there is an odd concentration about her +which I do not understand; even in her sleep she seems to be watching +me. She tries the door, and finding it locked, goes about the room +searching for the key. + +_6 August._--Another three days, and no news. This suspense is getting +dreadful. If I only knew where to write to or where to go to, I should +feel easier; but no one has heard a word of Jonathan since that last +letter. I must only pray to God for patience. Lucy is more excitable +than ever, but is otherwise well. Last night was very threatening, and +the fishermen say that we are in for a storm. I must try to watch it and +learn the weather signs. To-day is a grey day, and the sun as I write is +hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey--except +the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it; grey earthy rock; +grey clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the +grey sea, into which the sand-points stretch like grey fingers. The sea +is tumbling in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, +muffled in the sea-mists drifting inland. The horizon is lost in a grey +mist. All is vastness; the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and +there is a "brool" over the sea that sounds like some presage of doom. +Dark figures are on the beach here and there, sometimes half shrouded in +the mist, and seem "men like trees walking." The fishing-boats are +racing for home, and rise and dip in the ground swell as they sweep into +the harbour, bending to the scuppers. Here comes old Mr. Swales. He is +making straight for me, and I can see, by the way he lifts his hat, that +he wants to talk.... + +I have been quite touched by the change in the poor old man. When he sat +down beside me, he said in a very gentle way:-- + +"I want to say something to you, miss." I could see he was not at ease, +so I took his poor old wrinkled hand in mine and asked him to speak +fully; so he said, leaving his hand in mine:-- + +"I'm afraid, my deary, that I must have shocked you by all the wicked +things I've been sayin' about the dead, and such like, for weeks past; +but I didn't mean them, and I want ye to remember that when I'm gone. We +aud folks that be daffled, and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't +altogether like to think of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it; +an' that's why I've took to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my +own heart a bit. But, Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a +bit; only I don't want to die if I can help it. My time must be nigh at +hand now, for I be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to +expect; and I'm so nigh it that the Aud Man is already whettin' his +scythe. Ye see, I can't get out o' the habit of caffin' about it all at +once; the chafts will wag as they be used to. Some day soon the Angel of +Death will sound his trumpet for me. But don't ye dooal an' greet, my +deary!"--for he saw that I was crying--"if he should come this very +night I'd not refuse to answer his call. For life be, after all, only a +waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin'; and death be all that +we can rightly depend on. But I'm content, for it's comin' to me, my +deary, and comin' quick. It may be comin' while we be lookin' and +wonderin'. Maybe it's in that wind out over the sea that's bringin' with +it loss and wreck, and sore distress, and sad hearts. Look! look!" he +cried suddenly. "There's something in that wind and in the hoast beyont +that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It's in the +air; I feel it comin'. Lord, make me answer cheerful when my call +comes!" He held up his arms devoutly, and raised his hat. His mouth +moved as though he were praying. After a few minutes' silence, he got +up, shook hands with me, and blessed me, and said good-bye, and hobbled +off. It all touched me, and upset me very much. + +I was glad when the coastguard came along, with his spy-glass under his +arm. He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time +kept looking at a strange ship. + +"I can't make her out," he said; "she's a Russian, by the look of her; +but she's knocking about in the queerest way. She doesn't know her mind +a bit; she seems to see the storm coming, but can't decide whether to +run up north in the open, or to put in here. Look there again! She is +steered mighty strangely, for she doesn't mind the hand on the wheel; +changes about with every puff of wind. We'll hear more of her before +this time to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CUTTING FROM "THE DAILYGRAPH," 8 AUGUST + + +(_Pasted in Mina Murray's Journal._) + +From a Correspondent. + +_Whitby_. + +One of the greatest and suddenest storms on record has just been +experienced here, with results both strange and unique. The weather had +been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the month of +August. Saturday evening was as fine as was ever known, and the great +body of holiday-makers laid out yesterday for visits to Mulgrave Woods, +Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes, and the various trips in +the neighbourhood of Whitby. The steamers _Emma_ and _Scarborough_ made +trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of +"tripping" both to and from Whitby. The day was unusually fine till the +afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff +churchyard, and from that commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of +sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of +"mares'-tails" high in the sky to the north-west. The wind was then +blowing from the south-west in the mild degree which in barometrical +language is ranked "No. 2: light breeze." The coastguard on duty at once +made report, and one old fisherman, who for more than half a century has +kept watch on weather signs from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic +manner the coming of a sudden storm. The approach of sunset was so very +beautiful, so grand in its masses of splendidly-coloured clouds, that +there was quite an assemblage on the walk along the cliff in the old +churchyard to enjoy the beauty. Before the sun dipped below the black +mass of Kettleness, standing boldly athwart the western sky, its +downward way was marked by myriad clouds of every sunset-colour--flame, +purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold; with here and +there masses not large, but of seemingly absolute blackness, in all +sorts of shapes, as well outlined as colossal silhouettes. The +experience was not lost on the painters, and doubtless some of the +sketches of the "Prelude to the Great Storm" will grace the R. A. and R. +I. walls in May next. More than one captain made up his mind then and +there that his "cobble" or his "mule," as they term the different +classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed. +The wind fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there +was a dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity which, on +the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive nature. There +were but few lights in sight at sea, for even the coasting steamers, +which usually "hug" the shore so closely, kept well to seaward, and but +few fishing-boats were in sight. The only sail noticeable was a foreign +schooner with all sails set, which was seemingly going westwards. The +foolhardiness or ignorance of her officers was a prolific theme for +comment whilst she remained in sight, and efforts were made to signal +her to reduce sail in face of her danger. Before the night shut down she +was seen with sails idly flapping as she gently rolled on the undulating +swell of the sea, + + "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." + +Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite +oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a sheep +inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly heard, and the +band on the pier, with its lively French air, was like a discord in the +great harmony of nature's silence. A little after midnight came a +strange sound from over the sea, and high overhead the air began to +carry a strange, faint, hollow booming. + +Then without warning the tempest broke. With a rapidity which, at the +time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible to realize, +the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed. The waves rose in +growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till in a very few minutes +the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and devouring monster. +White-crested waves beat madly on the level sands and rushed up the +shelving cliffs; others broke over the piers, and with their spume swept +the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise from the end of either pier +of Whitby Harbour. The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such +force that it was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, +or clung with grim clasp to the iron stanchions. It was found necessary +to clear the entire piers from the mass of onlookers, or else the +fatalities of the night would have been increased manifold. To add to +the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came +drifting inland--white, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, +so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of +imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were +touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and many +a one shuddered as the wreaths of sea-mist swept by. At times the mist +cleared, and the sea for some distance could be seen in the glare of the +lightning, which now came thick and fast, followed by such sudden peals +of thunder that the whole sky overhead seemed trembling under the shock +of the footsteps of the storm. + +Some of the scenes thus revealed were of immeasurable grandeur and of +absorbing interest--the sea, running mountains high, threw skywards with +each wave mighty masses of white foam, which the tempest seemed to +snatch at and whirl away into space; here and there a fishing-boat, with +a rag of sail, running madly for shelter before the blast; now and again +the white wings of a storm-tossed sea-bird. On the summit of the East +Cliff the new searchlight was ready for experiment, but had not yet been +tried. The officers in charge of it got it into working order, and in +the pauses of the inrushing mist swept with it the surface of the sea. +Once or twice its service was most effective, as when a fishing-boat, +with gunwale under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance +of the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the +piers. As each boat achieved the safety of the port there was a shout of +joy from the mass of people on shore, a shout which for a moment seemed +to cleave the gale and was then swept away in its rush. + +Before long the searchlight discovered some distance away a schooner +with all sails set, apparently the same vessel which had been noticed +earlier in the evening. The wind had by this time backed to the east, +and there was a shudder amongst the watchers on the cliff as they +realized the terrible danger in which she now was. Between her and the +port lay the great flat reef on which so many good ships have from time +to time suffered, and, with the wind blowing from its present quarter, +it would be quite impossible that she should fetch the entrance of the +harbour. It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so +great that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost +visible, and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with such +speed that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up somewhere, +if it was only in hell." Then came another rush of sea-fog, greater than +any hitherto--a mass of dank mist, which seemed to close on all things +like a grey pall, and left available to men only the organ of hearing, +for the roar of the tempest, and the crash of the thunder, and the +booming of the mighty billows came through the damp oblivion even louder +than before. The rays of the searchlight were kept fixed on the harbour +mouth across the East Pier, where the shock was expected, and men waited +breathless. The wind suddenly shifted to the north-east, and the remnant +of the sea-fog melted in the blast; and then, _mirabile dictu_, between +the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, +swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and +gained the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed her, and a +shudder ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a +corpse, with drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each +motion of the ship. No other form could be seen on deck at all. A great +awe came on all as they realised that the ship, as if by a miracle, had +found the harbour, unsteered save by the hand of a dead man! However, +all took place more quickly than it takes to write these words. The +schooner paused not, but rushing across the harbour, pitched herself on +that accumulation of sand and gravel washed by many tides and many +storms into the south-east corner of the pier jutting under the East +Cliff, known locally as Tate Hill Pier. + +There was of course a considerable concussion as the vessel drove up on +the sand heap. Every spar, rope, and stay was strained, and some of the +"top-hammer" came crashing down. But, strangest of all, the very instant +the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as +if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow +on the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard +hangs over the laneway to the East Pier so steeply that some of the flat +tombstones--"thruff-steans" or "through-stones," as they call them in +the Whitby vernacular--actually project over where the sustaining cliff +has fallen away, it disappeared in the darkness, which seemed +intensified just beyond the focus of the searchlight. + +It so happened that there was no one at the moment on Tate Hill Pier, as +all those whose houses are in close proximity were either in bed or were +out on the heights above. Thus the coastguard on duty on the eastern +side of the harbour, who at once ran down to the little pier, was the +first to climb on board. The men working the searchlight, after scouring +the entrance of the harbour without seeing anything, then turned the +light on the derelict and kept it there. The coastguard ran aft, and +when he came beside the wheel, bent over to examine it, and recoiled at +once as though under some sudden emotion. This seemed to pique general +curiosity, and quite a number of people began to run. It is a good way +round from the West Cliff by the Drawbridge to Tate Hill Pier, but your +correspondent is a fairly good runner, and came well ahead of the crowd. +When I arrived, however, I found already assembled on the pier a crowd, +whom the coastguard and police refused to allow to come on board. By the +courtesy of the chief boatman, I was, as your correspondent, permitted +to climb on deck, and was one of a small group who saw the dead seaman +whilst actually lashed to the wheel. + +It was no wonder that the coastguard was surprised, or even awed, for +not often can such a sight have been seen. The man was simply fastened +by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between +the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix, the set of beads on which it +was fastened being around both wrists and wheel, and all kept fast by +the binding cords. The poor fellow may have been seated at one time, but +the flapping and buffeting of the sails had worked through the rudder of +the wheel and dragged him to and fro, so that the cords with which he +was tied had cut the flesh to the bone. Accurate note was made of the +state of things, and a doctor--Surgeon J. M. Caffyn, of 33, East Elliot +Place--who came immediately after me, declared, after making +examination, that the man must have been dead for quite two days. In his +pocket was a bottle, carefully corked, empty save for a little roll of +paper, which proved to be the addendum to the log. The coastguard said +the man must have tied up his own hands, fastening the knots with his +teeth. The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some +complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot +claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a +derelict. Already, however, the legal tongues are wagging, and one young +law student is loudly asserting that the rights of the owner are already +completely sacrificed, his property being held in contravention of the +statutes of mortmain, since the tiller, as emblemship, if not proof, of +delegated possession, is held in a _dead hand_. It is needless to say +that the dead steersman has been reverently removed from the place where +he held his honourable watch and ward till death--a steadfastness as +noble as that of the young Casabianca--and placed in the mortuary to +await inquest. + +Already the sudden storm is passing, and its fierceness is abating; +crowds are scattering homeward, and the sky is beginning to redden over +the Yorkshire wolds. I shall send, in time for your next issue, further +details of the derelict ship which found her way so miraculously into +harbour in the storm. + +_Whitby_ + +_9 August._--The sequel to the strange arrival of the derelict in the +storm last night is almost more startling than the thing itself. It +turns out that the schooner is a Russian from Varna, and is called the +_Demeter_. She is almost entirely in ballast of silver sand, with only a +small amount of cargo--a number of great wooden boxes filled with mould. +This cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor, Mr. S. F. Billington, of +7, The Crescent, who this morning went aboard and formally took +possession of the goods consigned to him. The Russian consul, too, +acting for the charter-party, took formal possession of the ship, and +paid all harbour dues, etc. Nothing is talked about here to-day except +the strange coincidence; the officials of the Board of Trade have been +most exacting in seeing that every compliance has been made with +existing regulations. As the matter is to be a "nine days' wonder," they +are evidently determined that there shall be no cause of after +complaint. A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which +landed when the ship struck, and more than a few of the members of the +S. P. C. A., which is very strong in Whitby, have tried to befriend the +animal. To the general disappointment, however, it was not to be found; +it seems to have disappeared entirely from the town. It may be that it +was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it is still +hiding in terror. There are some who look with dread on such a +possibility, lest later on it should in itself become a danger, for it +is evidently a fierce brute. Early this morning a large dog, a half-bred +mastiff belonging to a coal merchant close to Tate Hill Pier, was found +dead in the roadway opposite to its master's yard. It had been fighting, +and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn away, +and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--By the kindness of the Board of Trade inspector, I have been +permitted to look over the log-book of the _Demeter_, which was in order +up to within three days, but contained nothing of special interest +except as to facts of missing men. The greatest interest, however, is +with regard to the paper found in the bottle, which was to-day produced +at the inquest; and a more strange narrative than the two between them +unfold it has not been my lot to come across. As there is no motive for +concealment, I am permitted to use them, and accordingly send you a +rescript, simply omitting technical details of seamanship and +supercargo. It almost seems as though the captain had been seized with +some kind of mania before he had got well into blue water, and that +this had developed persistently throughout the voyage. Of course my +statement must be taken _cum grano_, since I am writing from the +dictation of a clerk of the Russian consul, who kindly translated for +me, time being short. + + LOG OF THE "DEMETER." + + +_Varna to Whitby._ + +_Written 18 July, things so strange happening, that I shall keep +accurate note henceforth till we land._ + + * * * * * + +On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes of earth. +At noon set sail. East wind, fresh. Crew, five hands ... two mates, +cook, and myself (captain). + + * * * * * + +On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus. Boarded by Turkish Customs +officers. Backsheesh. All correct. Under way at 4 p. m. + + * * * * * + +On 12 July through Dardanelles. More Customs officers and flagboat of +guarding squadron. Backsheesh again. Work of officers thorough, but +quick. Want us off soon. At dark passed into Archipelago. + + * * * * * + +On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. +Seemed scared, but would not speak out. + + * * * * * + +On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew. Men all steady fellows, who +sailed with me before. Mate could not make out what was wrong; they only +told him there was _something_, and crossed themselves. Mate lost temper +with one of them that day and struck him. Expected fierce quarrel, but +all was quiet. + + * * * * * + +On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of crew, Petrofsky, was +missing. Could not account for it. Took larboard watch eight bells last +night; was relieved by Abramoff, but did not go to bunk. Men more +downcast than ever. All said they expected something of the kind, but +would not say more than there was _something_ aboard. Mate getting very +impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead. + + * * * * * + +On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin, and in +an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a strange man +aboard the ship. He said that in his watch he had been sheltering +behind the deck-house, as there was a rain-storm, when he saw a tall, +thin man, who was not like any of the crew, come up the companion-way, +and go along the deck forward, and disappear. He followed cautiously, +but when he got to bows found no one, and the hatchways were all closed. +He was in a panic of superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may +spread. To allay it, I shall to-day search entire ship carefully from +stem to stern. + + * * * * * + +Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as they +evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would search from +stem to stern. First mate angry; said it was folly, and to yield to such +foolish ideas would demoralise the men; said he would engage to keep +them out of trouble with a handspike. I let him take the helm, while the +rest began thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns: we left +no corner unsearched. As there were only the big wooden boxes, there +were no odd corners where a man could hide. Men much relieved when +search over, and went back to work cheerfully. First mate scowled, but +said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_22 July_.--Rough weather last three days, and all hands busy with +sails--no time to be frightened. Men seem to have forgotten their dread. +Mate cheerful again, and all on good terms. Praised men for work in bad +weather. Passed Gibralter and out through Straits. All well. + + * * * * * + +_24 July_.--There seems some doom over this ship. Already a hand short, +and entering on the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and yet last +night another man lost--disappeared. Like the first, he came off his +watch and was not seen again. Men all in a panic of fear; sent a round +robin, asking to have double watch, as they fear to be alone. Mate +angry. Fear there will be some trouble, as either he or the men will do +some violence. + + * * * * * + +_28 July_.--Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of maelstrom, +and the wind a tempest. No sleep for any one. Men all worn out. Hardly +know how to set a watch, since no one fit to go on. Second mate +volunteered to steer and watch, and let men snatch a few hours' sleep. +Wind abating; seas still terrific, but feel them less, as ship is +steadier. + + * * * * * + +_29 July_.--Another tragedy. Had single watch to-night, as crew too +tired to double. When morning watch came on deck could find no one +except steersman. Raised outcry, and all came on deck. Thorough search, +but no one found. Are now without second mate, and crew in a panic. Mate +and I agreed to go armed henceforth and wait for any sign of cause. + + * * * * * + +_30 July_.--Last night. Rejoiced we are nearing England. Weather fine, +all sails set. Retired worn out; slept soundly; awaked by mate telling +me that both man of watch and steersman missing. Only self and mate and +two hands left to work ship. + + * * * * * + +_1 August_.--Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted. Had hoped when in +the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get in somewhere. +Not having power to work sails, have to run before wind. Dare not lower, +as could not raise them again. We seem to be drifting to some terrible +doom. Mate now more demoralised than either of men. His stronger nature +seems to have worked inwardly against himself. Men are beyond fear, +working stolidly and patiently, with minds made up to worst. They are +Russian, he Roumanian. + + * * * * * + +_2 August, midnight_.--Woke up from few minutes' sleep by hearing a cry, +seemingly outside my port. Could see nothing in fog. Rushed on deck, and +ran against mate. Tells me heard cry and ran, but no sign of man on +watch. One more gone. Lord, help us! Mate says we must be past Straits +of Dover, as in a moment of fog lifting he saw North Foreland, just as +he heard the man cry out. If so we are now off in the North Sea, and +only God can guide us in the fog, which seems to move with us; and God +seems to have deserted us. + + * * * * * + +_3 August_.--At midnight I went to relieve the man at the wheel, and +when I got to it found no one there. The wind was steady, and as we ran +before it there was no yawing. I dared not leave it, so shouted for the +mate. After a few seconds he rushed up on deck in his flannels. He +looked wild-eyed and haggard, and I greatly fear his reason has given +way. He came close to me and whispered hoarsely, with his mouth to my +ear, as though fearing the very air might hear: "_It_ is here; I know +it, now. On the watch last night I saw It, like a man, tall and thin, +and ghastly pale. It was in the bows, and looking out. I crept behind +It, and gave It my knife; but the knife went through It, empty as the +air." And as he spoke he took his knife and drove it savagely into +space. Then he went on: "But It is here, and I'll find It. It is in the +hold, perhaps in one of those boxes. I'll unscrew them one by one and +see. You work the helm." And, with a warning look and his finger on his +lip, he went below. There was springing up a choppy wind, and I could +not leave the helm. I saw him come out on deck again with a tool-chest +and a lantern, and go down the forward hatchway. He is mad, stark, +raving mad, and it's no use my trying to stop him. He can't hurt those +big boxes: they are invoiced as "clay," and to pull them about is as +harmless a thing as he can do. So here I stay, and mind the helm, and +write these notes. I can only trust in God and wait till the fog clears. +Then, if I can't steer to any harbour with the wind that is, I shall cut +down sails and lie by, and signal for help.... + + * * * * * + +It is nearly all over now. Just as I was beginning to hope that the mate +would come out calmer--for I heard him knocking away at something in the +hold, and work is good for him--there came up the hatchway a sudden, +startled scream, which made my blood run cold, and up on the deck he +came as if shot from a gun--a raging madman, with his eyes rolling and +his face convulsed with fear. "Save me! save me!" he cried, and then +looked round on the blanket of fog. His horror turned to despair, and in +a steady voice he said: "You had better come too, captain, before it is +too late. _He_ is there. I know the secret now. The sea will save me +from Him, and it is all that is left!" Before I could say a word, or +move forward to seize him, he sprang on the bulwark and deliberately +threw himself into the sea. I suppose I know the secret too, now. It was +this madman who had got rid of the men one by one, and now he has +followed them himself. God help me! How am I to account for all these +horrors when I get to port? _When_ I get to port! Will that ever be? + + * * * * * + +_4 August._--Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce. I know there is +sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not. I dared not go +below, I dared not leave the helm; so here all night I stayed, and in +the dimness of the night I saw It--Him! God forgive me, but the mate was +right to jump overboard. It was better to die like a man; to die like a +sailor in blue water no man can object. But I am captain, and I must not +leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie +my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with +them I shall tie that which He--It!--dare not touch; and then, come good +wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my honour as a captain. I am +growing weaker, and the night is coming on. If He can look me in the +face again, I may not have time to act.... If we are wrecked, mayhap +this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand; if not, +... well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trust. God +and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying +to do his duty.... + + * * * * * + +Of course the verdict was an open one. There is no evidence to adduce; +and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now +none to say. The folk here hold almost universally that the captain is +simply a hero, and he is to be given a public funeral. Already it is +arranged that his body is to be taken with a train of boats up the Esk +for a piece and then brought back to Tate Hill Pier and up the abbey +steps; for he is to be buried in the churchyard on the cliff. The owners +of more than a hundred boats have already given in their names as +wishing to follow him to the grave. + +No trace has ever been found of the great dog; at which there is much +mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he would, I +believe, be adopted by the town. To-morrow will see the funeral; and so +will end this one more "mystery of the sea." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_8 August._--Lucy was very restless all night, and I, too, could not +sleep. The storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the +chimney-pots, it made me shudder. When a sharp puff came it seemed to be +like a distant gun. Strangely enough, Lucy did not wake; but she got up +twice and dressed herself. Fortunately, each time I awoke in time and +managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bed. It +is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is +thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, +disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her +life. + +Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see +if anything had happened in the night. There were very few people about, +and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, +grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that +topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth +of the harbour--like a bullying man going through a crowd. Somehow I +felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on land. But, +oh, is he on land or sea? Where is he, and how? I am getting fearfully +anxious about him. If I only knew what to do, and could do anything! + + * * * * * + +_10 August._--The funeral of the poor sea-captain to-day was most +touching. Every boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin +was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the +churchyard. Lucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat, whilst +the cortège of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came down +again. We had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the way. +The poor fellow was laid to rest quite near our seat so that we stood on +it when the time came and saw everything. Poor Lucy seemed much upset. +She was restless and uneasy all the time, and I cannot but think that +her dreaming at night is telling on her. She is quite odd in one thing: +she will not admit to me that there is any cause for restlessness; or if +there be, she does not understand it herself. There is an additional +cause in that poor old Mr. Swales was found dead this morning on our +seat, his neck being broken. He had evidently, as the doctor said, +fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of +fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudder. Poor +dear old man! Perhaps he had seen Death with his dying eyes! Lucy is so +sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other +people do. Just now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did +not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals. One of the men +who came up here often to look for the boats was followed by his dog. +The dog is always with him. They are both quiet persons, and I never saw +the man angry, nor heard the dog bark. During the service the dog would +not come to its master, who was on the seat with us, but kept a few +yards off, barking and howling. Its master spoke to it gently, and then +harshly, and then angrily; but it would neither come nor cease to make a +noise. It was in a sort of fury, with its eyes savage, and all its hairs +bristling out like a cat's tail when puss is on the war-path. Finally +the man, too, got angry, and jumped down and kicked the dog, and then +took it by the scruff of the neck and half dragged and half threw it on +the tombstone on which the seat is fixed. The moment it touched the +stone the poor thing became quiet and fell all into a tremble. It did +not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was +in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, +to comfort it. Lucy was full of pity, too, but she did not attempt to +touch the dog, but looked at it in an agonised sort of way. I greatly +fear that she is of too super-sensitive a nature to go through the world +without trouble. She will be dreaming of this to-night, I am sure. The +whole agglomeration of things--the ship steered into port by a dead +man; his attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads; the +touching funeral; the dog, now furious and now in terror--will all +afford material for her dreams. + +I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I +shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and +back. She ought not to have much inclination for sleep-walking then. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_Same day, 11 o'clock p. m._--Oh, but I am tired! If it were not that I +had made my diary a duty I should not open it to-night. We had a lovely +walk. Lucy, after a while, was in gay spirits, owing, I think, to some +dear cows who came nosing towards us in a field close to the lighthouse, +and frightened the wits out of us. I believe we forgot everything +except, of course, personal fear, and it seemed to wipe the slate clean +and give us a fresh start. We had a capital "severe tea" at Robin Hood's +Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow-window right over +the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand. I believe we should have +shocked the "New Woman" with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless +them! Then we walked home with some, or rather many, stoppages to rest, +and with our hearts full of a constant dread of wild bulls. Lucy was +really tired, and we intended to creep off to bed as soon as we could. +The young curate came in, however, and Mrs. Westenra asked him to stay +for supper. Lucy and I had both a fight for it with the dusty miller; I +know it was a hard fight on my part, and I am quite heroic. I think that +some day the bishops must get together and see about breeding up a new +class of curates, who don't take supper, no matter how they may be +pressed to, and who will know when girls are tired. Lucy is asleep and +breathing softly. She has more colour in her cheeks than usual, and +looks, oh, so sweet. If Mr. Holmwood fell in love with her seeing her +only in the drawing-room, I wonder what he would say if he saw her now. +Some of the "New Women" writers will some day start an idea that men and +women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or +accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to +accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make +of it, too! There's some consolation in that. I am so happy to-night, +because dear Lucy seems better. I really believe she has turned the +corner, and that we are over her troubles with dreaming. I should be +quite happy if I only knew if Jonathan.... God bless and keep him. + + * * * * * + +_11 August, 3 a. m._--Diary again. No sleep now, so I may as well write. +I am too agitated to sleep. We have had such an adventure, such an +agonising experience. I fell asleep as soon as I had closed my diary.... +Suddenly I became broad awake, and sat up, with a horrible sense of fear +upon me, and of some feeling of emptiness around me. The room was dark, +so I could not see Lucy's bed; I stole across and felt for her. The bed +was empty. I lit a match and found that she was not in the room. The +door was shut, but not locked, as I had left it. I feared to wake her +mother, who has been more than usually ill lately, so threw on some +clothes and got ready to look for her. As I was leaving the room it +struck me that the clothes she wore might give me some clue to her +dreaming intention. Dressing-gown would mean house; dress, outside. +Dressing-gown and dress were both in their places. "Thank God," I said +to myself, "she cannot be far, as she is only in her nightdress." I ran +downstairs and looked in the sitting-room. Not there! Then I looked in +all the other open rooms of the house, with an ever-growing fear +chilling my heart. Finally I came to the hall door and found it open. It +was not wide open, but the catch of the lock had not caught. The people +of the house are careful to lock the door every night, so I feared that +Lucy must have gone out as she was. There was no time to think of what +might happen; a vague, overmastering fear obscured all details. I took a +big, heavy shawl and ran out. The clock was striking one as I was in the +Crescent, and there was not a soul in sight. I ran along the North +Terrace, but could see no sign of the white figure which I expected. At +the edge of the West Cliff above the pier I looked across the harbour to +the East Cliff, in the hope or fear--I don't know which--of seeing Lucy +in our favourite seat. There was a bright full moon, with heavy black, +driving clouds, which threw the whole scene into a fleeting diorama of +light and shade as they sailed across. For a moment or two I could see +nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church and all +around it. Then as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the abbey +coming into view; and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as +a sword-cut moved along, the church and the churchyard became gradually +visible. Whatever my expectation was, it was not disappointed, for +there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a +half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too +quick for me to see much, for shadow shut down on light almost +immediately; but it seemed to me as though something dark stood behind +the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, +whether man or beast, I could not tell; I did not wait to catch another +glance, but flew down the steep steps to the pier and along by the +fish-market to the bridge, which was the only way to reach the East +Cliff. The town seemed as dead, for not a soul did I see; I rejoiced +that it was so, for I wanted no witness of poor Lucy's condition. The +time and distance seemed endless, and my knees trembled and my breath +came laboured as I toiled up the endless steps to the abbey. I must have +gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as if my feet were weighted with +lead, and as though every joint in my body were rusty. When I got almost +to the top I could see the seat and the white figure, for I was now +close enough to distinguish it even through the spells of shadow. There +was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the +half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, "Lucy! Lucy!" and +something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face +and red, gleaming eyes. Lucy did not answer, and I ran on to the +entrance of the churchyard. As I entered, the church was between me and +the seat, and for a minute or so I lost sight of her. When I came in +view again the cloud had passed, and the moonlight struck so brilliantly +that I could see Lucy half reclining with her head lying over the back +of the seat. She was quite alone, and there was not a sign of any living +thing about. + +When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips +were parted, and she was breathing--not softly as usual with her, but in +long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every +breath. As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled the +collar of her nightdress close around her throat. Whilst she did so +there came a little shudder through her, as though she felt the cold. I +flung the warm shawl over her, and drew the edges tight round her neck, +for I dreaded lest she should get some deadly chill from the night air, +unclad as she was. I feared to wake her all at once, so, in order to +have my hands free that I might help her, I fastened the shawl at her +throat with a big safety-pin; but I must have been clumsy in my anxiety +and pinched or pricked her with it, for by-and-by, when her breathing +became quieter, she put her hand to her throat again and moaned. When I +had her carefully wrapped up I put my shoes on her feet and then began +very gently to wake her. At first she did not respond; but gradually she +became more and more uneasy in her sleep, moaning and sighing +occasionally. At last, as time was passing fast, and, for many other +reasons, I wished to get her home at once, I shook her more forcibly, +till finally she opened her eyes and awoke. She did not seem surprised +to see me, as, of course, she did not realise all at once where she was. +Lucy always wakes prettily, and even at such a time, when her body must +have been chilled with cold, and her mind somewhat appalled at waking +unclad in a churchyard at night, she did not lose her grace. She +trembled a little, and clung to me; when I told her to come at once with +me home she rose without a word, with the obedience of a child. As we +passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince. She +stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes; but I would not. +However, when we got to the pathway outside the churchyard, where there +was a puddle of water, remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet with +mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home, no +one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare feet. + +Fortune favoured us, and we got home without meeting a soul. Once we saw +a man, who seemed not quite sober, passing along a street in front of +us; but we hid in a door till he had disappeared up an opening such as +there are here, steep little closes, or "wynds," as they call them in +Scotland. My heart beat so loud all the time that sometimes I thought I +should faint. I was filled with anxiety about Lucy, not only for her +health, lest she should suffer from the exposure, but for her reputation +in case the story should get wind. When we got in, and had washed our +feet, and had said a prayer of thankfulness together, I tucked her into +bed. Before falling asleep she asked--even implored--me not to say a +word to any one, even her mother, about her sleep-walking adventure. I +hesitated at first to promise; but on thinking of the state of her +mother's health, and how the knowledge of such a thing would fret her, +and thinking, too, of how such a story might become distorted--nay, +infallibly would--in case it should leak out, I thought it wiser to do +so. I hope I did right. I have locked the door, and the key is tied to +my wrist, so perhaps I shall not be again disturbed. Lucy is sleeping +soundly; the reflex of the dawn is high and far over the sea.... + + * * * * * + +_Same day, noon._--All goes well. Lucy slept till I woke her and seemed +not to have even changed her side. The adventure of the night does not +seem to have harmed her; on the contrary, it has benefited her, for she +looks better this morning than she has done for weeks. I was sorry to +notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her. Indeed, it might +have been serious, for the skin of her throat was pierced. I must have +pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are +two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her nightdress +was a drop of blood. When I apologised and was concerned about it, she +laughed and petted me, and said she did not even feel it. Fortunately it +cannot leave a scar, as it is so tiny. + + * * * * * + +_Same day, night._--We passed a happy day. The air was clear, and the +sun bright, and there was a cool breeze. We took our lunch to Mulgrave +Woods, Mrs. Westenra driving by the road and Lucy and I walking by the +cliff-path and joining her at the gate. I felt a little sad myself, for +I could not but feel how _absolutely_ happy it would have been had +Jonathan been with me. But there! I must only be patient. In the evening +we strolled in the Casino Terrace, and heard some good music by Spohr +and Mackenzie, and went to bed early. Lucy seems more restful than she +has been for some time, and fell asleep at once. I shall lock the door +and secure the key the same as before, though I do not expect any +trouble to-night. + + * * * * * + +_12 August._--My expectations were wrong, for twice during the night I +was wakened by Lucy trying to get out. She seemed, even in her sleep, to +be a little impatient at finding the door shut, and went back to bed +under a sort of protest. I woke with the dawn, and heard the birds +chirping outside of the window. Lucy woke, too, and, I was glad to see, +was even better than on the previous morning. All her old gaiety of +manner seemed to have come back, and she came and snuggled in beside me +and told me all about Arthur. I told her how anxious I was about +Jonathan, and then she tried to comfort me. Well, she succeeded +somewhat, for, though sympathy can't alter facts, it can help to make +them more bearable. + + * * * * * + +_13 August._--Another quiet day, and to bed with the key on my wrist as +before. Again I awoke in the night, and found Lucy sitting up in bed, +still asleep, pointing to the window. I got up quietly, and pulling +aside the blind, looked out. It was brilliant moonlight, and the soft +effect of the light over the sea and sky--merged together in one great, +silent mystery--was beautiful beyond words. Between me and the moonlight +flitted a great bat, coming and going in great whirling circles. Once or +twice it came quite close, but was, I suppose, frightened at seeing me, +and flitted away across the harbour towards the abbey. When I came back +from the window Lucy had lain down again, and was sleeping peacefully. +She did not stir again all night. + + * * * * * + +_14 August._--On the East Cliff, reading and writing all day. Lucy seems +to have become as much in love with the spot as I am, and it is hard to +get her away from it when it is time to come home for lunch or tea or +dinner. This afternoon she made a funny remark. We were coming home for +dinner, and had come to the top of the steps up from the West Pier and +stopped to look at the view, as we generally do. The setting sun, low +down in the sky, was just dropping behind Kettleness; the red light was +thrown over on the East Cliff and the old abbey, and seemed to bathe +everything in a beautiful rosy glow. We were silent for a while, and +suddenly Lucy murmured as if to herself:-- + +"His red eyes again! They are just the same." It was such an odd +expression, coming _apropos_ of nothing, that it quite startled me. I +slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare +at her, and saw that she was in a half-dreamy state, with an odd look on +her face that I could not quite make out; so I said nothing, but +followed her eyes. She appeared to be looking over at our own seat, +whereon was a dark figure seated alone. I was a little startled myself, +for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes like +burning flames; but a second look dispelled the illusion. The red +sunlight was shining on the windows of St. Mary's Church behind our +seat, and as the sun dipped there was just sufficient change in the +refraction and reflection to make it appear as if the light moved. I +called Lucy's attention to the peculiar effect, and she became herself +with a start, but she looked sad all the same; it may have been that she +was thinking of that terrible night up there. We never refer to it; so I +said nothing, and we went home to dinner. Lucy had a headache and went +early to bed. I saw her asleep, and went out for a little stroll myself; +I walked along the cliffs to the westward, and was full of sweet +sadness, for I was thinking of Jonathan. When coming home--it was then +bright moonlight, so bright that, though the front of our part of the +Crescent was in shadow, everything could be well seen--I threw a glance +up at our window, and saw Lucy's head leaning out. I thought that +perhaps she was looking out for me, so I opened my handkerchief and +waved it. She did not notice or make any movement whatever. Just then, +the moonlight crept round an angle of the building, and the light fell +on the window. There distinctly was Lucy with her head lying up against +the side of the window-sill and her eyes shut. She was fast asleep, and +by her, seated on the window-sill, was something that looked like a +good-sized bird. I was afraid she might get a chill, so I ran upstairs, +but as I came into the room she was moving back to her bed, fast +asleep, and breathing heavily; she was holding her hand to her throat, +as though to protect it from cold. + +I did not wake her, but tucked her up warmly; I have taken care that the +door is locked and the window securely fastened. + +She looks so sweet as she sleeps; but she is paler than is her wont, and +there is a drawn, haggard look under her eyes which I do not like. I +fear she is fretting about something. I wish I could find out what it +is. + + * * * * * + +_15 August._--Rose later than usual. Lucy was languid and tired, and +slept on after we had been called. We had a happy surprise at breakfast. +Arthur's father is better, and wants the marriage to come off soon. Lucy +is full of quiet joy, and her mother is glad and sorry at once. Later on +in the day she told me the cause. She is grieved to lose Lucy as her +very own, but she is rejoiced that she is soon to have some one to +protect her. Poor dear, sweet lady! She confided to me that she has got +her death-warrant. She has not told Lucy, and made me promise secrecy; +her doctor told her that within a few months, at most, she must die, for +her heart is weakening. At any time, even now, a sudden shock would be +almost sure to kill her. Ah, we were wise to keep from her the affair of +the dreadful night of Lucy's sleep-walking. + + * * * * * + +_17 August._--No diary for two whole days. I have not had the heart to +write. Some sort of shadowy pall seems to be coming over our happiness. +No news from Jonathan, and Lucy seems to be growing weaker, whilst her +mother's hours are numbering to a close. I do not understand Lucy's +fading away as she is doing. She eats well and sleeps well, and enjoys +the fresh air; but all the time the roses in her cheeks are fading, and +she gets weaker and more languid day by day; at night I hear her gasping +as if for air. I keep the key of our door always fastened to my wrist at +night, but she gets up and walks about the room, and sits at the open +window. Last night I found her leaning out when I woke up, and when I +tried to wake her I could not; she was in a faint. When I managed to +restore her she was as weak as water, and cried silently between long, +painful struggles for breath. When I asked her how she came to be at the +window she shook her head and turned away. I trust her feeling ill may +not be from that unlucky prick of the safety-pin. I looked at her throat +just now as she lay asleep, and the tiny wounds seem not to have healed. +They are still open, and, if anything, larger than before, and the +edges of them are faintly white. They are like little white dots with +red centres. Unless they heal within a day or two, I shall insist on the +doctor seeing about them. + + +_Letter, Samuel F. Billington & Son, Solicitors, Whitby, to Messrs. +Carter, Paterson & Co., London._ + +"_17 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"Herewith please receive invoice of goods sent by Great Northern +Railway. Same are to be delivered at Carfax, near Purfleet, immediately +on receipt at goods station King's Cross. The house is at present empty, +but enclosed please find keys, all of which are labelled. + +"You will please deposit the boxes, fifty in number, which form the +consignment, in the partially ruined building forming part of the house +and marked 'A' on rough diagram enclosed. Your agent will easily +recognise the locality, as it is the ancient chapel of the mansion. The +goods leave by the train at 9:30 to-night, and will be due at King's +Cross at 4:30 to-morrow afternoon. As our client wishes the delivery +made as soon as possible, we shall be obliged by your having teams ready +at King's Cross at the time named and forthwith conveying the goods to +destination. In order to obviate any delays possible through any routine +requirements as to payment in your departments, we enclose cheque +herewith for ten pounds (£10), receipt of which please acknowledge. +Should the charge be less than this amount, you can return balance; if +greater, we shall at once send cheque for difference on hearing from +you. You are to leave the keys on coming away in the main hall of the +house, where the proprietor may get them on his entering the house by +means of his duplicate key. + +"Pray do not take us as exceeding the bounds of business courtesy in +pressing you in all ways to use the utmost expedition. + +_"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON."_ + + +_Letter, Messrs. Carter, Paterson & Co., London, to Messrs. Billington & +Son, Whitby._ + +"_21 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"We beg to acknowledge £10 received and to return cheque £1 17s. 9d, +amount of overplus, as shown in receipted account herewith. Goods are +delivered in exact accordance with instructions, and keys left in parcel +in main hall, as directed. + +"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Yours respectfully. + +"_Pro_ CARTER, PATERSON & CO." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_18 August._--I am happy to-day, and write sitting on the seat in the +churchyard. Lucy is ever so much better. Last night she slept well all +night, and did not disturb me once. The roses seem coming back already +to her cheeks, though she is still sadly pale and wan-looking. If she +were in any way anæmic I could understand it, but she is not. She is in +gay spirits and full of life and cheerfulness. All the morbid reticence +seems to have passed from her, and she has just reminded me, as if I +needed any reminding, of _that_ night, and that it was here, on this +very seat, I found her asleep. As she told me she tapped playfully with +the heel of her boot on the stone slab and said:-- + +"My poor little feet didn't make much noise then! I daresay poor old Mr. +Swales would have told me that it was because I didn't want to wake up +Geordie." As she was in such a communicative humour, I asked her if she +had dreamed at all that night. Before she answered, that sweet, puckered +look came into her forehead, which Arthur--I call him Arthur from her +habit--says he loves; and, indeed, I don't wonder that he does. Then she +went on in a half-dreaming kind of way, as if trying to recall it to +herself:-- + +"I didn't quite dream; but it all seemed to be real. I only wanted to be +here in this spot--I don't know why, for I was afraid of something--I +don't know what. I remember, though I suppose I was asleep, passing +through the streets and over the bridge. A fish leaped as I went by, and +I leaned over to look at it, and I heard a lot of dogs howling--the +whole town seemed as if it must be full of dogs all howling at once--as +I went up the steps. Then I had a vague memory of something long and +dark with red eyes, just as we saw in the sunset, and something very +sweet and very bitter all around me at once; and then I seemed sinking +into deep green water, and there was a singing in my ears, as I have +heard there is to drowning men; and then everything seemed passing away +from me; my soul seemed to go out from my body and float about the air. +I seem to remember that once the West Lighthouse was right under me, +and then there was a sort of agonising feeling, as if I were in an +earthquake, and I came back and found you shaking my body. I saw you do +it before I felt you." + +Then she began to laugh. It seemed a little uncanny to me, and I +listened to her breathlessly. I did not quite like it, and thought it +better not to keep her mind on the subject, so we drifted on to other +subjects, and Lucy was like her old self again. When we got home the +fresh breeze had braced her up, and her pale cheeks were really more +rosy. Her mother rejoiced when she saw her, and we all spent a very +happy evening together. + + * * * * * + +_19 August._--Joy, joy, joy! although not all joy. At last, news of +Jonathan. The dear fellow has been ill; that is why he did not write. I +am not afraid to think it or say it, now that I know. Mr. Hawkins sent +me on the letter, and wrote himself, oh, so kindly. I am to leave in the +morning and go over to Jonathan, and to help to nurse him if necessary, +and to bring him home. Mr. Hawkins says it would not be a bad thing if +we were to be married out there. I have cried over the good Sister's +letter till I can feel it wet against my bosom, where it lies. It is of +Jonathan, and must be next my heart, for he is _in_ my heart. My journey +is all mapped out, and my luggage ready. I am only taking one change of +dress; Lucy will bring my trunk to London and keep it till I send for +it, for it may be that ... I must write no more; I must keep it to say +to Jonathan, my husband. The letter that he has seen and touched must +comfort me till we meet. + + +_Letter, Sister Agatha, Hospital of St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, +Buda-Pesth, to Miss Wilhelmina Murray._ + +"_12 August._ + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not strong +enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St. Joseph +and Ste. Mary. He has been under our care for nearly six weeks, +suffering from a violent brain fever. He wishes me to convey his love, +and to say that by this post I write for him to Mr. Peter Hawkins, +Exeter, to say, with his dutiful respects, that he is sorry for his +delay, and that all of his work is completed. He will require some few +weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but will then return. He +wishes me to say that he has not sufficient money with him, and that he +would like to pay for his staying here, so that others who need shall +not be wanting for help. + +"Believe me, + +"Yours, with sympathy and all blessings, + +"SISTER AGATHA. + +"P. S.--My patient being asleep, I open this to let you know something +more. He has told me all about you, and that you are shortly to be his +wife. All blessings to you both! He has had some fearful shock--so says +our doctor--and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful; of +wolves and poison and blood; of ghosts and demons; and I fear to say of +what. Be careful with him always that there may be nothing to excite him +of this kind for a long time to come; the traces of such an illness as +his do not lightly die away. We should have written long ago, but we +knew nothing of his friends, and there was on him nothing that any one +could understand. He came in the train from Klausenburg, and the guard +was told by the station-master there that he rushed into the station +shouting for a ticket for home. Seeing from his violent demeanour that +he was English, they gave him a ticket for the furthest station on the +way thither that the train reached. + +"Be assured that he is well cared for. He has won all hearts by his +sweetness and gentleness. He is truly getting on well, and I have no +doubt will in a few weeks be all himself. But be careful of him for +safety's sake. There are, I pray God and St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, many, +many, happy years for you both." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_19 August._--Strange and sudden change in Renfield last night. About +eight o'clock he began to get excited and sniff about as a dog does when +setting. The attendant was struck by his manner, and knowing my interest +in him, encouraged him to talk. He is usually respectful to the +attendant and at times servile; but to-night, the man tells me, he was +quite haughty. Would not condescend to talk with him at all. All he +would say was:-- + + "I don't want to talk to you: you don't count now; the Master is at + hand." + +The attendant thinks it is some sudden form of religious mania which has +seized him. If so, we must look out for squalls, for a strong man with +homicidal and religious mania at once might be dangerous. The +combination is a dreadful one. At nine o'clock I visited him myself. His +attitude to me was the same as that to the attendant; in his sublime +self-feeling the difference between myself and attendant seemed to him +as nothing. It looks like religious mania, and he will soon think that +he himself is God. These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man +are too paltry for an Omnipotent Being. How these madmen give themselves +away! The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created +from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow. Oh, +if men only knew! + +For half an hour or more Renfield kept getting excited in greater and +greater degree. I did not pretend to be watching him, but I kept strict +observation all the same. All at once that shifty look came into his +eyes which we always see when a madman has seized an idea, and with it +the shifty movement of the head and back which asylum attendants come to +know so well. He became quite quiet, and went and sat on the edge of his +bed resignedly, and looked into space with lack-lustre eyes. I thought I +would find out if his apathy were real or only assumed, and tried to +lead him to talk of his pets, a theme which had never failed to excite +his attention. At first he made no reply, but at length said testily:-- + +"Bother them all! I don't care a pin about them." + +"What?" I said. "You don't mean to tell me you don't care about +spiders?" (Spiders at present are his hobby and the note-book is filling +up with columns of small figures.) To this he answered enigmatically:-- + +"The bride-maidens rejoice the eyes that wait the coming of the bride; +but when the bride draweth nigh, then the maidens shine not to the eyes +that are filled." + +He would not explain himself, but remained obstinately seated on his bed +all the time I remained with him. + +I am weary to-night and low in spirits. I cannot but think of Lucy, and +how different things might have been. If I don't sleep at once, chloral, +the modern Morpheus--C_{2}HCl_{3}O. H_{2}O! I must be careful not to let +it grow into a habit. No, I shall take none to-night! I have thought of +Lucy, and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two. If need be, +to-night shall be sleepless.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Glad I made the resolution; gladder that I kept to it. I had +lain tossing about, and had heard the clock strike only twice, when the +night-watchman came to me, sent up from the ward, to say that Renfield +had escaped. I threw on my clothes and ran down at once; my patient is +too dangerous a person to be roaming about. Those ideas of his might +work out dangerously with strangers. The attendant was waiting for me. +He said he had seen him not ten minutes before, seemingly asleep in his +bed, when he had looked through the observation-trap in the door. His +attention was called by the sound of the window being wrenched out. He +ran back and saw his feet disappear through the window, and had at once +sent up for me. He was only in his night-gear, and cannot be far off. +The attendant thought it would be more useful to watch where he should +go than to follow him, as he might lose sight of him whilst getting out +of the building by the door. He is a bulky man, and couldn't get through +the window. I am thin, so, with his aid, I got out, but feet foremost, +and, as we were only a few feet above ground, landed unhurt. The +attendant told me the patient had gone to the left, and had taken a +straight line, so I ran as quickly as I could. As I got through the belt +of trees I saw a white figure scale the high wall which separates our +grounds from those of the deserted house. + +I ran back at once, told the watchman to get three or four men +immediately and follow me into the grounds of Carfax, in case our friend +might be dangerous. I got a ladder myself, and crossing the wall, +dropped down on the other side. I could see Renfield's figure just +disappearing behind the angle of the house, so I ran after him. On the +far side of the house I found him pressed close against the old +ironbound oak door of the chapel. He was talking, apparently to some +one, but I was afraid to go near enough to hear what he was saying, lest +I might frighten him, and he should run off. Chasing an errant swarm of +bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic, when the fit of escaping +is upon him! After a few minutes, however, I could see that he did not +take note of anything around him, and so ventured to draw nearer to +him--the more so as my men had now crossed the wall and were closing him +in. I heard him say:-- + +"I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will +reward me, for I shall be faithful. I have worshipped You long and afar +off. Now that You are near, I await Your commands, and You will not pass +me by, will You, dear Master, in Your distribution of good things?" + +He _is_ a selfish old beggar anyhow. He thinks of the loaves and fishes +even when he believes he is in a Real Presence. His manias make a +startling combination. When we closed in on him he fought like a tiger. +He is immensely strong, for he was more like a wild beast than a man. I +never saw a lunatic in such a paroxysm of rage before; and I hope I +shall not again. It is a mercy that we have found out his strength and +his danger in good time. With strength and determination like his, he +might have done wild work before he was caged. He is safe now at any +rate. Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat +that keeps him restrained, and he's chained to the wall in the padded +room. His cries are at times awful, but the silences that follow are +more deadly still, for he means murder in every turn and movement. + +Just now he spoke coherent words for the first time:-- + +"I shall be patient, Master. It is coming--coming--coming!" + +So I took the hint, and came too. I was too excited to sleep, but this +diary has quieted me, and I feel I shall get some sleep to-night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +"_Buda-Pesth, 24 August._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"I know you will be anxious to hear all that has happened since we +parted at the railway station at Whitby. Well, my dear, I got to Hull +all right, and caught the boat to Hamburg, and then the train on here. I +feel that I can hardly recall anything of the journey, except that I +knew I was coming to Jonathan, and, that as I should have to do some +nursing, I had better get all the sleep I could.... I found my dear one, +oh, so thin and pale and weak-looking. All the resolution has gone out +of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his +face has vanished. He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not +remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At +least, he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask. He has had some +terrible shock, and I fear it might tax his poor brain if he were to try +to recall it. Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and a born nurse, +tells me that he raved of dreadful things whilst he was off his head. I +wanted her to tell me what they were; but she would only cross herself, +and say she would never tell; that the ravings of the sick were the +secrets of God, and that if a nurse through her vocation should hear +them, she should respect her trust. She is a sweet, good soul, and the +next day, when she saw I was troubled, she opened up the subject again, +and after saying that she could never mention what my poor dear raved +about, added: 'I can tell you this much, my dear: that it was not about +anything which he has done wrong himself; and you, as his wife to be, +have no cause to be concerned. He has not forgotten you or what he owes +to you. His fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can +treat of.' I do believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my +poor dear should have fallen in love with any other girl. The idea of +_my_ being jealous about Jonathan! And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I +felt a thrill of joy through me when I _knew_ that no other woman was a +cause of trouble. I am now sitting by his bedside, where I can see his +face while he sleeps. He is waking!... + +"When he woke he asked me for his coat, as he wanted to get something +from the pocket; I asked Sister Agatha, and she brought all his things. +I saw that amongst them was his note-book, and was going to ask him to +let me look at it--for I knew then that I might find some clue to his +trouble--but I suppose he must have seen my wish in my eyes, for he sent +me over to the window, saying he wanted to be quite alone for a moment. +Then he called me back, and when I came he had his hand over the +note-book, and he said to me very solemnly:-- + +"'Wilhelmina'--I knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has +never called me by that name since he asked me to marry him--'you know, +dear, my ideas of the trust between husband and wife: there should be no +secret, no concealment. I have had a great shock, and when I try to +think of what it is I feel my head spin round, and I do not know if it +was all real or the dreaming of a madman. You know I have had brain +fever, and that is to be mad. The secret is here, and I do not want to +know it. I want to take up my life here, with our marriage.' For, my +dear, we had decided to be married as soon as the formalities are +complete. 'Are you willing, Wilhelmina, to share my ignorance? Here is +the book. Take it and keep it, read it if you will, but never let me +know; unless, indeed, some solemn duty should come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, sane or mad, recorded here.' He fell +back exhausted, and I put the book under his pillow, and kissed him. I +have asked Sister Agatha to beg the Superior to let our wedding be this +afternoon, and am waiting her reply.... + + * * * * * + +"She has come and told me that the chaplain of the English mission +church has been sent for. We are to be married in an hour, or as soon +after as Jonathan awakes.... + + * * * * * + +"Lucy, the time has come and gone. I feel very solemn, but very, very +happy. Jonathan woke a little after the hour, and all was ready, and he +sat up in bed, propped up with pillows. He answered his 'I will' firmly +and strongly. I could hardly speak; my heart was so full that even those +words seemed to choke me. The dear sisters were so kind. Please God, I +shall never, never forget them, nor the grave and sweet responsibilities +I have taken upon me. I must tell you of my wedding present. When the +chaplain and the sisters had left me alone with my husband--oh, Lucy, it +is the first time I have written the words 'my husband'--left me alone +with my husband, I took the book from under his pillow, and wrapped it +up in white paper, and tied it with a little bit of pale blue ribbon +which was round my neck, and sealed it over the knot with sealing-wax, +and for my seal I used my wedding ring. Then I kissed it and showed it +to my husband, and told him that I would keep it so, and then it would +be an outward and visible sign for us all our lives that we trusted each +other; that I would never open it unless it were for his own dear sake +or for the sake of some stern duty. Then he took my hand in his, and oh, +Lucy, it was the first time he took _his wife's_ hand, and said that it +was the dearest thing in all the wide world, and that he would go +through all the past again to win it, if need be. The poor dear meant to +have said a part of the past, but he cannot think of time yet, and I +shall not wonder if at first he mixes up not only the month, but the +year. + +"Well, my dear, what could I say? I could only tell him that I was the +happiest woman in all the wide world, and that I had nothing to give him +except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these went my love +and duty for all the days of my life. And, my dear, when he kissed me, +and drew me to him with his poor weak hands, it was like a very solemn +pledge between us.... + +"Lucy dear, do you know why I tell you all this? It is not only because +it is all sweet to me, but because you have been, and are, very dear to +me. It was my privilege to be your friend and guide when you came from +the schoolroom to prepare for the world of life. I want you to see now, +and with the eyes of a very happy wife, whither duty has led me; so that +in your own married life you too may be all happy as I am. My dear, +please Almighty God, your life may be all it promises: a long day of +sunshine, with no harsh wind, no forgetting duty, no distrust. I must +not wish you no pain, for that can never be; but I do hope you will be +_always_ as happy as I am _now_. Good-bye, my dear. I shall post this at +once, and, perhaps, write you very soon again. I must stop, for Jonathan +is waking--I must attend to my husband! + +"Your ever-loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Harker._ + +"_Whitby, 30 August._ + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Oceans of love and millions of kisses, and may you soon be in your own +home with your husband. I wish you could be coming home soon enough to +stay with us here. The strong air would soon restore Jonathan; it has +quite restored me. I have an appetite like a cormorant, am full of +life, and sleep well. You will be glad to know that I have quite given +up walking in my sleep. I think I have not stirred out of my bed for a +week, that is when I once got into it at night. Arthur says I am getting +fat. By the way, I forgot to tell you that Arthur is here. We have such +walks and drives, and rides, and rowing, and tennis, and fishing +together; and I love him more than ever. He _tells_ me that he loves me +more, but I doubt that, for at first he told me that he couldn't love me +more than he did then. But this is nonsense. There he is, calling to me. +So no more just at present from your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P. S.--Mother sends her love. She seems better, poor dear. "P. P. +S.--We are to be married on 28 September." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 August._--The case of Renfield grows even more interesting. He has +now so far quieted that there are spells of cessation from his passion. +For the first week after his attack he was perpetually violent. Then one +night, just as the moon rose, he grew quiet, and kept murmuring to +himself: "Now I can wait; now I can wait." The attendant came to tell +me, so I ran down at once to have a look at him. He was still in the +strait-waistcoat and in the padded room, but the suffused look had gone +from his face, and his eyes had something of their old pleading--I might +almost say, "cringing"--softness. I was satisfied with his present +condition, and directed him to be relieved. The attendants hesitated, +but finally carried out my wishes without protest. It was a strange +thing that the patient had humour enough to see their distrust, for, +coming close to me, he said in a whisper, all the while looking +furtively at them:-- + +"They think I could hurt you! Fancy _me_ hurting _you_! The fools!" + +It was soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself dissociated +even in the mind of this poor madman from the others; but all the same I +do not follow his thought. Am I to take it that I have anything in +common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together; or has +he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well-being is needful +to him? I must find out later on. To-night he will not speak. Even the +offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat will not tempt him. He will +only say: "I don't take any stock in cats. I have more to think of now, +and I can wait; I can wait." + +After a while I left him. The attendant tells me that he was quiet +until just before dawn, and that then he began to get uneasy, and at +length violent, until at last he fell into a paroxysm which exhausted +him so that he swooned into a sort of coma. + + * * * * * + +... Three nights has the same thing happened--violent all day then quiet +from moonrise to sunrise. I wish I could get some clue to the cause. It +would almost seem as if there was some influence which came and went. +Happy thought! We shall to-night play sane wits against mad ones. He +escaped before without our help; to-night he shall escape with it. We +shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow in case they +are required.... + + * * * * * + +_23 August._--"The unexpected always happens." How well Disraeli knew +life. Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly, so all our +subtle arrangements were for nought. At any rate, we have proved one +thing; that the spells of quietness last a reasonable time. We shall in +future be able to ease his bonds for a few hours each day. I have given +orders to the night attendant merely to shut him in the padded room, +when once he is quiet, until an hour before sunrise. The poor soul's +body will enjoy the relief even if his mind cannot appreciate it. Hark! +The unexpected again! I am called; the patient has once more escaped. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another night adventure. Renfield artfully waited until the +attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past him +and flew down the passage. I sent word for the attendants to follow. +Again he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we found him +in the same place, pressed against the old chapel door. When he saw me +he became furious, and had not the attendants seized him in time, he +would have tried to kill me. As we were holding him a strange thing +happened. He suddenly redoubled his efforts, and then as suddenly grew +calm. I looked round instinctively, but could see nothing. Then I caught +the patient's eye and followed it, but could trace nothing as it looked +into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was flapping its silent and +ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit about, but this one +seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound for or had +some intention of its own. The patient grew calmer every instant, and +presently said:-- + +"You needn't tie me; I shall go quietly!" Without trouble we came back +to the house. I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall +not forget this night.... + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary_ + +_Hillingham, 24 August._--I must imitate Mina, and keep writing things +down. Then we can have long talks when we do meet. I wonder when it will +be. I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy. Last night I +seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby. Perhaps it is the +change of air, or getting home again. It is all dark and horrid to me, +for I can remember nothing; but I am full of vague fear, and I feel so +weak and worn out. When Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved +when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to be cheerful. I wonder +if I could sleep in mother's room to-night. I shall make an excuse and +try. + + * * * * * + +_25 August._--Another bad night. Mother did not seem to take to my +proposal. She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to +worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but when the +clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been falling +asleep. There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I +did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have +fallen asleep. More bad dreams. I wish I could remember them. This +morning I am horribly weak. My face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains +me. It must be something wrong with my lungs, for I don't seem ever to +get air enough. I shall try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I +know he will be miserable to see me so. + + +_Letter, Arthur Holmwood to Dr. Seward._ + +"_Albemarle Hotel, 31 August._ + +"My dear Jack,-- + +"I want you to do me a favour. Lucy is ill; that is, she has no special +disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every day. I have +asked her if there is any cause; I do not dare to ask her mother, for to +disturb the poor lady's mind about her daughter in her present state of +health would be fatal. Mrs. Westenra has confided to me that her doom is +spoken--disease of the heart--though poor Lucy does not know it yet. I +am sure that there is something preying on my dear girl's mind. I am +almost distracted when I think of her; to look at her gives me a pang. I +told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at +first--I know why, old fellow--she finally consented. It will be a +painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it is for _her_ sake, and +I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act. You are to come to lunch at +Hillingham to-morrow, two o'clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in +Mrs. Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being +alone with you. I shall come in for tea, and we can go away together; I +am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I +can after you have seen her. Do not fail! + +"ARTHUR." + + +_Telegram, Arthur Holmwood to Seward._ + +"_1 September._ + +"Am summoned to see my father, who is worse. Am writing. Write me fully +by to-night's post to Ring. Wire me if necessary." + + +_Letter from Dr. Seward to Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My dear old fellow,-- + +"With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at once +that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady +that I know of. At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with +her appearance; she is woefully different from what she was when I saw +her last. Of course you must bear in mind that I did not have full +opportunity of examination such as I should wish; our very friendship +makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can +bridge over. I had better tell you exactly what happened, leaving you to +draw, in a measure, your own conclusions. I shall then say what I have +done and propose doing. + +"I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, +and in a few seconds I made up my mind that she was trying all she knew +to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious. I have no +doubt she guesses, if she does not know, what need of caution there is. +We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we +got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real cheerfulness +amongst us. Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and Lucy was left with +me. We went into her boudoir, and till we got there her gaiety remained, +for the servants were coming and going. As soon as the door was closed, +however, the mask fell from her face, and she sank down into a chair +with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her hand. When I saw that her +high spirits had failed, I at once took advantage of her reaction to +make a diagnosis. She said to me very sweetly:-- + +"'I cannot tell you how I loathe talking about myself.' I reminded her +that a doctor's confidence was sacred, but that you were grievously +anxious about her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that +matter in a word. 'Tell Arthur everything you choose. I do not care for +myself, but all for him!' So I am quite free. + +"I could easily see that she is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see +the usual anæmic signs, and by a chance I was actually able to test the +quality of her blood, for in opening a window which was stiff a cord +gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with broken glass. It was a +slight matter in itself, but it gave me an evident chance, and I secured +a few drops of the blood and have analysed them. The qualitative +analysis gives a quite normal condition, and shows, I should infer, in +itself a vigorous state of health. In other physical matters I was quite +satisfied that there is no need for anxiety; but as there must be a +cause somewhere, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something +mental. She complains of difficulty in breathing satisfactorily at +times, and of heavy, lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but +regarding which she can remember nothing. She says that as a child she +used to walk in her sleep, and that when in Whitby the habit came back, +and that once she walked out in the night and went to East Cliff, where +Miss Murray found her; but she assures me that of late the habit has not +returned. I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of; I +have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of +Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the +world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that all things +were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who you are and your +relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow, is in obedience to +your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to do anything I can for +her. Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal +reason, so, no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his +wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, but this is because he knows +what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a philosopher +and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; +and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron +nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, an indomitable resolution, +self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the +kindliest and truest heart that beats--these form his equipment for the +noble work that he is doing for mankind--work both in theory and +practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy. I +tell you these facts that you may know why I have such confidence in +him. I have asked him to come at once. I shall see Miss Westenra +to-morrow again. She is to meet me at the Stores, so that I may not +alarm her mother by too early a repetition of my call. + +"Yours always, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Letter, Abraham Van Helsing, M. D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc., to Dr. +Seward._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My good Friend,-- + +"When I have received your letter I am already coming to you. By good +fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who have +trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who have +trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those he holds +dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so +swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other +friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my +aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do. But it +is pleasure added to do for him, your friend; it is to you that I come. +Have then rooms for me at the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I may be near +to hand, and please it so arrange that we may see the young lady not too +late on to-morrow, for it is likely that I may have to return here that +night. But if need be I shall come again in three days, and stay longer +if it must. Till then good-bye, my friend John. + + "VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_3 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"Van Helsing has come and gone. He came on with me to Hillingham, and +found that, by Lucy's discretion, her mother was lunching out, so that +we were alone with her. Van Helsing made a very careful examination of +the patient. He is to report to me, and I shall advise you, for of +course I was not present all the time. He is, I fear, much concerned, +but says he must think. When I told him of our friendship and how you +trust to me in the matter, he said: 'You must tell him all you think. +Tell him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will. Nay, I am not +jesting. This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.' I asked +what he meant by that, for he was very serious. This was when we had +come back to town, and he was having a cup of tea before starting on his +return to Amsterdam. He would not give me any further clue. You must not +be angry with me, Art, because his very reticence means that all his +brains are working for her good. He will speak plainly enough when the +time comes, be sure. So I told him I would simply write an account of +our visit, just as if I were doing a descriptive special article for +_The Daily Telegraph_. He seemed not to notice, but remarked that the +smuts in London were not quite so bad as they used to be when he was a +student here. I am to get his report to-morrow if he can possibly make +it. In any case I am to have a letter. + +"Well, as to the visit. Lucy was more cheerful than on the day I first +saw her, and certainly looked better. She had lost something of the +ghastly look that so upset you, and her breathing was normal. She was +very sweet to the professor (as she always is), and tried to make him +feel at ease; though I could see that the poor girl was making a hard +struggle for it. I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw the quick +look under his bushy brows that I knew of old. Then he began to chat of +all things except ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite +geniality that I could see poor Lucy's pretense of animation merge into +reality. Then, without any seeming change, he brought the conversation +gently round to his visit, and suavely said:-- + +"'My dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you are so +much beloved. That is much, my dear, ever were there that which I do not +see. They told me you were down in the spirit, and that you were of a +ghastly pale. To them I say: "Pouf!"' And he snapped his fingers at me +and went on: 'But you and I shall show them how wrong they are. How can +he'--and he pointed at me with the same look and gesture as that with +which once he pointed me out to his class, on, or rather after, a +particular occasion which he never fails to remind me of--'know anything +of a young ladies? He has his madams to play with, and to bring them +back to happiness, and to those that love them. It is much to do, and, +oh, but there are rewards, in that we can bestow such happiness. But the +young ladies! He has no wife nor daughter, and the young do not tell +themselves to the young, but to the old, like me, who have known so many +sorrows and the causes of them. So, my dear, we will send him away to +smoke the cigarette in the garden, whiles you and I have little talk all +to ourselves.' I took the hint, and strolled about, and presently the +professor came to the window and called me in. He looked grave, but +said: 'I have made careful examination, but there is no functional +cause. With you I agree that there has been much blood lost; it has +been, but is not. But the conditions of her are in no way anæmic. I have +asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or two question, +that so I may not chance to miss nothing. I know well what she will say. +And yet there is cause; there is always cause for everything. I must go +back home and think. You must send to me the telegram every day; and if +there be cause I shall come again. The disease--for not to be all well +is a disease--interest me, and the sweet young dear, she interest me +too. She charm me, and for her, if not for you or disease, I come.' + +"As I tell you, he would not say a word more, even when we were alone. +And so now, Art, you know all I know. I shall keep stern watch. I trust +your poor father is rallying. It must be a terrible thing to you, my +dear old fellow, to be placed in such a position between two people who +are both so dear to you. I know your idea of duty to your father, and +you are right to stick to it; but, if need be, I shall send you word to +come at once to Lucy; so do not be over-anxious unless you hear from +me." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_4 September._--Zoöphagous patient still keeps up our interest in him. +He had only one outburst and that was yesterday at an unusual time. Just +before the stroke of noon he began to grow restless. The attendant knew +the symptoms, and at once summoned aid. Fortunately the men came at a +run, and were just in time, for at the stroke of noon he became so +violent that it took all their strength to hold him. In about five +minutes, however, he began to get more and more quiet, and finally sank +into a sort of melancholy, in which state he has remained up to now. The +attendant tells me that his screams whilst in the paroxysm were really +appalling; I found my hands full when I got in, attending to some of the +other patients who were frightened by him. Indeed, I can quite +understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed even me, though I was +some distance away. It is now after the dinner-hour of the asylum, and +as yet my patient sits in a corner brooding, with a dull, sullen, +woe-begone look in his face, which seems rather to indicate than to show +something directly. I cannot quite understand it. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another change in my patient. At five o'clock I looked in on +him, and found him seemingly as happy and contented as he used to be. He +was catching flies and eating them, and was keeping note of his capture +by making nail-marks on the edge of the door between the ridges of +padding. When he saw me, he came over and apologised for his bad +conduct, and asked me in a very humble, cringing way to be led back to +his own room and to have his note-book again. I thought it well to +humour him: so he is back in his room with the window open. He has the +sugar of his tea spread out on the window-sill, and is reaping quite a +harvest of flies. He is not now eating them, but putting them into a +box, as of old, and is already examining the corners of his room to find +a spider. I tried to get him to talk about the past few days, for any +clue to his thoughts would be of immense help to me; but he would not +rise. For a moment or two he looked very sad, and said in a sort of +far-away voice, as though saying it rather to himself than to me:-- + +"All over! all over! He has deserted me. No hope for me now unless I do +it for myself!" Then suddenly turning to me in a resolute way, he said: +"Doctor, won't you be very good to me and let me have a little more +sugar? I think it would be good for me." + +"And the flies?" I said. + +"Yes! The flies like it, too, and I like the flies; therefore I like +it." And there are people who know so little as to think that madmen do +not argue. I procured him a double supply, and left him as happy a man +as, I suppose, any in the world. I wish I could fathom his mind. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--Another change in him. I had been to see Miss Westenra, +whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at our +own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him yelling. As +his room is on this side of the house, I could hear it better than in +the morning. It was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky +beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights and inky shadows +and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds even as on foul +water, and to realise all the grim sternness of my own cold stone +building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own desolate heart +to endure it all. I reached him just as the sun was going down, and from +his window saw the red disc sink. As it sank he became less and less +frenzied; and just as it dipped he slid from the hands that held him, an +inert mass, on the floor. It is wonderful, however, what intellectual +recuperative power lunatics have, for within a few minutes he stood up +quite calmly and looked around him. I signalled to the attendants not to +hold him, for I was anxious to see what he would do. He went straight +over to the window and brushed out the crumbs of sugar; then he took his +fly-box, and emptied it outside, and threw away the box; then he shut +the window, and crossing over, sat down on his bed. All this surprised +me, so I asked him: "Are you not going to keep flies any more?" + +"No," said he; "I am sick of all that rubbish!" He certainly is a +wonderfully interesting study. I wish I could get some glimpse of his +mind or of the cause of his sudden passion. Stop; there may be a clue +after all, if we can find why to-day his paroxysms came on at high noon +and at sunset. Can it be that there is a malign influence of the sun at +periods which affects certain natures--as at times the moon does others? +We shall see. + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_4 September._--Patient still better to-day." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_5 September._--Patient greatly improved. Good appetite; sleeps +naturally; good spirits; colour coming back." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_6 September._--Terrible change for the worse. Come at once; do not +lose an hour. I hold over telegram to Holmwood till have seen you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_6 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a bit. +There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it; Mrs. +Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me +professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told +her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to +stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with +myself; so now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a +shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak +condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with +difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall +come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if you +do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for +news. In haste + +Yours ever, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_7 September._--The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at +Liverpool Street was:-- + +"Have you said anything to our young friend the lover of her?" + +"No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my telegram. I +wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were coming, as Miss +Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him know if need be." + +"Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as yet; +perhaps he shall never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then he +shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You deal +with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch +as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's madmen, +too--the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what you do nor why +you do it; you tell them not what you think. So you shall keep knowledge +in its place, where it may rest--where it may gather its kind around it +and breed. You and I shall keep as yet what we know here, and here." He +touched me on the heart and on the forehead, and then touched himself +the same way. "I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall +unfold to you." + +"Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at some +decision." He stopped and looked at me, and said:-- + +"My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has +ripened--while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshine +has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the +ear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, +and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the +time comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For reply +he reached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully, as +he used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The good husbandman tell +you so then because he knows, but not till then. But you do not find the +good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is for +the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as of +the work of their life. See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn, +and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, +there's some promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He broke +off, for he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and very +gravely:-- + +"You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever more +full than the rest. You were only student then; now you are master, and +I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, that +knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker. +Even if you have not kept the good practise, let me tell you that this +case of our dear miss is one that may be--mind, I say _may be_--of such +interest to us and others that all the rest may not make him kick the +beam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is too +small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. +Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We +learn from failure, not from success!" + +When I described Lucy's symptoms--the same as before, but infinitely +more marked--he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with him a +bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly paraphernalia +of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of his lectures, the +equipment of a professor of the healing craft. When we were shown in, +Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as I +expected to find her. Nature in one of her beneficent moods has ordained +that even death has some antidote to its own terrors. Here, in a case +where any shock may prove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some +cause or other, the things not personal--even the terrible change in her +daughter to whom she is so attached--do not seem to reach her. It is +something like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an +envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that +which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an ordered +selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one for the vice +of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes than we have +knowledge of. + +I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid down +a rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think of her illness +more than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so readily that +I saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life. Van Helsing and I were +shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, I +was horrified when I saw her to-day. She was ghastly, chalkily pale; the +red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gums, and the bones of +her face stood out prominently; her breathing was painful to see or +hear. Van Helsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged +till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not +seem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. Then +Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the room. The +instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along the passage to +the next door, which was open. Then he pulled me quickly in with him and +closed the door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no time +to be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's +action as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at once. Is +it you or me?" + +"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me." + +"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am prepared." + +I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock at +the hall-door. When we reached the hall the maid had just opened the +door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me, saying in +an eager whisper:-- + +"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter, and +have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran down here to see for +myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so thankful to you, +sir, for coming." When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he had +been angry at his interruption at such a time; but now, as he took in +his stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood which +seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause he said to +him gravely as he held out his hand:-- + +"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss. She is +bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For he +suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are to +help her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is your +best help." + +"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it. My +life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for +her." The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old +knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer:-- + +"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that--not the last!" + +"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostril +quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder. "Come!" +he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want. You are better than +me, better than my friend John." Arthur looked bewildered, and the +Professor went on by explaining in a kindly way:-- + +"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must have +or die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about to perform +what we call transfusion of blood--to transfer from full veins of one to +the empty veins which pine for him. John was to give his blood, as he is +the more young and strong than me"--here Arthur took my hand and wrung +it hard in silence--"but, now you are here, you are more good than us, +old or young, who toil much in the world of thought. Our nerves are not +so calm and our blood not so bright than yours!" Arthur turned to him +and said:-- + +"If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you would +understand----" + +He stopped, with a sort of choke in his voice. + +"Good boy!" said Van Helsing. "In the not-so-far-off you will be happy +that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be silent. You +shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must go; and you +must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame; you know how it is with +her! There must be no shock; any knowledge of this would be one. Come!" + +We all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained outside. +Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing. She was not +asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort. Her eyes spoke +to us; that was all. Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laid +them on a little table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, and +coming over to the bed, said cheerily:-- + +"Now, little miss, here is your medicine. Drink it off, like a good +child. See, I lift you so that to swallow is easy. Yes." She had made +the effort with success. + +It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact, marked +the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until sleep began to +flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the narcotic began to manifest +its potency; and she fell into a deep sleep. When the Professor was +satisfied he called Arthur into the room, and bade him strip off his +coat. Then he added: "You may take that one little kiss whiles I bring +over the table. Friend John, help to me!" So neither of us looked whilst +he bent over her. + +Van Helsing turning to me, said: + +"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not +defibrinate it." + +Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed the +operation. As the transfusion went on something like life seemed to come +back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing pallor the joy +of his face seemed absolutely to shine. After a bit I began to grow +anxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur, strong man as he +was. It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain Lucy's system must +have undergone that what weakened Arthur only partially restored her. +But the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand and with +his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I could hear my own +heart beat. Presently he said in a soft voice: "Do not stir an instant. +It is enough. You attend him; I will look to her." When all was over I +could see how much Arthur was weakened. I dressed the wound and took his +arm to bring him away, when Van Helsing spoke without turning round--the +man seems to have eyes in the back of his head:-- + +"The brave lover, I think, deserve another kiss, which he shall have +presently." And as he had now finished his operation, he adjusted the +pillow to the patient's head. As he did so the narrow black velvet band +which she seems always to wear round her throat, buckled with an old +diamond buckle which her lover had given her, was dragged a little up, +and showed a red mark on her throat. Arthur did not notice it, but I +could hear the deep hiss of indrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing's +ways of betraying emotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned to +me, saying: "Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port +wine, and let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleep +much and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given to +his love. He must not stay here. Hold! a moment. I may take it, sir, +that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you that in all ways +the operation is successful. You have saved her life this time, and you +can go home and rest easy in mind that all that can be is. I shall tell +her all when she is well; she shall love you none the less for what you +have done. Good-bye." + +When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping gently, +but her breathing was stronger; I could see the counterpane move as her +breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking at her intently. +The velvet band again covered the red mark. I asked the Professor in a +whisper:-- + +"What do you make of that mark on her throat?" + +"What do you make of it?" + +"I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there proceeded +to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein there were two +punctures, not large, but not wholesome-looking. There was no sign of +disease, but the edges were white and worn-looking, as if by some +trituration. It at once occurred to me that this wound, or whatever it +was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood; but I abandoned +the idea as soon as formed, for such a thing could not be. The whole bed +would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must +have lost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion. + +"Well?" said Van Helsing. + +"Well," said I, "I can make nothing of it." The Professor stood up. "I +must go back to Amsterdam to-night," he said. "There are books and +things there which I want. You must remain here all the night, and you +must not let your sight pass from her." + +"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked. + +"We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night; see that +she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must not sleep all +the night. Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall be back as soon as +possible. And then we may begin." + +"May begin?" I said. "What on earth do you mean?" + +"We shall see!" he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a moment +later and put his head inside the door and said with warning finger held +up:-- + +"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave her, and harm befall, you +shall not sleep easy hereafter!" + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary--continued._ + +_8 September._--I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked itself +off towards dusk, and she waked naturally; she looked a different being +from what she had been before the operation. Her spirits even were good, +and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see evidences of the +absolute prostration which she had undergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra +that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should sit up with her she +almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her daughter's renewed +strength and excellent spirits. I was firm, however, and made +preparations for my long vigil. When her maid had prepared her for the +night I came in, having in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by +the bedside. She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me +gratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed +sinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together +and shook it off. This was repeated several times, with greater effort +and with shorter pauses as the time moved on. It was apparent that she +did not want to sleep, so I tackled the subject at once:-- + +"You do not want to go to sleep?" + +"No; I am afraid." + +"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave for." + +"Ah, not if you were like me--if sleep was to you a presage of horror!" + +"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?" + +"I don't know; oh, I don't know. And that is what is so terrible. All +this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very thought." + +"But, my dear girl, you may sleep to-night. I am here watching you, and +I can promise that nothing will happen." + +"Ah, I can trust you!" I seized the opportunity, and said: "I promise +you that if I see any evidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once." + +"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I will +sleep!" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief, and sank +back, asleep. + +All night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on and on +in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep. Her lips were +slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity of a +pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was evident that no bad +dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind. + +In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and took +myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I sent a short +wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent result +of the operation. My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all +day to clear off; it was dark when I was able to inquire about my +zoöphagous patient. The report was good; he had been quite quiet for the +past day and night. A telegram came from Van Helsing at Amsterdam whilst +I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at Hillingham to-night, as +it might be well to be at hand, and stating that he was leaving by the +night mail and would join me early in the morning. + + * * * * * + +_9 September_.--I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to +Hillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my +brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral +exhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook hands +with me she looked sharply in my face and said:-- + +"No sitting up to-night for you. You are worn out. I am quite well +again; indeed, I am; and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I who +will sit up with you." I would not argue the point, but went and had my +supper. Lucy came with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I +made an excellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than +excellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room next +her own, where a cozy fire was burning. "Now," she said, "you must stay +here. I shall leave this door open and my door too. You can lie on the +sofa for I know that nothing would induce any of you doctors to go to +bed whilst there is a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I +shall call out, and you can come to me at once." I could not but +acquiesce, for I was "dog-tired," and could not have sat up had I tried. +So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she should want anything, +I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about everything. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_9 September._--I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably weak, +that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after +a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky. Somehow Arthur feels very, +very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about me. I suppose +it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things and turn our inner +eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and strength give Love +rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know +where my thoughts are. If Arthur only knew! My dear, my dear, your ears +must tingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of +last night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching me. +And to-night I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at hand and +within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me! Thank God! +Good-night, Arthur. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_10 September._--I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head, and +started awake all in a second. That is one of the things that we learn +in an asylum, at any rate. + +"And how is our patient?" + +"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered. + +"Come, let us see," he said. And together we went into the room. + +The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van +Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed. + +As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I +heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity, a +deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over he moved back, and +his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no enforcement from +his agonised face. He raised his hand and pointed to the bed, and his +iron face was drawn and ashen white. I felt my knees begin to tremble. + +There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly +white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white, and the gums +seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes see in a +corpse after a prolonged illness. Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp +in anger, but the instinct of his life and all the long years of habit +stood to him, and he put it down again softly. "Quick!" he said. "Bring +the brandy." I flew to the dining-room, and returned with the decanter. +He wetted the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and +wrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonising +suspense said:-- + +"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work is +undone; we must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now; I have +to call on you yourself this time, friend John." As he spoke, he was +dipping into his bag and producing the instruments for transfusion; I +had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt-sleeve. There was no +possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of one; and so, +without a moment's delay, we began the operation. After a time--it did +not seem a short time either, for the draining away of one's blood, no +matter how willingly it be given, is a terrible feeling--Van Helsing +held up a warning finger. "Do not stir," he said, "but I fear that with +growing strength she may wake; and that would make danger, oh, so much +danger. But I shall precaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection +of morphia." He proceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his +intent. The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge +subtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal pride +that I could see a faint tinge of colour steal back into the pallid +cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to +feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves. + +The Professor watched me critically. "That will do," he said. "Already?" +I remonstrated. "You took a great deal more from Art." To which he +smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied:-- + +"He is her lover, her _fiancé_. You have work, much work, to do for her +and for others; and the present will suffice." + +When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied +digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, whilst I waited his +leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sick. By-and-by +he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for +myself. As I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half +whispered:-- + +"Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should turn up +unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once frighten him and +enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!" + +When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said:-- + +"You are not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and +rest awhile; then have much breakfast, and come here to me." + +I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they were. I +had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strength. I +felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at +what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over +and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how +she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign anywhere to +show for it. I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, +sleeping and waking, my thoughts always came back to the little +punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their +edges--tiny though they were. + +Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well and +strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before. When Van Helsing +had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge, with strict +injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment. I could hear his +voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest telegraph office. + +Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that anything +had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested. When her mother +came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change whatever, but +said to me gratefully:-- + +"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you really +must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking pale +yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit; that you +do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only momentarily, +for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long such an unwonted +drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned +imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my +lips; with a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows. + +Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me: +"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself strong. I +stay here to-night, and I shall sit up with little miss myself. You and +I must watch the case, and we must have none other to know. I have grave +reasons. No, do not ask them; think what you will. Do not fear to think +even the most not-probable. Good-night." + +In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either of +them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to let them; and +when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either he or I should sit +up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the "foreign +gentleman." I was much touched by their kindness. Perhaps it is because +I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on Lucy's account, that +their devotion was manifested; for over and over again have I seen +similar instances of woman's kindness. I got back here in time for a +late dinner; went my rounds--all well; and set this down whilst waiting +for sleep. It is coming. + + * * * * * + +_11 September._--This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found Van +Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly after I had +arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor. He opened it +with much impressment--assumed, of course--and showed a great bundle of +white flowers. + +"These are for you, Miss Lucy," he said. + +"For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!" + +"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are medicines." Here +Lucy made a wry face. "Nay, but they are not to take in a decoction or +in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming nose, or I shall +point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have to endure in seeing +so much beauty that he so loves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, +that bring the so nice nose all straight again. This is medicinal, but +you do not know how. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and +hang him round your neck, so that you sleep well. Oh yes! they, like the +lotus flower, make your trouble forgotten. It smell so like the waters +of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought +for in the Floridas, and find him all too late." + +Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and smelling +them. Now she threw them down, saying, with half-laughter, and +half-disgust:-- + +"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why, +these flowers are only common garlic." + +To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his +iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:-- + +"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do; +and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of +others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she might +well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my dear, do not fear +me. I only do for your good; but there is much virtue to you in those so +common flowers. See, I place them myself in your room. I make myself the +wreath that you are to wear. But hush! no telling to others that make so +inquisitive questions. We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience; +and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait +for you. Now sit still awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall +help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, +where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year. +I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here." + +We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's +actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia +that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them +securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over +the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get +in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed +all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round +the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and +presently I said:-- + +"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but +this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he +would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit." + +"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which +Lucy was to wear round her neck. + +We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she +was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her +neck. The last words he said to her were:-- + +"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close, do +not to-night open the window or the door." + +"I promise," said Lucy, "and thank you both a thousand times for all +your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such +friends?" + +As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said:-- + +"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want--two nights of travel, +much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow, +and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the morning early +you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much +more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho! ho!" + +He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights +before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror. It must +have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but +I felt it all the more, like unshed tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + + +_12 September._--How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. +Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He +positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been +right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread +being alone to-night, and I can go to sleep without fear. I shall not +mind any flapping outside the window. Oh, the terrible struggle that I +have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, +or the pain of the fear of sleep, with such unknown horrors as it has +for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no +dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings +nothing but sweet dreams. Well, here I am to-night, hoping for sleep, +and lying like Ophelia in the play, with "virgin crants and maiden +strewments." I never liked garlic before, but to-night it is delightful! +There is peace in its smell; I feel sleep coming already. Good-night, +everybody. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_13 September._--Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual, +up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting. The +Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now. + +Let all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at +eight o'clock. It was a lovely morning; the bright sunshine and all the +fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of nature's +annual work. The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, +but had not yet begun to drop from the trees. When we entered we met +Mrs. Westenra coming out of the morning room. She is always an early +riser. She greeted us warmly and said:-- + +"You will be glad to know that Lucy is better. The dear child is still +asleep. I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go in, lest I +should disturb her." The Professor smiled, and looked quite jubilant. He +rubbed his hands together, and said:-- + +"Aha! I thought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working," to +which she answered:-- + +"You must not take all the credit to yourself, doctor. Lucy's state this +morning is due in part to me." + +"How you do mean, ma'am?" asked the Professor. + +"Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went into +her room. She was sleeping soundly--so soundly that even my coming did +not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There were a lot of those +horrible, strong-smelling flowers about everywhere, and she had actually +a bunch of them round her neck. I feared that the heavy odour would be +too much for the dear child in her weak state, so I took them all away +and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh air. You will be +pleased with her, I am sure." + +She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted early. As +she had spoken, I watched the Professor's face, and saw it turn ashen +grey. He had been able to retain his self-command whilst the poor lady +was present, for he knew her state and how mischievous a shock would be; +he actually smiled on her as he held open the door for her to pass into +her room. But the instant she had disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and +forcibly, into the dining-room and closed the door. + +Then, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break down. He +raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then beat +his palms together in a helpless way; finally he sat down on a chair, +and putting his hands before his face, began to sob, with loud, dry sobs +that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart. Then he raised +his arms again, as though appealing to the whole universe. "God! God! +God!" he said. "What have we done, what has this poor thing done, that +we are so sore beset? Is there fate amongst us still, sent down from the +pagan world of old, that such things must be, and in such way? This poor +mother, all unknowing, and all for the best as she think, does such +thing as lose her daughter body and soul; and we must not tell her, we +must not even warn her, or she die, and then both die. Oh, how we are +beset! How are all the powers of the devils against us!" Suddenly he +jumped to his feet. "Come," he said, "come, we must see and act. Devils +or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him +all the same." He went to the hall-door for his bag; and together we +went up to Lucy's room. + +Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards the bed. +This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face with the same +awful, waxen pallor as before. He wore a look of stern sadness and +infinite pity. + +"As I expected," he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of his which +meant so much. Without a word he went and locked the door, and then +began to set out on the little table the instruments for yet another +operation of transfusion of blood. I had long ago recognised the +necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he stopped me with a +warning hand. "No!" he said. "To-day you must operate. I shall provide. +You are weakened already." As he spoke he took off his coat and rolled +up his shirt-sleeve. + +Again the operation; again the narcotic; again some return of colour to +the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep. This time I +watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and rested. + +Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she must +not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him; that the +flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of their odour +was a part of the system of cure. Then he took over the care of the case +himself, saying that he would watch this night and the next and would +send me word when to come. + +After another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright and +seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal. + +What does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of life +amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_17 September._--Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so strong +again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed through some +long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and +feel the fresh air of the morning around me. I have a dim +half-remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing; darkness +in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present distress +more poignant: and then long spells of oblivion, and the rising back to +life as a diver coming up through a great press of water. Since, +however, Dr. Van Helsing has been with me, all this bad dreaming seems +to have passed away; the noises that used to frighten me out of my +wits--the flapping against the windows, the distant voices which seemed +so close to me, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and +commanded me to do I know not what--have all ceased. I go to bed now +without any fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown +quite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day from +Haarlem. To-night Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to be for a +day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched; I am well enough to be left +alone. Thank God for mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our +friends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change, for +last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time. I found +him asleep twice when I awoke; but I did not fear to go to sleep again, +although the boughs or bats or something napped almost angrily against +the window-panes. + + +_"The Pall Mall Gazette," 18 September._ + + THE ESCAPED WOLF. + + PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER. + + _Interview with the Keeper in the Zoölogical Gardens._ + +After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and perpetually using +the words "Pall Mall Gazette" as a sort of talisman, I managed to find +the keeper of the section of the Zoölogical Gardens in which the wolf +department is included. Thomas Bilder lives in one of the cottages in +the enclosure behind the elephant-house, and was just sitting down to +his tea when I found him. Thomas and his wife are hospitable folk, +elderly, and without children, and if the specimen I enjoyed of their +hospitality be of the average kind, their lives must be pretty +comfortable. The keeper would not enter on what he called "business" +until the supper was over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the +table was cleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said:-- + +"Now, sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want. You'll excoose me +refoosin' to talk of perfeshunal subjects afore meals. I gives the +wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section their tea afore +I begins to arsk them questions." + +"How do you mean, ask them questions?" I queried, wishful to get him +into a talkative humour. + +"'Ittin' of them over the 'ead with a pole is one way; scratchin' of +their hears is another, when gents as is flush wants a bit of a show-orf +to their gals. I don't so much mind the fust--the 'ittin' with a pole +afore I chucks in their dinner; but I waits till they've 'ad their +sherry and kawffee, so to speak, afore I tries on with the +ear-scratchin'. Mind you," he added philosophically, "there's a deal of +the same nature in us as in them theer animiles. Here's you a-comin' and +arskin' of me questions about my business, and I that grumpy-like that +only for your bloomin' 'arf-quid I'd 'a' seen you blowed fust 'fore I'd +answer. Not even when you arsked me sarcastic-like if I'd like you to +arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me questions. Without offence +did I tell yer to go to 'ell?" + +"You did." + +"An' when you said you'd report me for usin' of obscene language that +was 'ittin' me over the 'ead; but the 'arf-quid made that all right. I +weren't a-goin' to fight, so I waited for the food, and did with my 'owl +as the wolves, and lions, and tigers does. But, Lor' love yer 'art, now +that the old 'ooman has stuck a chunk of her tea-cake in me, an' rinsed +me out with her bloomin' old teapot, and I've lit hup, you may scratch +my ears for all you're worth, and won't git even a growl out of me. +Drive along with your questions. I know what yer a-comin' at, that 'ere +escaped wolf." + +"Exactly. I want you to give me your view of it. Just tell me how it +happened; and when I know the facts I'll get you to say what you +consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole affair will +end." + +"All right, guv'nor. This 'ere is about the 'ole story. That 'ere wolf +what we called Bersicker was one of three grey ones that came from +Norway to Jamrach's, which we bought off him four years ago. He was a +nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk of. I'm more +surprised at 'im for wantin' to get out nor any other animile in the +place. But, there, you can't trust wolves no more nor women." + +"Don't you mind him, sir!" broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery laugh. "'E's +got mindin' the animiles so long that blest if he ain't like a old wolf +'isself! But there ain't no 'arm in 'im." + +"Well, sir, it was about two hours after feedin' yesterday when I first +hear my disturbance. I was makin' up a litter in the monkey-house for a +young puma which is ill; but when I heard the yelpin' and 'owlin' I kem +away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin' like a mad thing at the +bars as if he wanted to get out. There wasn't much people about that +day, and close at hand was only one man, a tall, thin chap, with a 'ook +nose and a pointed beard, with a few white hairs runnin' through it. He +had a 'ard, cold look and red eyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, +for it seemed as if it was 'im as they was hirritated at. He 'ad white +kid gloves on 'is 'ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says: +'Keeper, these wolves seem upset at something.' + +"'Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he give +'isself. He didn't git angry, as I 'oped he would, but he smiled a kind +of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. 'Oh no, they +wouldn't like me,' 'e says. + +"'Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin' of him. 'They always likes a +bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea-time, which you 'as a +bagful.' + +"Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us a-talkin' they +lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let me stroke his ears +same as ever. That there man kem over, and blessed but if he didn't put +in his hand and stroke the old wolf's ears too! + +"'Tyke care,' says I. 'Bersicker is quick.' + +"'Never mind,' he says. 'I'm used to 'em!' + +"'Are you in the business yourself?' I says, tyking off my 'at, for a +man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to keepers. + +"'No' says he, 'not exactly in the business, but I 'ave made pets of +several.' And with that he lifts his 'at as perlite as a lord, and walks +away. Old Bersicker kep' a-lookin' arter 'im till 'e was out of sight, +and then went and lay down in a corner and wouldn't come hout the 'ole +hevening. Well, larst night, so soon as the moon was hup, the wolves +here all began a-'owling. There warn't nothing for them to 'owl at. +There warn't no one near, except some one that was evidently a-callin' a +dog somewheres out back of the gardings in the Park road. Once or twice +I went out to see that all was right, and it was, and then the 'owling +stopped. Just before twelve o'clock I just took a look round afore +turnin' in, an', bust me, but when I kem opposite to old Bersicker's +cage I see the rails broken and twisted about and the cage empty. And +that's all I know for certing." + +"Did any one else see anything?" + +"One of our gard'ners was a-comin' 'ome about that time from a 'armony, +when he sees a big grey dog comin' out through the garding 'edges. At +least, so he says, but I don't give much for it myself, for if he did 'e +never said a word about it to his missis when 'e got 'ome, and it was +only after the escape of the wolf was made known, and we had been up all +night-a-huntin' of the Park for Bersicker, that he remembered seein' +anything. My own belief was that the 'armony 'ad got into his 'ead." + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape of the +wolf?" + +"Well, sir," he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, "I think I can; +but I don't know as 'ow you'd be satisfied with the theory." + +"Certainly I shall. If a man like you, who knows the animals from +experience, can't hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even to try?" + +"Well then, sir, I accounts for it this way; it seems to me that 'ere +wolf escaped--simply because he wanted to get out." + +From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the joke I +could see that it had done service before, and that the whole +explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I couldn't cope in badinage +with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way to his heart, +so I said:-- + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, we'll consider that first half-sovereign worked off, +and this brother of his is waiting to be claimed when you've told me +what you think will happen." + +"Right y'are, sir," he said briskly. "Ye'll excoose me, I know, for +a-chaffin' of ye, but the old woman here winked at me, which was as much +as telling me to go on." + +"Well, I never!" said the old lady. + +"My opinion is this: that 'ere wolf is a-'idin' of, somewheres. The +gard'ner wot didn't remember said he was a-gallopin' northward faster +than a horse could go; but I don't believe him, for, yer see, sir, +wolves don't gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein' built that +way. Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay when they gets +in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more afeared than they is +they can make a devil of a noise and chop it up, whatever it is. But, +Lor' bless you, in real life a wolf is only a low creature, not half so +clever or bold as a good dog; and not half a quarter so much fight in +'im. This one ain't been used to fightin' or even to providin' for +hisself, and more like he's somewhere round the Park a-'idin' an' +a-shiverin' of, and, if he thinks at all, wonderin' where he is to get +his breakfast from; or maybe he's got down some area and is in a +coal-cellar. My eye, won't some cook get a rum start when she sees his +green eyes a-shining at her out of the dark! If he can't get food he's +bound to look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher's +shop in time. If he doesn't, and some nursemaid goes a-walkin' orf with +a soldier, leavin' of the hinfant in the perambulator--well, then I +shouldn't be surprised if the census is one babby the less. That's +all." + +I was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came bobbing up +against the window, and Mr. Bilder's face doubled its natural length +with surprise. + +"God bless me!" he said. "If there ain't old Bersicker come back by +'isself!" + +He went to the door and opened it; a most unnecessary proceeding it +seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so +well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us; a +personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea. + +After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither Bilder nor +his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a dog. The animal +itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all +picture-wolves--Red Riding Hood's quondam friend, whilst moving her +confidence in masquerade. + +The whole scene was an unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos. The +wicked wolf that for half a day had paralysed London and set all the +children in the town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of +penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine +prodigal son. Old Bilder examined him all over with most tender +solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent said:-- + +"There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of trouble; +didn't I say it all along? Here's his head all cut and full of broken +glass. 'E's been a-gettin' over some bloomin' wall or other. It's a +shyme that people are allowed to top their walls with broken bottles. +This 'ere's what comes of it. Come along, Bersicker." + +He took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece of meat that +satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary conditions of the +fatted calf, and went off to report. + +I came off, too, to report the only exclusive information that is given +to-day regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_17 September._--I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up my +books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to Lucy, +had fallen sadly into arrear. Suddenly the door was burst open, and in +rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion. I was +thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord +into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown. Without an instant's +pause he made straight at me. He had a dinner-knife in his hand, and, +as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to keep the table between us. He was +too quick and too strong for me, however; for before I could get my +balance he had struck at me and cut my left wrist rather severely. +Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right and he was +sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled freely, and quite a +little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw that my friend was not +intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist, +keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time. When the +attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his employment +positively sickened me. He was lying on his belly on the floor licking +up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was +easily secured, and, to my surprise, went with the attendants quite +placidly, simply repeating over and over again: "The blood is the life! +The blood is the life!" + +I cannot afford to lose blood just at present; I have lost too much of +late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of Lucy's +illness and its horrible phases is telling on me. I am over-excited and +weary, and I need rest, rest, rest. Happily Van Helsing has not summoned +me, so I need not forego my sleep; to-night I could not well do without +it. + + +_Telegram, Van Helsing, Antwerp, to Seward, Carfax._ + +(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given; delivered late by +twenty-two hours.) + +"_17 September._--Do not fail to be at Hillingham to-night. If not +watching all the time frequently, visit and see that flowers are as +placed; very important; do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as +possible after arrival." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_18 September._--Just off for train to London. The arrival of Van +Helsing's telegram filled me with dismay. A whole night lost, and I know +by bitter experience what may happen in a night. Of course it is +possible that all may be well, but what _may_ have happened? Surely +there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every possible accident +should thwart us in all we try to do. I shall take this cylinder with +me, and then I can complete my entry on Lucy's phonograph. + + +_Memorandum left by Lucy Westenra._ + +_17 September. Night._--I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no +one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact +record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and +have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the +doing. + +I went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were placed as Dr. +Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep. + +I was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after that +sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and which now I +know so well. I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr. Seward was in +the next room--as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be--so that I might have +called him. I tried to go to sleep, but could not. Then there came to me +the old fear of sleep, and I determined to keep awake. Perversely sleep +would try to come then when I did not want it; so, as I feared to be +alone, I opened my door and called out: "Is there anybody there?" There +was no answer. I was afraid to wake mother, and so closed my door again. +Then outside in the shrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog's, but +more fierce and deeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could +see nothing, except a big bat, which had evidently been buffeting its +wings against the window. So I went back to bed again, but determined +not to go to sleep. Presently the door opened, and mother looked in; +seeing by my moving that I was not asleep, came in, and sat by me. She +said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont:-- + +"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you were all +right." + +I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to come in +and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down beside me; she did +not take off her dressing gown, for she said she would only stay a while +and then go back to her own bed. As she lay there in my arms, and I in +hers, the flapping and buffeting came to the window again. She was +startled and a little frightened, and cried out: "What is that?" I tried +to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet; but I could +hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly. After a while there was +the low howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly after there was a +crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass was hurled on the floor. +The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the +aperture of the broken panes there was the head of a great, gaunt grey +wolf. Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting +posture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her. Amongst +other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing +insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me. For a +second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was a strange +and horrible gurgling in her throat; then she fell over--as if struck +with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and made me dizzy for a +moment or two. The room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my +eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole +myriad of little specks seemed to come blowing in through the broken +window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that +travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I tried to +stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear mother's poor body, +which seemed to grow cold already--for her dear heart had ceased to +beat--weighed me down; and I remembered no more for a while. + +The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered +consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling; the +dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling; and in our shrubbery, +seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing. I was dazed and +stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the sound of the +nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort +me. The sounds seemed to have awakened the maids, too, for I could hear +their bare feet pattering outside my door. I called to them, and they +came in, and when they saw what had happened, and what it was that lay +over me on the bed, they screamed out. The wind rushed in through the +broken window, and the door slammed to. They lifted off the body of my +dear mother, and laid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I +had got up. They were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them +to go to the dining-room and have each a glass of wine. The door flew +open for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then went +in a body to the dining-room; and I laid what flowers I had on my dear +mother's breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr. Van Helsing +had told me, but I didn't like to remove them, and, besides, I would +have some of the servants to sit up with me now. I was surprised that +the maids did not come back. I called them, but got no answer, so I went +to the dining-room to look for them. + +My heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay helpless +on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry was on the table +half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about. I was suspicious, +and examined the decanter. It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the +sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for +her--oh! did use--was empty. What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back +in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for +the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I +dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the +broken window. + +The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from +the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God +shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, +where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother +gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not +survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_18 September._--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early. +Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently +and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy or her +mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door. After a while, +finding no response, I knocked and rang again; still no answer. I cursed +the laziness of the servants that they should lie abed at such an +hour--for it was now ten o'clock--and so rang and knocked again, but +more impatiently, but still without response. Hitherto I had blamed only +the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me. Was this +desolation but another link in the chain of doom which seemed drawing +tight around us? Was it indeed a house of death to which I had come, too +late? I knew that minutes, even seconds of delay, might mean hours of +danger to Lucy, if she had had again one of those frightful relapses; +and I went round the house to try if I could find by chance an entry +anywhere. + +I could find no means of ingress. Every window and door was fastened and +locked, and I returned baffled to the porch. As I did so, I heard the +rapid pit-pat of a swiftly driven horse's feet. They stopped at the +gate, and a few seconds later I met Van Helsing running up the avenue. +When he saw me, he gasped out:-- + +"Then it was you, and just arrived. How is she? Are we too late? Did you +not get my telegram?" + +I answered as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got his +telegram early in the morning, and had not lost a minute in coming here, +and that I could not make any one in the house hear me. He paused and +raised his hat as he said solemnly:-- + +"Then I fear we are too late. God's will be done!" With his usual +recuperative energy, he went on: "Come. If there be no way open to get +in, we must make one. Time is all in all to us now." + +We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen +window. The Professor took a small surgical saw from his case, and +handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window. I +attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them. Then +with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the sashes and +opened the window. I helped the Professor in, and followed him. There +was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which were close at +hand. We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in the dining-room, +dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters, found four +servant-women lying on the floor. There was no need to think them dead, +for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the +room left no doubt as to their condition. Van Helsing and I looked at +each other, and as we moved away he said: "We can attend to them later." +Then we ascended to Lucy's room. For an instant or two we paused at the +door to listen, but there was no sound that we could hear. With white +faces and trembling hands, we opened the door gently, and entered the +room. + +How shall I describe what we saw? On the bed lay two women, Lucy and her +mother. The latter lay farthest in, and she was covered with a white +sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the draught through the +broken window, showing the drawn, white face, with a look of terror +fixed upon it. By her side lay Lucy, with face white and still more +drawn. The flowers which had been round her neck we found upon her +mother's bosom, and her throat was bare, showing the two little wounds +which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white and mangled. +Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head almost touching +poor Lucy's breast; then he gave a quick turn of his head, as of one who +listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to me:-- + +"It is not yet too late! Quick! quick! Bring the brandy!" + +I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste +it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I found +on the table. The maids were still breathing, but more restlessly, and I +fancied that the narcotic was wearing off. I did not stay to make sure, +but returned to Van Helsing. He rubbed the brandy, as on another +occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists and the palms of her +hands. He said to me:-- + +"I can do this, all that can be at the present. You go wake those maids. +Flick them in the face with a wet towel, and flick them hard. Make them +get heat and fire and a warm bath. This poor soul is nearly as cold as +that beside her. She will need be heated before we can do anything +more." + +I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the +women. The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently +affected her more strongly, so I lifted her on the sofa and let her +sleep. The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to +them they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner. I was stern with +them, however, and would not let them talk. I told them that one life +was bad enough to lose, and that if they delayed they would sacrifice +Miss Lucy. So, sobbing and crying, they went about their way, half clad +as they were, and prepared fire and water. Fortunately, the kitchen and +boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water. We +got a bath and carried Lucy out as she was and placed her in it. Whilst +we were busy chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall door. One +of the maids ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and opened it. Then +she returned and whispered to us that there was a gentleman who had come +with a message from Mr. Holmwood. I bade her simply tell him that he +must wait, for we could see no one now. She went away with the message, +and, engrossed with our work, I clean forgot all about him. + +I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly +earnest. I knew--as he knew--that it was a stand-up fight with death, +and in a pause told him so. He answered me in a way that I did not +understand, but with the sternest look that his face could wear:-- + +"If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her fade +away into peace, for I see no light in life over her horizon." He went +on with his work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied vigour. + +Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to +be of some effect. Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the +stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement. Van Helsing's +face almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her in +a hot sheet to dry her he said to me:-- + +"The first gain is ours! Check to the King!" + +We took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and laid +her in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat. I noticed +that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round her throat. She was +still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not worse than, we had +ever seen her. + +Van Helsing called in one of the women, and told her to stay with her +and not to take her eyes off her till we returned, and then beckoned me +out of the room. + +"We must consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended the +stairs. In the hall he opened the dining-room door, and we passed in, he +closing the door carefully behind him. The shutters had been opened, but +the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the etiquette of +death which the British woman of the lower classes always rigidly +observes. The room was, therefore, dimly dark. It was, however, light +enough for our purposes. Van Helsing's sternness was somewhat relieved +by a look of perplexity. He was evidently torturing his mind about +something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke:-- + +"What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help? We must have +another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life +won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted already; I am +exhausted too. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have +courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his +veins for her?" + +"What's the matter with me, anyhow?" + +The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought +relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris. Van +Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but his face softened and a +glad look came into his eyes as I cried out: "Quincey Morris!" and +rushed towards him with outstretched hands. + +"What brought you here?" I cried as our hands met. + +"I guess Art is the cause." + +He handed me a telegram:-- + +"Have not heard from Seward for three days, and am terribly anxious. +Cannot leave. Father still in same condition. Send me word how Lucy is. +Do not delay.--HOLMWOOD." + +"I think I came just in the nick of time. You know you have only to tell +me what to do." + +Van Helsing strode forward, and took his hand, looking him straight in +the eyes as he said:-- + +"A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in +trouble. You're a man and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against +us for all he's worth, but God sends us men when we want them." + +Once again we went through that ghastly operation. I have not the heart +to go through with the details. Lucy had got a terrible shock and it +told on her more than before, for though plenty of blood went into her +veins, her body did not respond to the treatment as well as on the other +occasions. Her struggle back into life was something frightful to see +and hear. However, the action of both heart and lungs improved, and Van +Helsing made a subcutaneous injection of morphia, as before, and with +good effect. Her faint became a profound slumber. The Professor watched +whilst I went downstairs with Quincey Morris, and sent one of the maids +to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting. I left Quincey lying down +after having a glass of wine, and told the cook to get ready a good +breakfast. Then a thought struck me, and I went back to the room where +Lucy now was. When I came softly in, I found Van Helsing with a sheet or +two of note-paper in his hand. He had evidently read it, and was +thinking it over as he sat with his hand to his brow. There was a look +of grim satisfaction in his face, as of one who has had a doubt solved. +He handed me the paper saying only: "It dropped from Lucy's breast when +we carried her to the bath." + +When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause +asked him: "In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, +mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it?" I was so bewildered that I +did not know what to say more. Van Helsing put out his hand and took the +paper, saying:-- + +"Do not trouble about it now. Forget it for the present. You shall know +and understand it all in good time; but it will be later. And now what +is it that you came to me to say?" This brought me back to fact, and I +was all myself again. + +"I came to speak about the certificate of death. If we do not act +properly and wisely, there may be an inquest, and that paper would have +to be produced. I am in hopes that we need have no inquest, for if we +had it would surely kill poor Lucy, if nothing else did. I know, and you +know, and the other doctor who attended her knows, that Mrs. Westenra +had disease of the heart, and we can certify that she died of it. Let us +fill up the certificate at once, and I shall take it myself to the +registrar and go on to the undertaker." + +"Good, oh my friend John! Well thought of! Truly Miss Lucy, if she be +sad in the foes that beset her, is at least happy in the friends that +love her. One, two, three, all open their veins for her, besides one old +man. Ah yes, I know, friend John; I am not blind! I love you all the +more for it! Now go." + +In the hall I met Quincey Morris, with a telegram for Arthur telling him +that Mrs. Westenra was dead; that Lucy also had been ill, but was now +going on better; and that Van Helsing and I were with her. I told him +where I was going, and he hurried me out, but as I was going said:-- + +"When you come back, Jack, may I have two words with you all to +ourselves?" I nodded in reply and went out. I found no difficulty about +the registration, and arranged with the local undertaker to come up in +the evening to measure for the coffin and to make arrangements. + +When I got back Quincey was waiting for me. I told him I would see him +as soon as I knew about Lucy, and went up to her room. She was still +sleeping, and the Professor seemingly had not moved from his seat at her +side. From his putting his finger to his lips, I gathered that he +expected her to wake before long and was afraid of forestalling nature. +So I went down to Quincey and took him into the breakfast-room, where +the blinds were not drawn down, and which was a little more cheerful, or +rather less cheerless, than the other rooms. When we were alone, he said +to me:-- + +"Jack Seward, I don't want to shove myself in anywhere where I've no +right to be; but this is no ordinary case. You know I loved that girl +and wanted to marry her; but, although that's all past and gone, I can't +help feeling anxious about her all the same. What is it that's wrong +with her? The Dutchman--and a fine old fellow he is; I can see +that--said, that time you two came into the room, that you must have +_another_ transfusion of blood, and that both you and he were exhausted. +Now I know well that you medical men speak _in camera_, and that a man +must not expect to know what they consult about in private. But this is +no common matter, and, whatever it is, I have done my part. Is not that +so?" + +"That's so," I said, and he went on:-- + +"I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did +to-day. Is not that so?" + +"That's so." + +"And I guess Art was in it too. When I saw him four days ago down at his +own place he looked queer. I have not seen anything pulled down so quick +since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of go to grass +all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at +her in the night, and what with his gorge and the vein left open, there +wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up, and I had to put a +bullet through her as she lay. Jack, if you may tell me without +betraying confidence, Arthur was the first, is not that so?" As he spoke +the poor fellow looked terribly anxious. He was in a torture of suspense +regarding the woman he loved, and his utter ignorance of the terrible +mystery which seemed to surround her intensified his pain. His very +heart was bleeding, and it took all the manhood of him--and there was a +royal lot of it, too--to keep him from breaking down. I paused before +answering, for I felt that I must not betray anything which the +Professor wished kept secret; but already he knew so much, and guessed +so much, that there could be no reason for not answering, so I answered +in the same phrase: "That's so." + +"And how long has this been going on?" + +"About ten days." + +"Ten days! Then I guess, Jack Seward, that that poor pretty creature +that we all love has had put into her veins within that time the blood +of four strong men. Man alive, her whole body wouldn't hold it." Then, +coming close to me, he spoke in a fierce half-whisper: "What took it +out?" + +I shook my head. "That," I said, "is the crux. Van Helsing is simply +frantic about it, and I am at my wits' end. I can't even hazard a guess. +There has been a series of little circumstances which have thrown out +all our calculations as to Lucy being properly watched. But these shall +not occur again. Here we stay until all be well--or ill." Quincey held +out his hand. "Count me in," he said. "You and the Dutchman will tell me +what to do, and I'll do it." + +When she woke late in the afternoon, Lucy's first movement was to feel +in her breast, and, to my surprise, produced the paper which Van Helsing +had given me to read. The careful Professor had replaced it where it had +come from, lest on waking she should be alarmed. Her eye then lit on Van +Helsing and on me too, and gladdened. Then she looked around the room, +and seeing where she was, shuddered; she gave a loud cry, and put her +poor thin hands before her pale face. We both understood what that +meant--that she had realised to the full her mother's death; so we tried +what we could to comfort her. Doubtless sympathy eased her somewhat, but +she was very low in thought and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for +a long time. We told her that either or both of us would now remain with +her all the time, and that seemed to comfort her. Towards dusk she fell +into a doze. Here a very odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep she +took the paper from her breast and tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped +over and took the pieces from her. All the same, however, she went on +with the action of tearing, as though the material were still in her +hands; finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though scattering +the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered as +if in thought, but he said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_19 September._--All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid +to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it. The Professor and +I took it in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment +unattended. Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I knew +that all night long he patrolled round and round the house. + +When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucy's +strength. She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little +nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good. At times she +slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her, between +sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep she looked stronger, although more +haggard, and her breathing was softer; her open mouth showed the pale +gums drawn back from the teeth, which thus looked positively longer and +sharper than usual; when she woke the softness of her eyes evidently +changed the expression, for she looked her own self, although a dying +one. In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him. +Quincey went off to meet him at the station. + +When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full +and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more +colour to the pale cheeks. When he saw her, Arthur was simply choking +with emotion, and none of us could speak. In the hours that had passed, +the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had +grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible +were shortened. Arthur's presence, however, seemed to act as a +stimulant; she rallied a little, and spoke to him more brightly than she +had done since we arrived. He too pulled himself together, and spoke as +cheerily as he could, so that the best was made of everything. + +It was now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with +her. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering +this on Lucy's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I +fear that to-morrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too +great; the poor child cannot rally. God help us all. + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_17 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"It seems _an age_ since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote. You +will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when you have read all my +budget of news. Well, I got my husband back all right; when we arrived +at Exeter there was a carriage waiting for us, and in it, though he had +an attack of gout, Mr. Hawkins. He took us to his house, where there +were rooms for us all nice and comfortable, and we dined together. After +dinner Mr. Hawkins said:-- + +"'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity; and may every +blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with +love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here +with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child; all are gone, and in +my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and +the old man clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one. + +"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my +bedroom and the drawing-room I can see the great elms of the cathedral +close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow +stone of the cathedral and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and +cawing and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of +rooks--and humans. I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging things and +housekeeping. Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all day; for, now that +Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to tell him all about the +clients. + +"How is your dear mother getting on? I wish I could run up to town for a +day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not go yet, with so much on my +shoulders; and Jonathan wants looking after still. He is beginning to +put some flesh on his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the +long illness; even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in a sudden +way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him back to his usual +placidity. However, thank God, these occasions grow less frequent as the +days go on, and they will in time pass away altogether, I trust. And now +I have told you my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, +and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, +and is it to be a public or a private wedding? Tell me all about it, +dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests +you which will not be dear to me. Jonathan asks me to send his +'respectful duty,' but I do not think that is good enough from the +junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker; and so, as you +love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses +of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead. Good-bye, my dearest +Lucy, and all blessings on you. + +"Yours, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Report from Patrick Hennessey, M. D., M. R. C. S. L. K. Q. C. P. I., +etc., etc., to John Seward, M. D._ + +"_20 September._ + +"My dear Sir,-- + +"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the conditions of +everything left in my charge.... With regard to patient, Renfield, there +is more to say. He has had another outbreak, which might have had a +dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately happened, was unattended +with any unhappy results. This afternoon a carrier's cart with two men +made a call at the empty house whose grounds abut on ours--the house to +which, you will remember, the patient twice ran away. The men stopped at +our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers. I was +myself looking out of the study window, having a smoke after dinner, and +saw one of them come up to the house. As he passed the window of +Renfield's room, the patient began to rate him from within, and called +him all the foul names he could lay his tongue to. The man, who seemed a +decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling him to "shut up for a +foul-mouthed beggar," whereon our man accused him of robbing him and +wanting to murder him and said that he would hinder him if he were to +swing for it. I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, +so he contented himself after looking the place over and making up his +mind as to what kind of a place he had got to by saying: 'Lor' bless +yer, sir, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin' madhouse. I +pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the house with a wild +beast like that.' Then he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him +where the gate of the empty house was; he went away, followed by threats +and curses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I could +make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a +well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind had +ever occurred. I found him, to my astonishment, quite composed and most +genial in his manner. I tried to get him to talk of the incident, but he +blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe +that he was completely oblivious of the affair. It was, I am sorry to +say, however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an +hour I heard of him again. This time he had broken out through the +window of his room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the +attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I feared he was intent +on some mischief. My fear was justified when I saw the same cart which +had passed before coming down the road, having on it some great wooden +boxes. The men were wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the +face, as if with violent exercise. Before I could get up to him the +patient rushed at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to +knock his head against the ground. If I had not seized him just at the +moment I believe he would have killed the man there and then. The other +fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt-end of his +heavy whip. It was a terrible blow; but he did not seem to mind it, but +seized him also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and +fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no light weight, and the others +were both burly men. At first he was silent in his fighting; but as we +began to master him, and the attendants were putting a strait-waistcoat +on him, he began to shout: 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me! +they shan't murder me by inches! I'll fight for my Lord and Master!' and +all sorts of similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable +difficulty that they got him back to the house and put him in the padded +room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken. However, I set +it all right; and he is going on well. + +"The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of actions for +damages, and promised to rain all the penalties of the law on us. Their +threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for +the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman. They said that if it +had not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying and +raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made short work of +him. They gave as another reason for their defeat the extraordinary +state of drouth to which they had been reduced by the dusty nature of +their occupation and the reprehensible distance from the scene of their +labours of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their +drift, and after a stiff glass of grog, or rather more of the same, and +with each a sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore +that they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of +meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent. I took their +names and addresses, in case they might be needed. They are as +follows:--Jack Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, King George's Road, Great +Walworth, and Thomas Snelling, Peter Farley's Row, Guide Court, Bethnal +Green. They are both in the employment of Harris & Sons, Moving and +Shipment Company, Orange Master's Yard, Soho. + +"I shall report to you any matter of interest occurring here, and shall +wire you at once if there is anything of importance. + +"Believe me, dear Sir, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"PATRICK HENNESSEY." + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra_. + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_18 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly. +Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had both come to so love him +that it really seems as though we had lost a father. I never knew either +father or mother, so that the dear old man's death is a real blow to me. +Jonathan is greatly distressed. It is not only that he feels sorrow, +deep sorrow, for the dear, good man who has befriended him all his life, +and now at the end has treated him like his own son and left him a +fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is wealth beyond the +dream of avarice, but Jonathan feels it on another account. He says the +amount of responsibility which it puts upon him makes him nervous. He +begins to doubt himself. I try to cheer him up, and _my_ belief in _him_ +helps him to have a belief in himself. But it is here that the grave +shock that he experienced tells upon him the most. Oh, it is too hard +that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his--a nature which +enabled him by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to master +in a few years--should be so injured that the very essence of its +strength is gone. Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my troubles in +the midst of your own happiness; but, Lucy dear, I must tell some one, +for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan +tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in. I dread coming +up to London, as we must do the day after to-morrow; for poor Mr. +Hawkins left in his will that he was to be buried in the grave with his +father. As there are no relations at all, Jonathan will have to be chief +mourner. I shall try to run over to see you, dearest, if only for a few +minutes. Forgive me for troubling you. With all blessings, + +"Your loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 September._--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry +to-night. I am too miserable, too low-spirited, too sick of the world +and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard +this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death. And he has +been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late--Lucy's mother +and Arthur's father, and now.... Let me get on with my work. + +I duly relieved Van Helsing in his watch over Lucy. We wanted Arthur to +go to rest also, but he refused at first. It was only when I told him +that we should want him to help us during the day, and that we must not +all break down for want of rest, lest Lucy should suffer, that he agreed +to go. Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he said; +"come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much +mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You +must not be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. +Come to the drawing-room, where there is a big fire, and there are two +sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will +be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we +sleep." Arthur went off with him, casting back a longing look on Lucy's +face, which lay in her pillow, almost whiter than the lawn. She lay +quite still, and I looked round the room to see that all was as it +should be. I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, +as in the other, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the +window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk +handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of +the same odorous flowers. Lucy was breathing somewhat stertorously, and +her face was at its worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums. Her +teeth, in the dim, uncertain light, seemed longer and sharper than they +had been in the morning. In particular, by some trick of the light, the +canine teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest. I sat down by her, +and presently she moved uneasily. At the same moment there came a sort +of dull flapping or buffeting at the window. I went over to it softly, +and peeped out by the corner of the blind. There was a full moonlight, +and I could see that the noise was made by a great bat, which wheeled +round--doubtless attracted by the light, although so dim--and every now +and again struck the window with its wings. When I came back to my seat, +I found that Lucy had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic +flowers from her throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and sat +watching her. + +Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had prescribed. +She took but a little, and that languidly. There did not seem to be with +her now the unconscious struggle for life and strength that had hitherto +so marked her illness. It struck me as curious that the moment she +became conscious she pressed the garlic flowers close to her. It was +certainly odd that whenever she got into that lethargic state, with the +stertorous breathing, she put the flowers from her; but that when she +waked she clutched them close. There was no possibility of making any +mistake about this, for in the long hours that followed, she had many +spells of sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times. + +At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Arthur had then fallen +into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on. When he saw Lucy's face +I could hear the sissing indraw of his breath, and he said to me in a +sharp whisper: "Draw up the blind; I want light!" Then he bent down, +and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her carefully. He +removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat. As +he did so he started back, and I could hear his ejaculation, "Mein +Gott!" as it was smothered in his throat. I bent over and looked, too, +and as I noticed some queer chill came over me. + +The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared. + +For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with his face +at its sternest. Then he turned to me and said calmly:-- + +"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark +me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor boy, and +let him come and see the last; he trusts us, and we have promised him." + +I went to the dining-room and waked him. He was dazed for a moment, but +when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters +he thought he was late, and expressed his fear. I assured him that Lucy +was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that both Van +Helsing and I feared that the end was near. He covered his face with his +hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he remained, +perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders +shook with grief. I took him by the hand and raised him up. "Come," I +said, "my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude: it will be best +and easiest for her." + +When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with +his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making +everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed Lucy's +hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples. When we +came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered +softly:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!" He was stooping to +kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back. "No," he whispered, "not +yet! Hold her hand; it will comfort her more." + +So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best, +with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes. Then +gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a little bit her +breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired child's. + +And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in +the night. Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale +gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever. In a +sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which +were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, +such as I had never heard from her lips:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Arthur bent +eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, +had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by +the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which +I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost +across the room. + +"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" And +he stood between them like a lion at bay. + +Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to do +or say; and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realised +the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting. + +I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as +of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champed +together. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily. + +Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and +putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown +one; drawing it to her, she kissed it. "My true friend," she said, in a +faint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend, and his! Oh, +guard him, and give me peace!" + +"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his +hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and said +to him: "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the +forehead, and only once." + +Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted. + +Lucy's eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took +Arthur's arm, and drew him away. + +And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it +ceased. + +"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!" + +I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, where he +sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way that +nearly broke me down to see. + +I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy, and +his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body. +Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had +recovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost their +deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working +of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as +might be. + + "We thought her dying whilst she slept, + And sleeping when she died." + +I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:-- + +"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!" + +He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:-- + +"Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!" + +When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:-- + +"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and +her mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastly +formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff were +afflicted--or blessed--with something of his own obsequious suavity. +Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to +me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out +from the death-chamber:-- + +"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege to +attend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to our +establishment!" + +I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possible from +the disordered state of things in the household. There were no relatives +at hand; and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend at his +father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should have been +bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it upon +ourselves to examine papers, etc. He insisted upon looking over Lucy's +papers himself. I asked him why, for I feared that he, being a +foreigner, might not be quite aware of English legal requirements, and +so might in ignorance make some unnecessary trouble. He answered me:-- + +"I know; I know. You forget that I am a lawyer as well as a doctor. But +this is not altogether for the law. You knew that, when you avoided the +coroner. I have more than him to avoid. There may be papers more--such +as this." + +As he spoke he took from his pocket-book the memorandum which had been +in Lucy's breast, and which she had torn in her sleep. + +"When you find anything of the solicitor who is for the late Mrs. +Westenra, seal all her papers, and write him to-night. For me, I watch +here in the room and in Miss Lucy's old room all night, and I myself +search for what may be. It is not well that her very thoughts go into +the hands of strangers." + +I went on with my part of the work, and in another half hour had found +the name and address of Mrs. Westenra's solicitor and had written to +him. All the poor lady's papers were in order; explicit directions +regarding the place of burial were given. I had hardly sealed the +letter, when, to my surprise, Van Helsing walked into the room, +saying:-- + +"Can I help you, friend John? I am free, and if I may, my service is to +you." + +"Have you got what you looked for?" I asked, to which he replied:-- + +"I did not look for any specific thing. I only hoped to find, and find I +have, all that there was--only some letters and a few memoranda, and a +diary new begun. But I have them here, and we shall for the present say +nothing of them. I shall see that poor lad to-morrow evening, and, with +his sanction, I shall use some." + +When we had finished the work in hand, he said to me:-- + +"And now, friend John, I think we may to bed. We want sleep, both you +and I, and rest to recuperate. To-morrow we shall have much to do, but +for the to-night there is no need of us. Alas!" + +Before turning in we went to look at poor Lucy. The undertaker had +certainly done his work well, for the room was turned into a small +_chapelle ardente_. There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, +and death was made as little repulsive as might be. The end of the +winding-sheet was laid over the face; when the Professor bent over and +turned it gently back, we both started at the beauty before us, the tall +wax candles showing a sufficient light to note it well. All Lucy's +loveliness had come back to her in death, and the hours that had passed, +instead of leaving traces of "decay's effacing fingers," had but +restored the beauty of life, till positively I could not believe my eyes +that I was looking at a corpse. + +The Professor looked sternly grave. He had not loved her as I had, and +there was no need for tears in his eyes. He said to me: "Remain till I +return," and left the room. He came back with a handful of wild garlic +from the box waiting in the hall, but which had not been opened, and +placed the flowers amongst the others on and around the bed. Then he +took from his neck, inside his collar, a little gold crucifix, and +placed it over the mouth. He restored the sheet to its place, and we +came away. + +I was undressing in my own room, when, with a premonitory tap at the +door, he entered, and at once began to speak:-- + +"To-morrow I want you to bring me, before night, a set of post-mortem +knives." + +"Must we make an autopsy?" I asked. + +"Yes and no. I want to operate, but not as you think. Let me tell you +now, but not a word to another. I want to cut off her head and take out +her heart. Ah! you a surgeon, and so shocked! You, whom I have seen with +no tremble of hand or heart, do operations of life and death that make +the rest shudder. Oh, but I must not forget, my dear friend John, that +you loved her; and I have not forgotten it, for it is I that shall +operate, and you must only help. I would like to do it to-night, but for +Arthur I must not; he will be free after his father's funeral to-morrow, +and he will want to see her--to see _it_. Then, when she is coffined +ready for the next day, you and I shall come when all sleep. We shall +unscrew the coffin-lid, and shall do our operation: and then replace +all, so that none know, save we alone." + +"But why do it at all? The girl is dead. Why mutilate her poor body +without need? And if there is no necessity for a post-mortem and nothing +to gain by it--no good to her, to us, to science, to human +knowledge--why do it? Without such it is monstrous." + +For answer he put his hand on my shoulder, and said, with infinite +tenderness:-- + +"Friend John, I pity your poor bleeding heart; and I love you the more +because it does so bleed. If I could, I would take on myself the burden +that you do bear. But there are things that you know not, but that you +shall know, and bless me for knowing, though they are not pleasant +things. John, my child, you have been my friend now many years, and yet +did you ever know me to do any without good cause? I may err--I am but +man; but I believe in all I do. Was it not for these causes that you +send for me when the great trouble came? Yes! Were you not amazed, nay +horrified, when I would not let Arthur kiss his love--though she was +dying--and snatched him away by all my strength? Yes! And yet you saw +how she thanked me, with her so beautiful dying eyes, her voice, too, so +weak, and she kiss my rough old hand and bless me? Yes! And did you not +hear me swear promise to her, that so she closed her eyes grateful? Yes! + +"Well, I have good reason now for all I want to do. You have for many +years trust me; you have believe me weeks past, when there be things so +strange that you might have well doubt. Believe me yet a little, friend +John. If you trust me not, then I must tell what I think; and that is +not perhaps well. And if I work--as work I shall, no matter trust or no +trust--without my friend trust in me, I work with heavy heart and feel, +oh! so lonely when I want all help and courage that may be!" He paused a +moment and went on solemnly: "Friend John, there are strange and +terrible days before us. Let us not be two, but one, that so we work to +a good end. Will you not have faith in me?" + +I took his hand, and promised him. I held my door open as he went away, +and watched him go into his room and close the door. As I stood without +moving, I saw one of the maids pass silently along the passage--she had +her back towards me, so did not see me--and go into the room where Lucy +lay. The sight touched me. Devotion is so rare, and we are so grateful +to those who show it unasked to those we love. Here was a poor girl +putting aside the terrors which she naturally had of death to go watch +alone by the bier of the mistress whom she loved, so that the poor clay +might not be lonely till laid to eternal rest.... + + * * * * * + +I must have slept long and soundly, for it was broad daylight when Van +Helsing waked me by coming into my room. He came over to my bedside and +said:-- + +"You need not trouble about the knives; we shall not do it." + +"Why not?" I asked. For his solemnity of the night before had greatly +impressed me. + +"Because," he said sternly, "it is too late--or too early. See!" Here he +held up the little golden crucifix. "This was stolen in the night." + +"How, stolen," I asked in wonder, "since you have it now?" + +"Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from the +woman who robbed the dead and the living. Her punishment will surely +come, but not through me; she knew not altogether what she did and thus +unknowing, she only stole. Now we must wait." + +He went away on the word, leaving me with a new mystery to think of, a +new puzzle to grapple with. + +The forenoon was a dreary time, but at noon the solicitor came: Mr. +Marquand, of Wholeman, Sons, Marquand & Lidderdale. He was very genial +and very appreciative of what we had done, and took off our hands all +cares as to details. During lunch he told us that Mrs. Westenra had for +some time expected sudden death from her heart, and had put her affairs +in absolute order; he informed us that, with the exception of a certain +entailed property of Lucy's father's which now, in default of direct +issue, went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate, +real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood. When he had +told us so much he went on:-- + +"Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition, and +pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter either +penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a matrimonial +alliance. Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we almost came into +collision, for she asked us if we were or were not prepared to carry out +her wishes. Of course, we had then no alternative but to accept. We were +right in principle, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred we should +have proved, by the logic of events, the accuracy of our judgment. +Frankly, however, I must admit that in this case any other form of +disposition would have rendered impossible the carrying out of her +wishes. For by her predeceasing her daughter the latter would have come +into possession of the property, and, even had she only survived her +mother by five minutes, her property would, in case there were no +will--and a will was a practical impossibility in such a case--have been +treated at her decease as under intestacy. In which case Lord Godalming, +though so dear a friend, would have had no claim in the world; and the +inheritors, being remote, would not be likely to abandon their just +rights, for sentimental reasons regarding an entire stranger. I assure +you, my dear sirs, I am rejoiced at the result, perfectly rejoiced." + +He was a good fellow, but his rejoicing at the one little part--in which +he was officially interested--of so great a tragedy, was an +object-lesson in the limitations of sympathetic understanding. + +He did not remain long, but said he would look in later in the day and +see Lord Godalming. His coming, however, had been a certain comfort to +us, since it assured us that we should not have to dread hostile +criticism as to any of our acts. Arthur was expected at five o'clock, so +a little before that time we visited the death-chamber. It was so in +very truth, for now both mother and daughter lay in it. The undertaker, +true to his craft, had made the best display he could of his goods, and +there was a mortuary air about the place that lowered our spirits at +once. Van Helsing ordered the former arrangement to be adhered to, +explaining that, as Lord Godalming was coming very soon, it would be +less harrowing to his feelings to see all that was left of his _fiancée_ +quite alone. The undertaker seemed shocked at his own stupidity and +exerted himself to restore things to the condition in which we left them +the night before, so that when Arthur came such shocks to his feelings +as we could avoid were saved. + +Poor fellow! He looked desperately sad and broken; even his stalwart +manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his +much-tried emotions. He had, I knew, been very genuinely and devotedly +attached to his father; and to lose him, and at such a time, was a +bitter blow to him. With me he was warm as ever, and to Van Helsing he +was sweetly courteous; but I could not help seeing that there was some +constraint with him. The Professor noticed it, too, and motioned me to +bring him upstairs. I did so, and left him at the door of the room, as I +felt he would like to be quite alone with her, but he took my arm and +led me in, saying huskily:-- + +"You loved her too, old fellow; she told me all about it, and there was +no friend had a closer place in her heart than you. I don't know how to +thank you for all you have done for her. I can't think yet...." + +Here he suddenly broke down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and +laid his head on my breast, crying:-- + +"Oh, Jack! Jack! What shall I do! The whole of life seems gone from me +all at once, and there is nothing in the wide world for me to live for." + +I comforted him as well as I could. In such cases men do not need much +expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the +shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man's +heart. I stood still and silent till his sobs died away, and then I said +softly to him:-- + +"Come and look at her." + +Together we moved over to the bed, and I lifted the lawn from her face. +God! how beautiful she was. Every hour seemed to be enhancing her +loveliness. It frightened and amazed me somewhat; and as for Arthur, he +fell a-trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as with an ague. At +last, after a long pause, he said to me in a faint whisper:-- + +"Jack, is she really dead?" + +I assured him sadly that it was so, and went on to suggest--for I felt +that such a horrible doubt should not have life for a moment longer than +I could help--that it often happened that after death faces became +softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty; that this was +especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or prolonged +suffering. It seemed to quite do away with any doubt, and, after +kneeling beside the couch for a while and looking at her lovingly and +long, he turned aside. I told him that that must be good-bye, as the +coffin had to be prepared; so he went back and took her dead hand in his +and kissed it, and bent over and kissed her forehead. He came away, +fondly looking back over his shoulder at her as he came. + +I left him in the drawing-room, and told Van Helsing that he had said +good-bye; so the latter went to the kitchen to tell the undertaker's men +to proceed with the preparations and to screw up the coffin. When he +came out of the room again I told him of Arthur's question, and he +replied:-- + +"I am not surprised. Just now I doubted for a moment myself!" + +We all dined together, and I could see that poor Art was trying to make +the best of things. Van Helsing had been silent all dinner-time; but +when we had lit our cigars he said-- + +"Lord----"; but Arthur interrupted him:-- + +"No, no, not that, for God's sake! not yet at any rate. Forgive me, sir: +I did not mean to speak offensively; it is only because my loss is so +recent." + +The Professor answered very sweetly:-- + +"I only used that name because I was in doubt. I must not call you +'Mr.,' and I have grown to love you--yes, my dear boy, to love you--as +Arthur." + +Arthur held out his hand, and took the old man's warmly. + +"Call me what you will," he said. "I hope I may always have the title of +a friend. And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for +your goodness to my poor dear." He paused a moment, and went on: "I know +that she understood your goodness even better than I do; and if I was +rude or in any way wanting at that time you acted so--you remember"--the +Professor nodded--"you must forgive me." + +He answered with a grave kindness:-- + +"I know it was hard for you to quite trust me then, for to trust such +violence needs to understand; and I take it that you do not--that you +cannot--trust me now, for you do not yet understand. And there may be +more times when I shall want you to trust when you cannot--and may +not--and must not yet understand. But the time will come when your trust +shall be whole and complete in me, and when you shall understand as +though the sunlight himself shone through. Then you shall bless me from +first to last for your own sake, and for the sake of others and for her +dear sake to whom I swore to protect." + +"And, indeed, indeed, sir," said Arthur warmly, "I shall in all ways +trust you. I know and believe you have a very noble heart, and you are +Jack's friend, and you were hers. You shall do what you like." + +The Professor cleared his throat a couple of times, as though about to +speak, and finally said:-- + +"May I ask you something now?" + +"Certainly." + +"You know that Mrs. Westenra left you all her property?" + +"No, poor dear; I never thought of it." + +"And as it is all yours, you have a right to deal with it as you will. I +want you to give me permission to read all Miss Lucy's papers and +letters. Believe me, it is no idle curiosity. I have a motive of which, +be sure, she would have approved. I have them all here. I took them +before we knew that all was yours, so that no strange hand might touch +them--no strange eye look through words into her soul. I shall keep +them, if I may; even you may not see them yet, but I shall keep them +safe. No word shall be lost; and in the good time I shall give them back +to you. It's a hard thing I ask, but you will do it, will you not, for +Lucy's sake?" + +Arthur spoke out heartily, like his old self:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, you may do what you will. I feel that in saying this I +am doing what my dear one would have approved. I shall not trouble you +with questions till the time comes." + +The old Professor stood up as he said solemnly:-- + +"And you are right. There will be pain for us all; but it will not be +all pain, nor will this pain be the last. We and you too--you most of +all, my dear boy--will have to pass through the bitter water before we +reach the sweet. But we must be brave of heart and unselfish, and do our +duty, and all will be well!" + +I slept on a sofa in Arthur's room that night. Van Helsing did not go to +bed at all. He went to and fro, as if patrolling the house, and was +never out of sight of the room where Lucy lay in her coffin, strewn with +the wild garlic flowers, which sent, through the odour of lily and rose, +a heavy, overpowering smell into the night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_22 September._--In the train to Exeter. Jonathan sleeping. + +It seems only yesterday that the last entry was made, and yet how much +between then, in Whitby and all the world before me, Jonathan away and +no news of him; and now, married to Jonathan, Jonathan a solicitor, a +partner, rich, master of his business, Mr. Hawkins dead and buried, and +Jonathan with another attack that may harm him. Some day he may ask me +about it. Down it all goes. I am rusty in my shorthand--see what +unexpected prosperity does for us--so it may be as well to freshen it up +again with an exercise anyhow.... + +The service was very simple and very solemn. There were only ourselves +and the servants there, one or two old friends of his from Exeter, his +London agent, and a gentleman representing Sir John Paxton, the +President of the Incorporated Law Society. Jonathan and I stood hand in +hand, and we felt that our best and dearest friend was gone from us.... + +We came back to town quietly, taking a 'bus to Hyde Park Corner. +Jonathan thought it would interest me to go into the Row for a while, so +we sat down; but there were very few people there, and it was +sad-looking and desolate to see so many empty chairs. It made us think +of the empty chair at home; so we got up and walked down Piccadilly. +Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in old days +before I went to school. I felt it very improper, for you can't go on +for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other girls without the +pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit; but it was Jonathan, and he +was my husband, and we didn't know anybody who saw us--and we didn't +care if they did--so on we walked. I was looking at a very beautiful +girl, in a big cart-wheel hat, sitting in a victoria outside Guiliano's, +when I felt Jonathan clutch my arm so tight that he hurt me, and he said +under his breath: "My God!" I am always anxious about Jonathan, for I +fear that some nervous fit may upset him again; so I turned to him +quickly, and asked him what it was that disturbed him. + +He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and +half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and +black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the pretty +girl. He was looking at her so hard that he did not see either of us, +and so I had a good view of him. His face was not a good face; it was +hard, and cruel, and sensual, and his big white teeth, that looked all +the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like an animal's. +Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I +feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty. I asked +Jonathan why he was disturbed, and he answered, evidently thinking that +I knew as much about it as he did: "Do you see who it is?" + +"No, dear," I said; "I don't know him; who is it?" His answer seemed to +shock and thrill me, for it was said as if he did not know that it was +to me, Mina, to whom he was speaking:-- + +"It is the man himself!" + +The poor dear was evidently terrified at something--very greatly +terrified; I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to +support him he would have sunk down. He kept staring; a man came out of +the shop with a small parcel, and gave it to the lady, who then drove +off. The dark man kept his eyes fixed on her, and when the carriage +moved up Piccadilly he followed in the same direction, and hailed a +hansom. Jonathan kept looking after him, and said, as if to himself:-- + +"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God, if this be +so! Oh, my God! my God! If I only knew! if I only knew!" He was +distressing himself so much that I feared to keep his mind on the +subject by asking him any questions, so I remained silent. I drew him +away quietly, and he, holding my arm, came easily. We walked a little +further, and then went in and sat for a while in the Green Park. It was +a hot day for autumn, and there was a comfortable seat in a shady place. +After a few minutes' staring at nothing, Jonathan's eyes closed, and he +went quietly into a sleep, with his head on my shoulder. I thought it +was the best thing for him, so did not disturb him. In about twenty +minutes he woke up, and said to me quite cheerfully:-- + +"Why, Mina, have I been asleep! Oh, do forgive me for being so rude. +Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere." He had evidently forgotten +all about the dark stranger, as in his illness he had forgotten all that +this episode had reminded him of. I don't like this lapsing into +forgetfulness; it may make or continue some injury to the brain. I must +not ask him, for fear I shall do more harm than good; but I must somehow +learn the facts of his journey abroad. The time is come, I fear, when I +must open that parcel, and know what is written. Oh, Jonathan, you will, +I know, forgive me if I do wrong, but it is for your own dear sake. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--A sad home-coming in every way--the house empty of the dear +soul who was so good to us; Jonathan still pale and dizzy under a slight +relapse of his malady; and now a telegram from Van Helsing, whoever he +may be:-- + +"You will be grieved to hear that Mrs. Westenra died five days ago, and +that Lucy died the day before yesterday. They were both buried to-day." + +Oh, what a wealth of sorrow in a few words! Poor Mrs. Westenra! poor +Lucy! Gone, gone, never to return to us! And poor, poor Arthur, to have +lost such sweetness out of his life! God help us all to bear our +troubles. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_22 September._--It is all over. Arthur has gone back to Ring, and has +taken Quincey Morris with him. What a fine fellow is Quincey! I believe +in my heart of hearts that he suffered as much about Lucy's death as any +of us; but he bore himself through it like a moral Viking. If America +can go on breeding men like that, she will be a power in the world +indeed. Van Helsing is lying down, having a rest preparatory to his +journey. He goes over to Amsterdam to-night, but says he returns +to-morrow night; that he only wants to make some arrangements which can +only be made personally. He is to stop with me then, if he can; he says +he has work to do in London which may take him some time. Poor old +fellow! I fear that the strain of the past week has broken down even his +iron strength. All the time of the burial he was, I could see, putting +some terrible restraint on himself. When it was all over, we were +standing beside Arthur, who, poor fellow, was speaking of his part in +the operation where his blood had been transfused to his Lucy's veins; I +could see Van Helsing's face grow white and purple by turns. Arthur was +saying that he felt since then as if they two had been really married +and that she was his wife in the sight of God. None of us said a word of +the other operations, and none of us ever shall. Arthur and Quincey went +away together to the station, and Van Helsing and I came on here. The +moment we were alone in the carriage he gave way to a regular fit of +hysterics. He has denied to me since that it was hysterics, and insisted +that it was only his sense of humour asserting itself under very +terrible conditions. He laughed till he cried, and I had to draw down +the blinds lest any one should see us and misjudge; and then he cried, +till he laughed again; and laughed and cried together, just as a woman +does. I tried to be stern with him, as one is to a woman under the +circumstances; but it had no effect. Men and women are so different in +manifestations of nervous strength or weakness! Then when his face grew +grave and stern again I asked him why his mirth, and why at such a time. +His reply was in a way characteristic of him, for it was logical and +forceful and mysterious. He said:-- + +"Ah, you don't comprehend, friend John. Do not think that I am not sad, +though I laugh. See, I have cried even when the laugh did choke me. But +no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh he come +just the same. Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your +door and say, 'May I come in?' is not the true laughter. No! he is a +king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person; he choose no +time of suitability. He say, 'I am here.' Behold, in example I grieve my +heart out for that so sweet young girl; I give my blood for her, though +I am old and worn; I give my time, my skill, my sleep; I let my other +sufferers want that so she may have all. And yet I can laugh at her very +grave--laugh when the clay from the spade of the sexton drop upon her +coffin and say 'Thud! thud!' to my heart, till it send back the blood +from my cheek. My heart bleed for that poor boy--that dear boy, so of +the age of mine own boy had I been so blessed that he live, and with his +hair and eyes the same. There, you know now why I love him so. And yet +when he say things that touch my husband-heart to the quick, and make my +father-heart yearn to him as to no other man--not even to you, friend +John, for we are more level in experiences than father and son--yet even +at such moment King Laugh he come to me and shout and bellow in my ear, +'Here I am! here I am!' till the blood come dance back and bring some of +the sunshine that he carry with him to my cheek. Oh, friend John, it is +a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and +troubles; and yet when King Laugh come he make them all dance to the +tune he play. Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and +tears that burn as they fall--all dance together to the music that he +make with that smileless mouth of him. And believe me, friend John, that +he is good to come, and kind. Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn +tight with strain that pull us different ways. Then tears come; and, +like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain +become too great, and we break. But King Laugh he come like the +sunshine, and he ease off the strain again; and we bear to go on with +our labour, what it may be." + +I did not like to wound him by pretending not to see his idea; but, as I +did not yet understand the cause of his laughter, I asked him. As he +answered me his face grew stern, and he said in quite a different +tone:-- + +"Oh, it was the grim irony of it all--this so lovely lady garlanded with +flowers, that looked so fair as life, till one by one we wondered if she +were truly dead; she laid in that so fine marble house in that lonely +churchyard, where rest so many of her kin, laid there with the mother +who loved her, and whom she loved; and that sacred bell going 'Toll! +toll! toll!' so sad and slow; and those holy men, with the white +garments of the angel, pretending to read books, and yet all the time +their eyes never on the page; and all of us with the bowed head. And all +for what? She is dead; so! Is it not?" + +"Well, for the life of me, Professor," I said, "I can't see anything to +laugh at in all that. Why, your explanation makes it a harder puzzle +than before. But even if the burial service was comic, what about poor +Art and his trouble? Why, his heart was simply breaking." + +"Just so. Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins had +made her truly his bride?" + +"Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him." + +"Quite so. But there was a difficulty, friend John. If so that, then +what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist, +and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though +no wits, all gone--even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife, +am bigamist." + +"I don't see where the joke comes in there either!" I said; and I did +not feel particularly pleased with him for saying such things. He laid +his hand on my arm, and said:-- + +"Friend John, forgive me if I pain. I showed not my feeling to others +when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust. +If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; +if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so +now, when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him--for +he go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time--maybe you would +perhaps pity me the most of all." + +I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why. + +"Because I know!" + +And now we are all scattered; and for many a long day loneliness will +sit over our roofs with brooding wings. Lucy lies in the tomb of her +kin, a lordly death-house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming +London; where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill, +and where wild flowers grow of their own accord. + +So I can finish this diary; and God only knows if I shall ever begin +another. If I do, or if I even open this again, it will be to deal with +different people and different themes; for here at the end, where the +romance of my life is told, ere I go back to take up the thread of my +life-work, I say sadly and without hope, + + "FINIS." + + +_"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + A HAMPSTEAD MYSTERY. + + +The neighbourhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with a +series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what +was known to the writers of headlines as "The Kensington Horror," or +"The Stabbing Woman," or "The Woman in Black." During the past two or +three days several cases have occurred of young children straying from +home or neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath. In all +these cases the children were too young to give any properly +intelligible account of themselves, but the consensus of their excuses +is that they had been with a "bloofer lady." It has always been late in +the evening when they have been missed, and on two occasions the +children have not been found until early in the following morning. It is +generally supposed in the neighbourhood that, as the first child missed +gave as his reason for being away that a "bloofer lady" had asked him to +come for a walk, the others had picked up the phrase and used it as +occasion served. This is the more natural as the favourite game of the +little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles. A +correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to +be the "bloofer lady" is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists +might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the +reality and the picture. It is only in accordance with general +principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady" should be the popular +rôle at these _al fresco_ performances. Our correspondent naïvely says +that even Ellen Terry could not be so winningly attractive as some of +these grubby-faced little children pretend--and even imagine +themselves--to be. + +There is, however, possibly a serious side to the question, for some of +the children, indeed all who have been missed at night, have been +slightly torn or wounded in the throat. The wounds seem such as might be +made by a rat or a small dog, and although of not much importance +individually, would tend to show that whatever animal inflicts them has +a system or method of its own. The police of the division have been +instructed to keep a sharp look-out for straying children, especially +when very young, in and around Hampstead Heath, and for any stray dog +which may be about. + + + _"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + _Extra Special._ + + THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR. + + ANOTHER CHILD INJURED. + + _The "Bloofer Lady."_ + +We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last +night, was only discovered late in the morning under a furze bush at the +Shooter's Hill side of Hampstead Heath, which is, perhaps, less +frequented than the other parts. It has the same tiny wound in the +throat as has been noticed in other cases. It was terribly weak, and +looked quite emaciated. It too, when partially restored, had the common +story to tell of being lured away by the "bloofer lady." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_23 September_.--Jonathan is better after a bad night. I am so glad that +he has plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the terrible +things; and oh, I am rejoiced that he is not now weighed down with the +responsibility of his new position. I knew he would be true to himself, +and now how proud I am to see my Jonathan rising to the height of his +advancement and keeping pace in all ways with the duties that come upon +him. He will be away all day till late, for he said he could not lunch +at home. My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal, +and lock myself up in my room and read it.... + + +_24 September_.--I hadn't the heart to write last night; that terrible +record of Jonathan's upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, +whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth +in it at all. Did he get his brain fever, and then write all those +terrible things, or had he some cause for it all? I suppose I shall +never know, for I dare not open the subject to him.... And yet that man +we saw yesterday! He seemed quite certain of him.... Poor fellow! I +suppose it was the funeral upset him and sent his mind back on some +train of thought.... He believes it all himself. I remember how on our +wedding-day he said: "Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, mad or sane." There seems to be +through it all some thread of continuity.... That fearful Count was +coming to London.... If it should be, and he came to London, with his +teeming millions.... There may be a solemn duty; and if it come we must +not shrink from it.... I shall be prepared. I shall get my typewriter +this very hour and begin transcribing. Then we shall be ready for other +eyes if required. And if it be wanted; then, perhaps, if I am ready, +poor Jonathan may not be upset, for I can speak for him and never let +him be troubled or worried with it at all. If ever Jonathan quite gets +over the nervousness he may want to tell me of it all, and I can ask him +questions and find out things, and see how I may comfort him. + + +_Letter, Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_24 September._ + +(_Confidence_) + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I pray you to pardon my writing, in that I am so far friend as that I +sent to you sad news of Miss Lucy Westenra's death. By the kindness of +Lord Godalming, I am empowered to read her letters and papers, for I am +deeply concerned about certain matters vitally important. In them I find +some letters from you, which show how great friends you were and how you +love her. Oh, Madam Mina, by that love, I implore you, help me. It is +for others' good that I ask--to redress great wrong, and to lift much +and terrible troubles--that may be more great than you can know. May it +be that I see you? You can trust me. I am friend of Dr. John Seward and +of Lord Godalming (that was Arthur of Miss Lucy). I must keep it private +for the present from all. I should come to Exeter to see you at once if +you tell me I am privilege to come, and where and when. I implore your +pardon, madam. I have read your letters to poor Lucy, and know how good +you are and how your husband suffer; so I pray you, if it may be, +enlighten him not, lest it may harm. Again your pardon, and forgive me. + +"VAN HELSING." + + +_Telegram, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September._--Come to-day by quarter-past ten train if you can catch +it. Can see you any time you call. + +"WILHELMINA HARKER." + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL. + +_25 September._--I cannot help feeling terribly excited as the time +draws near for the visit of Dr. Van Helsing, for somehow I expect that +it will throw some light upon Jonathan's sad experience; and as he +attended poor dear Lucy in her last illness, he can tell me all about +her. That is the reason of his coming; it is concerning Lucy and her +sleep-walking, and not about Jonathan. Then I shall never know the real +truth now! How silly I am. That awful journal gets hold of my +imagination and tinges everything with something of its own colour. Of +course it is about Lucy. That habit came back to the poor dear, and that +awful night on the cliff must have made her ill. I had almost forgotten +in my own affairs how ill she was afterwards. She must have told him +of her sleep-walking adventure on the cliff, and that I knew all about +it; and now he wants me to tell him what she knows, so that he may +understand. I hope I did right in not saying anything of it to Mrs. +Westenra; I should never forgive myself if any act of mine, were it even +a negative one, brought harm on poor dear Lucy. I hope, too, Dr. Van +Helsing will not blame me; I have had so much trouble and anxiety of +late that I feel I cannot bear more just at present. + +I suppose a cry does us all good at times--clears the air as other rain +does. Perhaps it was reading the journal yesterday that upset me, and +then Jonathan went away this morning to stay away from me a whole day +and night, the first time we have been parted since our marriage. I do +hope the dear fellow will take care of himself, and that nothing will +occur to upset him. It is two o'clock, and the doctor will be here soon +now. I shall say nothing of Jonathan's journal unless he asks me. I am +so glad I have type-written out my own journal, so that, in case he asks +about Lucy, I can hand it to him; it will save much questioning. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--He has come and gone. Oh, what a strange meeting, and how it +all makes my head whirl round! I feel like one in a dream. Can it be all +possible, or even a part of it? If I had not read Jonathan's journal +first, I should never have accepted even a possibility. Poor, poor, dear +Jonathan! How he must have suffered. Please the good God, all this may +not upset him again. I shall try to save him from it; but it may be even +a consolation and a help to him--terrible though it be and awful in its +consequences--to know for certain that his eyes and ears and brain did +not deceive him, and that it is all true. It may be that it is the doubt +which haunts him; that when the doubt is removed, no matter +which--waking or dreaming--may prove the truth, he will be more +satisfied and better able to bear the shock. Dr. Van Helsing must be a +good man as well as a clever one if he is Arthur's friend and Dr. +Seward's, and if they brought him all the way from Holland to look after +Lucy. I feel from having seen him that he _is_ good and kind and of a +noble nature. When he comes to-morrow I shall ask him about Jonathan; +and then, please God, all this sorrow and anxiety may lead to a good +end. I used to think I would like to practise interviewing; Jonathan's +friend on "The Exeter News" told him that memory was everything in such +work--that you must be able to put down exactly almost every word +spoken, even if you had to refine some of it afterwards. Here was a rare +interview; I shall try to record it _verbatim_. + +It was half-past two o'clock when the knock came. I took my courage _à +deux mains_ and waited. In a few minutes Mary opened the door, and +announced "Dr. Van Helsing." + +I rose and bowed, and he came towards me; a man of medium weight, +strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and +a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise +of the head strikes one at once as indicative of thought and power; the +head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, +clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large, resolute, mobile +mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive +nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big, bushy brows come down and the +mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost +straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart; +such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, +but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set +widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods. He +said to me:-- + +"Mrs. Harker, is it not?" I bowed assent. + +"That was Miss Mina Murray?" Again I assented. + +"It is Mina Murray that I came to see that was friend of that poor dear +child Lucy Westenra. Madam Mina, it is on account of the dead I come." + +"Sir," I said, "you could have no better claim on me than that you were +a friend and helper of Lucy Westenra." And I held out my hand. He took +it and said tenderly:-- + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I knew that the friend of that poor lily girl must be +good, but I had yet to learn----" He finished his speech with a courtly +bow. I asked him what it was that he wanted to see me about, so he at +once began:-- + +"I have read your letters to Miss Lucy. Forgive me, but I had to begin +to inquire somewhere, and there was none to ask. I know that you were +with her at Whitby. She sometimes kept a diary--you need not look +surprised, Madam Mina; it was begun after you had left, and was in +imitation of you--and in that diary she traces by inference certain +things to a sleep-walking in which she puts down that you saved her. In +great perplexity then I come to you, and ask you out of your so much +kindness to tell me all of it that you can remember." + +"I can tell you, I think, Dr. Van Helsing, all about it." + +"Ah, then you have good memory for facts, for details? It is not always +so with young ladies." + +"No, doctor, but I wrote it all down at the time. I can show it to you +if you like." + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I will be grateful; you will do me much favour." I +could not resist the temptation of mystifying him a bit--I suppose it is +some of the taste of the original apple that remains still in our +mouths--so I handed him the shorthand diary. He took it with a grateful +bow, and said:-- + +"May I read it?" + +"If you wish," I answered as demurely as I could. He opened it, and for +an instant his face fell. Then he stood up and bowed. + +"Oh, you so clever woman!" he said. "I knew long that Mr. Jonathan was a +man of much thankfulness; but see, his wife have all the good things. +And will you not so much honour me and so help me as to read it for me? +Alas! I know not the shorthand." By this time my little joke was over, +and I was almost ashamed; so I took the typewritten copy from my +workbasket and handed it to him. + +"Forgive me," I said: "I could not help it; but I had been thinking that +it was of dear Lucy that you wished to ask, and so that you might not +have time to wait--not on my account, but because I know your time must +be precious--I have written it out on the typewriter for you." + +He took it and his eyes glistened. "You are so good," he said. "And may +I read it now? I may want to ask you some things when I have read." + +"By all means," I said, "read it over whilst I order lunch; and then you +can ask me questions whilst we eat." He bowed and settled himself in a +chair with his back to the light, and became absorbed in the papers, +whilst I went to see after lunch chiefly in order that he might not be +disturbed. When I came back, I found him walking hurriedly up and down +the room, his face all ablaze with excitement. He rushed up to me and +took me by both hands. + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "how can I say what I owe to you? This paper +is as sunshine. It opens the gate to me. I am daze, I am dazzle, with so +much light, and yet clouds roll in behind the light every time. But that +you do not, cannot, comprehend. Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so +clever woman. Madam"--he said this very solemnly--"if ever Abraham Van +Helsing can do anything for you or yours, I trust you will let me know. +It will be pleasure and delight if I may serve you as a friend; as a +friend, but all I have ever learned, all I can ever do, shall be for you +and those you love. There are darknesses in life, and there are lights; +you are one of the lights. You will have happy life and good life, and +your husband will be blessed in you." + +"But, doctor, you praise me too much, and--and you do not know me." + +"Not know you--I, who am old, and who have studied all my life men and +women; I, who have made my specialty the brain and all that belongs to +him and all that follow from him! And I have read your diary that you +have so goodly written for me, and which breathes out truth in every +line. I, who have read your so sweet letter to poor Lucy of your +marriage and your trust, not know you! Oh, Madam Mina, good women tell +all their lives, and by day and by hour and by minute, such things that +angels can read; and we men who wish to know have in us something of +angels' eyes. Your husband is noble nature, and you are noble too, for +you trust, and trust cannot be where there is mean nature. And your +husband--tell me of him. Is he quite well? Is all that fever gone, and +is he strong and hearty?" I saw here an opening to ask him about +Jonathan, so I said:-- + +"He was almost recovered, but he has been greatly upset by Mr. Hawkins's +death." He interrupted:-- + +"Oh, yes, I know, I know. I have read your last two letters." I went +on:-- + +"I suppose this upset him, for when we were in town on Thursday last he +had a sort of shock." + +"A shock, and after brain fever so soon! That was not good. What kind of +a shock was it?" + +"He thought he saw some one who recalled something terrible, something +which led to his brain fever." And here the whole thing seemed to +overwhelm me in a rush. The pity for Jonathan, the horror which he +experienced, the whole fearful mystery of his diary, and the fear that +has been brooding over me ever since, all came in a tumult. I suppose I +was hysterical, for I threw myself on my knees and held up my hands to +him, and implored him to make my husband well again. He took my hands +and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me; he held my +hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetness:-- + +"My life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have not +had much time for friendships; but since I have been summoned to here by +my friend John Seward I have known so many good people and seen such +nobility that I feel more than ever--and it has grown with my advancing +years--the loneliness of my life. Believe, me, then, that I come here +full of respect for you, and you have given me hope--hope, not in what I +am seeking of, but that there are good women still left to make life +happy--good women, whose lives and whose truths may make good lesson for +the children that are to be. I am glad, glad, that I may here be of some +use to you; for if your husband suffer, he suffer within the range of my +study and experience. I promise you that I will gladly do _all_ for him +that I can--all to make his life strong and manly, and your life a happy +one. Now you must eat. You are overwrought and perhaps over-anxious. +Husband Jonathan would not like to see you so pale; and what he like not +where he love, is not to his good. Therefore for his sake you must eat +and smile. You have told me all about Lucy, and so now we shall not +speak of it, lest it distress. I shall stay in Exeter to-night, for I +want to think much over what you have told me, and when I have thought I +will ask you questions, if I may. And then, too, you will tell me of +husband Jonathan's trouble so far as you can, but not yet. You must eat +now; afterwards you shall tell me all." + +After lunch, when we went back to the drawing-room, he said to me:-- + +"And now tell me all about him." When it came to speaking to this great +learned man, I began to fear that he would think me a weak fool, and +Jonathan a madman--that journal is all so strange--and I hesitated to go +on. But he was so sweet and kind, and he had promised to help, and I +trusted him, so I said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, what I have to tell you is so queer that you must not +laugh at me or at my husband. I have been since yesterday in a sort of +fever of doubt; you must be kind to me, and not think me foolish that I +have even half believed some very strange things." He reassured me by +his manner as well as his words when he said:-- + +"Oh, my dear, if you only know how strange is the matter regarding which +I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little +of any one's belief, no matter how strange it be. I have tried to keep +an open mind; and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close +it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that +make one doubt if they be mad or sane." + +"Thank you, thank you, a thousand times! You have taken a weight off my +mind. If you will let me, I shall give you a paper to read. It is long, +but I have typewritten it out. It will tell you my trouble and +Jonathan's. It is the copy of his journal when abroad, and all that +happened. I dare not say anything of it; you will read for yourself and +judge. And then when I see you, perhaps, you will be very kind and tell +me what you think." + +"I promise," he said as I gave him the papers; "I shall in the morning, +so soon as I can, come to see you and your husband, if I may." + +"Jonathan will be here at half-past eleven, and you must come to lunch +with us and see him then; you could catch the quick 3:34 train, which +will leave you at Paddington before eight." He was surprised at my +knowledge of the trains off-hand, but he does not know that I have made +up all the trains to and from Exeter, so that I may help Jonathan in +case he is in a hurry. + +So he took the papers with him and went away, and I sit here +thinking--thinking I don't know what. + + * * * * * + +_Letter (by hand), Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_25 September, 6 o'clock._ + +"Dear Madam Mina,-- + +"I have read your husband's so wonderful diary. You may sleep without +doubt. Strange and terrible as it is, it is _true_! I will pledge my +life on it. It may be worse for others; but for him and you there is no +dread. He is a noble fellow; and let me tell you from experience of men, +that one who would do as he did in going down that wall and to that +room--ay, and going a second time--is not one to be injured in +permanence by a shock. His brain and his heart are all right; this I +swear, before I have even seen him; so be at rest. I shall have much to +ask him of other things. I am blessed that to-day I come to see you, for +I have learn all at once so much that again I am dazzle--dazzle more +than ever, and I must think. + +"Yours the most faithful, + +"ABRAHAM VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September, 6:30 p. m._ + +"My dear Dr. Van Helsing,-- + +"A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which has taken a great weight +off my mind. And yet, if it be true, what terrible things there are in +the world, and what an awful thing if that man, that monster, be really +in London! I fear to think. I have this moment, whilst writing, had a +wire from Jonathan, saying that he leaves by the 6:25 to-night from +Launceston and will be here at 10:18, so that I shall have no fear +to-night. Will you, therefore, instead of lunching with us, please come +to breakfast at eight o'clock, if this be not too early for you? You can +get away, if you are in a hurry, by the 10:30 train, which will bring +you to Paddington by 2:35. Do not answer this, as I shall take it that, +if I do not hear, you will come to breakfast. + +"Believe me, + +"Your faithful and grateful friend, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_26 September._--I thought never to write in this diary again, but the +time has come. When I got home last night Mina had supper ready, and +when we had supped she told me of Van Helsing's visit, and of her having +given him the two diaries copied out, and of how anxious she has been +about me. She showed me in the doctor's letter that all I wrote down was +true. It seems to have made a new man of me. It was the doubt as to the +reality of the whole thing that knocked me over. I felt impotent, and in +the dark, and distrustful. But, now that I _know_, I am not afraid, even +of the Count. He has succeeded after all, then, in his design in getting +to London, and it was he I saw. He has got younger, and how? Van Helsing +is the man to unmask him and hunt him out, if he is anything like what +Mina says. We sat late, and talked it all over. Mina is dressing, and I +shall call at the hotel in a few minutes and bring him over.... + +He was, I think, surprised to see me. When I came into the room where he +was, and introduced myself, he took me by the shoulder, and turned my +face round to the light, and said, after a sharp scrutiny:-- + +"But Madam Mina told me you were ill, that you had had a shock." It was +so funny to hear my wife called "Madam Mina" by this kindly, +strong-faced old man. I smiled, and said:-- + +"I _was_ ill, I _have_ had a shock; but you have cured me already." + +"And how?" + +"By your letter to Mina last night. I was in doubt, and then everything +took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust, even the +evidence of my own senses. Not knowing what to trust, I did not know +what to do; and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been +the groove of my life. The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted +myself. Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt everything, even +yourself. No, you don't; you couldn't with eyebrows like yours." He +seemed pleased, and laughed as he said:-- + +"So! You are physiognomist. I learn more here with each hour. I am with +so much pleasure coming to you to breakfast; and, oh, sir, you will +pardon praise from an old man, but you are blessed in your wife." I +would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day, so I simply nodded +and stood silent. + +"She is one of God's women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and +other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its +light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an +egoist--and that, let me tell you, is much in this age, so sceptical and +selfish. And you, sir--I have read all the letters to poor Miss Lucy, +and some of them speak of you, so I know you since some days from the +knowing of others; but I have seen your true self since last night. You +will give me your hand, will you not? And let us be friends for all our +lives." + +We shook hands, and he was so earnest and so kind that it made me quite +choky. + +"And now," he said, "may I ask you for some more help? I have a great +task to do, and at the beginning it is to know. You can help me here. +Can you tell me what went before your going to Transylvania? Later on I +may ask more help, and of a different kind; but at first this will do." + +"Look here, sir," I said, "does what you have to do concern the Count?" + +"It does," he said solemnly. + +"Then I am with you heart and soul. As you go by the 10:30 train, you +will not have time to read them; but I shall get the bundle of papers. +You can take them with you and read them in the train." + +After breakfast I saw him to the station. When we were parting he +said:-- + +"Perhaps you will come to town if I send to you, and take Madam Mina +too." + +"We shall both come when you will," I said. + +I had got him the morning papers and the London papers of the previous +night, and while we were talking at the carriage window, waiting for the +train to start, he was turning them over. His eyes suddenly seemed to +catch something in one of them, "The Westminster Gazette"--I knew it by +the colour--and he grew quite white. He read something intently, +groaning to himself: "Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! so soon!" I do not +think he remembered me at the moment. Just then the whistle blew, and +the train moved off. This recalled him to himself, and he leaned out of +the window and waved his hand, calling out: "Love to Madam Mina; I shall +write so soon as ever I can." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_26 September._--Truly there is no such thing as finality. Not a week +since I said "Finis," and yet here I am starting fresh again, or rather +going on with the same record. Until this afternoon I had no cause to +think of what is done. Renfield had become, to all intents, as sane as +he ever was. He was already well ahead with his fly business; and he had +just started in the spider line also; so he had not been of any trouble +to me. I had a letter from Arthur, written on Sunday, and from it I +gather that he is bearing up wonderfully well. Quincey Morris is with +him, and that is much of a help, for he himself is a bubbling well of +good spirits. Quincey wrote me a line too, and from him I hear that +Arthur is beginning to recover something of his old buoyancy; so as to +them all my mind is at rest. As for myself, I was settling down to my +work with the enthusiasm which I used to have for it, so that I might +fairly have said that the wound which poor Lucy left on me was becoming +cicatrised. Everything is, however, now reopened; and what is to be the +end God only knows. I have an idea that Van Helsing thinks he knows, +too, but he will only let out enough at a time to whet curiosity. He +went to Exeter yesterday, and stayed there all night. To-day he came +back, and almost bounded into the room at about half-past five o'clock, +and thrust last night's "Westminster Gazette" into my hand. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked as he stood back and folded his +arms. + +I looked over the paper, for I really did not know what he meant; but he +took it from me and pointed out a paragraph about children being decoyed +away at Hampstead. It did not convey much to me, until I reached a +passage where it described small punctured wounds on their throats. An +idea struck me, and I looked up. "Well?" he said. + +"It is like poor Lucy's." + +"And what do you make of it?" + +"Simply that there is some cause in common. Whatever it was that injured +her has injured them." I did not quite understand his answer:-- + +"That is true indirectly, but not directly." + +"How do you mean, Professor?" I asked. I was a little inclined to take +his seriousness lightly--for, after all, four days of rest and freedom +from burning, harrowing anxiety does help to restore one's spirits--but +when I saw his face, it sobered me. Never, even in the midst of our +despair about poor Lucy, had he looked more stern. + +"Tell me!" I said. "I can hazard no opinion. I do not know what to +think, and I have no data on which to found a conjecture." + +"Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to +what poor Lucy died of; not after all the hints given, not only by +events, but by me?" + +"Of nervous prostration following on great loss or waste of blood." + +"And how the blood lost or waste?" I shook my head. He stepped over and +sat down beside me, and went on:-- + +"You are clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold; +but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears +hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to +you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, +and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But +there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's +eyes, because they know--or think they know--some things which other men +have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to +explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to +explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, +which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend +to be young--like the fine ladies at the opera. I suppose now you do not +believe in corporeal transference. No? Nor in materialisation. No? Nor +in astral bodies. No? Nor in the reading of thought. No? Nor in +hypnotism----" + +"Yes," I said. "Charcot has proved that pretty well." He smiled as he +went on: "Then you are satisfied as to it. Yes? And of course then you +understand how it act, and can follow the mind of the great +Charcot--alas that he is no more!--into the very soul of the patient +that he influence. No? Then, friend John, am I to take it that you +simply accept fact, and are satisfied to let from premise to conclusion +be a blank? No? Then tell me--for I am student of the brain--how you +accept the hypnotism and reject the thought reading. Let me tell you, my +friend, that there are things done to-day in electrical science which +would have been deemed unholy by the very men who discovered +electricity--who would themselves not so long before have been burned +as wizards. There are always mysteries in life. Why was it that +Methuselah lived nine hundred years, and 'Old Parr' one hundred and +sixty-nine, and yet that poor Lucy, with four men's blood in her poor +veins, could not live even one day? For, had she live one more day, we +could have save her. Do you know all the mystery of life and death? Do +you know the altogether of comparative anatomy and can say wherefore the +qualities of brutes are in some men, and not in others? Can you tell me +why, when other spiders die small and soon, that one great spider lived +for centuries in the tower of the old Spanish church and grew and grew, +till, on descending, he could drink the oil of all the church lamps? Can +you tell me why in the Pampas, ay and elsewhere, there are bats that +come at night and open the veins of cattle and horses and suck dry their +veins; how in some islands of the Western seas there are bats which hang +on the trees all day, and those who have seen describe as like giant +nuts or pods, and that when the sailors sleep on the deck, because that +it is hot, flit down on them, and then--and then in the morning are +found dead men, white as even Miss Lucy was?" + +"Good God, Professor!" I said, starting up. "Do you mean to tell me that +Lucy was bitten by such a bat; and that such a thing is here in London +in the nineteenth century?" He waved his hand for silence, and went +on:-- + +"Can you tell me why the tortoise lives more long than generations of +men; why the elephant goes on and on till he have seen dynasties; and +why the parrot never die only of bite of cat or dog or other complaint? +Can you tell me why men believe in all ages and places that there are +some few who live on always if they be permit; that there are men and +women who cannot die? We all know--because science has vouched for the +fact--that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of +years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of +the world. Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to die +and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it, and the +corn reaped and be cut and sown and reaped and cut again, and then men +come and take away the unbroken seal and that there lie the Indian +fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as before?" Here +I interrupted him. I was getting bewildered; he so crowded on my mind +his list of nature's eccentricities and possible impossibilities that my +imagination was getting fired. I had a dim idea that he was teaching me +some lesson, as long ago he used to do in his study at Amsterdam; but +he used then to tell me the thing, so that I could have the object of +thought in mind all the time. But now I was without this help, yet I +wanted to follow him, so I said:-- + +"Professor, let me be your pet student again. Tell me the thesis, so +that I may apply your knowledge as you go on. At present I am going in +my mind from point to point as a mad man, and not a sane one, follows an +idea. I feel like a novice lumbering through a bog in a mist, jumping +from one tussock to another in the mere blind effort to move on without +knowing where I am going." + +"That is good image," he said. "Well, I shall tell you. My thesis is +this: I want you to believe." + +"To believe what?" + +"To believe in things that you cannot. Let me illustrate. I heard once +of an American who so defined faith: 'that faculty which enables us to +believe things which we know to be untrue.' For one, I follow that man. +He meant that we shall have an open mind, and not let a little bit of +truth check the rush of a big truth, like a small rock does a railway +truck. We get the small truth first. Good! We keep him, and we value +him; but all the same we must not let him think himself all the truth in +the universe." + +"Then you want me not to let some previous conviction injure the +receptivity of my mind with regard to some strange matter. Do I read +your lesson aright?" + +"Ah, you are my favourite pupil still. It is worth to teach you. Now +that you are willing to understand, you have taken the first step to +understand. You think then that those so small holes in the children's +throats were made by the same that made the hole in Miss Lucy?" + +"I suppose so." He stood up and said solemnly:-- + +"Then you are wrong. Oh, would it were so! but alas! no. It is worse, +far, far worse." + +"In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what do you mean?" I cried. + +He threw himself with a despairing gesture into a chair, and placed his +elbows on the table, covering his face with his hands as he spoke:-- + +"They were made by Miss Lucy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +For a while sheer anger mastered me; it was as if he had during her life +struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to +him:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?" He raised his head and looked at me, and +somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once. "Would I were!" he +said. "Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my +friend, why, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell +you so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all +my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, +now so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a +fearful death? Ah no!" + +"Forgive me," said I. He went on:-- + +"My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the breaking to you, +for I know you have loved that so sweet lady. But even yet I do not +expect you to believe. It is so hard to accept at once any abstract +truth, that we may doubt such to be possible when we have always +believed the 'no' of it; it is more hard still to accept so sad a +concrete truth, and of such a one as Miss Lucy. To-night I go to prove +it. Dare you come with me?" + +This staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth; Byron +excepted from the category, jealousy. + + "And prove the very truth he most abhorred." + +He saw my hesitation, and spoke:-- + +"The logic is simple, no madman's logic this time, jumping from tussock +to tussock in a misty bog. If it be not true, then proof will be relief; +at worst it will not harm. If it be true! Ah, there is the dread; yet +very dread should help my cause, for in it is some need of belief. Come, +I tell you what I propose: first, that we go off now and see that child +in the hospital. Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where the papers +say the child is, is friend of mine, and I think of yours since you were +in class at Amsterdam. He will let two scientists see his case, if he +will not let two friends. We shall tell him nothing, but only that we +wish to learn. And then----" + +"And then?" He took a key from his pocket and held it up. "And then we +spend the night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is +the key that lock the tomb. I had it from the coffin-man to give to +Arthur." My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful +ordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what +heart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon was +passing.... + +We found the child awake. It had had a sleep and taken some food, and +altogether was going on well. Dr. Vincent took the bandage from its +throat, and showed us the punctures. There was no mistaking the +similarity to those which had been on Lucy's throat. They were smaller, +and the edges looked fresher; that was all. We asked Vincent to what he +attributed them, and he replied that it must have been a bite of some +animal, perhaps a rat; but, for his own part, he was inclined to think +that it was one of the bats which are so numerous on the northern +heights of London. "Out of so many harmless ones," he said, "there may +be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant species. Some +sailor may have brought one home, and it managed to escape; or even from +the Zoölogical Gardens a young one may have got loose, or one be bred +there from a vampire. These things do occur, you know. Only ten days ago +a wolf got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a +week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the +Heath and in every alley in the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare +came along, since when it has been quite a gala-time with them. Even +this poor little mite, when he woke up to-day, asked the nurse if he +might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted +to play with the 'bloofer lady.'" + +"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child home +you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it. These fancies +to stray are most dangerous; and if the child were to remain out another +night, it would probably be fatal. But in any case I suppose you will +not let it away for some days?" + +"Certainly not, not for a week at least; longer if the wound is not +healed." + +Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned on, and +the sun had dipped before we came out. When Van Helsing saw how dark it +was, he said:-- + +"There is no hurry. It is more late than I thought. Come, let us seek +somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our way." + +We dined at "Jack Straw's Castle" along with a little crowd of +bicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o'clock we +started from the inn. It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps +made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual +radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we were to go, for he +went on unhesitatingly; but, as for me, I was in quite a mixup as to +locality. As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at +last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse +police going their usual suburban round. At last we reached the wall of +the churchyard, which we climbed over. With some little difficulty--for +it was very dark, and the whole place seemed so strange to us--we found +the Westenra tomb. The Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, +and standing back, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to +precede him. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the +courtliness of giving preference on such a ghastly occasion. My +companion followed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after +carefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a spring, +one. In the latter case we should have been in a bad plight. Then he +fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece of candle, +proceeded to make a light. The tomb in the day-time, and when wreathed +with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough; but now, some +days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites +turning to rust and their greens to browns; when the spider and the +beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance; when time-discoloured +stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished +brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a +candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been +imagined. It conveyed irresistibly the idea that life--animal life--was +not the only thing which could pass away. + +Van Helsing went about his work systematically. Holding his candle so +that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm +dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he +made assurance of Lucy's coffin. Another search in his bag, and he took +out a turnscrew. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked. + +"To open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced." Straightway he began +taking out the screws, and finally lifted off the lid, showing the +casing of lead beneath. The sight was almost too much for me. It seemed +to be as much an affront to the dead as it would have been to have +stripped off her clothing in her sleep whilst living; I actually took +hold of his hand to stop him. He only said: "You shall see," and again +fumbling in his bag, took out a tiny fret-saw. Striking the turnscrew +through the lead with a swift downward stab, which made me wince, he +made a small hole, which was, however, big enough to admit the point of +the saw. I had expected a rush of gas from the week-old corpse. We +doctors, who have had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to +such things, and I drew back towards the door. But the Professor never +stopped for a moment; he sawed down a couple of feet along one side of +the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side. Taking the +edge of the loose flange, he bent it back towards the foot of the +coffin, and holding up the candle into the aperture, motioned to me to +look. + +I drew near and looked. The coffin was empty. + +It was certainly a surprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but +Van Helsing was unmoved. He was now more sure than ever of his ground, +and so emboldened to proceed in his task. "Are you satisfied now, friend +John?" he asked. + +I felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake within me as +I answered him:-- + +"I am satisfied that Lucy's body is not in that coffin; but that only +proves one thing." + +"And what is that, friend John?" + +"That it is not there." + +"That is good logic," he said, "so far as it goes. But how do you--how +can you--account for it not being there?" + +"Perhaps a body-snatcher," I suggested. "Some of the undertaker's people +may have stolen it." I felt that I was speaking folly, and yet it was +the only real cause which I could suggest. The Professor sighed. "Ah +well!" he said, "we must have more proof. Come with me." + +He put on the coffin-lid again, gathered up all his things and placed +them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle also in the +bag. We opened the door, and went out. Behind us he closed the door and +locked it. He handed me the key, saying: "Will you keep it? You had +better be assured." I laughed--it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am +bound to say--as I motioned him to keep it. "A key is nothing," I said; +"there may be duplicates; and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock +of that kind." He said nothing, but put the key in his pocket. Then he +told me to watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at +the other. I took up my place behind a yew-tree, and I saw his dark +figure move until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my +sight. + +It was a lonely vigil. Just after I had taken my place I heard a distant +clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two. I was chilled and +unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking me on such an errand +and with myself for coming. I was too cold and too sleepy to be keenly +observant, and not sleepy enough to betray my trust so altogether I had +a dreary, miserable time. + +Suddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a white +streak, moving between two dark yew-trees at the side of the churchyard +farthest from the tomb; at the same time a dark mass moved from the +Professor's side of the ground, and hurriedly went towards it. Then I +too moved; but I had to go round headstones and railed-off tombs, and I +stumbled over graves. The sky was overcast, and somewhere far off an +early cock crew. A little way off, beyond a line of scattered +juniper-trees, which marked the pathway to the church, a white, dim +figure flitted in the direction of the tomb. The tomb itself was hidden +by trees, and I could not see where the figure disappeared. I heard the +rustle of actual movement where I had first seen the white figure, and +coming over, found the Professor holding in his arms a tiny child. When +he saw me he held it out to me, and said:-- + +"Are you satisfied now?" + +"No," I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive. + +"Do you not see the child?" + +"Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here? And is it wounded?" I +asked. + +"We shall see," said the Professor, and with one impulse we took our way +out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child. + +When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump of +trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child's throat. It was +without a scratch or scar of any kind. + +"Was I right?" I asked triumphantly. + +"We were just in time," said the Professor thankfully. + +We had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so consulted +about it. If we were to take it to a police-station we should have to +give some account of our movements during the night; at least, we should +have had to make some statement as to how we had come to find the child. +So finally we decided that we would take it to the Heath, and when we +heard a policeman coming, would leave it where he could not fail to find +it; we would then seek our way home as quickly as we could. All fell out +well. At the edge of Hampstead Heath we heard a policeman's heavy +tramp, and laying the child on the pathway, we waited and watched until +he saw it as he flashed his lantern to and fro. We heard his exclamation +of astonishment, and then we went away silently. By good chance we got a +cab near the "Spaniards," and drove to town. + +I cannot sleep, so I make this entry. But I must try to get a few hours' +sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon. He insists that I shall +go with him on another expedition. + + * * * * * + +_27 September._--It was two o'clock before we found a suitable +opportunity for our attempt. The funeral held at noon was all completed, +and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken themselves lazily +away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump of alder-trees, we saw +the sexton lock the gate after him. We knew then that we were safe till +morning did we desire it; but the Professor told me that we should not +want more than an hour at most. Again I felt that horrid sense of the +reality of things, in which any effort of imagination seemed out of +place; and I realised distinctly the perils of the law which we were +incurring in our unhallowed work. Besides, I felt it was all so useless. +Outrageous as it was to open a leaden coffin, to see if a woman dead +nearly a week were really dead, it now seemed the height of folly to +open the tomb again, when we knew, from the evidence of our own +eyesight, that the coffin was empty. I shrugged my shoulders, however, +and rested silent, for Van Helsing had a way of going on his own road, +no matter who remonstrated. He took the key, opened the vault, and again +courteously motioned me to precede. The place was not so gruesome as +last night, but oh, how unutterably mean-looking when the sunshine +streamed in. Van Helsing walked over to Lucy's coffin, and I followed. +He bent over and again forced back the leaden flange; and then a shock +of surprise and dismay shot through me. + +There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her +funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever; and I +could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red, nay redder than +before; and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom. + +"Is this a juggle?" I said to him. + +"Are you convinced now?" said the Professor in response, and as he spoke +he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder, pulled back the +dead lips and showed the white teeth. + +"See," he went on, "see, they are even sharper than before. With this +and this"--and he touched one of the canine teeth and that below +it--"the little children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend +John?" Once more, argumentative hostility woke within me. I _could_ not +accept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested; so, with an attempt to +argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said:-- + +"She may have been placed here since last night." + +"Indeed? That is so, and by whom?" + +"I do not know. Some one has done it." + +"And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time would not +look so." I had no answer for this, so was silent. Van Helsing did not +seem to notice my silence; at any rate, he showed neither chagrin nor +triumph. He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman, raising +the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening the lips and +examining the teeth. Then he turned to me and said:-- + +"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded; here is +some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by the vampire +when she was in a trance, sleep-walking--oh, you start; you do not know +that, friend John, but you shall know it all later--and in trance could +he best come to take more blood. In trance she died, and in trance she +is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ from all other. Usually when +the Un-Dead sleep at home"--as he spoke he made a comprehensive sweep of +his arm to designate what to a vampire was "home"--"their face show what +they are, but this so sweet that was when she not Un-Dead she go back to +the nothings of the common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so +it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep." This turned my blood +cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I was accepting Van Helsing's +theories; but if she were really dead, what was there of terror in the +idea of killing her? He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in +my face, for he said almost joyously:-- + +"Ah, you believe now?" + +I answered: "Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing to +accept. How will you do this bloody work?" + +"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall +drive a stake through her body." It made me shudder to think of so +mutilating the body of the woman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling +was not so strong as I had expected. I was, in fact, beginning to +shudder at the presence of this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing +called it, and to loathe it. Is it possible that love is all subjective, +or all objective? + +I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he stood as +if wrapped in thought. Presently he closed the catch of his bag with a +snap, and said:-- + +"I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is best. If I +did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment, what is +to be done; but there are other things to follow, and things that are +thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know. This is +simple. She have yet no life taken, though that is of time; and to act +now would be to take danger from her for ever. But then we may have to +want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this? If you, who saw the +wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child's at +the hospital; if you, who saw the coffin empty last night and full +to-day with a woman who have not change only to be more rose and more +beautiful in a whole week, after she die--if you know of this and know +of the white figure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, +and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how, then, can I expect +Arthur, who know none of those things, to believe? He doubted me when I +took him from her kiss when she was dying. I know he has forgiven me +because in some mistaken idea I have done things that prevent him say +good-bye as he ought; and he may think that in some more mistaken idea +this woman was buried alive; and that in most mistake of all we have +killed her. He will then argue back that it is we, mistaken ones, that +have killed her by our ideas; and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet +he never can be sure; and that is the worst of all. And he will +sometimes think that she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint +his dreams with horrors of what she must have suffered; and again, he +will think that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all, +an Un-Dead. No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now, since +I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I know that he +must pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweet. He, poor fellow, +must have one hour that will make the very face of heaven grow black to +him; then we can act for good all round and send him peace. My mind is +made up. Let us go. You return home for to-night to your asylum, and see +that all be well. As for me, I shall spend the night here in this +churchyard in my own way. To-morrow night you will come to me to the +Berkeley Hotel at ten of the clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, +and also that so fine young man of America that gave his blood. Later we +shall all have work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and +there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set." + +So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of the +churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to Piccadilly. + + +_Note left by Van Helsing in his portmanteau, Berkeley Hotel directed to +John Seward, M. D._ + +(Not delivered.) + +"_27 September._ + +"Friend John,-- + +"I write this in case anything should happen. I go alone to watch in +that churchyard. It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss Lucy, shall not +leave to-night, that so on the morrow night she may be more eager. +Therefore I shall fix some things she like not--garlic and a +crucifix--and so seal up the door of the tomb. She is young as Un-Dead, +and will heed. Moreover, these are only to prevent her coming out; they +may not prevail on her wanting to get in; for then the Un-Dead is +desperate, and must find the line of least resistance, whatsoever it may +be. I shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after the sunrise, +and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn it. For Miss +Lucy or from her, I have no fear; but that other to whom is there that +she is Un-Dead, he have now the power to seek her tomb and find shelter. +He is cunning, as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all +along he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and +we lost; and in many ways the Un-Dead are strong. He have always the +strength in his hand of twenty men; even we four who gave our strength +to Miss Lucy it also is all to him. Besides, he can summon his wolf and +I know not what. So if it be that he come thither on this night he shall +find me; but none other shall--until it be too late. But it may be that +he will not attempt the place. There is no reason why he should; his +hunting ground is more full of game than the churchyard where the +Un-Dead woman sleep, and the one old man watch. + +"Therefore I write this in case.... Take the papers that are with this, +the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and then find this +great Un-Dead, and cut off his head and burn his heart or drive a stake +through it, so that the world may rest from him. + +"If it be so, farewell. + +"VAN HELSING." + + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 September._--It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do for +one. Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's monstrous +ideas; but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on +common sense. I have no doubt that he believes it all. I wonder if his +mind can have become in any way unhinged. Surely there must be _some_ +rational explanation of all these mysterious things. Is it possible that +the Professor can have done it himself? He is so abnormally clever that +if he went off his head he would carry out his intent with regard to +some fixed idea in a wonderful way. I am loath to think it, and indeed +it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van +Helsing was mad; but anyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some +light on the mystery. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, morning._.... Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, +Arthur and Quincey came into Van Helsing's room; he told us all that he +wanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if all +our wills were centred in his. He began by saying that he hoped we would +all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be done +there. You were doubtless surprised at my letter?" This query was +directly addressed to Lord Godalming. + +"I was. It rather upset me for a bit. There has been so much trouble +around my house of late that I could do without any more. I have been +curious, too, as to what you mean. Quincey and I talked it over; but the +more we talked, the more puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself +that I'm about up a tree as to any meaning about anything." + +"Me too," said Quincey Morris laconically. + +"Oh," said the Professor, "then you are nearer the beginning, both of +you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back before he can +even get so far as to begin." + +It was evident that he recognised my return to my old doubting frame of +mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other two, he said +with intense gravity:-- + +"I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It is, I +know, much to ask; and when you know what it is I propose to do you will +know, and only then, how much. Therefore may I ask that you promise me +in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be angry with me for a +time--I must not disguise from myself the possibility that such may +be--you shall not blame yourselves for anything." + +"That's frank anyhow," broke in Quincey. "I'll answer for the Professor. +I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest; and that's good +enough for me." + +"I thank you, sir," said Van Helsing proudly. "I have done myself the +honour of counting you one trusting friend, and such endorsement is dear +to me." He held out a hand, which Quincey took. + +Then Arthur spoke out:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to 'buy a pig in a poke,' as they +say in Scotland, and if it be anything in which my honour as a gentleman +or my faith as a Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. +If you can assure me that what you intend does not violate either of +these two, then I give my consent at once; though for the life of me, I +cannot understand what you are driving at." + +"I accept your limitation," said Van Helsing, "and all I ask of you is +that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine, you will first +consider it well and be satisfied that it does not violate your +reservations." + +"Agreed!" said Arthur; "that is only fair. And now that the +_pourparlers_ are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?" + +"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the churchyard at +Kingstead." + +Arthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way:-- + +"Where poor Lucy is buried?" The Professor bowed. Arthur went on: "And +when there?" + +"To enter the tomb!" Arthur stood up. + +"Professor, are you in earnest; or it is some monstrous joke? Pardon me, +I see that you are in earnest." He sat down again, but I could see that +he sat firmly and proudly, as one who is on his dignity. There was +silence until he asked again:-- + +"And when in the tomb?" + +"To open the coffin." + +"This is too much!" he said, angrily rising again. "I am willing to be +patient in all things that are reasonable; but in this--this desecration +of the grave--of one who----" He fairly choked with indignation. The +Professor looked pityingly at him. + +"If I could spare you one pang, my poor friend," he said, "God knows I +would. But this night our feet must tread in thorny paths; or later, and +for ever, the feet you love must walk in paths of flame!" + +Arthur looked up with set white face and said:-- + +"Take care, sir, take care!" + +"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?" said Van Helsing. +"And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose. Shall I go +on?" + +"That's fair enough," broke in Morris. + +After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort:-- + +"Miss Lucy is dead; is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong to +her. But if she be not dead----" + +Arthur jumped to his feet. + +"Good God!" he cried. "What do you mean? Has there been any mistake; has +she been buried alive?" He groaned in anguish that not even hope could +soften. + +"I did not say she was alive, my child; I did not think it. I go no +further than to say that she might be Un-Dead." + +"Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare, or what +is it?" + +"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they +may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the verge of one. But +I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?" + +"Heavens and earth, no!" cried Arthur in a storm of passion. "Not for +the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead body. Dr. +Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to you that you should +torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl do that you should want to +cast such dishonour on her grave? Are you mad that speak such things, or +am I mad to listen to them? Don't dare to think more of such a +desecration; I shall not give my consent to anything you do. I have a +duty to do in protecting her grave from outrage; and, by God, I shall do +it!" + +Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated, and +said, gravely and sternly:-- + +"My Lord Godalming, I, too, have a duty to do, a duty to others, a duty +to you, a duty to the dead; and, by God, I shall do it! All I ask you +now is that you come with me, that you look and listen; and if when +later I make the same request you do not be more eager for its +fulfilment even than I am, then--then I shall do my duty, whatever it +may seem to me. And then, to follow of your Lordship's wishes I shall +hold myself at your disposal to render an account to you, when and where +you will." His voice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of +pity:-- + +"But, I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long life of +acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did wring +my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now. Believe me that if +the time comes for you to change your mind towards me, one look from +you will wipe away all this so sad hour, for I would do what a man can +to save you from sorrow. Just think. For why should I give myself so +much of labour and so much of sorrow? I have come here from my own land +to do what I can of good; at the first to please my friend John, and +then to help a sweet young lady, whom, too, I came to love. For her--I +am ashamed to say so much, but I say it in kindness--I gave what you +gave; the blood of my veins; I gave it, I, who was not, like you, her +lover, but only her physician and her friend. I gave to her my nights +and days--before death, after death; and if my death can do her good +even now, when she is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely." He +said this with a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected +by it. He took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice:-- + +"Oh, it is hard to think of it, and I cannot understand; but at least I +shall go with you and wait." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +It was just a quarter before twelve o'clock when we got into the +churchyard over the low wall. The night was dark with occasional gleams +of moonlight between the rents of the heavy clouds that scudded across +the sky. We all kept somehow close together, with Van Helsing slightly +in front as he led the way. When we had come close to the tomb I looked +well at Arthur, for I feared that the proximity to a place laden with so +sorrowful a memory would upset him; but he bore himself well. I took it +that the very mystery of the proceeding was in some way a counteractant +to his grief. The Professor unlocked the door, and seeing a natural +hesitation amongst us for various reasons, solved the difficulty by +entering first himself. The rest of us followed, and he closed the door. +He then lit a dark lantern and pointed to the coffin. Arthur stepped +forward hesitatingly; Van Helsing said to me:-- + +"You were with me here yesterday. Was the body of Miss Lucy in that +coffin?" + +"It was." The Professor turned to the rest saying:-- + +"You hear; and yet there is no one who does not believe with me." He +took his screwdriver and again took off the lid of the coffin. Arthur +looked on, very pale but silent; when the lid was removed he stepped +forward. He evidently did not know that there was a leaden coffin, or, +at any rate, had not thought of it. When he saw the rent in the lead, +the blood rushed to his face for an instant, but as quickly fell away +again, so that he remained of a ghastly whiteness; he was still silent. +Van Helsing forced back the leaden flange, and we all looked in and +recoiled. + +The coffin was empty! + +For several minutes no one spoke a word. The silence was broken by +Quincey Morris:-- + +"Professor, I answered for you. Your word is all I want. I wouldn't ask +such a thing ordinarily--I wouldn't so dishonour you as to imply a +doubt; but this is a mystery that goes beyond any honour or dishonour. +Is this your doing?" + +"I swear to you by all that I hold sacred that I have not removed nor +touched her. What happened was this: Two nights ago my friend Seward and +I came here--with good purpose, believe me. I opened that coffin, which +was then sealed up, and we found it, as now, empty. We then waited, and +saw something white come through the trees. The next day we came here in +day-time, and she lay there. Did she not, friend John?" + +"Yes." + +"That night we were just in time. One more so small child was missing, +and we find it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves. Yesterday I came +here before sundown, for at sundown the Un-Dead can move. I waited here +all the night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing. It was most probable +that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors garlic, +which the Un-Dead cannot bear, and other things which they shun. Last +night there was no exodus, so to-night before the sundown I took away my +garlic and other things. And so it is we find this coffin empty. But +bear with me. So far there is much that is strange. Wait you with me +outside, unseen and unheard, and things much stranger are yet to be. +So"--here he shut the dark slide of his lantern--"now to the outside." +He opened the door, and we filed out, he coming last and locking the +door behind him. + +Oh! but it seemed fresh and pure in the night air after the terror of +that vault. How sweet it was to see the clouds race by, and the passing +gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing and +passing--like the gladness and sorrow of a man's life; how sweet it was +to breathe the fresh air, that had no taint of death and decay; how +humanising to see the red lighting of the sky beyond the hill, and to +hear far away the muffled roar that marks the life of a great city. Each +in his own way was solemn and overcome. Arthur was silent, and was, I +could see, striving to grasp the purpose and the inner meaning of the +mystery. I was myself tolerably patient, and half inclined again to +throw aside doubt and to accept Van Helsing's conclusions. Quincey +Morris was phlegmatic in the way of a man who accepts all things, and +accepts them in the spirit of cool bravery, with hazard of all he has to +stake. Not being able to smoke, he cut himself a good-sized plug of +tobacco and began to chew. As to Van Helsing, he was employed in a +definite way. First he took from his bag a mass of what looked like +thin, wafer-like biscuit, which was carefully rolled up in a white +napkin; next he took out a double-handful of some whitish stuff, like +dough or putty. He crumbled the wafer up fine and worked it into the +mass between his hands. This he then took, and rolling it into thin +strips, began to lay them into the crevices between the door and its +setting in the tomb. I was somewhat puzzled at this, and being close, +asked him what it was that he was doing. Arthur and Quincey drew near +also, as they too were curious. He answered:-- + +"I am closing the tomb, so that the Un-Dead may not enter." + +"And is that stuff you have put there going to do it?" asked Quincey. +"Great Scott! Is this a game?" + +"It is." + +"What is that which you are using?" This time the question was by +Arthur. Van Helsing reverently lifted his hat as he answered:-- + +"The Host. I brought it from Amsterdam. I have an Indulgence." It was an +answer that appalled the most sceptical of us, and we felt individually +that in the presence of such earnest purpose as the Professor's, a +purpose which could thus use the to him most sacred of things, it was +impossible to distrust. In respectful silence we took the places +assigned to us close round the tomb, but hidden from the sight of any +one approaching. I pitied the others, especially Arthur. I had myself +been apprenticed by my former visits to this watching horror; and yet I, +who had up to an hour ago repudiated the proofs, felt my heart sink +within me. Never did tombs look so ghastly white; never did cypress, or +yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of funereal gloom; never did tree +or grass wave or rustle so ominously; never did bough creak so +mysteriously; and never did the far-away howling of dogs send such a +woeful presage through the night. + +There was a long spell of silence, a big, aching void, and then from the +Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!" He pointed; and far down the avenue of yews +we saw a white figure advance--a dim white figure, which held something +dark at its breast. The figure stopped, and at the moment a ray of +moonlight fell upon the masses of driving clouds and showed in startling +prominence a dark-haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave. +We could not see the face, for it was bent down over what we saw to be a +fair-haired child. There was a pause and a sharp little cry, such as a +child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreams. We +were starting forward, but the Professor's warning hand, seen by us as +he stood behind a yew-tree, kept us back; and then as we looked the +white figure moved forwards again. It was now near enough for us to see +clearly, and the moonlight still held. My own heart grew cold as ice, +and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognised the features of +Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was +turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous +wantonness. Van Helsing stepped out, and, obedient to his gesture, we +all advanced too; the four of us ranged in a line before the door of the +tomb. Van Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide; by the +concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips +were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her +chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe. + +We shuddered with horror. I could see by the tremulous light that even +Van Helsing's iron nerve had failed. Arthur was next to me, and if I had +not seized his arm and held him up, he would have fallen. + +When Lucy--I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her +shape--saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives +when taken unawares; then her eyes ranged over us. Lucy's eyes in form +and colour; but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of +the pure, gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love +passed into hate and loathing; had she then to be killed, I could have +done it with savage delight. As she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy +light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile. Oh, God, +how it made me shudder to see it! With a careless motion, she flung to +the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had +clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls +over a bone. The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning. There +was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from Arthur; when +she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell +back and hid his face in his hands. + +She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, +said:-- + +"Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are +hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!" + +There was something diabolically sweet in her tones--something of the +tingling of glass when struck--which rang through the brains even of us +who heard the words addressed to another. As for Arthur, he seemed under +a spell; moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms. She +was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between +them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a +suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter +the tomb. + +When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if +arrested by some irresistible force. Then she turned, and her face was +shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had now no +quiver from Van Helsing's iron nerves. Never did I see such baffled +malice on a face; and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by +mortal eyes. The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw +out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of +the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, +blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of +the Greeks and Japanese. If ever a face meant death--if looks could +kill--we saw it at that moment. + +And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained +between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of +entry. Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur:-- + +"Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?" + +Arthur threw himself on his knees, and hid his face in his hands, as he +answered:-- + +"Do as you will, friend; do as you will. There can be no horror like +this ever any more;" and he groaned in spirit. Quincey and I +simultaneously moved towards him, and took his arms. We could hear the +click of the closing lantern as Van Helsing held it down; coming close +to the tomb, he began to remove from the chinks some of the sacred +emblem which he had placed there. We all looked on in horrified +amazement as we saw, when he stood back, the woman, with a corporeal +body as real at that moment as our own, pass in through the interstice +where scarce a knife-blade could have gone. We all felt a glad sense of +relief when we saw the Professor calmly restoring the strings of putty +to the edges of the door. + +When this was done, he lifted the child and said: + +"Come now, my friends; we can do no more till to-morrow. There is a +funeral at noon, so here we shall all come before long after that. The +friends of the dead will all be gone by two, and when the sexton lock +the gate we shall remain. Then there is more to do; but not like this of +to-night. As for this little one, he is not much harm, and by to-morrow +night he shall be well. We shall leave him where the police will find +him, as on the other night; and then to home." Coming close to Arthur, +he said:-- + +"My friend Arthur, you have had a sore trial; but after, when you look +back, you will see how it was necessary. You are now in the bitter +waters, my child. By this time to-morrow you will, please God, have +passed them, and have drunk of the sweet waters; so do not mourn +overmuch. Till then I shall not ask you to forgive me." + +Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other +on the way. We had left the child in safety, and were tired; so we all +slept with more or less reality of sleep. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, night._--A little before twelve o'clock we three--Arthur, +Quincey Morris, and myself--called for the Professor. It was odd to +notice that by common consent we had all put on black clothes. Of +course, Arthur wore black, for he was in deep mourning, but the rest of +us wore it by instinct. We got to the churchyard by half-past one, and +strolled about, keeping out of official observation, so that when the +gravediggers had completed their task and the sexton under the belief +that every one had gone, had locked the gate, we had the place all to +ourselves. Van Helsing, instead of his little black bag, had with him a +long leather one, something like a cricketing bag; it was manifestly of +fair weight. + +When we were alone and had heard the last of the footsteps die out up +the road, we silently, and as if by ordered intention, followed the +Professor to the tomb. He unlocked the door, and we entered, closing it +behind us. Then he took from his bag the lantern, which he lit, and also +two wax candles, which, when lighted, he stuck, by melting their own +ends, on other coffins, so that they might give light sufficient to work +by. When he again lifted the lid off Lucy's coffin we all looked--Arthur +trembling like an aspen--and saw that the body lay there in all its +death-beauty. But there was no love in my own heart, nothing but +loathing for the foul Thing which had taken Lucy's shape without her +soul. I could see even Arthur's face grow hard as he looked. Presently +he said to Van Helsing:-- + +"Is this really Lucy's body, or only a demon in her shape?" + +"It is her body, and yet not it. But wait a while, and you all see her +as she was, and is." + +She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there; the pointed teeth, +the bloodstained, voluptuous mouth--which it made one shudder to +see--the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a +devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity. Van Helsing, with his usual +methodicalness, began taking the various contents from his bag and +placing them ready for use. First he took out a soldering iron and some +plumbing solder, and then a small oil-lamp, which gave out, when lit in +a corner of the tomb, gas which burned at fierce heat with a blue +flame; then his operating knives, which he placed to hand; and last a +round wooden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick and about +three feet long. One end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and +was sharpened to a fine point. With this stake came a heavy hammer, such +as in households is used in the coal-cellar for breaking the lumps. To +me, a doctor's preparations for work of any kind are stimulating and +bracing, but the effect of these things on both Arthur and Quincey was +to cause them a sort of consternation. They both, however, kept their +courage, and remained silent and quiet. + +When all was ready, Van Helsing said:-- + +"Before we do anything, let me tell you this; it is out of the lore and +experience of the ancients and of all those who have studied the powers +of the Un-Dead. When they become such, there comes with the change the +curse of immortality; they cannot die, but must go on age after age +adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world; for all that +die from the preying of the Un-Dead becomes themselves Un-Dead, and prey +on their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the +ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met +that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die; or again, last night +when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, +have become _nosferatu_, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would +all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have fill us with horror. +The career of this so unhappy dear lady is but just begun. Those +children whose blood she suck are not as yet so much the worse; but if +she live on, Un-Dead, more and more they lose their blood and by her +power over them they come to her; and so she draw their blood with that +so wicked mouth. But if she die in truth, then all cease; the tiny +wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their plays +unknowing ever of what has been. But of the most blessed of all, when +this now Un-Dead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor +lady whom we love shall again be free. Instead of working wickedness by +night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she +shall take her place with the other Angels. So that, my friend, it will +be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow that sets her free. +To this I am willing; but is there none amongst us who has a better +right? Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in the silence of the +night when sleep is not: 'It was my hand that sent her to the stars; it +was the hand of him that loved her best; the hand that of all she would +herself have chosen, had it been to her to choose?' Tell me if there be +such a one amongst us?" + +We all looked at Arthur. He saw, too, what we all did, the infinite +kindness which suggested that his should be the hand which would restore +Lucy to us as a holy, and not an unholy, memory; he stepped forward and +said bravely, though his hand trembled, and his face was as pale as +snow:-- + +"My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I thank you. Tell me +what I am to do, and I shall not falter!" Van Helsing laid a hand on his +shoulder, and said:-- + +"Brave lad! A moment's courage, and it is done. This stake must be +driven through her. It will be a fearful ordeal--be not deceived in +that--but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more +than your pain was great; from this grim tomb you will emerge as though +you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only +think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for +you all the time." + +"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me what I am to do." + +"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place the point over the +heart, and the hammer in your right. Then when we begin our prayer for +the dead--I shall read him, I have here the book, and the others shall +follow--strike in God's name, that so all may be well with the dead that +we love and that the Un-Dead pass away." + +Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set on +action his hands never trembled nor even quivered. Van Helsing opened +his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we +could. Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could +see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with all his might. + +The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech +came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted +in wild contortions; the sharp white teeth champed together till the +lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur +never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm +rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst +the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it. His +face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; the sight of it +gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little +vault. + +And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the +teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver. Finally it lay still. The +terrible task was over. + +The hammer fell from Arthur's hand. He reeled and would have fallen had +we not caught him. The great drops of sweat sprang from his forehead, +and his breath came in broken gasps. It had indeed been an awful strain +on him; and had he not been forced to his task by more than human +considerations he could never have gone through with it. For a few +minutes we were so taken up with him that we did not look towards the +coffin. When we did, however, a murmur of startled surprise ran from one +to the other of us. We gazed so eagerly that Arthur rose, for he had +been seated on the ground, and came and looked too; and then a glad, +strange light broke over his face and dispelled altogether the gloom of +horror that lay upon it. + +There, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing that we had so dreaded +and grown to hate that the work of her destruction was yielded as a +privilege to the one best entitled to it, but Lucy as we had seen her in +her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity. True that +there were there, as we had seen them in life, the traces of care and +pain and waste; but these were all dear to us, for they marked her truth +to what we knew. One and all we felt that the holy calm that lay like +sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and +symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever. + +Van Helsing came and laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and said to +him:-- + +"And now, Arthur my friend, dear lad, am I not forgiven?" + +The reaction of the terrible strain came as he took the old man's hand +in his, and raising it to his lips, pressed it, and said:-- + +"Forgiven! God bless you that you have given my dear one her soul again, +and me peace." He put his hands on the Professor's shoulder, and laying +his head on his breast, cried for a while silently, whilst we stood +unmoving. When he raised his head Van Helsing said to him:-- + +"And now, my child, you may kiss her. Kiss her dead lips if you will, as +she would have you to, if for her to choose. For she is not a grinning +devil now--not any more a foul Thing for all eternity. No longer she is +the devil's Un-Dead. She is God's true dead, whose soul is with Him!" + +Arthur bent and kissed her, and then we sent him and Quincey out of the +tomb; the Professor and I sawed the top off the stake, leaving the point +of it in the body. Then we cut off the head and filled the mouth with +garlic. We soldered up the leaden coffin, screwed on the coffin-lid, +and gathering up our belongings, came away. When the Professor locked +the door he gave the key to Arthur. + +Outside the air was sweet, the sun shone, and the birds sang, and it +seemed as if all nature were tuned to a different pitch. There was +gladness and mirth and peace everywhere, for we were at rest ourselves +on one account, and we were glad, though it was with a tempered joy. + +Before we moved away Van Helsing said:-- + +"Now, my friends, one step of our work is done, one the most harrowing +to ourselves. But there remains a greater task: to find out the author +of all this our sorrow and to stamp him out. I have clues which we can +follow; but it is a long task, and a difficult, and there is danger in +it, and pain. Shall you not all help me? We have learned to believe, all +of us--is it not so? And since so, do we not see our duty? Yes! And do +we not promise to go on to the bitter end?" + +Each in turn, we took his hand, and the promise was made. Then said the +Professor as we moved off:-- + +"Two nights hence you shall meet with me and dine together at seven of +the clock with friend John. I shall entreat two others, two that you +know not as yet; and I shall be ready to all our work show and our plans +unfold. Friend John, you come with me home, for I have much to consult +about, and you can help me. To-night I leave for Amsterdam, but shall +return to-morrow night. And then begins our great quest. But first I +shall have much to say, so that you may know what is to do and to dread. +Then our promise shall be made to each other anew; for there is a +terrible task before us, and once our feet are on the ploughshare we +must not draw back." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +When we arrived at the Berkeley Hotel, Van Helsing found a telegram +waiting for him:-- + + "Am coming up by train. Jonathan at Whitby. Important news.--MINA + HARKER." + +The Professor was delighted. "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina," he said, +"pearl among women! She arrive, but I cannot stay. She must go to your +house, friend John. You must meet her at the station. Telegraph her _en +route_, so that she may be prepared." + +When the wire was despatched he had a cup of tea; over it he told me of +a diary kept by Jonathan Harker when abroad, and gave me a typewritten +copy of it, as also of Mrs. Harker's diary at Whitby. "Take these," he +said, "and study them well. When I have returned you will be master of +all the facts, and we can then better enter on our inquisition. Keep +them safe, for there is in them much of treasure. You will need all your +faith, even you who have had such an experience as that of to-day. What +is here told," he laid his hand heavily and gravely on the packet of +papers as he spoke, "may be the beginning of the end to you and me and +many another; or it may sound the knell of the Un-Dead who walk the +earth. Read all, I pray you, with the open mind; and if you can add in +any way to the story here told do so, for it is all-important. You have +kept diary of all these so strange things; is it not so? Yes! Then we +shall go through all these together when we meet." He then made ready +for his departure, and shortly after drove off to Liverpool Street. I +took my way to Paddington, where I arrived about fifteen minutes before +the train came in. + +The crowd melted away, after the bustling fashion common to arrival +platforms; and I was beginning to feel uneasy, lest I might miss my +guest, when a sweet-faced, dainty-looking girl stepped up to me, and, +after a quick glance, said: "Dr. Seward, is it not?" + +"And you are Mrs. Harker!" I answered at once; whereupon she held out +her hand. + +"I knew you from the description of poor dear Lucy; but----" She stopped +suddenly, and a quick blush overspread her face. + +The blush that rose to my own cheeks somehow set us both at ease, for it +was a tacit answer to her own. I got her luggage, which included a +typewriter, and we took the Underground to Fenchurch Street, after I had +sent a wire to my housekeeper to have a sitting-room and bedroom +prepared at once for Mrs. Harker. + +In due time we arrived. She knew, of course, that the place was a +lunatic asylum, but I could see that she was unable to repress a shudder +when we entered. + +She told me that, if she might, she would come presently to my study, as +she had much to say. So here I am finishing my entry in my phonograph +diary whilst I await her. As yet I have not had the chance of looking at +the papers which Van Helsing left with me, though they lie open before +me. I must get her interested in something, so that I may have an +opportunity of reading them. She does not know how precious time is, or +what a task we have in hand. I must be careful not to frighten her. Here +she is! + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After I had tidied myself, I went down to Dr. Seward's +study. At the door I paused a moment, for I thought I heard him talking +with some one. As, however, he had pressed me to be quick, I knocked at +the door, and on his calling out, "Come in," I entered. + +To my intense surprise, there was no one with him. He was quite alone, +and on the table opposite him was what I knew at once from the +description to be a phonograph. I had never seen one, and was much +interested. + +"I hope I did not keep you waiting," I said; "but I stayed at the door +as I heard you talking, and thought there was some one with you." + +"Oh," he replied with a smile, "I was only entering my diary." + +"Your diary?" I asked him in surprise. + +"Yes," he answered. "I keep it in this." As he spoke he laid his hand on +the phonograph. I felt quite excited over it, and blurted out:-- + +"Why, this beats even shorthand! May I hear it say something?" + +"Certainly," he replied with alacrity, and stood up to put it in train +for speaking. Then he paused, and a troubled look overspread his face. + +"The fact is," he began awkwardly, "I only keep my diary in it; and as +it is entirely--almost entirely--about my cases, it may be awkward--that +is, I mean----" He stopped, and I tried to help him out of his +embarrassment:-- + +"You helped to attend dear Lucy at the end. Let me hear how she died; +for all that I know of her, I shall be very grateful. She was very, very +dear to me." + +To my surprise, he answered, with a horrorstruck look in his face:-- + +"Tell you of her death? Not for the wide world!" + +"Why not?" I asked, for some grave, terrible feeling was coming over me. +Again he paused, and I could see that he was trying to invent an excuse. +At length he stammered out:-- + +"You see, I do not know how to pick out any particular part of the +diary." Even while he was speaking an idea dawned upon him, and he said +with unconscious simplicity, in a different voice, and with the naïveté +of a child: "That's quite true, upon my honour. Honest Indian!" I could +not but smile, at which he grimaced. "I gave myself away that time!" he +said. "But do you know that, although I have kept the diary for months +past, it never once struck me how I was going to find any particular +part of it in case I wanted to look it up?" By this time my mind was +made up that the diary of a doctor who attended Lucy might have +something to add to the sum of our knowledge of that terrible Being, and +I said boldly:-- + +"Then, Dr. Seward, you had better let me copy it out for you on my +typewriter." He grew to a positively deathly pallor as he said:-- + +"No! no! no! For all the world, I wouldn't let you know that terrible +story!" + +Then it was terrible; my intuition was right! For a moment I thought, +and as my eyes ranged the room, unconsciously looking for something or +some opportunity to aid me, they lit on a great batch of typewriting on +the table. His eyes caught the look in mine, and, without his thinking, +followed their direction. As they saw the parcel he realised my meaning. + +"You do not know me," I said. "When you have read those papers--my own +diary and my husband's also, which I have typed--you will know me +better. I have not faltered in giving every thought of my own heart in +this cause; but, of course, you do not know me--yet; and I must not +expect you to trust me so far." + +He is certainly a man of noble nature; poor dear Lucy was right about +him. He stood up and opened a large drawer, in which were arranged in +order a number of hollow cylinders of metal covered with dark wax, and +said:-- + +"You are quite right. I did not trust you because I did not know you. +But I know you now; and let me say that I should have known you long +ago. I know that Lucy told you of me; she told me of you too. May I make +the only atonement in my power? Take the cylinders and hear them--the +first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they will not horrify +you; then you will know me better. Dinner will by then be ready. In the +meantime I shall read over some of these documents, and shall be better +able to understand certain things." He carried the phonograph himself up +to my sitting-room and adjusted it for me. Now I shall learn something +pleasant, I am sure; for it will tell me the other side of a true love +episode of which I know one side already.... + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_29 September._--I was so absorbed in that wonderful diary of Jonathan +Harker and that other of his wife that I let the time run on without +thinking. Mrs. Harker was not down when the maid came to announce +dinner, so I said: "She is possibly tired; let dinner wait an hour," and +I went on with my work. I had just finished Mrs. Harker's diary, when +she came in. She looked sweetly pretty, but very sad, and her eyes were +flushed with crying. This somehow moved me much. Of late I have had +cause for tears, God knows! but the relief of them was denied me; and +now the sight of those sweet eyes, brightened with recent tears, went +straight to my heart. So I said as gently as I could:-- + +"I greatly fear I have distressed you." + +"Oh, no, not distressed me," she replied, "but I have been more touched +than I can say by your grief. That is a wonderful machine, but it is +cruelly true. It told me, in its very tones, the anguish of your heart. +It was like a soul crying out to Almighty God. No one must hear them +spoken ever again! See, I have tried to be useful. I have copied out the +words on my typewriter, and none other need now hear your heart beat, as +I did." + +"No one need ever know, shall ever know," I said in a low voice. She +laid her hand on mine and said very gravely:-- + +"Ah, but they must!" + +"Must! But why?" I asked. + +"Because it is a part of the terrible story, a part of poor dear Lucy's +death and all that led to it; because in the struggle which we have +before us to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all +the knowledge and all the help which we can get. I think that the +cylinders which you gave me contained more than you intended me to know; +but I can see that there are in your record many lights to this dark +mystery. You will let me help, will you not? I know all up to a certain +point; and I see already, though your diary only took me to 7 September, +how poor Lucy was beset, and how her terrible doom was being wrought +out. Jonathan and I have been working day and night since Professor Van +Helsing saw us. He is gone to Whitby to get more information, and he +will be here to-morrow to help us. We need have no secrets amongst us; +working together and with absolute trust, we can surely be stronger than +if some of us were in the dark." She looked at me so appealingly, and at +the same time manifested such courage and resolution in her bearing, +that I gave in at once to her wishes. "You shall," I said, "do as you +like in the matter. God forgive me if I do wrong! There are terrible +things yet to learn of; but if you have so far travelled on the road to +poor Lucy's death, you will not be content, I know, to remain in the +dark. Nay, the end--the very end--may give you a gleam of peace. Come, +there is dinner. We must keep one another strong for what is before us; +we have a cruel and dreadful task. When you have eaten you shall learn +the rest, and I shall answer any questions you ask--if there be anything +which you do not understand, though it was apparent to us who were +present." + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After dinner I came with Dr. Seward to his study. He +brought back the phonograph from my room, and I took my typewriter. He +placed me in a comfortable chair, and arranged the phonograph so that I +could touch it without getting up, and showed me how to stop it in case +I should want to pause. Then he very thoughtfully took a chair, with his +back to me, so that I might be as free as possible, and began to read. I +put the forked metal to my ears and listened. + +When the terrible story of Lucy's death, and--and all that followed, was +done, I lay back in my chair powerless. Fortunately I am not of a +fainting disposition. When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped up with a +horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking a case-bottle from a +cupboard, gave me some brandy, which in a few minutes somewhat restored +me. My brain was all in a whirl, and only that there came through all +the multitude of horrors, the holy ray of light that my dear, dear Lucy +was at last at peace, I do not think I could have borne it without +making a scene. It is all so wild, and mysterious, and strange that if I +had not known Jonathan's experience in Transylvania I could not have +believed. As it was, I didn't know what to believe, and so got out of my +difficulty by attending to something else. I took the cover off my +typewriter, and said to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Let me write this all out now. We must be ready for Dr. Van Helsing +when he comes. I have sent a telegram to Jonathan to come on here when +he arrives in London from Whitby. In this matter dates are everything, +and I think that if we get all our material ready, and have every item +put in chronological order, we shall have done much. You tell me that +Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris are coming too. Let us be able to tell him +when they come." He accordingly set the phonograph at a slow pace, and I +began to typewrite from the beginning of the seventh cylinder. I used +manifold, and so took three copies of the diary, just as I had done with +all the rest. It was late when I got through, but Dr. Seward went about +his work of going his round of the patients; when he had finished he +came back and sat near me, reading, so that I did not feel too lonely +whilst I worked. How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of +good men--even if there _are_ monsters in it. Before I left him I +remembered what Jonathan put in his diary of the Professor's +perturbation at reading something in an evening paper at the station at +Exeter; so, seeing that Dr. Seward keeps his newspapers, I borrowed the +files of "The Westminster Gazette" and "The Pall Mall Gazette," and took +them to my room. I remember how much "The Dailygraph" and "The Whitby +Gazette," of which I had made cuttings, helped us to understand the +terrible events at Whitby when Count Dracula landed, so I shall look +through the evening papers since then, and perhaps I shall get some new +light. I am not sleepy, and the work will help to keep me quiet. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_30 September._--Mr. Harker arrived at nine o'clock. He had got his +wife's wire just before starting. He is uncommonly clever, if one can +judge from his face, and full of energy. If this journal be true--and +judging by one's own wonderful experiences, it must be--he is also a man +of great nerve. That going down to the vault a second time was a +remarkable piece of daring. After reading his account of it I was +prepared to meet a good specimen of manhood, but hardly the quiet, +business-like gentleman who came here to-day. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--After lunch Harker and his wife went back to their own room, +and as I passed a while ago I heard the click of the typewriter. They +are hard at it. Mrs. Harker says that they are knitting together in +chronological order every scrap of evidence they have. Harker has got +the letters between the consignee of the boxes at Whitby and the +carriers in London who took charge of them. He is now reading his wife's +typescript of my diary. I wonder what they make out of it. Here it +is.... + + Strange that it never struck me that the very next house might be + the Count's hiding-place! Goodness knows that we had enough clues + from the conduct of the patient Renfield! The bundle of letters + relating to the purchase of the house were with the typescript. Oh, + if we had only had them earlier we might have saved poor Lucy! + Stop; that way madness lies! Harker has gone back, and is again + collating his material. He says that by dinner-time they will be + able to show a whole connected narrative. He thinks that in the + meantime I should see Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of + index to the coming and going of the Count. I hardly see this yet, + but when I get at the dates I suppose I shall. What a good thing + that Mrs. Harker put my cylinders into type! We never could have + found the dates otherwise.... + + I found Renfield sitting placidly in his room with his hands + folded, smiling benignly. At the moment he seemed as sane as any + one I ever saw. I sat down and talked with him on a lot of + subjects, all of which he treated naturally. He then, of his own + accord, spoke of going home, a subject he has never mentioned to my + knowledge during his sojourn here. In fact, he spoke quite + confidently of getting his discharge at once. I believe that, had I + not had the chat with Harker and read the letters and the dates of + his outbursts, I should have been prepared to sign for him after a + brief time of observation. As it is, I am darkly suspicious. All + those outbreaks were in some way linked with the proximity of the + Count. What then does this absolute content mean? Can it be that + his instinct is satisfied as to the vampire's ultimate triumph? + Stay; he is himself zoöphagous, and in his wild ravings outside the + chapel door of the deserted house he always spoke of "master." This + all seems confirmation of our idea. However, after a while I came + away; my friend is just a little too sane at present to make it + safe to probe him too deep with questions. He might begin to think, + and then--! So I came away. I mistrust these quiet moods of his; so + I have given the attendant a hint to look closely after him, and to + have a strait-waistcoat ready in case of need. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September, in train to London._--When I received Mr. Billington's +courteous message that he would give me any information in his power I +thought it best to go down to Whitby and make, on the spot, such +inquiries as I wanted. It was now my object to trace that horrid cargo +of the Count's to its place in London. Later, we may be able to deal +with it. Billington junior, a nice lad, met me at the station, and +brought me to his father's house, where they had decided that I must +stay the night. They are hospitable, with true Yorkshire hospitality: +give a guest everything, and leave him free to do as he likes. They all +knew that I was busy, and that my stay was short, and Mr. Billington had +ready in his office all the papers concerning the consignment of boxes. +It gave me almost a turn to see again one of the letters which I had +seen on the Count's table before I knew of his diabolical plans. +Everything had been carefully thought out, and done systematically and +with precision. He seemed to have been prepared for every obstacle which +might be placed by accident in the way of his intentions being carried +out. To use an Americanism, he had "taken no chances," and the absolute +accuracy with which his instructions were fulfilled, was simply the +logical result of his care. I saw the invoice, and took note of it: +"Fifty cases of common earth, to be used for experimental purposes." +Also the copy of letter to Carter Paterson, and their reply; of both of +these I got copies. This was all the information Mr. Billington could +give me, so I went down to the port and saw the coastguards, the Customs +officers and the harbour-master. They had all something to say of the +strange entry of the ship, which is already taking its place in local +tradition; but no one could add to the simple description "Fifty cases +of common earth." I then saw the station-master, who kindly put me in +communication with the men who had actually received the boxes. Their +tally was exact with the list, and they had nothing to add except that +the boxes were "main and mortal heavy," and that shifting them was dry +work. One of them added that it was hard lines that there wasn't any +gentleman "such-like as yourself, squire," to show some sort of +appreciation of their efforts in a liquid form; another put in a rider +that the thirst then generated was such that even the time which had +elapsed had not completely allayed it. Needless to add, I took care +before leaving to lift, for ever and adequately, this source of +reproach. + + * * * * * + +_30 September._--The station-master was good enough to give me a line to +his old companion the station-master at King's Cross, so that when I +arrived there in the morning I was able to ask him about the arrival of +the boxes. He, too, put me at once in communication with the proper +officials, and I saw that their tally was correct with the original +invoice. The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here +limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was +compelled to deal with the result in an _ex post facto_ manner. + +From thence I went on to Carter Paterson's central office, where I met +with the utmost courtesy. They looked up the transaction in their +day-book and letter-book, and at once telephoned to their King's Cross +office for more details. By good fortune, the men who did the teaming +were waiting for work, and the official at once sent them over, sending +also by one of them the way-bill and all the papers connected with the +delivery of the boxes at Carfax. Here again I found the tally agreeing +exactly; the carriers' men were able to supplement the paucity of the +written words with a few details. These were, I shortly found, connected +almost solely with the dusty nature of the job, and of the consequent +thirst engendered in the operators. On my affording an opportunity, +through the medium of the currency of the realm, of the allaying, at a +later period, this beneficial evil, one of the men remarked:-- + +"That 'ere 'ouse, guv'nor, is the rummiest I ever was in. Blyme! but it +ain't been touched sence a hundred years. There was dust that thick in +the place that you might have slep' on it without 'urtin' of yer bones; +an' the place was that neglected that yer might 'ave smelled ole +Jerusalem in it. But the ole chapel--that took the cike, that did! Me +and my mate, we thort we wouldn't never git out quick enough. Lor', I +wouldn't take less nor a quid a moment to stay there arter dark." + +Having been in the house, I could well believe him; but if he knew what +I know, he would, I think, have raised his terms. + +Of one thing I am now satisfied: that _all_ the boxes which arrived at +Whitby from Varna in the _Demeter_ were safely deposited in the old +chapel at Carfax. There should be fifty of them there, unless any have +since been removed--as from Dr. Seward's diary I fear. + +I shall try to see the carter who took away the boxes from Carfax when +Renfield attacked them. By following up this clue we may learn a good +deal. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Mina and I have worked all day, and we have put all the papers +into order. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal_ + +_30 September._--I am so glad that I hardly know how to contain myself. +It is, I suppose, the reaction from the haunting fear which I have had: +that this terrible affair and the reopening of his old wound might act +detrimentally on Jonathan. I saw him leave for Whitby with as brave a +face as I could, but I was sick with apprehension. The effort has, +however, done him good. He was never so resolute, never so strong, never +so full of volcanic energy, as at present. It is just as that dear, good +Professor Van Helsing said: he is true grit, and he improves under +strain that would kill a weaker nature. He came back full of life and +hope and determination; we have got everything in order for to-night. I +feel myself quite wild with excitement. I suppose one ought to pity any +thing so hunted as is the Count. That is just it: this Thing is not +human--not even beast. To read Dr. Seward's account of poor Lucy's +death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in +one's heart. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris arrived earlier than we +expected. Dr. Seward was out on business, and had taken Jonathan with +him, so I had to see them. It was to me a painful meeting, for it +brought back all poor dear Lucy's hopes of only a few months ago. Of +course they had heard Lucy speak of me, and it seemed that Dr. Van +Helsing, too, has been quite "blowing my trumpet," as Mr. Morris +expressed it. Poor fellows, neither of them is aware that I know all +about the proposals they made to Lucy. They did not quite know what to +say or do, as they were ignorant of the amount of my knowledge; so they +had to keep on neutral subjects. However, I thought the matter over, and +came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do would be to post +them in affairs right up to date. I knew from Dr. Seward's diary that +they had been at Lucy's death--her real death--and that I need not fear +to betray any secret before the time. So I told them, as well as I +could, that I had read all the papers and diaries, and that my husband +and I, having typewritten them, had just finished putting them in order. +I gave them each a copy to read in the library. When Lord Godalming got +his and turned it over--it does make a pretty good pile--he said:-- + +"Did you write all this, Mrs. Harker?" + +I nodded, and he went on:-- + +"I don't quite see the drift of it; but you people are all so good and +kind, and have been working so earnestly and so energetically, that all +I can do is to accept your ideas blindfold and try to help you. I have +had one lesson already in accepting facts that should make a man humble +to the last hour of his life. Besides, I know you loved my poor Lucy--" +Here he turned away and covered his face with his hands. I could hear +the tears in his voice. Mr. Morris, with instinctive delicacy, just laid +a hand for a moment on his shoulder, and then walked quietly out of the +room. I suppose there is something in woman's nature that makes a man +free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or +emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood; for when +Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat down on the sofa and +gave way utterly and openly. I sat down beside him and took his hand. I +hope he didn't think it forward of me, and that if he ever thinks of it +afterwards he never will have such a thought. There I wrong him; I +_know_ he never will--he is too true a gentleman. I said to him, for I +could see that his heart was breaking:-- + +"I loved dear Lucy, and I know what she was to you, and what you were to +her. She and I were like sisters; and now she is gone, will you not let +me be like a sister to you in your trouble? I know what sorrows you have +had, though I cannot measure the depth of them. If sympathy and pity can +help in your affliction, won't you let me be of some little service--for +Lucy's sake?" + +In an instant the poor dear fellow was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed +to me that all that he had of late been suffering in silence found a +vent at once. He grew quite hysterical, and raising his open hands, beat +his palms together in a perfect agony of grief. He stood up and then sat +down again, and the tears rained down his cheeks. I felt an infinite +pity for him, and opened my arms unthinkingly. With a sob he laid his +head on my shoulder and cried like a wearied child, whilst he shook with +emotion. + +We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above +smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked; I felt this big +sorrowing man's head resting on me, as though it were that of the baby +that some day may lie on my bosom, and I stroked his hair as though he +were my own child. I never thought at the time how strange it all was. + +After a little bit his sobs ceased, and he raised himself with an +apology, though he made no disguise of his emotion. He told me that for +days and nights past--weary days and sleepless nights--he had been +unable to speak with any one, as a man must speak in his time of +sorrow. There was no woman whose sympathy could be given to him, or with +whom, owing to the terrible circumstance with which his sorrow was +surrounded, he could speak freely. "I know now how I suffered," he said, +as he dried his eyes, "but I do not know even yet--and none other can +ever know--how much your sweet sympathy has been to me to-day. I shall +know better in time; and believe me that, though I am not ungrateful +now, my gratitude will grow with my understanding. You will let me be +like a brother, will you not, for all our lives--for dear Lucy's sake?" + +"For dear Lucy's sake," I said as we clasped hands. "Ay, and for your +own sake," he added, "for if a man's esteem and gratitude are ever worth +the winning, you have won mine to-day. If ever the future should bring +to you a time when you need a man's help, believe me, you will not call +in vain. God grant that no such time may ever come to you to break the +sunshine of your life; but if it should ever come, promise me that you +will let me know." He was so earnest, and his sorrow was so fresh, that +I felt it would comfort him, so I said:-- + +"I promise." + +As I came along the corridor I saw Mr. Morris looking out of a window. +He turned as he heard my footsteps. "How is Art?" he said. Then noticing +my red eyes, he went on: "Ah, I see you have been comforting him. Poor +old fellow! he needs it. No one but a woman can help a man when he is in +trouble of the heart; and he had no one to comfort him." + +He bore his own trouble so bravely that my heart bled for him. I saw the +manuscript in his hand, and I knew that when he read it he would realise +how much I knew; so I said to him:-- + +"I wish I could comfort all who suffer from the heart. Will you let me +be your friend, and will you come to me for comfort if you need it? You +will know, later on, why I speak." He saw that I was in earnest, and +stooping, took my hand, and raising it to his lips, kissed it. It seemed +but poor comfort to so brave and unselfish a soul, and impulsively I +bent over and kissed him. The tears rose in his eyes, and there was a +momentary choking in his throat; he said quite calmly:-- + +"Little girl, you will never regret that true-hearted kindness, so long +as ever you live!" Then he went into the study to his friend. + +"Little girl!"--the very words he had used to Lucy, and oh, but he +proved himself a friend! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_30 September._--I got home at five o'clock, and found that Godalming +and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied the transcript +of the various diaries and letters which Harker and his wonderful wife +had made and arranged. Harker had not yet returned from his visit to the +carriers' men, of whom Dr. Hennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave +us a cup of tea, and I can honestly say that, for the first time since I +have lived in it, this old house seemed like _home_. When we had +finished, Mrs. Harker said:-- + +"Dr. Seward, may I ask a favour? I want to see your patient, Mr. +Renfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your diary +interests me so much!" She looked so appealing and so pretty that I +could not refuse her, and there was no possible reason why I should; so +I took her with me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a +lady would like to see him; to which he simply answered: "Why?" + +"She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in it," I +answered. "Oh, very well," he said; "let her come in, by all means; but +just wait a minute till I tidy up the place." His method of tidying was +peculiar: he simply swallowed all the flies and spiders in the boxes +before I could stop him. It was quite evident that he feared, or was +jealous of, some interference. When he had got through his disgusting +task, he said cheerfully: "Let the lady come in," and sat down on the +edge of his bed with his head down, but with his eyelids raised so that +he could see her as she entered. For a moment I thought that he might +have some homicidal intent; I remembered how quiet he had been just +before he attacked me in my own study, and I took care to stand where I +could seize him at once if he attempted to make a spring at her. She +came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command +the respect of any lunatic--for easiness is one of the qualities mad +people most respect. She walked over to him, smiling pleasantly, and +held out her hand. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Renfield," said she. "You see, I know you, for Dr. +Seward has told me of you." He made no immediate reply, but eyed her all +over intently with a set frown on his face. This look gave way to one +of wonder, which merged in doubt; then, to my intense astonishment, he +said:-- + +"You're not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you? You can't be, +you know, for she's dead." Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied:-- + +"Oh no! I have a husband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever +saw Dr. Seward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker." + +"Then what are you doing here?" + +"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward." + +"Then don't stay." + +"But why not?" I thought that this style of conversation might not be +pleasant to Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in:-- + +"How did you know I wanted to marry any one?" His reply was simply +contemptuous, given in a pause in which he turned his eyes from Mrs. +Harker to me, instantly turning them back again:-- + +"What an asinine question!" + +"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield," said Mrs. Harker, at once +championing me. He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as +he had shown contempt to me:-- + +"You will, of course, understand, Mrs. Harker, that when a man is so +loved and honoured as our host is, everything regarding him is of +interest in our little community. Dr. Seward is loved not only by his +household and his friends, but even by his patients, who, being some of +them hardly in mental equilibrium, are apt to distort causes and +effects. Since I myself have been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I +cannot but notice that the sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates +lean towards the errors of _non causa_ and _ignoratio elenchi_." I +positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my own pet +lunatic--the most pronounced of his type that I had ever met +with--talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a polished +gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which had touched +some chord in his memory. If this new phase was spontaneous, or in any +way due to her unconscious influence, she must have some rare gift or +power. + +We continued to talk for some time; and, seeing that he was seemingly +quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me questioningly as she +began, to lead him to his favourite topic. I was again astonished, for +he addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of the +completest sanity; he even took himself as an example when he mentioned +certain things. + +"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief. Indeed, +it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on my being +put under control. I used to fancy that life was a positive and +perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of live things, no +matter how low in the scale of creation, one might indefinitely prolong +life. At times I held the belief so strongly that I actually tried to +take human life. The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I +tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by +the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his +blood--relying, of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is +the life.' Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has +vulgarised the truism to the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, +doctor?" I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to +either think or say; it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat up +his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my watch, I +saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, so I told Mrs. +Harker that it was time to leave. She came at once, after saying +pleasantly to Mr. Renfield: "Good-bye, and I hope I may see you often, +under auspices pleasanter to yourself," to which, to my astonishment, he +replied:-- + +"Good-bye, my dear. I pray God I may never see your sweet face again. +May He bless and keep you!" + +When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys behind +me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy first took +ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self than he has been for +many a long day. + +Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness of a +boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying:-- + +"Ah, friend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come +here to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I have +much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine husband? And +Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too? Good!" + +As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of how my own +diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's suggestion; at +which the Professor interrupted me:-- + +"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain--a brain that a man +should have were he much gifted--and a woman's heart. The good God +fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good +combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made that woman of help +to us; after to-night she must not have to do with this so terrible +affair. It is not good that she run a risk so great. We men are +determined--nay, are we not pledged?--to destroy this monster; but it is +no part for a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her +in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer--both in +waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams. And, besides, +she is young woman and not so long married; there may be other things to +think of some time, if not now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she +must consult with us; but to-morrow she say good-bye to this work, and +we go alone." I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we +had found in his absence: that the house which Dracula had bought was +the very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern seemed +to come on him. "Oh that we had known it before!" he said, "for then we +might have reached him in time to save poor Lucy. However, 'the milk +that is spilt cries not out afterwards,' as you say. We shall not think +of that, but go on our way to the end." Then he fell into a silence that +lasted till we entered my own gateway. Before we went to prepare for +dinner he said to Mrs. Harker:-- + +"I am told, Madam Mina, by my friend John that you and your husband have +put up in exact order all things that have been, up to this moment." + +"Not up to this moment, Professor," she said impulsively, "but up to +this morning." + +"But why not up to now? We have seen hitherto how good light all the +little things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet no one who +has told is the worse for it." + +Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets, she +said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it must go in. It +is my record of to-day. I too have seen the need of putting down at +present everything, however trivial; but there is little in this except +what is personal. Must it go in?" The Professor read it over gravely, +and handed it back, saying:-- + +"It need not go in if you do not wish it; but I pray that it may. It can +but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your friends, more +honour you--as well as more esteem and love." She took it back with +another blush and a bright smile. + +And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are complete +and in order. The Professor took away one copy to study after dinner, +and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock. The rest of us +have already read everything; so when we meet in the study we shall all +be informed as to facts, and can arrange our plan of battle with this +terrible and mysterious enemy. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 September._--When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after +dinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a sort of +board or committee. Professor Van Helsing took the head of the table, to +which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the room. He made me sit +next to him on his right, and asked me to act as secretary; Jonathan sat +next to me. Opposite us were Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. +Morris--Lord Godalming being next the Professor, and Dr. Seward in the +centre. The Professor said:-- + +"I may, I suppose, take it that we are all acquainted with the facts +that are in these papers." We all expressed assent, and he went on:-- + +"Then it were, I think good that I tell you something of the kind of +enemy with which we have to deal. I shall then make known to you +something of the history of this man, which has been ascertained for me. +So we then can discuss how we shall act, and can take our measure +according. + +"There are such beings as vampires; some of us have evidence that they +exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the +teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane +peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic. Were it not that +through long years I have train myself to keep an open mind, I could not +have believe until such time as that fact thunder on my ear. 'See! see! +I prove; I prove.' Alas! Had I known at the first what now I know--nay, +had I even guess at him--one so precious life had been spared to many of +us who did love her. But that is gone; and we must so work, that other +poor souls perish not, whilst we can save. The _nosferatu_ do not die +like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger; and being +stronger, have yet more power to work evil. This vampire which is +amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men; he is of +cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages; he have +still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the +divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are +for him at command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in +callous, and the heart of him is not; he can, within limitations, appear +at will when, and where, and in any of the forms that are to him; he +can, within his range, direct the elements; the storm, the fog, the +thunder; he can command all the meaner things: the rat, and the owl, and +the bat--the moth, and the fox, and the wolf; he can grow and become +small; and he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to +begin our strike to destroy him? How shall we find his where; and having +found it, how can we destroy? My friends, this is much; it is a terrible +task that we undertake, and there may be consequence to make the brave +shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must surely win; and then +where end we? Life is nothings; I heed him not. But to fail here, is not +mere life or death. It is that we become as him; that we henceforward +become foul things of the night like him--without heart or conscience, +preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love best. To us for +ever are the gates of heaven shut; for who shall open them to us again? +We go on for all time abhorred by all; a blot on the face of God's +sunshine; an arrow in the side of Him who died for man. But we are face +to face with duty; and in such case must we shrink? For me, I say, no; +but then I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair places, his +song of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind. You others are +young. Some have seen sorrow; but there are fair days yet in store. What +say you?" + +Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand. I feared, oh so +much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him when I +saw his hand stretch out; but it was life to me to feel its touch--so +strong, so self-reliant, so resolute. A brave man's hand can speak for +itself; it does not even need a woman's love to hear its music. + +When the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my eyes, and I +in his; there was no need for speaking between us. + +"I answer for Mina and myself," he said. + +"Count me in, Professor," said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically as usual. + +"I am with you," said Lord Godalming, "for Lucy's sake, if for no other +reason." + +Dr. Seward simply nodded. The Professor stood up and, after laying his +golden crucifix on the table, held out his hand on either side. I took +his right hand, and Lord Godalming his left; Jonathan held my right with +his left and stretched across to Mr. Morris. So as we all took hands our +solemn compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not even +occur to me to draw back. We resumed our places, and Dr. Van Helsing +went on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the serious work +had begun. It was to be taken as gravely, and in as businesslike a way, +as any other transaction of life:-- + +"Well, you know what we have to contend against; but we, too, are not +without strength. We have on our side power of combination--a power +denied to the vampire kind; we have sources of science; we are free to +act and think; and the hours of the day and the night are ours equally. +In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are +free to use them. We have self-devotion in a cause, and an end to +achieve which is not a selfish one. These things are much. + +"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us are +restrict, and how the individual cannot. In fine, let us consider the +limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one in particular. + +"All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions. These do not +at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and death--nay +of more than either life or death. Yet must we be satisfied; in the +first place because we have to be--no other means is at our control--and +secondly, because, after all, these things--tradition and +superstition--are everything. Does not the belief in vampires rest for +others--though not, alas! for us--on them? A year ago which of us would +have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, +sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth century? We even scouted a belief +that we saw justified under our very eyes. Take it, then, that the +vampire, and the belief in his limitations and his cure, rest for the +moment on the same base. For, let me tell you, he is known everywhere +that men have been. In old Greece, in old Rome; he flourish in Germany +all over, in France, in India, even in the Chernosese; and in China, so +far from us in all ways, there even is he, and the peoples fear him at +this day. He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the +devil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, the Magyar. So far, then, we +have all we may act upon; and let me tell you that very much of the +beliefs are justified by what we have seen in our own so unhappy +experience. The vampire live on, and cannot die by mere passing of the +time; he can flourish when that he can fatten on the blood of the +living. Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can even grow +younger; that his vital faculties grow strenuous, and seem as though +they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty. But he +cannot flourish without this diet; he eat not as others. Even friend +Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him to eat, never! +He throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect, as again +Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of his hand--witness again +Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him +from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather +from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog; he can be as +bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John +saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at +the window of Miss Lucy. He can come in mist which he create--that noble +ship's captain proved him of this; but, from what we know, the distance +he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself. He +come on moonlight rays as elemental dust--as again Jonathan saw those +sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small--we ourselves saw +Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a hairbreadth space at the +tomb door. He can, when once he find his way, come out from anything or +into anything, no matter how close it be bound or even fused up with +fire--solder you call it. He can see in the dark--no small power this, +in a world which is one half shut from the light. Ah, but hear me +through. He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay; he is even +more prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell. +He cannot go where he lists; he who is not of nature has yet to obey +some of nature's laws--why we know not. He may not enter anywhere at the +first, unless there be some one of the household who bid him to come; +though afterwards he can come as he please. His power ceases, as does +that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times +can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is +bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset. +These things are we told, and in this record of ours we have proof by +inference. Thus, whereas he can do as he will within his limit, when he +have his earth-home, his coffin-home, his hell-home, the place +unhallowed, as we saw when he went to the grave of the suicide at +Whitby; still at other time he can only change when the time come. It is +said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood +of the tide. Then there are things which so afflict him that he has no +power, as the garlic that we know of; and as for things sacred, as this +symbol, my crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to +them he is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and +silent with respect. There are others, too, which I shall tell you of, +lest in our seeking we may need them. The branch of wild rose on his +coffin keep him that he move not from it; a sacred bullet fired into the +coffin kill him so that he be true dead; and as for the stake through +him, we know already of its peace; or the cut-off head that giveth rest. +We have seen it with our eyes. + +"Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can confine +him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know. But he is +clever. I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to +make his record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he +has been. He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his +name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of +Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man; for in that time, +and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most +cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the +forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his +grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says +Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who +were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They +learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake +Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the +records are such words as 'stregoica'--witch, 'ordog,' and +'pokol'--Satan and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is +spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well. There have been +from the loins of this very one great men and good women, and their +graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness can dwell. For it +is not the least of its terrors that this evil thing is rooted deep in +all good; in soil barren of holy memories it cannot rest." + +Whilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the window, +and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room. There was a little +pause, and then the Professor went on:-- + +"And now we must settle what we do. We have here much data, and we must +proceed to lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry of Jonathan +that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all of which +were delivered at Carfax; we also know that at least some of these boxes +have been removed. It seems to me, that our first step should be to +ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond that wall +where we look to-day; or whether any more have been removed. If the +latter, we must trace----" + +Here we were interrupted in a very startling way. Outside the house came +the sound of a pistol-shot; the glass of the window was shattered with a +bullet, which, ricochetting from the top of the embrasure, struck the +far wall of the room. I am afraid I am at heart a coward, for I shrieked +out. The men all jumped to their feet; Lord Godalming flew over to the +window and threw up the sash. As he did so we heard Mr. Morris's voice +without:-- + +"Sorry! I fear I have alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about +it." A minute later he came in and said:-- + +"It was an idiotic thing of me to do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. +Harker, most sincerely; I fear I must have frightened you terribly. But +the fact is that whilst the Professor was talking there came a big bat +and sat on the window-sill. I have got such a horror of the damned +brutes from recent events that I cannot stand them, and I went out to +have a shot, as I have been doing of late of evenings, whenever I have +seen one. You used to laugh at me for it then, Art." + +"Did you hit it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing. + +"I don't know; I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood." Without +saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began to resume his +statement:-- + +"We must trace each of these boxes; and when we are ready, we must +either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to +speak, sterilise the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it. +Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours of +noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most weak. + +"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. +You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part to-night, you +no more must question. We shall tell you all in good time. We are men +and are able to bear; but you must be our star and our hope, and we +shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we +are." + +All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved; but it did not seem to me +good that they should brave danger and, perhaps, lessen their +safety--strength being the best safety--through care of me; but their +minds were made up, and, though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, +I could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me. + +Mr. Morris resumed the discussion:-- + +"As there is no time to lose, I vote we have a look at his house right +now. Time is everything with him; and swift action on our part may save +another victim." + +I own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action came so +close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear that if I +appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even leave +me out of their counsels altogether. They have now gone off to Carfax, +with means to get into the house. + +Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep; as if a woman can +sleep when those she loves are in danger! I shall lie down and pretend +to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he returns. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October, 4 a. m._--Just as we were about to leave the house, an +urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see +him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me. +I told the messenger to say that I would attend to his wishes in the +morning; I was busy just at the moment. The attendant added:-- + +"He seems very importunate, sir. I have never seen him so eager. I don't +know but what, if you don't see him soon, he will have one of his +violent fits." I knew the man would not have said this without some +cause, so I said: "All right; I'll go now"; and I asked the others to +wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and see my "patient." + +"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your +diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on _our_ +case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is +disturbed." + +"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming. + +"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and +we all went down the passage together. + +We found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more +rational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him. There was an +unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything I had ever +met with in a lunatic; and he took it for granted that his reasons would +prevail with others entirely sane. We all four went into the room, but +none of the others at first said anything. His request was that I would +at once release him from the asylum and send him home. This he backed up +with arguments regarding his complete recovery, and adduced his own +existing sanity. "I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, +perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have +not introduced me." I was so much astonished, that the oddness of +introducing a madman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment; and, +besides, there was a certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of +the habit of equality, that I at once made the introduction: "Lord +Godalming; Professor Van Helsing; Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas; Mr. +Renfield." He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn:-- + +"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the +Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no +more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his +youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much +patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great +state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have +far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold +alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a +vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true +place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at +meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of +conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics +by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, +conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to +one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by +the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective +places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at +least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. +And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as +well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to +be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last +appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own +charm. + +I think we were all staggered. For my own part, I was under the +conviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and history, +that his reason had been restored; and I felt under a strong impulse to +tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity, and would see about the +necessary formalities for his release in the morning. I thought it +better to wait, however, before making so grave a statement, for of old +I knew the sudden changes to which this particular patient was liable. +So I contented myself with making a general statement that he appeared +to be improving very rapidly; that I would have a longer chat with him +in the morning, and would then see what I could do in the direction of +meeting his wishes. This did not at all satisfy him, for he said +quickly:-- + +"But I fear, Dr. Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish. I desire to +go at once--here--now--this very hour--this very moment, if I may. Time +presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman it is of +the essence of the contract. I am sure it is only necessary to put +before so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward so simple, yet so +momentous a wish, to ensure its fulfilment." He looked at me keenly, and +seeing the negative in my face, turned to the others, and scrutinised +them closely. Not meeting any sufficient response, he went on:-- + +"Is it possible that I have erred in my supposition?" + +"You have," I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt, brutally. +There was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly:-- + +"Then I suppose I must only shift my ground of request. Let me ask for +this concession--boon, privilege, what you will. I am content to implore +in such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of others. I +am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons; but you may, I +assure you, take it from me that they are good ones, sound and +unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty. Could you look, +sir, into my heart, you would approve to the full the sentiments which +animate me. Nay, more, you would count me amongst the best and truest of +your friends." Again he looked at us all keenly. I had a growing +conviction that this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was +but yet another form or phase of his madness, and so determined to let +him go on a little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like +all lunatics, give himself away in the end. Van Helsing was gazing at +him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting +with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone +which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it +afterwards--for it was as of one addressing an equal:-- + +"Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be free +to-night? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me--a stranger, +without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open mind--Dr. +Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own responsibility, the +privilege you seek." He shook his head sadly, and with a look of +poignant regret on his face. The Professor went on:-- + +"Come, sir, bethink yourself. You claim the privilege of reason in the +highest degree, since you seek to impress us with your complete +reasonableness. You do this, whose sanity we have reason to doubt, since +you are not yet released from medical treatment for this very defect. If +you will not help us in our effort to choose the wisest course, how can +we perform the duty which you yourself put upon us? Be wise, and help +us; and if we can we shall aid you to achieve your wish." He still shook +his head as he said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I have nothing to say. Your argument is complete, and +if I were free to speak I should not hesitate a moment; but I am not my +own master in the matter. I can only ask you to trust me. If I am +refused, the responsibility does not rest with me." I thought it was now +time to end the scene, which was becoming too comically grave, so I went +towards the door, simply saying:-- + +"Come, my friends, we have work to do. Good-night." + +As, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the patient. He +moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I feared that he was +about to make another homicidal attack. My fears, however, were +groundless, for he held up his two hands imploringly, and made his +petition in a moving manner. As he saw that the very excess of his +emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old +relations, he became still more demonstrative. I glanced at Van Helsing, +and saw my conviction reflected in his eyes; so I became a little more +fixed in my manner, if not more stern, and motioned to him that his +efforts were unavailing. I had previously seen something of the same +constantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some request of +which at the time he had thought much, such, for instance, as when he +wanted a cat; and I was prepared to see the collapse into the same +sullen acquiescence on this occasion. My expectation was not realised, +for, when he found that his appeal would not be successful, he got into +quite a frantic condition. He threw himself on his knees, and held up +his hands, wringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a +torrent of entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his +whole face and form expressive of the deepest emotion:-- + +"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out +of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; +send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a +strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go +out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am +speaking from the depths of my heart--of my very soul. You don't know +whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. +By all you hold sacred--by all you hold dear--by your love that is +lost--by your hope that lives--for the sake of the Almighty, take me out +of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you +understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and +earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting +for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!" + +I thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get, and so +would bring on a fit; so I took him by the hand and raised him up. + +"Come," I said sternly, "no more of this; we have had quite enough +already. Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly." + +He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several moments. Then, +without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on the side of the +bed. The collapse had come, as on former occasion, just as I had +expected. + +When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in a +quiet, well-bred voice:-- + +"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later +on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, 5 a. m._--I went with the party to the search with an easy +mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well. I am +so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work. +Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful business at +all; but now that her work is done, and that it is due to her energy and +brains and foresight that the whole story is put together in such a way +that every point tells, she may well feel that her part is finished, and +that she can henceforth leave the rest to us. We were, I think, all a +little upset by the scene with Mr. Renfield. When we came away from his +room we were silent till we got back to the study. Then Mr. Morris said +to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the +sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had some +serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a +chance." Lord Godalming and I were silent, but Dr. Van Helsing added:-- + +"Friend John, you know more of lunatics than I do, and I'm glad of it, +for I fear that if it had been to me to decide I would before that last +hysterical outburst have given him free. But we live and learn, and in +our present task we must take no chance, as my friend Quincey would say. +All is best as they are." Dr. Seward seemed to answer them both in a +dreamy kind of way:-- + +"I don't know but that I agree with you. If that man had been an +ordinary lunatic I would have taken my chance of trusting him; but he +seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way that I am +afraid of doing anything wrong by helping his fads. I can't forget how +he prayed with almost equal fervour for a cat, and then tried to tear my +throat out with his teeth. Besides, he called the Count 'lord and +master,' and he may want to get out to help him in some diabolical way. +That horrid thing has the wolves and the rats and his own kind to help +him, so I suppose he isn't above trying to use a respectable lunatic. He +certainly did seem earnest, though. I only hope we have done what is +best. These things, in conjunction with the wild work we have in hand, +help to unnerve a man." The Professor stepped over, and laying his hand +on his shoulder, said in his grave, kindly way:-- + +"Friend John, have no fear. We are trying to do our duty in a very sad +and terrible case; we can only do as we deem best. What else have we to +hope for, except the pity of the good God?" Lord Godalming had slipped +away for a few minutes, but now he returned. He held up a little silver +whistle, as he remarked:-- + +"That old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote on +call." Having passed the wall, we took our way to the house, taking care +to keep in the shadows of the trees on the lawn when the moonlight shone +out. When we got to the porch the Professor opened his bag and took out +a lot of things, which he laid on the step, sorting them into four +little groups, evidently one for each. Then he spoke:-- + +"My friends, we are going into a terrible danger, and we need arms of +many kinds. Our enemy is not merely spiritual. Remember that he has the +strength of twenty men, and that, though our necks or our windpipes are +of the common kind--and therefore breakable or crushable--his are not +amenable to mere strength. A stronger man, or a body of men more strong +in all than him, can at certain times hold him; but they cannot hurt him +as we can be hurt by him. We must, therefore, guard ourselves from his +touch. Keep this near your heart"--as he spoke he lifted a little silver +crucifix and held it out to me, I being nearest to him--"put these +flowers round your neck"--here he handed to me a wreath of withered +garlic blossoms--"for other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this +knife; and for aid in all, these so small electric lamps, which you can +fasten to your breast; and for all, and above all at the last, this, +which we must not desecrate needless." This was a portion of Sacred +Wafer, which he put in an envelope and handed to me. Each of the others +was similarly equipped. "Now," he said, "friend John, where are the +skeleton keys? If so that we can open the door, we need not break house +by the window, as before at Miss Lucy's." + +Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical dexterity as a +surgeon standing him in good stead. Presently he got one to suit; after +a little play back and forward the bolt yielded, and, with a rusty +clang, shot back. We pressed on the door, the rusty hinges creaked, and +it slowly opened. It was startlingly like the image conveyed to me in +Dr. Seward's diary of the opening of Miss Westenra's tomb; I fancy that +the same idea seemed to strike the others, for with one accord they +shrank back. The Professor was the first to move forward, and stepped +into the open door. + +"_In manus tuas, Domine!_" he said, crossing himself as he passed over +the threshold. We closed the door behind us, lest when we should have +lit our lamps we should possibly attract attention from the road. The +Professor carefully tried the lock, lest we might not be able to open it +from within should we be in a hurry making our exit. Then we all lit our +lamps and proceeded on our search. + +The light from the tiny lamps fell in all sorts of odd forms, as the +rays crossed each other, or the opacity of our bodies threw great +shadows. I could not for my life get away from the feeling that there +was some one else amongst us. I suppose it was the recollection, so +powerfully brought home to me by the grim surroundings, of that terrible +experience in Transylvania. I think the feeling was common to us all, +for I noticed that the others kept looking over their shoulders at every +sound and every new shadow, just as I felt myself doing. + +The whole place was thick with dust. The floor was seemingly inches +deep, except where there were recent footsteps, in which on holding down +my lamp I could see marks of hobnails where the dust was cracked. The +walls were fluffy and heavy with dust, and in the corners were masses of +spider's webs, whereon the dust had gathered till they looked like old +tattered rags as the weight had torn them partly down. On a table in the +hall was a great bunch of keys, with a time-yellowed label on each. They +had been used several times, for on the table were several similar rents +in the blanket of dust, similar to that exposed when the Professor +lifted them. He turned to me and said:-- + +"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know +it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an +idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to +get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings +found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. +"This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small +map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence +regarding the purchase. With a little trouble we found the key on the +bunch and opened the door. We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for +as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale +through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we +encountered. None of the others had met the Count at all at close +quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of +his existence in his rooms or, when he was gloated with fresh blood, in +a ruined building open to the air; but here the place was small and +close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul. There was +an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler +air. But as to the odour itself, how shall I describe it? It was not +alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the +pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had +become itself corrupt. Faugh! it sickens me to think of it. Every breath +exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and +intensified its loathsomeness. + +Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our +enterprise to an end; but this was no ordinary case, and the high and +terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength which rose +above merely physical considerations. After the involuntary shrinking +consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set about our +work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses. + +We made an accurate examination of the place, the Professor saying as we +began:-- + +"The first thing is to see how many of the boxes are left; we must then +examine every hole and corner and cranny and see if we cannot get some +clue as to what has become of the rest." A glance was sufficient to show +how many remained, for the great earth chests were bulky, and there was +no mistaking them. + +There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty! Once I got a fright, +for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of the vaulted +door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and for an instant my +heart stood still. Somewhere, looking out from the shadow, I seemed to +see the high lights of the Count's evil face, the ridge of the nose, the +red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor. It was only for a moment, for, +as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I saw a face, but it was only the +shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I turned my lamp in the direction, +and stepped into the passage. There was no sign of any one; and as there +were no corners, no doors, no aperture of any kind, but only the solid +walls of the passage, there could be no hiding-place even for _him_. I +took it that fear had helped imagination, and said nothing. + +A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a corner, which +he was examining. We all followed his movements with our eyes, for +undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and we saw a whole mass +of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars. We all instinctively drew +back. The whole place was becoming alive with rats. + +For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was +seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great +iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, +and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the +huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver +whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered +from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a +minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house. +Unconsciously we had all moved towards the door, and as we moved I +noticed that the dust had been much disturbed: the boxes which had been +taken out had been brought this way. But even in the minute that had +elapsed the number of the rats had vastly increased. They seemed to +swarm over the place all at once, till the lamplight, shining on their +moving dark bodies and glittering, baleful eyes, made the place look +like a bank of earth set with fireflies. The dogs dashed on, but at the +threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then, simultaneously lifting +their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion. The rats were +multiplying in thousands, and we moved out. + +Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in, placed him +on the floor. The instant his feet touched the ground he seemed to +recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies. They fled before +him so fast that before he had shaken the life out of a score, the other +dogs, who had by now been lifted in the same manner, had but small prey +ere the whole mass had vanished. + +With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had departed, for +the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they made sudden darts at +their prostrate foes, and turned them over and over and tossed them in +the air with vicious shakes. We all seemed to find our spirits rise. +Whether it was the purifying of the deadly atmosphere by the opening of +the chapel door, or the relief which we experienced by finding ourselves +in the open I know not; but most certainly the shadow of dread seemed to +slip from us like a robe, and the occasion of our coming lost something +of its grim significance, though we did not slacken a whit in our +resolution. We closed the outer door and barred and locked it, and +bringing the dogs with us, began our search of the house. We found +nothing throughout except dust in extraordinary proportions, and all +untouched save for my own footsteps when I had made my first visit. +Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of uneasiness, and even when +we returned to the chapel they frisked about as though they had been +rabbit-hunting in a summer wood. + +The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the front. +Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall-door from the bunch, and +locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into his pocket +when he had done. + +"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful. No harm has +come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained how +many boxes are missing. More than all do I rejoice that this, our +first--and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous--step has been +accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina or +troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds and +smells of horror which she might never forget. One lesson, too, we have +learned, if it be allowable to argue _a particulari_: that the brute +beasts which are to the Count's command are yet themselves not amenable +to his spiritual power; for look, these rats that would come to his +call, just as from his castle top he summon the wolves to your going and +to that poor mother's cry, though they come to him, they run pell-mell +from the so little dogs of my friend Arthur. We have other matters +before us, other dangers, other fears; and that monster--he has not used +his power over the brute world for the only or the last time to-night. +So be it that he has gone elsewhere. Good! It has given us opportunity +to cry 'check' in some ways in this chess game, which we play for the +stake of human souls. And now let us go home. The dawn is close at hand, +and we have reason to be content with our first night's work. It may be +ordained that we have many nights and days to follow, if full of peril; +but we must go on, and from no danger shall we shrink." + +The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who +was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound +from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, +after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain. + +I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so +softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than +usual. I hope the meeting to-night has not upset her. I am truly +thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of our +deliberations. It is too great a strain for a woman to bear. I did not +think so at first, but I know better now. Therefore I am glad that it is +settled. There may be things which would frighten her to hear; and yet +to conceal them from her might be worse than to tell her if once she +suspected that there was any concealment. Henceforth our work is to be a +sealed book to her, till at least such time as we can tell her that all +is finished, and the earth free from a monster of the nether world. I +daresay it will be difficult to begin to keep silence after such +confidence as ours; but I must be resolute, and to-morrow I shall keep +dark over to-night's doings, and shall refuse to speak of anything that +has happened. I rest on the sofa, so as not to disturb her. + + * * * * * + +_1 October, later._--I suppose it was natural that we should have all +overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had no +rest at all. Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I slept +till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call two or +three times before she awoke. Indeed, she was so sound asleep that for a +few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with a sort of +blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad dream. She +complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest till later in the +day. We now know of twenty-one boxes having been removed, and if it be +that several were taken in any of these removals we may be able to trace +them all. Such will, of course, immensely simplify our labour, and the +sooner the matter is attended to the better. I shall look up Thomas +Snelling to-day. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--It was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor +walking into my room. He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and it +is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of the +brooding weight off his mind. After going over the adventure of the +night he suddenly said:-- + +"Your patient interests me much. May it be that with you I visit him +this morning? Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it may +be. It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk philosophy, +and reason so sound." I had some work to do which pressed, so I told him +that if he would go alone I would be glad, as then I should not have to +keep him waiting; so I called an attendant and gave him the necessary +instructions. Before the Professor left the room I cautioned him against +getting any false impression from my patient. "But," he answered, "I +want him to talk of himself and of his delusion as to consuming live +things. He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your diary of yesterday, that +he had once had such a belief. Why do you smile, friend John?" + +"Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here." I laid my hand on the +type-written matter. "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very +statement of how he _used_ to consume life, his mouth was actually +nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before Mrs. +Harker entered the room." Van Helsing smiled in turn. "Good!" he said. +"Your memory is true, friend John. I should have remembered. And yet it +is this very obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease +such a fascinating study. Perhaps I may gain more knowledge out of the +folly of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise. +Who knows?" I went on with my work, and before long was through that in +hand. It seemed that the time had been very short indeed, but there was +Van Helsing back in the study. "Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he +stood at the door. + +"Not at all," I answered. "Come in. My work is finished, and I am free. +I can go with you now, if you like. + +"It is needless; I have seen him!" + +"Well?" + +"I fear that he does not appraise me at much. Our interview was short. +When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the centre, with +his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture of sullen +discontent. I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and with such a +measure of respect as I could assume. He made no reply whatever. "Don't +you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well +enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself +and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed +Dutchmen!" Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable +sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at +all. Thus departed for this time my chance of much learning from this so +clever lunatic; so I shall go, if I may, and cheer myself with a few +happy words with that sweet soul Madam Mina. Friend John, it does +rejoice me unspeakable that she is no more to be pained, no more to be +worried with our terrible things. Though we shall much miss her help, it +is better so." + +"I agree with you with all my heart," I answered earnestly, for I did +not want him to weaken in this matter. "Mrs. Harker is better out of it. +Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have +been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, +and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time +infallibly have wrecked her." + +So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs. Harker and Harker; Quincey +and Art are all out following up the clues as to the earth-boxes. I +shall finish my round of work and we shall meet to-night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_1 October._--It is strange to me to be kept in the dark as I am to-day; +after Jonathan's full confidence for so many years, to see him +manifestly avoid certain matters, and those the most vital of all. This +morning I slept late after the fatigues of yesterday, and though +Jonathan was late too, he was the earlier. He spoke to me before he went +out, never more sweetly or tenderly, but he never mentioned a word of +what had happened in the visit to the Count's house. And yet he must +have known how terribly anxious I was. Poor dear fellow! I suppose it +must have distressed him even more than it did me. They all agreed that +it was best that I should not be drawn further into this awful work, and +I acquiesced. But to think that he keeps anything from me! And now I am +crying like a silly fool, when I _know_ it comes from my husband's great +love and from the good, good wishes of those other strong men. + +That has done me good. Well, some day Jonathan will tell me all; and +lest it should ever be that he should think for a moment that I kept +anything from him, I still keep my journal as usual. Then if he has +feared of my trust I shall show it to him, with every thought of my +heart put down for his dear eyes to read. I feel strangely sad and +low-spirited to-day. I suppose it is the reaction from the terrible +excitement. + +Last night I went to bed when the men had gone, simply because they told +me to. I didn't feel sleepy, and I did feel full of devouring anxiety. I +kept thinking over everything that has been ever since Jonathan came to +see me in London, and it all seems like a horrible tragedy, with fate +pressing on relentlessly to some destined end. Everything that one does +seems, no matter how right it may be, to bring on the very thing which +is most to be deplored. If I hadn't gone to Whitby, perhaps poor dear +Lucy would be with us now. She hadn't taken to visiting the churchyard +till I came, and if she hadn't come there in the day-time with me she +wouldn't have walked there in her sleep; and if she hadn't gone there at +night and asleep, that monster couldn't have destroyed her as he did. +Oh, why did I ever go to Whitby? There now, crying again! I wonder what +has come over me to-day. I must hide it from Jonathan, for if he knew +that I had been crying twice in one morning--I, who never cried on my +own account, and whom he has never caused to shed a tear--the dear +fellow would fret his heart out. I shall put a bold face on, and if I do +feel weepy, he shall never see it. I suppose it is one of the lessons +that we poor women have to learn.... + +I can't quite remember how I fell asleep last night. I remember hearing +the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like praying +on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is somewhere +under this. And then there was silence over everything, silence so +profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out of the window. +All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by the moonlight +seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a thing seemed to be +stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate; so that a thin +streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness +across the grass towards the house, seemed to have a sentience and a +vitality of its own. I think that the digression of my thoughts must +have done me good, for when I got back to bed I found a lethargy +creeping over me. I lay a while, but could not quite sleep, so I got out +and looked out of the window again. The mist was spreading, and was now +close up to the house, so that I could see it lying thick against the +wall, as though it were stealing up to the windows. The poor man was +more loud than ever, and though I could not distinguish a word he said, +I could in some way recognise in his tones some passionate entreaty on +his part. Then there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the +attendants were dealing with him. I was so frightened that I crept into +bed, and pulled the clothes over my head, putting my fingers in my ears. +I was not then a bit sleepy, at least so I thought; but I must have +fallen asleep, for, except dreams, I do not remember anything until the +morning, when Jonathan woke me. I think that it took me an effort and a +little time to realise where I was, and that it was Jonathan who was +bending over me. My dream was very peculiar, and was almost typical of +the way that waking thoughts become merged in, or continued in, dreams. + +I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come back. I +was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my feet, and my +hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at the +usual pace. And so I slept uneasily and thought. Then it began to dawn +upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold. I put back the +clothes from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was dim +around. The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but turned down, +came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which had evidently +grown thicker and poured into the room. Then it occurred to me that I +had shut the window before I had come to bed. I would have got out to +make certain on the point, but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my +limbs and even my will. I lay still and endured; that was all. I closed +my eyes, but could still see through my eyelids. (It is wonderful what +tricks our dreams play us, and how conveniently we can imagine.) The +mist grew thicker and thicker and I could see now how it came in, for I +could see it like smoke--or with the white energy of boiling +water--pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of +the door. It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became +concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the top +of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red eye. Things +began to whirl through my brain just as the cloudy column was now +whirling in the room, and through it all came the scriptural words "a +pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night." Was it indeed some such +spiritual guidance that was coming to me in my sleep? But the pillar was +composed of both the day and the night-guiding, for the fire was in the +red eye, which at the thought got a new fascination for me; till, as I +looked, the fire divided, and seemed to shine on me through the fog like +two red eyes, such as Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering +when, on the cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's +Church. Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan +had seen those awful women growing into reality through the whirling mist +in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all became +black darkness. The last conscious effort which imagination made was to +show me a livid white face bending over me out of the mist. I must be +careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one's reason if there were +too much of them. I would get Dr. Van Helsing or Dr. Seward to prescribe +something for me which would make me sleep, only that I fear to alarm +them. Such a dream at the present time would become woven into their +fears for me. To-night I shall strive hard to sleep naturally. If I do +not, I shall to-morrow night get them to give me a dose of chloral; that +cannot hurt me for once, and it will give me a good night's sleep. Last +night tired me more than if I had not slept at all. + + * * * * * + +_2 October 10 p. m._--Last night I slept, but did not dream. I must have +slept soundly, for I was not waked by Jonathan coming to bed; but the +sleep has not refreshed me, for to-day I feel terribly weak and +spiritless. I spent all yesterday trying to read, or lying down dozing. +In the afternoon Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me. Poor man, he was +very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and bade God bless +me. Some way it affected me much; I am crying when I think of him. This +is a new weakness, of which I must be careful. Jonathan would be +miserable if he knew I had been crying. He and the others were out till +dinner-time, and they all came in tired. I did what I could to brighten +them up, and I suppose that the effort did me good, for I forgot how +tired I was. After dinner they sent me to bed, and all went off to smoke +together, as they said, but I knew that they wanted to tell each other +of what had occurred to each during the day; I could see from Jonathan's +manner that he had something important to communicate. I was not so +sleepy as I should have been; so before they went I asked Dr. Seward to +give me a little opiate of some kind, as I had not slept well the night +before. He very kindly made me up a sleeping draught, which he gave to +me, telling me that it would do me no harm, as it was very mild.... I +have taken it, and am waiting for sleep, which still keeps aloof. I hope +I have not done wrong, for as sleep begins to flirt with me, a new fear +comes: that I may have been foolish in thus depriving myself of the +power of waking. I might want it. Here comes sleep. Good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, evening._--I found Thomas Snelling in his house at Bethnal +Green, but unhappily he was not in a condition to remember anything. The +very prospect of beer which my expected coming had opened to him had +proved too much, and he had begun too early on his expected debauch. I +learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor soul, that he +was only the assistant to Smollet, who of the two mates was the +responsible person. So off I drove to Walworth, and found Mr. Joseph +Smollet at home and in his shirtsleeves, taking a late tea out of a +saucer. He is a decent, intelligent fellow, distinctly a good, reliable +type of workman, and with a headpiece of his own. He remembered all +about the incident of the boxes, and from a wonderful dog's-eared +notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle about the +seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries in thick, +half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the boxes. There +were, he said, six in the cartload which he took from Carfax and left at +197, Chicksand Street, Mile End New Town, and another six which he +deposited at Jamaica Lane, Bermondsey. If then the Count meant to +scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were +chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more +fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that +he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now +fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern +shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to +be left out of his diabolical scheme--let alone the City itself and the +very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west. I went back +to Smollet, and asked him if he could tell us if any other boxes had +been taken from Carfax. + +He replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, you've treated me wery 'an'some"--I had given him half a +sovereign--"an' I'll tell yer all I know. I heard a man by the name of +Bloxam say four nights ago in the 'Are an' 'Ounds, in Pincher's Alley, +as 'ow he an' his mate 'ad 'ad a rare dusty job in a old 'ouse at +Purfect. There ain't a-many such jobs as this 'ere, an' I'm thinkin' +that maybe Sam Bloxam could tell ye summut." I asked if he could tell me +where to find him. I told him that if he could get me the address it +would be worth another half-sovereign to him. So he gulped down the rest +of his tea and stood up, saying that he was going to begin the search +then and there. At the door he stopped, and said:-- + +"Look 'ere, guv'nor, there ain't no sense in me a-keepin' you 'ere. I +may find Sam soon, or I mayn't; but anyhow he ain't like to be in a way +to tell ye much to-night. Sam is a rare one when he starts on the booze. +If you can give me a envelope with a stamp on it, and put yer address on +it, I'll find out where Sam is to be found and post it ye to-night. But +ye'd better be up arter 'im soon in the mornin', or maybe ye won't ketch +'im; for Sam gets off main early, never mind the booze the night afore." + +This was all practical, so one of the children went off with a penny to +buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and to keep the change. When she +came back, I addressed the envelope and stamped it, and when Smollet had +again faithfully promised to post the address when found, I took my way +to home. We're on the track anyhow. I am tired to-night, and want sleep. +Mina is fast asleep, and looks a little too pale; her eyes look as +though she had been crying. Poor dear, I've no doubt it frets her to be +kept in the dark, and it may make her doubly anxious about me and the +others. But it is best as it is. It is better to be disappointed and +worried in such a way now than to have her nerve broken. The doctors +were quite right to insist on her being kept out of this dreadful +business. I must be firm, for on me this particular burden of silence +must rest. I shall not ever enter on the subject with her under any +circumstances. Indeed, it may not be a hard task, after all, for she +herself has become reticent on the subject, and has not spoken of the +Count or his doings ever since we told her of our decision. + + * * * * * + +_2 October, evening._--A long and trying and exciting day. By the first +post I got my directed envelope with a dirty scrap of paper enclosed, on +which was written with a carpenter's pencil in a sprawling hand:-- + +"Sam Bloxam, Korkrans, 4, Poters Cort, Bartel Street, Walworth. Arsk for +the depite." + +I got the letter in bed, and rose without waking Mina. She looked heavy +and sleepy and pale, and far from well. I determined not to wake her, +but that, when I should return from this new search, I would arrange for +her going back to Exeter. I think she would be happier in our own home, +with her daily tasks to interest her, than in being here amongst us and +in ignorance. I only saw Dr. Seward for a moment, and told him where I +was off to, promising to come back and tell the rest so soon as I should +have found out anything. I drove to Walworth and found, with some +difficulty, Potter's Court. Mr. Smollet's spelling misled me, as I asked +for Poter's Court instead of Potter's Court. However, when I had found +the court, I had no difficulty in discovering Corcoran's lodging-house. +When I asked the man who came to the door for the "depite," he shook his +head, and said: "I dunno 'im. There ain't no such a person 'ere; I never +'eard of 'im in all my bloomin' days. Don't believe there ain't nobody +of that kind livin' ere or anywheres." I took out Smollet's letter, and +as I read it it seemed to me that the lesson of the spelling of the name +of the court might guide me. "What are you?" I asked. + +"I'm the depity," he answered. I saw at once that I was on the right +track; phonetic spelling had again misled me. A half-crown tip put the +deputy's knowledge at my disposal, and I learned that Mr. Bloxam, who +had slept off the remains of his beer on the previous night at +Corcoran's, had left for his work at Poplar at five o'clock that +morning. He could not tell me where the place of work was situated, but +he had a vague idea that it was some kind of a "new-fangled ware'us"; +and with this slender clue I had to start for Poplar. It was twelve +o'clock before I got any satisfactory hint of such a building, and this +I got at a coffee-shop, where some workmen were having their dinner. One +of these suggested that there was being erected at Cross Angel Street a +new "cold storage" building; and as this suited the condition of a +"new-fangled ware'us," I at once drove to it. An interview with a surly +gatekeeper and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the +coin of the realm, put me on the track of Bloxam; he was sent for on my +suggesting that I was willing to pay his day's wages to his foreman for +the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter. He was +a smart enough fellow, though rough of speech and bearing. When I had +promised to pay for his information and given him an earnest, he told me +that he had made two journeys between Carfax and a house in Piccadilly, +and had taken from this house to the latter nine great boxes--"main +heavy ones"--with a horse and cart hired by him for this purpose. I +asked him if he could tell me the number of the house in Piccadilly, to +which he replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, I forgits the number, but it was only a few doors from a +big white church or somethink of the kind, not long built. It was a +dusty old 'ouse, too, though nothin' to the dustiness of the 'ouse we +tooked the bloomin' boxes from." + +"How did you get into the houses if they were both empty?" + +"There was the old party what engaged me a-waitin' in the 'ouse at +Purfleet. He 'elped me to lift the boxes and put them in the dray. Curse +me, but he was the strongest chap I ever struck, an' him a old feller, +with a white moustache, one that thin you would think he couldn't throw +a shadder." + +How this phrase thrilled through me! + +"Why, 'e took up 'is end o' the boxes like they was pounds of tea, and +me a-puffin' an' a-blowin' afore I could up-end mine anyhow--an' I'm no +chicken, neither." + +"How did you get into the house in Piccadilly?" I asked. + +"He was there too. He must 'a' started off and got there afore me, for +when I rung of the bell he kem an' opened the door 'isself an' 'elped me +to carry the boxes into the 'all." + +"The whole nine?" I asked. + +"Yus; there was five in the first load an' four in the second. It was +main dry work, an' I don't so well remember 'ow I got 'ome." I +interrupted him:-- + +"Were the boxes left in the hall?" + +"Yus; it was a big 'all, an' there was nothin' else in it." I made one +more attempt to further matters:-- + +"You didn't have any key?" + +"Never used no key nor nothink. The old gent, he opened the door 'isself +an' shut it again when I druv off. I don't remember the last time--but +that was the beer." + +"And you can't remember the number of the house?" + +"No, sir. But ye needn't have no difficulty about that. It's a 'igh 'un +with a stone front with a bow on it, an' 'igh steps up to the door. I +know them steps, 'avin' 'ad to carry the boxes up with three loafers +what come round to earn a copper. The old gent give them shillin's, an' +they seein' they got so much, they wanted more; but 'e took one of them +by the shoulder and was like to throw 'im down the steps, till the lot +of them went away cussin'." I thought that with this description I could +find the house, so, having paid my friend for his information, I started +off for Piccadilly. I had gained a new painful experience; the Count +could, it was evident, handle the earth-boxes himself. If so, time was +precious; for, now that he had achieved a certain amount of +distribution, he could, by choosing his own time, complete the task +unobserved. At Piccadilly Circus I discharged my cab, and walked +westward; beyond the Junior Constitutional I came across the house +described, and was satisfied that this was the next of the lairs +arranged by Dracula. The house looked as though it had been long +untenanted. The windows were encrusted with dust, and the shutters were +up. All the framework was black with time, and from the iron the paint +had mostly scaled away. It was evident that up to lately there had been +a large notice-board in front of the balcony; it had, however, been +roughly torn away, the uprights which had supported it still remaining. +Behind the rails of the balcony I saw there were some loose boards, +whose raw edges looked white. I would have given a good deal to have +been able to see the notice-board intact, as it would, perhaps, have +given some clue to the ownership of the house. I remembered my +experience of the investigation and purchase of Carfax, and I could not +but feel that if I could find the former owner there might be some means +discovered of gaining access to the house. + +There was at present nothing to be learned from the Piccadilly side, and +nothing could be done; so I went round to the back to see if anything +could be gathered from this quarter. The mews were active, the +Piccadilly houses being mostly in occupation. I asked one or two of the +grooms and helpers whom I saw around if they could tell me anything +about the empty house. One of them said that he heard it had lately been +taken, but he couldn't say from whom. He told me, however, that up to +very lately there had been a notice-board of "For Sale" up, and that +perhaps Mitchell, Sons, & Candy, the house agents, could tell me +something, as he thought he remembered seeing the name of that firm on +the board. I did not wish to seem too eager, or to let my informant know +or guess too much, so, thanking him in the usual manner, I strolled +away. It was now growing dusk, and the autumn night was closing in, so I +did not lose any time. Having learned the address of Mitchell, Sons, & +Candy from a directory at the Berkeley, I was soon at their office in +Sackville Street. + +The gentleman who saw me was particularly suave in manner, but +uncommunicative in equal proportion. Having once told me that the +Piccadilly house--which throughout our interview he called a +"mansion"--was sold, he considered my business as concluded. When I +asked who had purchased it, he opened his eyes a thought wider, and +paused a few seconds before replying:-- + +"It is sold, sir." + +"Pardon me," I said, with equal politeness, "but I have a special reason +for wishing to know who purchased it." + +Again he paused longer, and raised his eyebrows still more. "It is sold, +sir," was again his laconic reply. + +"Surely," I said, "you do not mind letting me know so much." + +"But I do mind," he answered. "The affairs of their clients are +absolutely safe in the hands of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy." This was +manifestly a prig of the first water, and there was no use arguing with +him. I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so I said:-- + +"Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian of their +confidence. I am myself a professional man." Here I handed him my card. +"In this instance I am not prompted by curiosity; I act on the part of +Lord Godalming, who wishes to know something of the property which was, +he understood, lately for sale." These words put a different complexion +on affairs. He said:-- + +"I would like to oblige you if I could, Mr. Harker, and especially would +I like to oblige his lordship. We once carried out a small matter of +renting some chambers for him when he was the Honourable Arthur +Holmwood. If you will let me have his lordship's address I will consult +the House on the subject, and will, in any case, communicate with his +lordship by to-night's post. It will be a pleasure if we can so far +deviate from our rules as to give the required information to his +lordship." + +I wanted to secure a friend, and not to make an enemy, so I thanked him, +gave the address at Dr. Seward's and came away. It was now dark, and I +was tired and hungry. I got a cup of tea at the Aërated Bread Company +and came down to Purfleet by the next train. + +I found all the others at home. Mina was looking tired and pale, but she +made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerful, it wrung my heart to +think that I had had to keep anything from her and so caused her +inquietude. Thank God, this will be the last night of her looking on at +our conferences, and feeling the sting of our not showing our +confidence. It took all my courage to hold to the wise resolution of +keeping her out of our grim task. She seems somehow more reconciled; or +else the very subject seems to have become repugnant to her, for when +any accidental allusion is made she actually shudders. I am glad we +made our resolution in time, as with such a feeling as this, our growing +knowledge would be torture to her. + +I could not tell the others of the day's discovery till we were alone; +so after dinner--followed by a little music to save appearances even +amongst ourselves--I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bed. +The dear girl was more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me +as though she would detain me; but there was much to be talked of and I +came away. Thank God, the ceasing of telling things has made no +difference between us. + +When I came down again I found the others all gathered round the fire in +the study. In the train I had written my diary so far, and simply read +it off to them as the best means of letting them get abreast of my own +information; when I had finished Van Helsing said:-- + +"This has been a great day's work, friend Jonathan. Doubtless we are on +the track of the missing boxes. If we find them all in that house, then +our work is near the end. But if there be some missing, we must search +until we find them. Then shall we make our final _coup_, and hunt the +wretch to his real death." We all sat silent awhile and all at once Mr. +Morris spoke:-- + +"Say! how are we going to get into that house?" + +"We got into the other," answered Lord Godalming quickly. + +"But, Art, this is different. We broke house at Carfax, but we had night +and a walled park to protect us. It will be a mighty different thing to +commit burglary in Piccadilly, either by day or night. I confess I don't +see how we are going to get in unless that agency duck can find us a key +of some sort; perhaps we shall know when you get his letter in the +morning." Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked +about the room. By-and-by he stopped and said, turning from one to +another of us:-- + +"Quincey's head is level. This burglary business is getting serious; we +got off once all right; but we have now a rare job on hand--unless we +can find the Count's key basket." + +As nothing could well be done before morning, and as it would be at +least advisable to wait till Lord Godalming should hear from Mitchell's, +we decided not to take any active step before breakfast time. For a good +while we sat and smoked, discussing the matter in its various lights and +bearings; I took the opportunity of bringing this diary right up to the +moment. I am very sleepy and shall go to bed.... + +Just a line. Mina sleeps soundly and her breathing is regular. Her +forehead is puckered up into little wrinkles, as though she thinks even +in her sleep. She is still too pale, but does not look so haggard as she +did this morning. To-morrow will, I hope, mend all this; she will be +herself at home in Exeter. Oh, but I am sleepy! + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--I am puzzled afresh about Renfield. His moods change so +rapidly that I find it difficult to keep touch of them, and as they +always mean something more than his own well-being, they form a more +than interesting study. This morning, when I went to see him after his +repulse of Van Helsing, his manner was that of a man commanding destiny. +He was, in fact, commanding destiny--subjectively. He did not really +care for any of the things of mere earth; he was in the clouds and +looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor mortals. I +thought I would improve the occasion and learn something, so I asked +him:-- + +"What about the flies these times?" He smiled on me in quite a superior +sort of way--such a smile as would have become the face of Malvolio--as +he answered me:-- + +"The fly, my dear sir, has one striking feature; its wings are typical +of the aërial powers of the psychic faculties. The ancients did well +when they typified the soul as a butterfly!" + +I thought I would push his analogy to its utmost logically, so I said +quickly:-- + +"Oh, it is a soul you are after now, is it?" His madness foiled his +reason, and a puzzled look spread over his face as, shaking his head +with a decision which I had but seldom seen in him, he said:-- + +"Oh, no, oh no! I want no souls. Life is all I want." Here he brightened +up; "I am pretty indifferent about it at present. Life is all right; I +have all I want. You must get a new patient, doctor, if you wish to +study zoöphagy!" + +This puzzled me a little, so I drew him on:-- + +"Then you command life; you are a god, I suppose?" He smiled with an +ineffably benign superiority. + +"Oh no! Far be it from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the +Deity. I am not even concerned in His especially spiritual doings. If I +may state my intellectual position I am, so far as concerns things +purely terrestrial, somewhat in the position which Enoch occupied +spiritually!" This was a poser to me. I could not at the moment recall +Enoch's appositeness; so I had to ask a simple question, though I felt +that by so doing I was lowering myself in the eyes of the lunatic:-- + +"And why with Enoch?" + +"Because he walked with God." I could not see the analogy, but did not +like to admit it; so I harked back to what he had denied:-- + +"So you don't care about life and you don't want souls. Why not?" I put +my question quickly and somewhat sternly, on purpose to disconcert him. +The effort succeeded; for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into his +old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon me as +he replied:-- + +"I don't want any souls, indeed, indeed! I don't. I couldn't use them if +I had them; they would be no manner of use to me. I couldn't eat them +or----" He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his +face, like a wind-sweep on the surface of the water. "And doctor, as to +life, what is it after all? When you've got all you require, and you +know that you will never want, that is all. I have friends--good +friends--like you, Dr. Seward"; this was said with a leer of +inexpressible cunning. "I know that I shall never lack the means of +life!" + +I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some +antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as +he--a dogged silence. After a short time I saw that for the present it +was useless to speak to him. He was sulky, and so I came away. + +Later in the day he sent for me. Ordinarily I would not have come +without special reason, but just at present I am so interested in him +that I would gladly make an effort. Besides, I am glad to have anything +to help to pass the time. Harker is out, following up clues; and so are +Lord Godalming and Quincey. Van Helsing sits in my study poring over the +record prepared by the Harkers; he seems to think that by accurate +knowledge of all details he will light upon some clue. He does not wish +to be disturbed in the work, without cause. I would have taken him with +me to see the patient, only I thought that after his last repulse he +might not care to go again. There was also another reason: Renfield +might not speak so freely before a third person as when he and I were +alone. + +I found him sitting out in the middle of the floor on his stool, a pose +which is generally indicative of some mental energy on his part. When I +came in, he said at once, as though the question had been waiting on his +lips:-- + +"What about souls?" It was evident then that my surmise had been +correct. Unconscious cerebration was doing its work, even with the +lunatic. I determined to have the matter out. "What about them +yourself?" I asked. He did not reply for a moment but looked all round +him, and up and down, as though he expected to find some inspiration for +an answer. + +"I don't want any souls!" he said in a feeble, apologetic way. The +matter seemed preying on his mind, and so I determined to use it--to "be +cruel only to be kind." So I said:-- + +"You like life, and you want life?" + +"Oh yes! but that is all right; you needn't worry about that!" + +"But," I asked, "how are we to get the life without getting the soul +also?" This seemed to puzzle him, so I followed it up:-- + +"A nice time you'll have some time when you're flying out there, with +the souls of thousands of flies and spiders and birds and cats buzzing +and twittering and miauing all round you. You've got their lives, you +know, and you must put up with their souls!" Something seemed to affect +his imagination, for he put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes, +screwing them up tightly just as a small boy does when his face is being +soaped. There was something pathetic in it that touched me; it also gave +me a lesson, for it seemed that before me was a child--only a child, +though the features were worn, and the stubble on the jaws was white. It +was evident that he was undergoing some process of mental disturbance, +and, knowing how his past moods had interpreted things seemingly foreign +to himself, I thought I would enter into his mind as well as I could and +go with him. The first step was to restore confidence, so I asked him, +speaking pretty loud so that he would hear me through his closed ears:-- + +"Would you like some sugar to get your flies round again?" He seemed to +wake up all at once, and shook his head. With a laugh he replied:-- + +"Not much! flies are poor things, after all!" After a pause he added, +"But I don't want their souls buzzing round me, all the same." + +"Or spiders?" I went on. + +"Blow spiders! What's the use of spiders? There isn't anything in them +to eat or"--he stopped suddenly, as though reminded of a forbidden +topic. + +"So, so!" I thought to myself, "this is the second time he has suddenly +stopped at the word 'drink'; what does it mean?" Renfield seemed himself +aware of having made a lapse, for he hurried on, as though to distract +my attention from it:-- + +"I don't take any stock at all in such matters. 'Rats and mice and such +small deer,' as Shakespeare has it, 'chicken-feed of the larder' they +might be called. I'm past all that sort of nonsense. You might as well +ask a man to eat molecules with a pair of chop-sticks, as to try to +interest me about the lesser carnivora, when I know of what is before +me." + +"I see," I said. "You want big things that you can make your teeth meet +in? How would you like to breakfast on elephant?" + +"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!" He was getting too wide +awake, so I thought I would press him hard. "I wonder," I said +reflectively, "what an elephant's soul is like!" + +The effect I desired was obtained, for he at once fell from his +high-horse and became a child again. + +"I don't want an elephant's soul, or any soul at all!" he said. For a +few moments he sat despondently. Suddenly he jumped to his feet, with +his eyes blazing and all the signs of intense cerebral excitement. "To +hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about +souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, +without thinking of souls!" He looked so hostile that I thought he was +in for another homicidal fit, so I blew my whistle. The instant, +however, that I did so he became calm, and said apologetically:-- + +"Forgive me, Doctor; I forgot myself. You do not need any help. I am so +worried in my mind that I am apt to be irritable. If you only knew the +problem I have to face, and that I am working out, you would pity, and +tolerate, and pardon me. Pray do not put me in a strait-waistcoat. I +want to think and I cannot think freely when my body is confined. I am +sure you will understand!" He had evidently self-control; so when the +attendants came I told them not to mind, and they withdrew. Renfield +watched them go; when the door was closed he said, with considerable +dignity and sweetness:-- + +"Dr. Seward, you have been very considerate towards me. Believe me that +I am very, very grateful to you!" I thought it well to leave him in this +mood, and so I came away. There is certainly something to ponder over in +this man's state. Several points seem to make what the American +interviewer calls "a story," if one could only get them in proper order. +Here they are:-- + +Will not mention "drinking." + +Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything. + +Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future. + +Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being +haunted by their souls. + +Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind +that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence--the +burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to! + +And the assurance--? + +Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of +terror afoot! + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I went after my round to Van Helsing and told him my +suspicion. He grew very grave; and, after thinking the matter over for a +while asked me to take him to Renfield. I did so. As we came to the door +we heard the lunatic within singing gaily, as he used to do in the time +which now seems so long ago. When we entered we saw with amazement that +he had spread out his sugar as of old; the flies, lethargic with the +autumn, were beginning to buzz into the room. We tried to make him talk +of the subject of our previous conversation, but he would not attend. He +went on with his singing, just as though we had not been present. He had +got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book. We had to come +away as ignorant as we went in. + +His is a curious case indeed; we must watch him to-night. + + +_Letter, Mitchell, Sons and Candy to Lord Godalming._ + +_"1 October._ + +"My Lord, + +"We are at all times only too happy to meet your wishes. We beg, with +regard to the desire of your Lordship, expressed by Mr. Harker on your +behalf, to supply the following information concerning the sale and +purchase of No. 347, Piccadilly. The original vendors are the executors +of the late Mr. Archibald Winter-Suffield. The purchaser is a foreign +nobleman, Count de Ville, who effected the purchase himself paying the +purchase money in notes 'over the counter,' if your Lordship will pardon +us using so vulgar an expression. Beyond this we know nothing whatever +of him. + +"We are, my Lord, + +"Your Lordship's humble servants, + +"MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 October._--I placed a man in the corridor last night, and told him to +make an accurate note of any sound he might hear from Renfield's room, +and gave him instructions that if there should be anything strange he +was to call me. After dinner, when we had all gathered round the fire +in the study--Mrs. Harker having gone to bed--we discussed the attempts +and discoveries of the day. Harker was the only one who had any result, +and we are in great hopes that his clue may be an important one. + +Before going to bed I went round to the patient's room and looked in +through the observation trap. He was sleeping soundly, and his heart +rose and fell with regular respiration. + +This morning the man on duty reported to me that a little after midnight +he was restless and kept saying his prayers somewhat loudly. I asked him +if that was all; he replied that it was all he heard. There was +something about his manner so suspicious that I asked him point blank if +he had been asleep. He denied sleep, but admitted to having "dozed" for +a while. It is too bad that men cannot be trusted unless they are +watched. + +To-day Harker is out following up his clue, and Art and Quincey are +looking after horses. Godalming thinks that it will be well to have +horses always in readiness, for when we get the information which we +seek there will be no time to lose. We must sterilise all the imported +earth between sunrise and sunset; we shall thus catch the Count at his +weakest, and without a refuge to fly to. Van Helsing is off to the +British Museum looking up some authorities on ancient medicine. The old +physicians took account of things which their followers do not accept, +and the Professor is searching for witch and demon cures which may be +useful to us later. + +I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity in +strait-waistcoats. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--We have met again. We seem at last to be on the track, and our +work of to-morrow may be the beginning of the end. I wonder if +Renfield's quiet has anything to do with this. His moods have so +followed the doings of the Count, that the coming destruction of the +monster may be carried to him in some subtle way. If we could only get +some hint as to what passed in his mind, between the time of my argument +with him to-day and his resumption of fly-catching, it might afford us a +valuable clue. He is now seemingly quiet for a spell.... Is he?---- That +wild yell seemed to come from his room.... + + * * * * * + +The attendant came bursting into my room and told me that Renfield had +somehow met with some accident. He had heard him yell; and when he went +to him found him lying on his face on the floor, all covered with blood. +I must go at once.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well +as I can remember it, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that I +can recall must be forgotten; in all calmness I must proceed. + +When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his +left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it +became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries; +there seemed none of that unity of purpose between the parts of the body +which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see +that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the +floor--indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood +originated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as +we turned him over:-- + +"I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and +the whole side of his face are paralysed." How such a thing could have +happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure. He seemed quite +bewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said:-- + +"I can't understand the two things. He could mark his face like that by +beating his own head on the floor. I saw a young woman do it once at the +Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her. And I suppose he +might have broke his neck by falling out of bed, if he got in an awkward +kink. But for the life of me I can't imagine how the two things +occurred. If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his head; and if his +face was like that before the fall out of bed, there would be marks of +it." I said to him:-- + +"Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here at once. I want +him without an instant's delay." The man ran off, and within a few +minutes the Professor, in his dressing gown and slippers, appeared. When +he saw Renfield on the ground, he looked keenly at him a moment, and +then turned to me. I think he recognised my thought in my eyes, for he +said very quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant:-- + +"Ah, a sad accident! He will need very careful watching, and much +attention. I shall stay with you myself; but I shall first dress myself. +If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you." + +The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that +he had suffered some terrible injury. Van Helsing returned with +extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He had +evidently been thinking and had his mind made up; for, almost before he +looked at the patient, he whispered to me:-- + +"Send the attendant away. We must be alone with him when he becomes +conscious, after the operation." So I said:-- + +"I think that will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can at +present. You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing will operate. +Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere." + +The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient. +The wounds of the face was superficial; the real injury was a depressed +fracture of the skull, extending right up through the motor area. The +Professor thought a moment and said:-- + +"We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as far +as can be; the rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of +his injury. The whole motor area seems affected. The suffusion of the +brain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be +too late." As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door. I +went over and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur and +Quincey in pajamas and slippers: the former spoke:-- + +"I heard your man call up Dr. Van Helsing and tell him of an accident. +So I woke Quincey or rather called for him as he was not asleep. Things +are moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us +these times. I've been thinking that to-morrow night will not see things +as they have been. We'll have to look back--and forward a little more +than we have done. May we come in?" I nodded, and held the door open +till they had entered; then I closed it again. When Quincey saw the +attitude and state of the patient, and noted the horrible pool on the +floor, he said softly:-- + +"My God! what has happened to him? Poor, poor devil!" I told him +briefly, and added that we expected he would recover consciousness after +the operation--for a short time, at all events. He went at once and sat +down on the edge of the bed, with Godalming beside him; we all watched +in patience. + +"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best +spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove +the blood clot; for it is evident that the hæmorrhage is increasing." + +The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness. I had a +horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I gathered +that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. I dreaded +the words that Renfield might speak. I was positively afraid to think; +but the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have read of men +who have heard the death-watch. The poor man's breathing came in +uncertain gasps. Each instant he seemed as though he would open his eyes +and speak; but then would follow a prolonged stertorous breath, and he +would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I was to sick +beds and death, this suspense grew, and grew upon me. I could almost +hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging through my +temples sounded like blows from a hammer. The silence finally became +agonising. I looked at my companions, one after another, and saw from +their flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equal +torture. There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overhead +some dread bell would peal out powerfully when we should least expect +it. + +At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was +sinking fast; he might die at any moment. I looked up at the Professor +and caught his eyes fixed on mine. His face was sternly set as he +spoke:-- + +"There is no time to lose. His words may be worth many lives; I have +been thinking so, as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake! +We shall operate just above the ear." + +Without another word he made the operation. For a few moments the +breathing continued to be stertorous. Then there came a breath so +prolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest. +Suddenly his eyes opened, and became fixed in a wild, helpless stare. +This was continued for a few moments; then it softened into a glad +surprise, and from the lips came a sigh of relief. He moved +convulsively, and as he did so, said:-- + +"I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait-waistcoat. I +have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot +move. What's wrong with my face? it feels all swollen, and it smarts +dreadfully." He tried to turn his head; but even with the effort his +eyes seemed to grow glassy again so I gently put it back. Then Van +Helsing said in a quiet grave tone:-- + +"Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield." As he heard the voice his face +brightened, through its mutilation, and he said:-- + +"That is Dr. Van Helsing. How good it is of you to be here. Give me some +water, my lips are dry; and I shall try to tell you. I dreamed"--he +stopped and seemed fainting, I called quietly to Quincey--"The +brandy--it is in my study--quick!" He flew and returned with a glass, +the decanter of brandy and a carafe of water. We moistened the parched +lips, and the patient quickly revived. It seemed, however, that his poor +injured brain had been working in the interval, for, when he was quite +conscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonised confusion which I +shall never forget, and said:-- + +"I must not deceive myself; it was no dream, but all a grim reality." +Then his eyes roved round the room; as they caught sight of the two +figures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed he went on:-- + +"If I were not sure already, I would know from them." For an instant his +eyes closed--not with pain or sleep but voluntarily, as though he were +bringing all his faculties to bear; when he opened them he said, +hurriedly, and with more energy than he had yet displayed:-- + +"Quick, Doctor, quick. I am dying! I feel that I have but a few minutes; +and then I must go back to death--or worse! Wet my lips with brandy +again. I have something that I must say before I die; or before my poor +crushed brain dies anyhow. Thank you! It was that night after you left +me, when I implored you to let me go away. I couldn't speak then, for I +felt my tongue was tied; but I was as sane then, except in that way, as +I am now. I was in an agony of despair for a long time after you left +me; it seemed hours. Then there came a sudden peace to me. My brain +seemed to become cool again, and I realised where I was. I heard the +dogs bark behind our house, but not where He was!" As he spoke, Van +Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out and met mine and +gripped it hard. He did not, however, betray himself; he nodded slightly +and said: "Go on," in a low voice. Renfield proceeded:-- + +"He came up to the window in the mist, as I had seen him often before; +but he was solid then--not a ghost, and his eyes were fierce like a +man's when angry. He was laughing with his red mouth; the sharp white +teeth glinted in the moonlight when he turned to look back over the belt +of trees, to where the dogs were barking. I wouldn't ask him to come in +at first, though I knew he wanted to--just as he had wanted all along. +Then he began promising me things--not in words but by doing them." He +was interrupted by a word from the Professor:-- + +"How?" + +"By making them happen; just as he used to send in the flies when the +sun was shining. Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their +wings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on their +backs." Van Helsing nodded to him as he whispered to me unconsciously:-- + +"The _Acherontia Aitetropos of the Sphinges_--what you call the +'Death's-head Moth'?" The patient went on without stopping. + +"Then he began to whisper: 'Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, +millions of them, and every one a life; and dogs to eat them, and cats +too. All lives! all red blood, with years of life in it; and not merely +buzzing flies!' I laughed at him, for I wanted to see what he could do. +Then the dogs howled, away beyond the dark trees in His house. He +beckoned me to the window. I got up and looked out, and He raised his +hands, and seemed to call out without using any words. A dark mass +spread over the grass, coming on like the shape of a flame of fire; and +then He moved the mist to the right and left, and I could see that there +were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red--like His, only +smaller. He held up his hand, and they all stopped; and I thought he +seemed to be saying: 'All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more +and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship +me!' And then a red cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close +over my eyes; and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening +the sash and saying to Him: 'Come in, Lord and Master!' The rats were +all gone, but He slid into the room through the sash, though it was only +open an inch wide--just as the Moon herself has often come in through +the tiniest crack and has stood before me in all her size and +splendour." + +His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again, and +he continued; but it seemed as though his memory had gone on working in +the interval for his story was further advanced. I was about to call him +back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me: "Let him go on. Do +not interrupt him; he cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all +if once he lost the thread of his thought." He proceeded:-- + +"All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, not +even a blow-fly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him. +When he slid in through the window, though it was shut, and did not even +knock, I got mad with him. He sneered at me, and his white face looked +out of the mist with his red eyes gleaming, and he went on as though he +owned the whole place, and I was no one. He didn't even smell the same +as he went by me. I couldn't hold him. I thought that, somehow, Mrs. +Harker had come into the room." + +The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behind +him so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better. +They were both silent, but the Professor started and quivered; his face, +however, grew grimmer and sterner still. Renfield went on without +noticing:-- + +"When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon she wasn't the same; +it was like tea after the teapot had been watered." Here we all moved, +but no one said a word; he went on:-- + +"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look the +same. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood +in them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of it +at the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad +to know that He had been taking the life out of her." I could feel that +the rest quivered, as I did, but we remained otherwise still. "So when +He came to-night I was ready for Him. I saw the mist stealing in, and I +grabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength; and +as I knew I was a madman--at times anyhow--I resolved to use my power. +Ay, and He felt it too, for He had to come out of the mist to struggle +with me. I held tight; and I thought I was going to win, for I didn't +mean Him to take any more of her life, till I saw His eyes. They burned +into me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, and +when I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down. There +was a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed +to steal away under the door." His voice was becoming fainter and his +breath more stertorous. Van Helsing stood up instinctively. + +"We know the worst now," he said. "He is here, and we know his purpose. +It may not be too late. Let us be armed--the same as we were the other +night, but lose no time; there is not an instant to spare." There was no +need to put our fear, nay our conviction, into words--we shared them in +common. We all hurried and took from our rooms the same things that we +had when we entered the Count's house. The Professor had his ready, and +as we met in the corridor he pointed to them significantly as he said:-- + +"They never leave me; and they shall not till this unhappy business is +over. Be wise also, my friends. It is no common enemy that we deal with. +Alas! alas! that that dear Madam Mina should suffer!" He stopped; his +voice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated in +my own heart. + +Outside the Harkers' door we paused. Art and Quincey held back, and the +latter said:-- + +"Should we disturb her?" + +"We must," said Van Helsing grimly. "If the door be locked, I shall +break it in." + +"May it not frighten her terribly? It is unusual to break into a lady's +room!" + +Van Helsing said solemnly, "You are always right; but this is life and +death. All chambers are alike to the doctor; and even were they not they +are all as one to me to-night. Friend John, when I turn the handle, if +the door does not open, do you put your shoulder down and shove; and you +too, my friends. Now!" + +He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threw +ourselves against it; with a crash it burst open, and we almost fell +headlong into the room. The Professor did actually fall, and I saw +across him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I saw +appalled me. I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my neck, +and my heart seemed to stand still. + +The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind the room +was light enough to see. On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan +Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor. +Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad +figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. +His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw we all recognised +the Count--in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left +hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms +at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, +forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared +with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which +was shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible +resemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to +compel it to drink. As we burst into the room, the Count turned his +face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap +into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils +of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the +white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, +champed together like those of a wild beast. With a wrench, which threw +his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned +and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, +and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred +Wafer. The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside +the tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, +lifting our crucifixes, advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a +great black cloud sailed across the sky; and when the gaslight sprang up +under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as we +looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its bursting +open, had swung back to its old position. Van Helsing, Art, and I moved +forward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time had drawn her breath and with +it had given a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so despairing that it +seems to me now that it will ring in my ears till my dying day. For a +few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and disarray. Her face was +ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which smeared +her lips and cheeks and chin; from her throat trickled a thin stream of +blood; her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her +poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the +Count's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate wail +which made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression of an +endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and drew the coverlet gently +over her body, whilst Art, after looking at her face for an instant +despairingly, ran out of the room. Van Helsing whispered to me:-- + +"Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce. We can +do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a few moments till she recovers +herself; I must wake him!" He dipped the end of a towel in cold water +and with it began to flick him on the face, his wife all the while +holding her face between her hands and sobbing in a way that was +heart-breaking to hear. I raised the blind, and looked out of the +window. There was much moonshine; and as I looked I could see Quincey +Morris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great +yew-tree. It puzzled me to think why he was doing this; but at the +instant I heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial +consciousness, and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might well +be, was a look of wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and +then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he +started up. His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to +him with her arms stretched out, as though to embrace him; instantly, +however, she drew them in again, and putting her elbows together, held +her hands before her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook. + +"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out. "Dr. Seward, Dr. +Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is wrong? Mina, dear, +what is it? What does that blood mean? My God, my God! has it come to +this!" and, raising himself to his knees, he beat his hands wildly +together. "Good God help us! help her! oh, help her!" With a quick +movement he jumped from bed, and began to pull on his clothes,--all the +man in him awake at the need for instant exertion. "What has happened? +Tell me all about it!" he cried without pausing. "Dr. Van Helsing, you +love Mina, I know. Oh, do something to save her. It cannot have gone too +far yet. Guard her while I look for _him_!" His wife, through her terror +and horror and distress, saw some sure danger to him: instantly +forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of him and cried out:-- + +"No! no! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enough +to-night, God knows, without the dread of his harming you. You must stay +with me. Stay with these friends who will watch over you!" Her +expression became frantic as she spoke; and, he yielding to her, she +pulled him down sitting on the bed side, and clung to him fiercely. + +Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both. The Professor held up his +little golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness:-- + +"Do not fear, my dear. We are here; and whilst this is close to you no +foul thing can approach. You are safe for to-night; and we must be calm +and take counsel together." She shuddered and was silent, holding down +her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his white +night-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where +the thin open wound in her neck had sent forth drops. The instant she +saw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking +sobs:-- + +"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it +should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have +most cause to fear." To this he spoke out resolutely:-- + +"Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not +hear it of you; and I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my +deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, +if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out +his arms and folded her to his breast; and for a while she lay there +sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked +damply above his quivering nostrils; his mouth was set as steel. After a +while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then he said to +me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his nervous +power to the utmost:-- + +"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it. Too well I know the broad +fact; tell me all that has been." I told him exactly what had happened, +and he listened with seeming impassiveness; but his nostrils twitched +and his eyes blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had +held his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to +the open wound in his breast. It interested me, even at that moment, to +see, that, whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over +the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled +hair. Just as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at the door. +They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing looked at me +questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of +their coming to divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappy husband +and wife from each other and from themselves; so on nodding acquiescence +to him he asked them what they had seen or done. To which Lord Godalming +answered:-- + +"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our rooms. I +looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had gone. He had, +however----" He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping figure on +the bed. Van Helsing said gravely:-- + +"Go on, friend Arthur. We want here no more concealments. Our hope now +is in knowing all. Tell freely!" So Art went on:-- + +"He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few +seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the manuscript had been +burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes; the +cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax +had helped the flames." Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is the +other copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he +went on: "I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I looked +into Renfield's room; but there was no trace there except----!" Again he +paused. "Go on," said Harker hoarsely; so he bowed his head and +moistening his lips with his tongue, added: "except that the poor fellow +is dead." Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of +us she said solemnly:-- + +"God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping back +something; but, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing. +Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked:-- + +"And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?" + +"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at present I +can't say. I thought it well to know if possible where the Count would +go when he left the house. I did not see him; but I saw a bat rise from +Renfield's window, and flap westward. I expected to see him in some +shape go back to Carfax; but he evidently sought some other lair. He +will not be back to-night; for the sky is reddening in the east, and the +dawn is close. We must work to-morrow!" + +He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of perhaps +a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that I could +hear the sound of our hearts beating; then Van Helsing said, placing his +hand very tenderly on Mrs. Harker's head:-- + +"And now, Madam Mina--poor, dear, dear Madam Mina--tell us exactly what +happened. God knows that I do not want that you be pained; but it is +need that we know all. For now more than ever has all work to be done +quick and sharp, and in deadly earnest. The day is close to us that must +end all, if it may be so; and now is the chance that we may live and +learn." + +The poor, dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves +as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and +lower still on his breast. Then she raised her head proudly, and held +out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his, and, after stooping and +kissing it reverently, held it fast. The other hand was locked in that +of her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her protectingly. +After a pause in which she was evidently ordering her thoughts, she +began:-- + +"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, but for a +long time it did not act. I seemed to become more wakeful, and myriads +of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mind--all of them +connected with death, and vampires; with blood, and pain, and trouble." +Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and said +lovingly: "Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me +through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me +to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I +need your help. Well, I saw I must try to help the medicine to its work +with my will, if it was to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to +sleep. Sure enough sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no +more. Jonathan coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when +next I remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I +had before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this; you will find +it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague +terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some presence. +I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so soundly that it +seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping draught, and not I. I +tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I +looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me: beside +the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist--or rather as if the mist +had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared--stood a +tall, thin man, all in black. I knew him at once from the description of +the others. The waxen face; the high aquiline nose, on which the light +fell in a thin white line; the parted red lips, with the sharp white +teeth showing between; and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the +sunset on the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby. I knew, too, the +red scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant +my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was +paralysed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper, +pointing as he spoke to Jonathan:-- + +"'Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out +before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or +say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulder +and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did +so, 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well +be quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have +appeased my thirst!' I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not +want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that +such is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity +me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned +again. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as if +he were the injured one, and went on:-- + +"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How long +this horrible thing lasted I know not; but it seemed that a long time +must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away. I +saw it drip with the fresh blood!" The remembrance seemed for a while to +overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her +husband's sustaining arm. With a great effort she recovered herself and +went on:-- + +"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would play +your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and +frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in part already, +and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path. They +should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they +played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, and intrigued +for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were +born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now +to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin; my bountiful +wine-press for a while; and shall be later on my companion and my +helper. You shall be avenged in turn; for not one of them but shall +minister to your needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what you +have done. You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to my +call. When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or sea to +do my bidding; and to that end this!' With that he pulled open his +shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When +the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding +them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to +the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the---- Oh +my God! my God! what have I done? What have I done to deserve such a +fate, I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my +days. God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril; +and in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub her +lips as though to cleanse them from pollution. + +As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to quicken, +and everything became more and more clear. Harker was still and quiet; +but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look +which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first +red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out +against the whitening hair. + +We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappy +pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action. + +Of this I am sure: the sun rises to-day on no more miserable house in +all the great round of its daily course. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_3 October._--As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary. It +is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and +take something to eat; for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed +that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best will be, God +knows, required to-day. I must keep writing at every chance, for I dare +not stop to think. All, big and little, must go down; perhaps at the end +the little things may teach us most. The teaching, big or little, could +not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we are to-day. However, +we must trust and hope. Poor Mina told me just now, with the tears +running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and trial that our +faith is tested--that we must keep on trusting; and that God will aid us +up to the end. The end! oh my God! what end?... To work! To work! + +When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor +Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr. Seward +told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room below +they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a heap. His face was +all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the neck were broken. + +Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if he had +heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down--he confessed to +half dozing--when he heard loud voices in the room, and then Renfield +had called out loudly several times, "God! God! God!" after that there +was a sound of falling, and when he entered the room he found him lying +on the floor, face down, just as the doctors had seen him. Van Helsing +asked if he had heard "voices" or "a voice," and he said he could not +say; that at first it had seemed to him as if there were two, but as +there was no one in the room it could have been only one. He could swear +to it, if required, that the word "God" was spoken by the patient. Dr. +Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish to go into +the matter; the question of an inquest had to be considered, and it +would never do to put forward the truth, as no one would believe it. As +it was, he thought that on the attendant's evidence he could give a +certificate of death by misadventure in falling from bed. In case the +coroner should demand it, there would be a formal inquest, necessarily +to the same result. + +When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our next +step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full +confidence; that nothing of any sort--no matter how painful--should be +kept from her. She herself agreed as to its wisdom, and it was pitiful +to see her so brave and yet so sorrowful, and in such a depth of +despair. "There must be no concealment," she said, "Alas! we have had +too much already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that can +give me more pain than I have already endured--than I suffer now! +Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!" +Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said, suddenly +but quietly:-- + +"But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid; not for yourself, but for +others from yourself, after what has happened?" Her face grew set in its +lines, but her eyes shone with the devotion of a martyr as she +answered:-- + +"Ah no! for my mind is made up!" + +"To what?" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still; for each in +our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she meant. Her answer +came with direct simplicity, as though she were simply stating a fact:-- + +"Because if I find in myself--and I shall watch keenly for it--a sign of +harm to any that I love, I shall die!" + +"You would not kill yourself?" he asked, hoarsely. + +"I would; if there were no friend who loved me, who would save me such a +pain, and so desperate an effort!" She looked at him meaningly as she +spoke. He was sitting down; but now he rose and came close to her and +put his hand on her head as he said solemnly: + +"My child, there is such an one if it were for your good. For myself I +could hold it in my account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, +even at this moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my +child----" For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his +throat; he gulped it down and went on:-- + +"There are here some who would stand between you and death. You must not +die. You must not die by any hand; but least of all by your own. Until +the other, who has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not +die; for if he is still with the quick Un-Dead, your death would make +you even as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to +live, though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death +himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy; by the day, or the +night; in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you that you +do not die--nay, nor think of death--till this great evil be past." The +poor dear grew white as death, and shock and shivered, as I have seen a +quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide. We were all +silent; we could do nothing. At length she grew more calm and turning to +him said, sweetly, but oh! so sorrowfully, as she held out her hand:-- + +"I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will let me live, I shall +strive to do so; till, if it may be in His good time, this horror may +have passed away from me." She was so good and brave that we all felt +that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her, and we +began to discuss what we were to do. I told her that she was to have all +the papers in the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we +might hereafter use; and was to keep the record as she had done before. +She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do--if "pleased" could +be used in connection with so grim an interest. + +As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was +prepared with an exact ordering of our work. + +"It is perhaps well," he said, "that at our meeting after our visit to +Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth-boxes that lay +there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our purpose, and +would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such an +effort with regard to the others; but now he does not know our +intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such a +power exists to us as can sterilise his lairs, so that he cannot use +them as of old. We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as +to their disposition that, when we have examined the house in +Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them. To-day, then, is ours; +and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning +guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must +retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations +of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear +through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he +must open the door like a mortal. And so we have this day to hunt out +all his lairs and sterilise them. So we shall, if we have not yet catch +him and destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching +and the destroying shall be, in time, sure." Here I started up for I +could not contain myself at the thought that the minutes and seconds so +preciously laden with Mina's life and happiness were flying from us, +since whilst we talked action was impossible. But Van Helsing held up +his hand warningly. "Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the +quickest way home is the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all +act and act with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in +all probable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly. +The Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will have +deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper that he +write on; he will have his book of cheques. There are many belongings +that he must have somewhere; why not in this place so central, so quiet, +where he come and go by the front or the back at all hour, when in the +very vast of the traffic there is none to notice. We shall go there and +search that house; and when we learn what it holds, then we do what our +friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt 'stop the earths' and so we +run down our old fox--so? is it not?" + +"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious, +precious time!" The Professor did not move, but simply said:-- + +"And how are we to get into that house in Piccadilly?" + +"Any way!" I cried. "We shall break in if need be." + +"And your police; where will they be, and what will they say?" + +I was staggered; but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a good +reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could:-- + +"Don't wait more than need be; you know, I am sure, what torture I am +in." + +"Ah, my child, that I do; and indeed there is no wish of me to add to +your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the world be at +movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and thought, and it +seems to me that the simplest way is the best of all. Now we wish to get +into the house, but we have no key; is it not so?" I nodded. + +"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and could +not still get it; and think there was to you no conscience of the +housebreaker, what would you do?" + +"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the +lock for me." + +"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?" + +"Oh, no! not if they knew the man was properly employed." + +"Then," he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, "all that is in doubt is +the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your policemen as to +whether or no that employer has a good conscience or a bad one. Your +police must indeed be zealous men and clever--oh, so clever!--in reading +the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter. No, no, my +friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty house in this +your London, or of any city in the world; and if you do it as such +things are rightly done, and at the time such things are rightly done, +no one will interfere. I have read of a gentleman who owned a so fine +house in London, and when he went for months of summer to Switzerland +and lock up his house, some burglar came and broke window at back and +got in. Then he went and made open the shutters in front and walk out +and in through the door, before the very eyes of the police. Then he +have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice; +and when the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of +that other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell him +that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take all away +within a certain time. And your police and other authority help him all +they can. And when that owner come back from his holiday in Switzerland +he find only an empty hole where his house had been. This was all done +_en règle_; and in our work we shall be _en règle_ too. We shall not go +so early that the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem +it strange; but we shall go after ten o'clock, when there are many +about, and such things would be done were we indeed owners of the +house." + +I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Mina's +face became relaxed a thought; there was hope in such good counsel. Van +Helsing went on:-- + +"When once within that house we may find more clues; at any rate some of +us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places where there be +more earth-boxes--at Bermondsey and Mile End." + +Lord Godalming stood up. "I can be of some use here," he said. "I shall +wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most +convenient." + +"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to have all +ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don't you think that one +of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byway of +Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes? +It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south or east; and +even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are going to." + +"Friend Quincey is right!" said the Professor. "His head is what you +call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we go to +do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may." + +Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to see +that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the +terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale--almost +ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in +somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last, lest it should give +her needless pain; but it made my blood run cold in my veins to think of +what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood. As +yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper; but the time as yet +was short, and there was time for fear. + +When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of the +disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt. It was +finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should destroy the +Count's lair close at hand. In case he should find it out too soon, we +should thus be still ahead of him in our work of destruction; and his +presence in his purely material shape, and at his weakest, might give us +some new clue. + +As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that, +after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in Piccadilly; +that the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming +and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed them. +It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the Count +might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we might be +able to cope with him then and there. At any rate, we might be able to +follow him in force. To this plan I strenuously objected, and so far as +my going was concerned, for I said that I intended to stay and protect +Mina, I thought that my mind was made up on the subject; but Mina would +not listen to my objection. She said that there might be some law matter +in which I could be useful; that amongst the Count's papers might be +some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania; +and that, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to +cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for Mina's +resolution was fixed; she said that it was the last hope for _her_ that +we should all work together. "As for me," she said, "I have no fear. +Things have been as bad as they can be; and whatever may happen must +have in it some element of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if +He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any one present." So I +started up crying out: "Then in God's name let us come at once, for we +are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier than we +think." + +"Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand. + +"But why?" I asked. + +"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last night he +banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?" + +Did I forget! shall I ever--can I ever! Can any of us ever forget that +terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance; but +the pain overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and +shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had not intended to recall her +frightful experience. He had simply lost sight of her and her part in +the affair in his intellectual effort. When it struck him what he said, +he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her. "Oh, +Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I of all who so +reverence you should have said anything so forgetful. These stupid old +lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so; but you will +forget it, will you not?" He bent low beside her as he spoke; she took +his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely:-- + +"No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember; and with it I +have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all +together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is ready, and we +must all eat that we may be strong." + +Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful and +encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of +us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:-- + +"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we +all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's +lair; armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured +him. "Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case _quite_ safe +here until the sunset; and before then we shall return--if---- We shall +return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attack. I +have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing +of things of which we know, so that He may not enter. Now let me guard +yourself. On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the +name of the Father, the Son, and----" + +There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear. As he +had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it--had burned +into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. My poor +darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as +her nerves received the pain of it; and the two so overwhelmed her that +her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream. But the +words to her thought came quickly; the echo of the scream had not ceased +to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her +knees on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair +over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out:-- + +"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must +bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day." They +all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless +grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our +sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away +their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said +gravely; so gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some +way inspired, and was stating things outside himself:-- + +"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, +as He most surely shall, on the Judgment Day, to redress all wrongs of +the earth and of His children that He has placed thereon. And oh, Madam +Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that +red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, +and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as +we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the +burden that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did +in obedience to His Will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of +His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other +through stripes and shame; through tears and blood; through doubts and +fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man." + +There was hope in his words, and comfort; and they made for resignation. +Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old +man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then without a word we all +knelt down together, and, all holding hands, swore to be true to each +other. We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the +head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved; and we prayed for help +and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us. + +It was then time to start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which +neither of us shall forget to our dying day; and we set out. + +To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a +vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible +land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant +many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so +the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks. + +We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on +the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic +surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such +fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been made up, and had there +not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded +with our task. We found no papers, or any sign of use in the house; and +in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them last. +Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before them:-- + +"And now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilise this +earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far +distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has +been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more +holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to +God." As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and +very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth smelled +musty and close; but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention +was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his box a piece of the +Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down +the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked. + +One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left +them as we had found them to all appearance; but in each was a portion +of the Host. + +When we closed the door behind us, the Professor said solemnly:-- + +"So much is already done. If it may be that with all the others we can +be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may shine on Madam +Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!" + +As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our +train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly, and in the +window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her, and nodded to +tell that our work there was successfully accomplished. She nodded in +reply to show that she understood. The last I saw, she was waving her +hand in farewell. It was with a heavy heart that we sought the station +and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the +platform. + +I have written this in the train. + + * * * * * + +_Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock._--Just before we reached Fenchurch Street +Lord Godalming said to me:-- + +"Quincey and I will find a locksmith. You had better not come with us in +case there should be any difficulty; for under the circumstances it +wouldn't seem so bad for us to break into an empty house. But you are a +solicitor and the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you +should have known better." I demurred as to my not sharing any danger +even of odium, but he went on: "Besides, it will attract less attention +if there are not too many of us. My title will make it all right with +the locksmith, and with any policeman that may come along. You had +better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park, +somewhere in sight of the house; and when you see the door opened and +the smith has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the +lookout for you, and shall let you in." + +"The advice is good!" said Van Helsing, so we said no more. Godalming +and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another. At the corner +of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into the Green +Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was +centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst +its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours. We sat down on a bench +within good view, and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little +attention as possible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we +waited for the coming of the others. + +At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in leisurely +fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris; and down from the box descended +a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of tools. Morris paid +the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away. Together the two +ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he wanted done. +The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it on one of the spikes +of the rail, saying something to a policeman who just then sauntered +along. The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the man kneeling down +placed his bag beside him. After searching through it, he took out a +selection of tools which he produced to lay beside him in orderly +fashion. Then he stood up, looked into the keyhole, blew into it, and +turning to his employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and +the man lifted a good-sized bunch of keys; selecting one of them, he +began to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling +about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once the +door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two others +entered the hall. We sat still; my own cigar burnt furiously, but Van +Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited patiently as we saw the +workman come out and bring in his bag. Then he held the door partly +open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he fitted a key to the lock. +This he finally handed to Lord Godalming, who took out his purse and +gave him something. The man touched his hat, took his bag, put on his +coat and departed; not a soul took the slightest notice of the whole +transaction. + +When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and knocked at +the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom stood +Lord Godalming lighting a cigar. + +"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in. It did +indeed smell vilely--like the old chapel at Carfax--and with our +previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using the +place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all keeping together +in case of attack; for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy to deal +with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be in the +house. In the dining-room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found +eight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine, which we sought! +Our work was not over, and would never be until we should have found the +missing box. First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out +across a narrow stone-flagged yard at the blank face of a stable, +pointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no +windows in it, so we were not afraid of being over-looked. We did not +lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we had +brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as we had +treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us that the +Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to search for +any of his effects. + +After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement to attic, +we came to the conclusion that the dining-room contained any effects +which might belong to the Count; and so we proceeded to minutely examine +them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the great dining-room +table. There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great bundle; +deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and Bermondsey; +note-paper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were covered up in thin +wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There were also a clothes +brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin--the latter containing +dirty water which was reddened as if with blood. Last of all was a +little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes, probably those belonging to +the other houses. When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming +and Quincey Morris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the +houses in the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great +bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest of us +are, with what patience we can, waiting their return--or the coming of +the Count. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--The time seemed terrible long whilst we were waiting for +the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep +our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent +purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. +The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. +Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful +face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. To-day he is a drawn, +haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning +eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in +fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for, if +all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period; he will then, +in a kind of way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I +thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his----! The Professor knows +this well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind active. What he +has been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interest. So +well as I can remember, here it is:-- + +"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands, all +the papers relating to this monster; and the more I have studied, the +greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out. All through there +are signs of his advance; not only of his power, but of his knowledge of +it. As I learned from the researches of my friend Arminus of Buda-Pesth, +he was in life a most wonderful man. Soldier, statesman, and +alchemist--which latter was the highest development of the +science-knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond +compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse. He dared even to +attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time +that he did not essay. Well, in him the brain powers survived the +physical death; though it would seem that memory was not all complete. +In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is +growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of +man's stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well; and if it had not +been that we have crossed his path he would be yet--he may be yet if we +fail--the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must +lead through Death, not Life." + +Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my darling! +But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him!" + +"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but +surely; that big child-brain of his is working. Well for us, it is, as +yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain +things he would long ago have been beyond our power. However, he means +to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait +and to go slow. _Festina lente_ may well be his motto." + +"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "Oh, do be more plain to +me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain." + +The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke:-- + +"Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late, this +monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How he has been +making use of the zoöphagous patient to effect his entry into friend +John's home; for your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when +and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto by +an inmate. But these are not his most important experiments. Do we not +see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others. He +knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great +child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he +might not himself move the box. So he began to help; and then, when he +found that this be all-right, he try to move them all alone. And so he +progress, and he scatter these graves of him; and none but he know where +they are hidden. He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So +that he only use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his +form, they do him equal well; and none may know these are his +hiding-place! But, my child, do not despair; this knowledge come to him +just too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilise as for him; +and before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no place where he +can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we might be sure. Is +there not more at stake for us than for him? Then why we not be even +more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be +well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us. To-day is our +day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance. See! there are +five of us when those absent ones return." + +Whilst he was speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door, the +double postman's knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved out to the +hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us to +keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The boy handed in a +despatch. The Professor closed the door again, and, after looking at the +direction, opened it and read aloud. + +"Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and +hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the round and may want +to see you: Mina." + +There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice:-- + +"Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!" Van Helsing turned to him +quickly and said:-- + +"God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice +as yet; for what we wish for at the moment may be our undoings." + +"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this +brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!" + +"Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing. "God does not purchase +souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep +faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your +devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her pain would be +doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not fear any of us, we are +all devoted to this cause, and to-day shall see the end. The time is +coming for action; to-day this Vampire is limit to the powers of man, +and till sunset he may not change. It will take him time to arrive +here--see, it is twenty minutes past one--and there are yet some times +before he can hither come, be he never so quick. What we must hope for +is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first." + +About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram, there +came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an ordinary +knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made +the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. We looked at each other, and +together moved out into the hall; we each held ready to use our various +armaments--the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right. Van +Helsing pulled back the latch, and, holding the door half open, stood +back, having both hands ready for action. The gladness of our hearts +must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we +saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed +the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the +hall:-- + +"It is all right. We found both places; six boxes in each and we +destroyed them all!" + +"Destroyed?" asked the Professor. + +"For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said:-- + +"There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn't turn up +by five o'clock, we must start off; for it won't do to leave Mrs. Harker +alone after sunset." + +"He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been +consulting his pocket-book. "_Nota bene_, in Madam's telegram he went +south from Carfax, that means he went to cross the river, and he could +only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one +o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is as yet only +suspicious; and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would +suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a +short time before him. That he is not here already shows that he went to +Mile End next. This took him some time; for he would then have to be +carried over the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not +have long to wait now. We should have ready some plan of attack, so that +we may throw away no chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your +arms! Be ready!" He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could +hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door. + +I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a +dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and +adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always +been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been +accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be +renewed instinctively. With a swift glance around the room, he at once +laid out our plan of attack, and, without speaking a word, with a +gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing, Harker, and I were +just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could +guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door. +Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to +move in front of the window. We waited in a suspense that made the +seconds pass with nightmare slowness. The slow, careful steps came along +the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise--at least +he feared it. + +Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room, winning a way past +us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There was something +so panther-like in the movement--something so unhuman, that it seemed +to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was +Harker, who, with a quick movement, threw himself before the door +leading into the room in the front of the house. As the Count saw us, a +horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth long +and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of +lion-like disdain. His expression again changed as, with a single +impulse, we all advanced upon him. It was a pity that we had not some +better organised plan of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what +we were to do. I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would +avail us anything. Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had +ready his great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The +blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's +leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had shorne +through his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat, +making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of gold +fell out. The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that for a +moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife +aloft again for another stroke. Instinctively I moved forward with a +protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I +felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise that I +saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously +by each one of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of +hate and baffled malignity--of anger and hellish rage--which came over +the Count's face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast +of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the +pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next instant, with a sinuous +dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere his blow could fall, and, grasping +a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room, threw +himself at the window. Amid the crash and glitter of the falling glass, +he tumbled into the flagged area below. Through the sound of the +shivering glass I could hear the "ting" of the gold, as some of the +sovereigns fell on the flagging. + +We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up +the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door. +There he turned and spoke to us:-- + +"You think to baffle me, you--with your pale faces all in a row, like +sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You think +you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is +just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your +girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and +others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my +jackals when I want to feed. Bah!" With a contemptuous sneer, he passed +quickly through the door, and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he +fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut. The first of us +to speak was the Professor, as, realising the difficulty of following +him through the stable, we moved toward the hall. + +"We have learnt something--much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he +fears us; he fear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His +very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take that money? You +follow quick. You are hunters of wild beast, and understand it so. For +me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use to him, if so that he +return." As he spoke he put the money remaining into his pocket; took +the title-deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the +remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with +a match. + +Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker had +lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had, however, +bolted the stable door; and by the time they had forced it open there +was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back +of the house; but the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart. + +It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We had to +recognise that our game was up; with heavy hearts we agreed with the +Professor when he said:-- + +"Let us go back to Madam Mina--poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do +just now is done; and we can there, at least, protect her. But we need +not despair. There is but one more earth-box, and we must try to find +it; when that is done all may yet be well." I could see that he spoke as +bravely as he could to comfort Harker. The poor fellow was quite broken +down; now and again he gave a low groan which he could not suppress--he +was thinking of his wife. + +With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker +waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her +bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her own became as +pale as death: for a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were +in secret prayer; and then she said cheerfully:-- + +"I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling!" As she spoke, +she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed it--"Lay your +poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well, dear! God will protect +us if He so will it in His good intent." The poor fellow groaned. There +was no place for words in his sublime misery. + +We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered us +all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to hungry +people--for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast--or the sense +of companionship may have helped us; but anyhow we were all less +miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope. True to +our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed; and +although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to +threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion to her was +manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness. When we came to the +part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly, she clung to +her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could +protect him from any harm that might come. She said nothing, however, +till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought right up +to the present time. Then without letting go her husband's hand she +stood up amongst us and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the +scene; of that sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty +of her youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which +she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our +teeth--remembering whence and how it came; her loving kindness against +our grim hate; her tender faith against all our fears and doubting; and +we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and +purity and faith, was outcast from God. + +"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips it was +so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you all my true, +true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all this +dreadful time. I know that you must fight--that you must destroy even as +you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter; +but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this +misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when +he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have +spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too, though it may +not hold your hands from his destruction." + +As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together, as +though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core. +Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer, till his +knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain which I knew she +must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes that were more appealing +than ever. As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing +his hand from hers as he spoke:-- + +"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that +earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send +his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!" + +"Oh, hush! oh, hush! in the name of the good God. Don't say such things, +Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just +think, my dear--I have been thinking all this long, long day of it--that +... perhaps ... some day ... I, too, may need such pity; and that some +other like you--and with equal cause for anger--may deny it to me! Oh, +my husband! my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought +had there been another way; but I pray that God may not have treasured +your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a very loving and +sorely stricken man. Oh, God, let these poor white hairs go in evidence +of what he has suffered, who all his life has done no wrong, and on whom +so many sorrows have come." + +We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and we wept +openly. She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed. +Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and putting his arms +round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress. Van Helsing beckoned +to us and we stole out of the room, leaving the two loving hearts alone +with their God. + +Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming +of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace. +She tried to school herself to the belief, and, manifestly for her +husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle; and was, +I think and believe, not without its reward. Van Helsing had placed at +hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency. +When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should +sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the +poor stricken lady. The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us +shall be off to bed as soon as we can. Godalming has already turned in, +for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done I, too, shall go +to bed. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_3-4 October, close to midnight._--I thought yesterday would never end. +There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind belief +that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any change must +now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed what our next step +was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All we knew was that one +earth-box remained, and that the Count alone knew where it was. If he +chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years; and in the +meantime!--the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of it even now. +This I know: that if ever there was a woman who was all perfection, that +one is my poor wronged darling. I love her a thousand times more for her +sweet pity of last night, a pity that made my own hate of the monster +seem despicable. Surely God will not permit the world to be the poorer +by the loss of such a creature. This is hope to me. We are all drifting +reefwards now, and faith is our only anchor. Thank God! Mina is +sleeping, and sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be +like, with such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so +calm, within my seeing, since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came +over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of March. +I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red sunset on her +face, but somehow now I think it has a deeper meaning. I am not sleepy +myself, though I am weary--weary to death. However, I must try to sleep; +for there is to-morrow to think of, and there is no rest for me +until.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awaked by Mina, who was +sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could see easily, +for we did not leave the room in darkness; she had placed a warning hand +over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear:-- + +"Hush! there is someone in the corridor!" I got up softly, and crossing +the room, gently opened the door. + +Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake. He +raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me:-- + +"Hush! go back to bed; it is all right. One of us will be here all +night. We don't mean to take any chances!" + +His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina. +She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor, pale +face as she put her arms round me and said softly:-- + +"Oh, thank God for good brave men!" With a sigh she sank back again to +sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again. + + * * * * * + +_4 October, morning._--Once again during the night I was wakened by +Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming +dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas flame was +like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:-- + +"Go, call the Professor. I want to see him at once." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured +without my knowing it. He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I +shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest; the time is getting close." I +went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing +me, he sprang to his feet. + +"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm. + +"No," I replied; "but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once." + +"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room. + +In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his +dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at +the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a smile--a +positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as he +said:-- + +"Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See! friend Jonathan, +we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day!" Then +turning to her, he said, cheerfully: "And what am I do for you? For at +this hour you do not want me for nothings." + +"I want you to hypnotise me!" she said. "Do it before the dawn, for I +feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is +short!" Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed. + +Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her, +from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn. Mina +gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat +like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually +her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of +her bosom could one know that she was alive. The Professor made a few +more passes and then stopped, and I could see that his forehead was +covered with great beads of perspiration. Mina opened her eyes; but she +did not seem the same woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and +her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to +impose silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. +They came on tip-toe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the +foot of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The +stillness was broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone +which would not break the current of her thoughts:-- + +"Where are you?" The answer came in a neutral way:-- + +"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own." For several +minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood +staring at her fixedly; the rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room +was growing lighter; without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van +Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed +just upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse +itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke again:-- + +"Where are you now?" The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it +were as though she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the +same tone when reading her shorthand notes. + +"I do not know. It is all strange to me!" + +"What do you see?" + +"I can see nothing; it is all dark." + +"What do you hear?" I could detect the strain in the Professor's patient +voice. + +"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can +hear them on the outside." + +"Then you are on a ship?" We all looked at each other, trying to glean +something each from the other. We were afraid to think. The answer came +quick:-- + +"Oh, yes!" + +"What else do you hear?" + +"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the +creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan +falls into the rachet." + +"What are you doing?" + +"I am still--oh, so still. It is like death!" The voice faded away into +a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again. + +By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of +day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid her +head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a sleeping child for a few +moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder to see +us all around her. "Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said. +She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling, though she +was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the +conversation, and she said:-- + +"Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late!" Mr. +Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor's calm +voice called them back:-- + +"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor +whilst she spoke. There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in +your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek? God be +thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead us we +know not. We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of men, +since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking +forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen! Alas, but +that sentence is a puddle; is it not? We can know now what was in the +Count's mind, when he seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce +knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear +me, ESCAPE! He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men +following like dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He +have take his last earth-box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He +think to escape, but no! we follow him. Tally Ho! as friend Arthur would +say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily; oh! so wily, and +we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a +little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters +between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he +would--unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or +slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to +us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need, +and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with +us." Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:-- + +"But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?" He +took her hand and patted it as he replied:-- + +"Ask me nothings as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all +questions." He would say no more, and we separated to dress. + +After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her gravely for +a minute and then said sorrowfully:-- + +"Because my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him +even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!" She grew paler as +she asked faintly:-- + +"Why?" + +"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you are +but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark +upon your throat." + +I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY, SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING + + +This to Jonathan Harker. + +You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our +search--if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we +seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her to-day. +This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him +here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, +for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away; he have gone back +to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of +fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and +that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the +money; for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun +go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that +he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him. +But there was not of time. When that fail he make straight for his last +resource--his last earth-work I might say did I wish _double entente_. +He is clever, oh, so clever! he know that his game here was finish; and +so he decide he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came, +and he go in it. We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound; +when we have discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will +comfort you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope +when you think it over: that all is not lost. This very creature that we +pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London; and yet in +one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is +finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. +But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong +together. Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is +but begun, and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high +to watch over His children. Therefore be of much comfort till we return. + +VAN HELSING. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 October._--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the +phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the +certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort; +and comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that his horrible +danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to +believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem +like a long-forgotten dream. Here in the crisp autumn air in the bright +sunlight---- + +Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on +the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst that lasts, +there can be no disbelief. And afterwards the very memory of it will +keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle, so we have been +over all the diaries again and again. Somehow, although the reality +seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less. There is +something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting. +Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may +be! I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other +yet of the future. It is better to wait till we see the Professor and +the others after their investigations. + +The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run +for me again. It is now three o'clock. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, 5 p. m._--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van +Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan +Harker, Mina Harker. + +Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to +discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape:-- + +"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure that +he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea, since +by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne +ignotum pro magnifico_; and so with heavy hearts we start to find what +ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He was in sailing ship, since +Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in +your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go, by suggestion of +Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail, +however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound ship go +out with the tide. She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail from +Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence on to other parts and up the +Danube. 'Soh!' said I, 'this is the ship whereon is the Count.' So off +we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office of wood +so small that the man look bigger than the office. From him we inquire +of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much, and he red face +and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same; and when Quincey +give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up, and +put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing, he +still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us, and ask +many men who are rough and hot; these be better fellows too when they +have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom, and of +others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but +nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know. + +"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five +o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with high nose +and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning. That he be all in +black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the +time. That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what ship +sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some took him to the office and +then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at shore end of +gang-plank, and ask that the captain come to him. The captain come, when +told that he will be pay well; and though he swear much at the first he +agree to term. Then the thin man go and some one tell him where horse +and cart can be hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself +driving cart on which a great box; this he himself lift down, though it +take several to put it on truck for the ship. He give much talk to +captain as to how and where his box is to be place; but the captain like +it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him that if he like he +can come and see where it shall be. But he say 'no'; that he come not +yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the captain tell him that he +had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will leave the +place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then the thin +man smile and say that of course he must go when he think fit; but he +will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear again, +polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he +will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the +sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues tell +him that he doesn't want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and also +with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after asking +where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase ship +forms, he departed. + +"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared,' as they said, for +they had something else to think of--well with blood again; for it soon +became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as +was expected. A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it grew, +and grew; till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around her. +The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and +blood; but he could do nothing. The water rose and rose; and he began to +fear that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly mood, +when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank again and +asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain replied +that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and +blood--were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and went down +with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and stood awhile +on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him. +Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away, and +all was clear again. My friends of the thirst and the language that was +of bloom and blood laughed, as they told how the captain's swears +exceeded even his usual polyglot, and was more than ever full of +picturesque, when on questioning other mariners who were on movement up +and down on the river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any +of fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However, the ship +went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the +river mouth. She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea. + +"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for +our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way to the +Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she never so quick; and when +we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there. Our best hope +is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset; for then +he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There +are days for us, in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about +where he go; for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us +invoices and all papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in +Varna, and to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present +his credentials; and so our merchant friend will have done his part. +When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and +have inquiry made at Varna, we say 'no'; for what is to be done is not +for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone and in our own +way." + +When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain +that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied: "We have the +best proof of that: your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance this +morning." I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should +pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that +he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing passion, +at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more +forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some +of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst +men:-- + +"Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary! For your sake in the first, +and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done much harm +already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short +time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in +darkness and not knowing. All this have I told these others; you, my +dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or +in that of your husband. I have told them how the measure of leaving his +own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life +of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the +work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do +what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have +been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of +nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in +some wondrous way. The very place, where he have been alive, Un-Dead for +all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical +world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither. +There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters +of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless, +there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of +occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in +himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike +time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain, +more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in +strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and +thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which +is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from, +and are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have +infect you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for +good of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do +no more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and +so in time, death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction, +shall make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together +that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the +world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, +whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one +soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem +more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if +we fall, we fall in good cause." He paused and I said:-- + +"But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely? Since he has been driven +from England, will he not avoid it, as a tiger does the village from +which he has been hunted?" + +"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall +adopt him. Your man-eater, as they of India call the tiger who has once +tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other prey, but prowl +unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from our village is a +tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay, in himself he +is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life, he go +over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be +beaten back, but did he stay? No! He come again, and again, and again. +Look at his persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was to +him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What +does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise for +him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task. He +find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers. He +study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old +ways, the politic, the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a new +land and a new people who have come to be since he was. His glimpse that +he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it help +him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he was at +the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone! from a +ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater +world of thought is open to him. He that can smile at death, as we know +him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole +peoples. Oh, if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil, +what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours. But we +are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence, and our +efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believe not +even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest +strength. It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons +to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even our own souls +for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind, and for the +honour and glory of God." + +After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing +be definitely settled; that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to +think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow, at breakfast, we are to +meet again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another, we +shall decide on some definite cause of action. + + * * * * * + +I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting +presence were removed from me. Perhaps ... + +My surmise was not finished, could not be; for I caught sight in the +mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still +unclean. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 October._--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for +each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was more +general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience +again. + +It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let +any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way--even by +death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment. More +than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder whether +the whole of the past days had not been a dream. It was only when I +caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that I was +brought back to reality. Even now, when I am gravely revolving the +matter, it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all our +trouble is still existent. Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her +trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again, when something +recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar. We are to +meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of +action. I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct +rather than reason: we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear +that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I _know_ +that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can +guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not, or +cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing, and +he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is some of +that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work. The +Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called "the +Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be a poison that distils +itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is +a mystery we should not wonder at anything! One thing I know: that if my +instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a +terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us. The same +power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think +further; for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman! + +Van Helsing is coming to my study a little before the others. I shall +try to open the subject with him. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of +things. I could see that he had something on his mind which he wanted to +say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject. After beating +about the bush a little, he said suddenly:-- + +"Friend John, there is something that you and I must talk of alone, just +at the first at any rate. Later, we may have to take the others into our +confidence"; then he stopped, so I waited; he went on:-- + +"Madam Mina, our poor, dear Madam Mina is changing." A cold shiver ran +through me to find my worst fears thus endorsed. Van Helsing +continued:-- + +"With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be warned +before things go too far. Our task is now in reality more difficult than +ever, and this new trouble makes every hour of the direst importance. I +can see the characteristics of the vampire coming in her face. It is now +but very, very slight; but it is to be seen if we have eyes to notice +without to prejudge. Her teeth are some sharper, and at times her eyes +are more hard. But these are not all, there is to her the silence now +often; as so it was with Miss Lucy. She did not speak, even when she +wrote that which she wished to be known later. Now my fear is this. If +it be that she can, by our hypnotic trance, tell what the Count see and +hear, is it not more true that he who have hypnotise her first, and who +have drink of her very blood and make her drink of his, should, if he +will, compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?" I nodded +acquiescence; he went on:-- + +"Then, what we must do is to prevent this; we must keep her ignorant of +our intent, and so she cannot tell what she know not. This is a painful +task! Oh, so painful that it heart-break me to think of; but it must be. +When to-day we meet, I must tell her that for reason which we will not +to speak she must not more be of our council, but be simply guarded by +us." He wiped his forehead, which had broken out in profuse perspiration +at the thought of the pain which he might have to inflict upon the poor +soul already so tortured. I knew that it would be some sort of comfort +to him if I told him that I also had come to the same conclusion; for at +any rate it would take away the pain of doubt. I told him, and the +effect was as I expected. + +It is now close to the time of our general gathering. Van Helsing has +gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful part of it. I +really believe his purpose is to be able to pray alone. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was +experienced by both Van Helsing and myself. Mrs. Harker had sent a +message by her husband to say that she would not join us at present, as +she thought it better that we should be free to discuss our movements +without her presence to embarrass us. The Professor and I looked at each +other for an instant, and somehow we both seemed relieved. For my own +part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker realised the danger herself, it was +much pain as well as much danger averted. Under the circumstances we +agreed, by a questioning look and answer, with finger on lip, to +preserve silence in our suspicions, until we should have been able to +confer alone again. We went at once into our Plan of Campaign. Van +Helsing roughly put the facts before us first:-- + +"The _Czarina Catherine_ left the Thames yesterday morning. It will take +her at the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to +reach Varna; but we can travel overland to the same place in three days. +Now, if we allow for two days less for the ship's voyage, owing to such +weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to bear; and if +we allow a whole day and night for any delays which may occur to us, +then we have a margin of nearly two weeks. Thus, in order to be quite +safe, we must leave here on 17th at latest. Then we shall at any rate +be in Varna a day before the ship arrives, and able to make such +preparations as may be necessary. Of course we shall all go armed--armed +against evil things, spiritual as well as physical." Here Quincey Morris +added:-- + +"I understand that the Count comes from a wolf country, and it may be +that he shall get there before us. I propose that we add Winchesters to +our armament. I have a kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any +trouble of that sort around. Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack +after us at Tobolsk? What wouldn't we have given then for a repeater +apiece!" + +"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be. Quincey's head is +level at all times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more +dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man. In the meantime we +can do nothing here; and as I think that Varna is not familiar to any of +us, why not go there more soon? It is as long to wait here as there. +To-night and to-morrow we can get ready, and then, if all be well, we +four can set out on our journey." + +"We four?" said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to another of +us. + +"Of course!" answered the Professor quickly, "you must remain to take +care of your so sweet wife!" Harker was silent for awhile and then said +in a hollow voice:-- + +"Let us talk of that part of it in the morning. I want to consult with +Mina." I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not +to disclose our plans to her; but he took no notice. I looked at him +significantly and coughed. For answer he put his finger on his lips and +turned away. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, afternoon._--For some time after our meeting this morning I +could not think. The new phases of things leave my mind in a state of +wonder which allows no room for active thought. Mina's determination not +to take any part in the discussion set me thinking; and as I could not +argue the matter with her, I could only guess. I am as far as ever from +a solution now. The way the others received it, too, puzzled me; the +last time we talked of the subject we agreed that there was to be no +more concealment of anything amongst us. Mina is sleeping now, calmly +and sweetly like a little child. Her lips are curved and her face beams +with happiness. Thank God, there are such moments still for her. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--How strange it all is. I sat watching Mina's happy sleep, and +came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be. As the +evening drew on, and the earth took its shadows from the sun sinking +lower, the silence of the room grew more and more solemn to me. All at +once Mina opened her eyes, and looking at me tenderly, said:-- + +"Jonathan, I want you to promise me something on your word of honour. A +promise made to me, but made holily in God's hearing, and not to be +broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter +tears. Quick, you must make it to me at once." + +"Mina," I said, "a promise like that, I cannot make at once. I may have +no right to make it." + +"But, dear one," she said, with such spiritual intensity that her eyes +were like pole stars, "it is I who wish it; and it is not for myself. +You can ask Dr. Van Helsing if I am not right; if he disagrees you may +do as you will. Nay, more, if you all agree, later, you are absolved +from the promise." + +"I promise!" I said, and for a moment she looked supremely happy; though +to me all happiness for her was denied by the red scar on her forehead. +She said:-- + +"Promise me that you will not tell me anything of the plans formed for +the campaign against the Count. Not by word, or inference, or +implication; not at any time whilst this remains to me!" and she +solemnly pointed to the scar. I saw that she was in earnest, and said +solemnly:-- + +"I promise!" and as I said it I felt that from that instant a door had +been shut between us. + + * * * * * + +_Later, midnight._--Mina has been bright and cheerful all the evening. +So much so that all the rest seemed to take courage, as if infected +somewhat with her gaiety; as a result even I myself felt as if the pall +of gloom which weighs us down were somewhat lifted. We all retired +early. Mina is now sleeping like a little child; it is a wonderful thing +that her faculty of sleep remains to her in the midst of her terrible +trouble. Thank God for it, for then at least she can forget her care. +Perhaps her example may affect me as her gaiety did to-night. I shall +try it. Oh! for a dreamless sleep. + + * * * * * + +_6 October, morning._--Another surprise. Mina woke me early, about the +same time as yesterday, and asked me to bring Dr. Van Helsing. I thought +that it was another occasion for hypnotism, and without question went +for the Professor. He had evidently expected some such call, for I found +him dressed in his room. His door was ajar, so that he could hear the +opening of the door of our room. He came at once; as he passed into the +room, he asked Mina if the others might come, too. + +"No," she said quite simply, "it will not be necessary. You can tell +them just as well. I must go with you on your journey." + +Dr. Van Helsing was as startled as I was. After a moment's pause he +asked:-- + +"But why?" + +"You must take me with you. I am safer with you, and you shall be safer, +too." + +"But why, dear Madam Mina? You know that your safety is our solemnest +duty. We go into danger, to which you are, or may be, more liable than +any of us from--from circumstances--things that have been." He paused, +embarrassed. + +As she replied, she raised her finger and pointed to her forehead:-- + +"I know. That is why I must go. I can tell you now, whilst the sun is +coming up; I may not be able again. I know that when the Count wills me +I must go. I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by +wile; by any device to hoodwink--even Jonathan." God saw the look that +she turned on me as she spoke, and if there be indeed a Recording Angel +that look is noted to her everlasting honour. I could only clasp her +hand. I could not speak; my emotion was too great for even the relief of +tears. She went on:-- + +"You men are brave and strong. You are strong in your numbers, for you +can defy that which would break down the human endurance of one who had +to guard alone. Besides, I may be of service, since you can hypnotise me +and so learn that which even I myself do not know." Dr. Van Helsing said +very gravely:-- + +"Madam Mina, you are, as always, most wise. You shall with us come; and +together we shall do that which we go forth to achieve." When he had +spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her. She had fallen +back on her pillow asleep; she did not even wake when I had pulled up +the blind and let in the sunlight which flooded the room. Van Helsing +motioned to me to come with him quietly. We went to his room, and within +a minute Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris were with us also. +He told them what Mina had said, and went on:-- + +"In the morning we shall leave for Varna. We have now to deal with a +new factor: Madam Mina. Oh, but her soul is true. It is to her an agony +to tell us so much as she has done; but it is most right, and we are +warned in time. There must be no chance lost, and in Varna we must be +ready to act the instant when that ship arrives." + +"What shall we do exactly?" asked Mr. Morris laconically. The Professor +paused before replying:-- + +"We shall at the first board that ship; then, when we have identified +the box, we shall place a branch of the wild rose on it. This we shall +fasten, for when it is there none can emerge; so at least says the +superstition. And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was +man's faith in the early, and it have its root in faith still. Then, +when we get the opportunity that we seek, when none are near to see, we +shall open the box, and--and all will be well." + +"I shall not wait for any opportunity," said Morris. "When I see the box +I shall open it and destroy the monster, though there were a thousand +men looking on, and if I am to be wiped out for it the next moment!" I +grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a piece of steel. +I think he understood my look; I hope he did. + +"Good boy," said Dr. Van Helsing. "Brave boy. Quincey is all man. God +bless him for it. My child, believe me none of us shall lag behind or +pause from any fear. I do but say what we may do--what we must do. But, +indeed, indeed we cannot say what we shall do. There are so many things +which may happen, and their ways and their ends are so various that +until the moment we may not say. We shall all be armed, in all ways; and +when the time for the end has come, our effort shall not be lack. Now +let us to-day put all our affairs in order. Let all things which touch +on others dear to us, and who on us depend, be complete; for none of us +can tell what, or when, or how, the end may be. As for me, my own +affairs are regulate; and as I have nothing else to do, I shall go make +arrangements for the travel. I shall have all tickets and so forth for +our journey." + +There was nothing further to be said, and we parted. I shall now settle +up all my affairs of earth, and be ready for whatever may come.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It is all done; my will is made, and all complete. Mina if she +survive is my sole heir. If it should not be so, then the others who +have been so good to us shall have remainder. + +It is now drawing towards the sunset; Mina's uneasiness calls my +attention to it. I am sure that there is something on her mind which the +time of exact sunset will reveal. These occasions are becoming harrowing +times for us all, for each sunrise and sunset opens up some new +danger--some new pain, which, however, may in God's will be means to a +good end. I write all these things in the diary since my darling must +not hear them now; but if it may be that she can see them again, they +shall be ready. + +She is calling to me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_11 October, Evening._--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this, as he +says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record kept. + +I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs. +Harker a little before the time of sunset. We have of late come to +understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar freedom; +when her old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing +or restraining her, or inciting her to action. This mood or condition +begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise or sunset, and lasts +till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds are still aglow with +the rays streaming above the horizon. At first there is a sort of +negative condition, as if some tie were loosened, and then the absolute +freedom quickly follows; when, however, the freedom ceases the +change-back or relapse comes quickly, preceded only by a spell of +warning silence. + +To-night, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the +signs of an internal struggle. I put it down myself to her making a +violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so. A very few +minutes, however, gave her complete control of herself; then, motioning +her husband to sit beside her on the sofa where she was half reclining, +she made the rest of us bring chairs up close. Taking her husband's hand +in hers began:-- + +"We are all here together in freedom, for perhaps the last time! I know, +dear; I know that you will always be with me to the end." This was to +her husband whose hand had, as we could see, tightened upon hers. "In +the morning we go out upon our task, and God alone knows what may be in +store for any of us. You are going to be so good to me as to take me +with you. I know that all that brave earnest men can do for a poor weak +woman, whose soul perhaps is lost--no, no, not yet, but is at any rate +at stake--you will do. But you must remember that I am not as you are. +There is a poison in my blood, in my soul, which may destroy me; which +must destroy me, unless some relief comes to us. Oh, my friends, you +know as well as I do, that my soul is at stake; and though I know there +is one way out for me, you must not and I must not take it!" She looked +appealingly to us all in turn, beginning and ending with her husband. + +"What is that way?" asked Van Helsing in a hoarse voice. "What is that +way, which we must not--may not--take?" + +"That I may die now, either by my own hand or that of another, before +the greater evil is entirely wrought. I know, and you know, that were I +once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit, even as you +did my poor Lucy's. Were death, or the fear of death, the only thing +that stood in the way I would not shrink to die here, now, amidst the +friends who love me. But death is not all. I cannot believe that to die +in such a case, when there is hope before us and a bitter task to be +done, is God's will. Therefore, I, on my part, give up here the +certainty of eternal rest, and go out into the dark where may be the +blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" We were all +silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a prelude. The +faces of the others were set and Harker's grew ashen grey; perhaps he +guessed better than any of us what was coming. She continued:-- + +"This is what I can give into the hotch-pot." I could not but note the +quaint legal phrase which she used in such a place, and with all +seriousness. "What will each of you give? Your lives I know," she went +on quickly, "that is easy for brave men. Your lives are God's, and you +can give them back to Him; but what will you give to me?" She looked +again questioningly, but this time avoided her husband's face. Quincey +seemed to understand; he nodded, and her face lit up. "Then I shall tell +you plainly what I want, for there must be no doubtful matter in this +connection between us now. You must promise me, one and all--even you, +my beloved husband--that, should the time come, you will kill me." + +"What is that time?" The voice was Quincey's, but it was low and +strained. + +"When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better that +I die that I may live. When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, +without a moment's delay, drive a stake through me and cut off my head; +or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!" + +Quincey was the first to rise after the pause. He knelt down before her +and taking her hand in his said solemnly:-- + +"I'm only a rough fellow, who hasn't, perhaps, lived as a man should to +win such a distinction, but I swear to you by all that I hold sacred and +dear that, should the time ever come, I shall not flinch from the duty +that you have set us. And I promise you, too, that I shall make all +certain, for if I am only doubtful I shall take it that the time has +come!" + +"My true friend!" was all she could say amid her fast-falling tears, as, +bending over, she kissed his hand. + +"I swear the same, my dear Madam Mina!" said Van Helsing. + +"And I!" said Lord Godalming, each of them in turn kneeling to her to +take the oath. I followed, myself. Then her husband turned to her +wan-eyed and with a greenish pallor which subdued the snowy whiteness of +his hair, and asked:-- + +"And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?" + +"You too, my dearest," she said, with infinite yearning of pity in her +voice and eyes. "You must not shrink. You are nearest and dearest and +all the world to me; our souls are knit into one, for all life and all +time. Think, dear, that there have been times when brave men have killed +their wives and their womenkind, to keep them from falling into the +hands of the enemy. Their hands did not falter any the more because +those that they loved implored them to slay them. It is men's duty +towards those whom they love, in such times of sore trial! And oh, my +dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it be at +the hand of him that loves me best. Dr. Van Helsing, I have not +forgotten your mercy in poor Lucy's case to him who loved"--she stopped +with a flying blush, and changed her phrase--"to him who had best right +to give her peace. If that time shall come again, I look to you to make +it a happy memory of my husband's life that it was his loving hand which +set me free from the awful thrall upon me." + +"Again I swear!" came the Professor's resonant voice. Mrs. Harker +smiled, positively smiled, as with a sigh of relief she leaned back and +said:-- + +"And now one word of warning, a warning which you must never forget: +this time, if it ever come, may come quickly and unexpectedly, and in +such case you must lose no time in using your opportunity. At such a +time I myself might be--nay! if the time ever comes, _shall be_--leagued +with your enemy against you." + +"One more request;" she became very solemn as she said this, "it is not +vital and necessary like the other, but I want you to do one thing for +me, if you will." We all acquiesced, but no one spoke; there was no need +to speak:-- + +"I want you to read the Burial Service." She was interrupted by a deep +groan from her husband; taking his hand in hers, she held it over her +heart, and continued: "You must read it over me some day. Whatever may +be the issue of all this fearful state of things, it will be a sweet +thought to all or some of us. You, my dearest, will I hope read it, for +then it will be in your voice in my memory for ever--come what may!" + +"But oh, my dear one," he pleaded, "death is afar off from you." + +"Nay," she said, holding up a warning hand. "I am deeper in death at +this moment than if the weight of an earthly grave lay heavy upon me!" + +"Oh, my wife, must I read it?" he said, before he began. + +"It would comfort me, my husband!" was all she said; and he began to +read when she had got the book ready. + +"How can I--how could any one--tell of that strange scene, its +solemnity, its gloom, its sadness, its horror; and, withal, its +sweetness. Even a sceptic, who can see nothing but a travesty of bitter +truth in anything holy or emotional, would have been melted to the heart +had he seen that little group of loving and devoted friends kneeling +round that stricken and sorrowing lady; or heard the tender passion of +her husband's voice, as in tones so broken with emotion that often he +had to pause, he read the simple and beautiful service from the Burial +of the Dead. I--I cannot go on--words--and--v-voice--f-fail m-me!" + + * * * * * + +She was right in her instinct. Strange as it all was, bizarre as it may +hereafter seem even to us who felt its potent influence at the time, it +comforted us much; and the silence, which showed Mrs. Harker's coming +relapse from her freedom of soul, did not seem so full of despair to any +of us as we had dreaded. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_15 October, Varna._--We left Charing Cross on the morning of the 12th, +got to Paris the same night, and took the places secured for us in the +Orient Express. We travelled night and day, arriving here at about five +o'clock. Lord Godalming went to the Consulate to see if any telegram had +arrived for him, whilst the rest of us came on to this hotel--"the +Odessus." The journey may have had incidents; I was, however, too eager +to get on, to care for them. Until the _Czarina Catherine_ comes into +port there will be no interest for me in anything in the wide world. +Thank God! Mina is well, and looks to be getting stronger; her colour is +coming back. She sleeps a great deal; throughout the journey she slept +nearly all the time. Before sunrise and sunset, however, she is very +wakeful and alert; and it has become a habit for Van Helsing to +hypnotise her at such times. At first, some effort was needed, and he +had to make many passes; but now, she seems to yield at once, as if by +habit, and scarcely any action is needed. He seems to have power at +these particular moments to simply will, and her thoughts obey him. He +always asks her what she can see and hear. She answers to the first:-- + +"Nothing; all is dark." And to the second:-- + +"I can hear the waves lapping against the ship, and the water rushing +by. Canvas and cordage strain and masts and yards creak. The wind is +high--I can hear it in the shrouds, and the bow throws back the foam." +It is evident that the _Czarina Catherine_ is still at sea, hastening on +her way to Varna. Lord Godalming has just returned. He had four +telegrams, one each day since we started, and all to the same effect: +that the _Czarina Catherine_ had not been reported to Lloyd's from +anywhere. He had arranged before leaving London that his agent should +send him every day a telegram saying if the ship had been reported. He +was to have a message even if she were not reported, so that he might be +sure that there was a watch being kept at the other end of the wire. + +We had dinner and went to bed early. To-morrow we are to see the +Vice-Consul, and to arrange, if we can, about getting on board the ship +as soon as she arrives. Van Helsing says that our chance will be to get +on the boat between sunrise and sunset. The Count, even if he takes the +form of a bat, cannot cross the running water of his own volition, and +so cannot leave the ship. As he dare not change to man's form without +suspicion--which he evidently wishes to avoid--he must remain in the +box. If, then, we can come on board after sunrise, he is at our mercy; +for we can open the box and make sure of him, as we did of poor Lucy, +before he wakes. What mercy he shall get from us will not count for +much. We think that we shall not have much trouble with officials or the +seamen. Thank God! this is the country where bribery can do anything, +and we are well supplied with money. We have only to make sure that the +ship cannot come into port between sunset and sunrise without our being +warned, and we shall be safe. Judge Moneybag will settle this case, I +think! + + * * * * * + +_16 October._--Mina's report still the same: lapping waves and rushing +water, darkness and favouring winds. We are evidently in good time, and +when we hear of the _Czarina Catherine_ we shall be ready. As she must +pass the Dardanelles we are sure to have some report. + + * * * * * + +_17 October._--Everything is pretty well fixed now, I think, to welcome +the Count on his return from his tour. Godalming told the shippers that +he fancied that the box sent aboard might contain something stolen from +a friend of his, and got a half consent that he might open it at his own +risk. The owner gave him a paper telling the Captain to give him every +facility in doing whatever he chose on board the ship, and also a +similar authorisation to his agent at Varna. We have seen the agent, who +was much impressed with Godalming's kindly manner to him, and we are all +satisfied that whatever he can do to aid our wishes will be done. We +have already arranged what to do in case we get the box open. If the +Count is there, Van Helsing and Seward will cut off his head at once and +drive a stake through his heart. Morris and Godalming and I shall +prevent interference, even if we have to use the arms which we shall +have ready. The Professor says that if we can so treat the Count's body, +it will soon after fall into dust. In such case there would be no +evidence against us, in case any suspicion of murder were aroused. But +even if it were not, we should stand or fall by our act, and perhaps +some day this very script may be evidence to come between some of us and +a rope. For myself, I should take the chance only too thankfully if it +were to come. We mean to leave no stone unturned to carry out our +intent. We have arranged with certain officials that the instant the +_Czarina Catherine_ is seen, we are to be informed by a special +messenger. + + * * * * * + +_24 October._--A whole week of waiting. Daily telegrams to Godalming, +but only the same story: "Not yet reported." Mina's morning and evening +hypnotic answer is unvaried: lapping waves, rushing water, and creaking +masts. + +_Telegram, October 24th._ + +_Rufus Smith, Lloyd's, London, to Lord Godalming, care of H. B. M. +Vice-Consul, Varna._ + +"_Czarina Catherine_ reported this morning from Dardanelles." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_25 October._--How I miss my phonograph! To write diary with a pen is +irksome to me; but Van Helsing says I must. We were all wild with +excitement yesterday when Godalming got his telegram from Lloyd's. I +know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heard. Mrs. +Harker, alone of our party, did not show any signs of emotion. After +all, it is not strange that she did not; for we took special care not to +let her know anything about it, and we all tried not to show any +excitement when we were in her presence. In old days she would, I am +sure, have noticed, no matter how we might have tried to conceal it; but +in this way she is greatly changed during the past three weeks. The +lethargy grows upon her, and though she seems strong and well, and is +getting back some of her colour, Van Helsing and I are not satisfied. We +talk of her often; we have not, however, said a word to the others. It +would break poor Harker's heart--certainly his nerve--if he knew that we +had even a suspicion on the subject. Van Helsing examines, he tells me, +her teeth very carefully, whilst she is in the hypnotic condition, for +he says that so long as they do not begin to sharpen there is no active +danger of a change in her. If this change should come, it would be +necessary to take steps!... We both know what those steps would have to +be, though we do not mention our thoughts to each other. We should +neither of us shrink from the task--awful though it be to contemplate. +"Euthanasia" is an excellent and a comforting word! I am grateful to +whoever invented it. + +It is only about 24 hours' sail from the Dardanelles to here, at the +rate the _Czarina Catherine_ has come from London. She should therefore +arrive some time in the morning; but as she cannot possibly get in +before then, we are all about to retire early. We shall get up at one +o'clock, so as to be ready. + + * * * * * + +_25 October, Noon_.--No news yet of the ship's arrival. Mrs. Harker's +hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible +that we may get news at any moment. We men are all in a fever of +excitement, except Harker, who is calm; his hands are cold as ice, and +an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife +which he now always carries with him. It will be a bad lookout for the +Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat, driven by +that stern, ice-cold hand! + +Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about Mrs. Harker to-day. About +noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not like; although we +kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy about it. She +had been restless all the morning, so that we were at first glad to know +that she was sleeping. When, however, her husband mentioned casually +that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not wake her, we went to +her room to see for ourselves. She was breathing naturally and looked so +well and peaceful that we agreed that the sleep was better for her than +anything else. Poor girl, she has so much to forget that it is no wonder +that sleep, if it brings oblivion to her, does her good. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep +of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had +been for days. At sunset she made the usual hypnotic report. Wherever he +may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his destination. To +his doom, I trust! + + * * * * * + +_26 October._--Another day and no tidings of the _Czarina Catherine_. +She ought to be here by now. That she is still journeying _somewhere_ is +apparent, for Mrs. Harker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the +same. It is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for fog; +some of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches of fog +both to north and south of the port. We must continue our watching, as +the ship may now be signalled any moment. + + * * * * * + +_27 October, Noon._--Most strange; no news yet of the ship we wait for. +Mrs. Harker reported last night and this morning as usual: "lapping +waves and rushing water," though she added that "the waves were very +faint." The telegrams from London have been the same: "no further +report." Van Helsing is terribly anxious, and told me just now that he +fears the Count is escaping us. He added significantly:-- + +"I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina's. Souls and memories can do +strange things during trance." I was about to ask him more, but Harker +just then came in, and he held up a warning hand. We must try to-night +at sunset to make her speak more fully when in her hypnotic state. + + * * * * * + + _28 October._--Telegram. _Rufus Smith, London, to Lord Godalming, + care H. B. M. Vice Consul, Varna._ + + "_Czarina Catherine_ reported entering Galatz at one o'clock + to-day." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 October._--When the telegram came announcing the arrival in Galatz I +do not think it was such a shock to any of us as might have been +expected. True, we did not know whence, or how, or when, the bolt would +come; but I think we all expected that something strange would happen. +The delay of arrival at Varna made us individually satisfied that things +would not be just as we had expected; we only waited to learn where the +change would occur. None the less, however, was it a surprise. I suppose +that nature works on such a hopeful basis that we believe against +ourselves that things will be as they ought to be, not as we should know +that they will be. Transcendentalism is a beacon to the angels, even if +it be a will-o'-the-wisp to man. It was an odd experience and we all +took it differently. Van Helsing raised his hand over his head for a +moment, as though in remonstrance with the Almighty; but he said not a +word, and in a few seconds stood up with his face sternly set. Lord +Godalming grew very pale, and sat breathing heavily. I was myself half +stunned and looked in wonder at one after another. Quincey Morris +tightened his belt with that quick movement which I knew so well; in our +old wandering days it meant "action." Mrs. Harker grew ghastly white, so +that the scar on her forehead seemed to burn, but she folded her hands +meekly and looked up in prayer. Harker smiled--actually smiled--the +dark, bitter smile of one who is without hope; but at the same time his +action belied his words, for his hands instinctively sought the hilt of +the great Kukri knife and rested there. "When does the next train start +for Galatz?" said Van Helsing to us generally. + +"At 6:30 to-morrow morning!" We all started, for the answer came from +Mrs. Harker. + +"How on earth do you know?" said Art. + +"You forget--or perhaps you do not know, though Jonathan does and so +does Dr. Van Helsing--that I am the train fiend. At home in Exeter I +always used to make up the time-tables, so as to be helpful to my +husband. I found it so useful sometimes, that I always make a study of +the time-tables now. I knew that if anything were to take us to Castle +Dracula we should go by Galatz, or at any rate through Bucharest, so I +learned the times very carefully. Unhappily there are not many to learn, +as the only train to-morrow leaves as I say." + +"Wonderful woman!" murmured the Professor. + +"Can't we get a special?" asked Lord Godalming. Van Helsing shook his +head: "I fear not. This land is very different from yours or mine; even +if we did have a special, it would probably not arrive as soon as our +regular train. Moreover, we have something to prepare. We must think. +Now let us organize. You, friend Arthur, go to the train and get the +tickets and arrange that all be ready for us to go in the morning. Do +you, friend Jonathan, go to the agent of the ship and get from him +letters to the agent in Galatz, with authority to make search the ship +just as it was here. Morris Quincey, you see the Vice-Consul, and get +his aid with his fellow in Galatz and all he can do to make our way +smooth, so that no times be lost when over the Danube. John will stay +with Madam Mina and me, and we shall consult. For so if time be long you +may be delayed; and it will not matter when the sun set, since I am here +with Madam to make report." + +"And I," said Mrs. Harker brightly, and more like her old self than she +had been for many a long day, "shall try to be of use in all ways, and +shall think and write for you as I used to do. Something is shifting +from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have been of late!" +The three younger men looked happier at the moment as they seemed to +realise the significance of her words; but Van Helsing and I, turning to +each other, met each a grave and troubled glance. We said nothing at the +time, however. + +When the three men had gone out to their tasks Van Helsing asked Mrs. +Harker to look up the copy of the diaries and find him the part of +Harker's journal at the Castle. She went away to get it; when the door +was shut upon her he said to me:-- + +"We mean the same! speak out!" + +"There is some change. It is a hope that makes me sick, for it may +deceive us." + +"Quite so. Do you know why I asked her to get the manuscript?" + +"No!" said I, "unless it was to get an opportunity of seeing me alone." + +"You are in part right, friend John, but only in part. I want to tell +you something. And oh, my friend, I am taking a great--a terrible--risk; +but I believe it is right. In the moment when Madam Mina said those +words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration came to me. In +the trance of three days ago the Count sent her his spirit to read her +mind; or more like he took her to see him in his earth-box in the ship +with water rushing, just as it go free at rise and set of sun. He learn +then that we are here; for she have more to tell in her open life with +eyes to see and ears to hear than he, shut, as he is, in his coffin-box. +Now he make his most effort to escape us. At present he want her not. + +"He is sure with his so great knowledge that she will come at his call; +but he cut her off--take her, as he can do, out of his own power, that +so she come not to him. Ah! there I have hope that our man-brains that +have been of man so long and that have not lost the grace of God, will +come higher than his child-brain that lie in his tomb for centuries, +that grow not yet to our stature, and that do only work selfish and +therefore small. Here comes Madam Mina; not a word to her of her trance! +She know it not; and it would overwhelm her and make despair just when +we want all her hope, all her courage; when most we want all her great +brain which is trained like man's brain, but is of sweet woman and have +a special power which the Count give her, and which he may not take away +altogether--though he think not so. Hush! let me speak, and you shall +learn. Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits. I fear, as I never +feared before. We can only trust the good God. Silence! here she comes!" + +I thought that the Professor was going to break down and have hysterics, +just as he had when Lucy died, but with a great effort he controlled +himself and was at perfect nervous poise when Mrs. Harker tripped into +the room, bright and happy-looking and, in the doing of work, seemingly +forgetful of her misery. As she came in, she handed a number of sheets +of typewriting to Van Helsing. He looked over them gravely, his face +brightening up as he read. Then holding the pages between his finger and +thumb he said:-- + +"Friend John, to you with so much of experience already--and you, too, +dear Madam Mina, that are young--here is a lesson: do not fear ever to +think. A half-thought has been buzzing often in my brain, but I fear to +let him loose his wings. Here now, with more knowledge, I go back to +where that half-thought come from and I find that he be no half-thought +at all; that be a whole thought, though so young that he is not yet +strong to use his little wings. Nay, like the "Ugly Duck" of my friend +Hans Andersen, he be no duck-thought at all, but a big swan-thought that +sail nobly on big wings, when the time come for him to try them. See I +read here what Jonathan have written:-- + +"That other of his race who, in a later age, again and again, brought +his forces over The Great River into Turkey Land; who, when he was +beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come +alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, +since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph." + +"What does this tell us? Not much? no! The Count's child-thought see +nothing; therefore he speak so free. Your man-thought see nothing; my +man-thought see nothing, till just now. No! But there comes another word +from some one who speak without thought because she, too, know not what +it mean--what it _might_ mean. Just as there are elements which rest, +yet when in nature's course they move on their way and they touch--then +pouf! and there comes a flash of light, heaven wide, that blind and kill +and destroy some; but that show up all earth below for leagues and +leagues. Is it not so? Well, I shall explain. To begin, have you ever +study the philosophy of crime? 'Yes' and 'No.' You, John, yes; for it is +a study of insanity. You, no, Madam Mina; for crime touch you not--not +but once. Still, your mind works true, and argues not _a particulari ad +universale_. There is this peculiarity in criminals. It is so constant, +in all countries and at all times, that even police, who know not much +from philosophy, come to know it empirically, that _it is_. That is to +be empiric. The criminal always work at one crime--that is the true +criminal who seems predestinate to crime, and who will of none other. +This criminal has not full man-brain. He is clever and cunning and +resourceful; but he be not of man-stature as to brain. He be of +child-brain in much. Now this criminal of ours is predestinate to crime +also; he, too, have child-brain, and it is of the child to do what he +have done. The little bird, the little fish, the little animal learn not +by principle, but empirically; and when he learn to do, then there is to +him the ground to start from to do more. '_Dos pou sto_,' said +Archimedes. 'Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world!' To do once, +is the fulcrum whereby child-brain become man-brain; and until he have +the purpose to do more, he continue to do the same again every time, +just as he have done before! Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes are +opened, and that to you the lightning flash show all the leagues," for +Mrs. Harker began to clap her hands and her eyes sparkled. He went on:-- + +"Now you shall speak. Tell us two dry men of science what you see with +those so bright eyes." He took her hand and held it whilst she spoke. +His finger and thumb closed on her pulse, as I thought instinctively and +unconsciously, as she spoke:-- + +"The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would +so classify him, and _quâ_ criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind. +Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit. His past is a +clue, and the one page of it that we know--and that from his own +lips--tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call a +'tight place,' he went back to his own country from the land he had +tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself +for a new effort. He came again better equipped for his work; and won. +So he came to London to invade a new land. He was beaten, and when all +hope of success was lost, and his existence in danger, he fled back over +the sea to his home; just as formerly he had fled back over the Danube +from Turkey Land." + +"Good, good! oh, you so clever lady!" said Van Helsing, +enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand. A moment later he +said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick-room +consultation:-- + +"Seventy-two only; and in all this excitement. I have hope." Turning to +her again, he said with keen expectation:-- + +"But go on. Go on! there is more to tell if you will. Be not afraid; +John and I know. I do in any case, and shall tell you if you are right. +Speak, without fear!" + +"I will try to; but you will forgive me if I seem egotistical." + +"Nay! fear not, you must be egotist, for it is of you that we think." + +"Then, as he is criminal he is selfish; and as his intellect is small +and his action is based on selfishness, he confines himself to one +purpose. That purpose is remorseless. As he fled back over the Danube, +leaving his forces to be cut to pieces, so now he is intent on being +safe, careless of all. So his own selfishness frees my soul somewhat +from the terrible power which he acquired over me on that dreadful +night. I felt it! Oh, I felt it! Thank God, for His great mercy! My soul +is freer than it has been since that awful hour; and all that haunts me +is a fear lest in some trance or dream he may have used my knowledge for +his ends." The Professor stood up:-- + +"He has so used your mind; and by it he has left us here in Varna, +whilst the ship that carried him rushed through enveloping fog up to +Galatz, where, doubtless, he had made preparation for escaping from us. +But his child-mind only saw so far; and it may be that, as ever is in +God's Providence, the very thing that the evil-doer most reckoned on for +his selfish good, turns out to be his chiefest harm. The hunter is taken +in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says. For now that he think he +is free from every trace of us all, and that he has escaped us with so +many hours to him, then his selfish child-brain will whisper him to +sleep. He think, too, that as he cut himself off from knowing your mind, +there can be no knowledge of him to you; there is where he fail! That +terrible baptism of blood which he give you makes you free to go to him +in spirit, as you have as yet done in your times of freedom, when the +sun rise and set. At such times you go by my volition and not by his; +and this power to good of you and others, as you have won from your +suffering at his hands. This is now all the more precious that he know +it not, and to guard himself have even cut himself off from his +knowledge of our where. We, however, are not selfish, and we believe +that God is with us through all this blackness, and these many dark +hours. We shall follow him; and we shall not flinch; even if we peril +ourselves that we become like him. Friend John, this has been a great +hour; and it have done much to advance us on our way. You must be scribe +and write him all down, so that when the others return from their work +you can give it to them; then they shall know as we do." + +And so I have written it whilst we wait their return, and Mrs. Harker +has written with her typewriter all since she brought the MS. to us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_29 October._--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz. Last +night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset. Each of us +had done his work as well as he could; so far as thought, and endeavour, +and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our journey, and +for our work when we get to Galatz. When the usual time came round Mrs. +Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort; and after a longer and +more serious effort on the part of Van Helsing than has been usually +necessary, she sank into the trance. Usually she speaks on a hint; but +this time the Professor had to ask her questions, and to ask them pretty +resolutely, before we could learn anything; at last her answer came:-- + +"I can see nothing; we are still; there are no waves lapping, but only a +steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser. I can hear +men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in +the rowlocks. A gun is fired somewhere; the echo of it seems far away. +There is tramping of feet overhead, and ropes and chains are dragged +along. What is this? There is a gleam of light; I can feel the air +blowing upon me." + +Here she stopped. She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she lay +on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if lifting a +weight. Van Helsing and I looked at each other with understanding. +Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her intently, whilst +Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of his Kukri. There +was a long pause. We all knew that the time when she could speak was +passing; but we felt that it was useless to say anything. Suddenly she +sat up, and, as she opened her eyes, said sweetly:-- + +"Would none of you like a cup of tea? You must all be so tired!" We +could only make her happy, and so acquiesced. She bustled off to get +tea; when she had gone Van Helsing said:-- + +"You see, my friends. _He_ is close to land: he has left his +earth-chest. But he has yet to get on shore. In the night he may lie +hidden somewhere; but if he be not carried on shore, or if the ship do +not touch it, he cannot achieve the land. In such case he can, if it be +in the night, change his form and can jump or fly on shore, as he did +at Whitby. But if the day come before he get on shore, then, unless he +be carried he cannot escape. And if he be carried, then the customs men +may discover what the box contain. Thus, in fine, if he escape not on +shore to-night, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him. +We may then arrive in time; for if he escape not at night we shall come +on him in daytime, boxed up and at our mercy; for he dare not be his +true self, awake and visible, lest he be discovered." + +There was no more to be said, so we waited in patience until the dawn; +at which time we might learn more from Mrs. Harker. + +Early this morning we listened, with breathless anxiety, for her +response in her trance. The hypnotic stage was even longer in coming +than before; and when it came the time remaining until full sunrise was +so short that we began to despair. Van Helsing seemed to throw his whole +soul into the effort; at last, in obedience to his will she made +reply:-- + +"All is dark. I hear lapping water, level with me, and some creaking as +of wood on wood." She paused, and the red sun shot up. We must wait till +to-night. + +And so it is that we are travelling towards Galatz in an agony of +expectation. We are due to arrive between two and three in the morning; +but already, at Bucharest, we are three hours late, so we cannot +possibly get in till well after sun-up. Thus we shall have two more +hypnotic messages from Mrs. Harker; either or both may possibly throw +more light on what is happening. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Sunset has come and gone. Fortunately it came at a time when +there was no distraction; for had it occurred whilst we were at a +station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation. +Mrs. Harker yielded to the hypnotic influence even less readily than +this morning. I am in fear that her power of reading the Count's +sensations may die away, just when we want it most. It seems to me that +her imagination is beginning to work. Whilst she has been in the trance +hitherto she has confined herself to the simplest of facts. If this goes +on it may ultimately mislead us. If I thought that the Count's power +over her would die away equally with her power of knowledge it would be +a happy thought; but I am afraid that it may not be so. When she did +speak, her words were enigmatical:-- + +"Something is going out; I can feel it pass me like a cold wind. I can +hear, far off, confused sounds--as of men talking in strange tongues, +fierce-falling water, and the howling of wolves." She stopped and a +shudder ran through her, increasing in intensity for a few seconds, +till, at the end, she shook as though in a palsy. She said no more, even +in answer to the Professor's imperative questioning. When she woke from +the trance, she was cold, and exhausted, and languid; but her mind was +all alert. She could not remember anything, but asked what she had said; +when she was told, she pondered over it deeply for a long time and in +silence. + + * * * * * + +_30 October, 7 a. m._--We are near Galatz now, and I may not have time +to write later. Sunrise this morning was anxiously looked for by us all. +Knowing of the increasing difficulty of procuring the hypnotic trance, +Van Helsing began his passes earlier than usual. They produced no +effect, however, until the regular time, when she yielded with a still +greater difficulty, only a minute before the sun rose. The Professor +lost no time in his questioning; her answer came with equal quickness:-- + +"All is dark. I hear water swirling by, level with my ears, and the +creaking of wood on wood. Cattle low far off. There is another sound, a +queer one like----" She stopped and grew white, and whiter still. + +"Go on; go on! Speak, I command you!" said Van Helsing in an agonised +voice. At the same time there was despair in his eyes, for the risen sun +was reddening even Mrs. Harker's pale face. She opened her eyes, and we +all started as she said, sweetly and seemingly with the utmost +unconcern:-- + +"Oh, Professor, why ask me to do what you know I can't? I don't remember +anything." Then, seeing the look of amazement on our faces, she said, +turning from one to the other with a troubled look:-- + +"What have I said? What have I done? I know nothing, only that I was +lying here, half asleep, and heard you say go on! speak, I command you!' +It seemed so funny to hear you order me about, as if I were a bad +child!" + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, sadly, "it is proof, if proof be needed, of +how I love and honour you, when a word for your good, spoken more +earnest than ever, can seem so strange because it is to order her whom I +am proud to obey!" + +The whistles are sounding; we are nearing Galatz. We are on fire with +anxiety and eagerness. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--Mr. Morris took me to the hotel where our rooms had been +ordered by telegraph, he being the one who could best be spared, since +he does not speak any foreign language. The forces were distributed +much as they had been at Varna, except that Lord Godalming went to the +Vice-Consul, as his rank might serve as an immediate guarantee of some +sort to the official, we being in extreme hurry. Jonathan and the two +doctors went to the shipping agent to learn particulars of the arrival +of the _Czarina Catherine_. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming has returned. The Consul is away, and the +Vice-Consul sick; so the routine work has been attended to by a clerk. +He was very obliging, and offered to do anything in his power. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--At nine o'clock Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and I called +on Messrs. Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm of +Hapgood. They had received a wire from London, in answer to Lord +Godalming's telegraphed request, asking us to show them any civility in +their power. They were more than kind and courteous, and took us at once +on board the _Czarina Catherine_, which lay at anchor out in the river +harbour. There we saw the Captain, Donelson by name, who told us of his +voyage. He said that in all his life he had never had so favourable a +run. + +"Man!" he said, "but it made us afeard, for we expeckit that we should +have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to keep up the +average. It's no canny to run frae London to the Black Sea wi' a wind +ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on yer sail for his +ain purpose. An' a' the time we could no speer a thing. Gin we were nigh +a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi' us, +till when after it had lifted and we looked out, the deil a thing could +we see. We ran by Gibraltar wi'oot bein' able to signal; an' till we +came to the Dardanelles and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we +never were within hail o' aught. At first I inclined to slack off sail +and beat about till the fog was lifted; but whiles, I thocht that if the +Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it +whether we would or no. If we had a quick voyage it would be no to our +miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic; an' the Old Mon who +had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no +hinderin' him." This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition +and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said:-- + +"Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some; and +he know when he meet his match!" The skipper was not displeased with the +compliment, and went on:-- + +"When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them, +the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had +been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started +frae London. I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa +fingers when they saw him, to guard against the evil eye. Man! but the +supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot +their business pretty quick; but as just after a fog closed in on us I +felt a wee bit as they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it was +agin the big box. Well, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up for +five days I joost let the wind carry us; for if the Deil wanted to get +somewheres--well, he would fetch it up a'reet. An' if he didn't, well, +we'd keep a sharp lookout anyhow. Sure eneuch, we had a fair way and +deep water all the time; and two days ago, when the mornin' sun came +through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite Galatz. +The Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take out the +box and fling it in the river. I had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a +handspike; an' when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in +his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the +property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the +river Danube. They had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to +fling in, and as it was marked Galatz _via_ Varna, I thocht I'd let it +lie till we discharged in the port an' get rid o't althegither. We +didn't do much clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor; +but in the mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sun-up, a man came +aboard wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box +marked for one Count Dracula. Sure eneuch the matter was one ready to +his hand. He had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the +dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it. If the Deil +did have any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither +than that same!" + +"What was the name of the man who took it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing with +restrained eagerness. + +"I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and, stepping down to his +cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim." Burgen-strasse +16 was the address. We found out that this was all the Captain knew; so +with thanks we came away. + +We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi +Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez. His arguments were +pointed with specie--we doing the punctuation--and with a little +bargaining he told us what he knew. This turned out to be simple but +important. He had received a letter from Mr. de Ville of London, telling +him to receive, if possible before sunrise so as to avoid customs, a box +which would arrive at Galatz in the _Czarina Catherine_. This he was to +give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks +who traded down the river to the port. He had been paid for his work by +an English bank note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube +International Bank. When Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him to +the ship and handed over the box, so as to save porterage. That was all +he knew. + +We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him. One of his +neighbours, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he had +gone away two days before, no one knew whither. This was corroborated by +his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house +together with the rent due, in English money. This had been between ten +and eleven o'clock last night. We were at a standstill again. + +Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped out that +the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the churchyard of +St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as if by some wild +animal. Those we had been speaking with ran off to see the horror, the +women crying out "This is the work of a Slovak!" We hurried away lest we +should have been in some way drawn into the affair, and so detained. + +As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion. We were all +convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to somewhere; but where +that might be we would have to discover. With heavy hearts we came home +to the hotel to Mina. + +When we met together, the first thing was to consult as to taking Mina +again into our confidence. Things are getting desperate, and it is at +least a chance, though a hazardous one. As a preliminary step, I was +released from my promise to her. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October, evening._--They were so tired and worn out and dispirited +that there was nothing to be done till they had some rest; so I asked +them all to lie down for half an hour whilst I should enter everything +up to the moment. I feel so grateful to the man who invented the +"Traveller's" typewriter, and to Mr. Morris for getting this one for +me. I should have felt quite; astray doing the work if I had to write +with a pen.... + +It is all done; poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered, +what must he be suffering now. He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to +breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse. His brows are knit; his +face is drawn with pain. Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I can +see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his thoughts. Oh! +if I could only help at all.... I shall do what I can. + +I have asked Dr. Van Helsing, and he has got me all the papers that I +have not yet seen.... Whilst they are resting, I shall go over all +carefully, and perhaps I may arrive at some conclusion. I shall try to +follow the Professor's example, and think without prejudice on the facts +before me.... + + * * * * * + +I do believe that under God's providence I have made a discovery. I +shall get the maps and look over them.... + + * * * * * + +I am more than ever sure that I am right. My new conclusion is ready, so +I shall get our party together and read it. They can judge it; it is +well to be accurate, and every minute is precious. + + +_Mina Harker's Memorandum._ + +(Entered in her Journal.) + +_Ground of inquiry._--Count Dracula's problem is to get back to his own +place. + +(_a_) He must be _brought back_ by some one. This is evident; for had he +power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or wolf, +or bat, or in some other way. He evidently fears discovery or +interference, in the state of helplessness in which he must be--confined +as he is between dawn and sunset in his wooden box. + +(_b_) _How is he to be taken?_--Here a process of exclusions may help +us. By road, by rail, by water? + +1. _By Road._--There are endless difficulties, especially in leaving the +city. + +(_x_) There are people; and people are curious, and investigate. A hint, +a surmise, a doubt as to what might be in the box, would destroy him. + +(_y_) There are, or there may be, customs and octroi officers to pass. + +(_z_) His pursuers might follow. This is his highest fear; and in order +to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled, so far as he can, even +his victim--me! + +2. _By Rail._--There is no one in charge of the box. It would have to +take its chance of being delayed; and delay would be fatal, with enemies +on the track. True, he might escape at night; but what would he be, if +left in a strange place with no refuge that he could fly to? This is not +what he intends; and he does not mean to risk it. + +3. _By Water._--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but with most +danger in another. On the water he is powerless except at night; even +then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves. But were +he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless; and he would +indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land; but if it were +unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would +still be desperate. + +We know from the record that he was on the water; so what we have to do +is to ascertain _what_ water. + +The first thing is to realise exactly what he has done as yet; we may, +then, get a light on what his later task is to be. + +_Firstly._--We must differentiate between what he did in London as part +of his general plan of action, when he was pressed for moments and had +to arrange as best he could. + +_Secondly_ we must see, as well as we can surmise it from the facts we +know of, what he has done here. + +As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent +invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of +exit from England; his immediate and sole purpose then was to escape. +The proof of this, is the letter of instructions sent to Immanuel +Hildesheim to clear and take away the box _before sunrise_. There is +also the instruction to Petrof Skinsky. These we must only guess at; but +there must have been some letter or message, since Skinsky came to +Hildesheim. + +That, so far, his plans were successful we know. The _Czarina Catherine_ +made a phenomenally quick journey--so much so that Captain Donelson's +suspicions were aroused; but his superstition united with his canniness +played the Count's game for him, and he ran with his favouring wind +through fogs and all till he brought up blindfold at Galatz. That the +Count's arrangements were well made, has been proved. Hildesheim cleared +the box, took it off, and gave it to Skinsky. Skinsky took it--and here +we lose the trail. We only know that the box is somewhere on the water, +moving along. The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have been +avoided. + +Now we come to what the Count must have done after his arrival--_on +land_, at Galatz. + +The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise. At sunrise the Count could +appear in his own form. Here, we ask why Skinsky was chosen at all to +aid in the work? In my husband's diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing +with the Slovaks who trade down the river to the port; and the man's +remark, that the murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general +feeling against his class. The Count wanted isolation. + +My surmise is, this: that in London the Count decided to get back to his +castle by water, as the most safe and secret way. He was brought from +the castle by Szgany, and probably they delivered their cargo to Slovaks +who took the boxes to Varna, for there they were shipped for London. +Thus the Count had knowledge of the persons who could arrange this +service. When the box was on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he +came out from his box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to +arranging the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and +he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he thought, +by murdering his agent. + +I have examined the map and find that the river most suitable for the +Slovaks to have ascended is either the Pruth or the Sereth. I read in +the typescript that in my trance I heard cows low and water swirling +level with my ears and the creaking of wood. The Count in his box, then, +was on a river in an open boat--propelled probably either by oars or +poles, for the banks are near and it is working against stream. There +would be no such sound if floating down stream. + +Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but we may +possibly investigate further. Now of these two, the Pruth is the more +easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at Fundu, joined by the Bistritza +which runs up round the Borgo Pass. The loop it makes is manifestly as +close to Dracula's castle as can be got by water. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal--continued._ + +When I had done reading, Jonathan took me in his arms and kissed me. The +others kept shaking me by both hands, and Dr. Van Helsing said:-- + +"Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have been where +we were blinded. Now we are on the track once again, and this time we +may succeed. Our enemy is at his most helpless; and if we can come on +him by day, on the water, our task will be over. He has a start, but he +is powerless to hasten, as he may not leave his box lest those who carry +him may suspect; for them to suspect would be to prompt them to throw +him in the stream where he perish. This he knows, and will not. Now men, +to our Council of War; for, here and now, we must plan what each and all +shall do." + +"I shall get a steam launch and follow him," said Lord Godalming. + +"And I, horses to follow on the bank lest by chance he land," said Mr. +Morris. + +"Good!" said the Professor, "both good. But neither must go alone. There +must be force to overcome force if need be; the Slovak is strong and +rough, and he carries rude arms." All the men smiled, for amongst them +they carried a small arsenal. Said Mr. Morris:-- + +"I have brought some Winchesters; they are pretty handy in a crowd, and +there may be wolves. The Count, if you remember, took some other +precautions; he made some requisitions on others that Mrs. Harker could +not quite hear or understand. We must be ready at all points." Dr. +Seward said:-- + +"I think I had better go with Quincey. We have been accustomed to hunt +together, and we two, well armed, will be a match for whatever may come +along. You must not be alone, Art. It may be necessary to fight the +Slovaks, and a chance thrust--for I don't suppose these fellows carry +guns--would undo all our plans. There must be no chances, this time; we +shall, not rest until the Count's head and body have been separated, and +we are sure that he cannot re-incarnate." He looked at Jonathan as he +spoke, and Jonathan looked at me. I could see that the poor dear was +torn about in his mind. Of course he wanted to be with me; but then the +boat service would, most likely, be the one which would destroy the ... +the ... the ... Vampire. (Why did I hesitate to write the word?) He was +silent awhile, and during his silence Dr. Van Helsing spoke:-- + +"Friend Jonathan, this is to you for twice reasons. First, because you +are young and brave and can fight, and all energies may be needed at the +last; and again that it is your right to destroy him--that--which has +wrought such woe to you and yours. Be not afraid for Madam Mina; she +will be my care, if I may. I am old. My legs are not so quick to run as +once; and I am not used to ride so long or to pursue as need be, or to +fight with lethal weapons. But I can be of other service; I can fight in +other way. And I can die, if need be, as well as younger men. Now let +me say that what I would is this: while you, my Lord Godalming and +friend Jonathan go in your so swift little steamboat up the river, and +whilst John and Quincey guard the bank where perchance he might be +landed, I will take Madam Mina right into the heart of the enemy's +country. Whilst the old fox is tied in his box, floating on the running +stream whence he cannot escape to land--where he dares not raise the lid +of his coffin-box lest his Slovak carriers should in fear leave him to +perish--we shall go in the track where Jonathan went,--from Bistritz +over the Borgo, and find our way to the Castle of Dracula. Here, Madam +Mina's hypnotic power will surely help, and we shall find our way--all +dark and unknown otherwise--after the first sunrise when we are near +that fateful place. There is much to be done, and other places to be +made sanctify, so that that nest of vipers be obliterated." Here +Jonathan interrupted him hotly:-- + +"Do you mean to say, Professor Van Helsing, that you would bring Mina, +in her sad case and tainted as she is with that devil's illness, right +into the jaws of his death-trap? Not for the world! Not for Heaven or +Hell!" He became almost speechless for a minute, and then went on:-- + +"Do you know what the place is? Have you seen that awful den of hellish +infamy--with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every +speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo? +Have you felt the Vampire's lips upon your throat?" Here he turned to +me, and as his eyes lit on my forehead he threw up his arms with a cry: +"Oh, my God, what have we done to have this terror upon us!" and he sank +down on the sofa in a collapse of misery. The Professor's voice, as he +spoke in clear, sweet tones, which seemed to vibrate in the air, calmed +us all:-- + +"Oh, my friend, it is because I would save Madam Mina from that awful +place that I would go. God forbid that I should take her into that +place. There is work--wild work--to be done there, that her eyes may not +see. We men here, all save Jonathan, have seen with their own eyes what +is to be done before that place can be purify. Remember that we are in +terrible straits. If the Count escape us this time--and he is strong and +subtle and cunning--he may choose to sleep him for a century, and then +in time our dear one"--he took my hand--"would come to him to keep him +company, and would be as those others that you, Jonathan, saw. You have +told us of their gloating lips; you heard their ribald laugh as they +clutched the moving bag that the Count threw to them. You shudder; and +well may it be. Forgive me that I make you so much pain, but it is +necessary. My friend, is it not a dire need for the which I am giving, +possibly my life? If it were that any one went into that place to stay, +it is I who would have to go to keep them company." + +"Do as you will," said Jonathan, with a sob that shook him all over, "we +are in the hands of God!" + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked. +How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true, and +so brave! And, too, it made me think of the wonderful power of money! +What can it not do when it is properly applied; and what might it do +when basely used. I felt so thankful that Lord Godalming is rich, and +that both he and Mr. Morris, who also has plenty of money, are willing +to spend it so freely. For if they did not, our little expedition could +not start, either so promptly or so well equipped, as it will within +another hour. It is not three hours since it was arranged what part each +of us was to do; and now Lord Godalming and Jonathan have a lovely steam +launch, with steam up ready to start at a moment's notice. Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris have half a dozen good horses, well appointed. We have +all the maps and appliances of various kinds that can be had. Professor +Van Helsing and I are to leave by the 11:40 train to-night for Veresti, +where we are to get a carriage to drive to the Borgo Pass. We are +bringing a good deal of ready money, as we are to buy a carriage and +horses. We shall drive ourselves, for we have no one whom we can trust +in the matter. The Professor knows something of a great many languages, +so we shall get on all right. We have all got arms, even for me a +large-bore revolver; Jonathan would not be happy unless I was armed like +the rest. Alas! I cannot carry one arm that the rest do; the scar on my +forehead forbids that. Dear Dr. Van Helsing comforts me by telling me +that I am fully armed as there may be wolves; the weather is getting +colder every hour, and there are snow-flurries which come and go as +warnings. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It took all my courage to say good-bye to my darling. We may +never meet again. Courage, Mina! the Professor is looking at you keenly; +his look is a warning. There must be no tears now--unless it may be that +God will let them fall in gladness. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_October 30. Night._--I am writing this in the light from the furnace +door of the steam launch: Lord Godalming is firing up. He is an +experienced hand at the work, as he has had for years a launch of his +own on the Thames, and another on the Norfolk Broads. Regarding our +plans, we finally decided that Mina's guess was correct, and that if any +waterway was chosen for the Count's escape back to his Castle, the +Sereth and then the Bistritza at its junction, would be the one. We took +it, that somewhere about the 47th degree, north latitude, would be the +place chosen for the crossing the country between the river and the +Carpathians. We have no fear in running at good speed up the river at +night; there is plenty of water, and the banks are wide enough apart to +make steaming, even in the dark, easy enough. Lord Godalming tells me to +sleep for a while, as it is enough for the present for one to be on +watch. But I cannot sleep--how can I with the terrible danger hanging +over my darling, and her going out into that awful place.... My only +comfort is that we are in the hands of God. Only for that faith it would +be easier to die than to live, and so be quit of all the trouble. Mr. +Morris and Dr. Seward were off on their long ride before we started; +they are to keep up the right bank, far enough off to get on higher +lands where they can see a good stretch of river and avoid the following +of its curves. They have, for the first stages, two men to ride and lead +their spare horses--four in all, so as not to excite curiosity. When +they dismiss the men, which shall be shortly, they shall themselves look +after the horses. It may be necessary for us to join forces; if so they +can mount our whole party. One of the saddles has a movable horn, and +can be easily adapted for Mina, if required. + +It is a wild adventure we are on. Here, as we are rushing along through +the darkness, with the cold from the river seeming to rise up and strike +us; with all the mysterious voices of the night around us, it all comes +home. We seem to be drifting into unknown places and unknown ways; into +a whole world of dark and dreadful things. Godalming is shutting the +furnace door.... + + * * * * * + +_31 October._--Still hurrying along. The day has come, and Godalming is +sleeping. I am on watch. The morning is bitterly cold; the furnace heat +is grateful, though we have heavy fur coats. As yet we have passed only +a few open boats, but none of them had on board any box or package of +anything like the size of the one we seek. The men were scared every +time we turned our electric lamp on them, and fell on their knees and +prayed. + + * * * * * + +_1 November, evening._--No news all day; we have found nothing of the +kind we seek. We have now passed into the Bistritza; and if we are wrong +in our surmise our chance is gone. We have over-hauled every boat, big +and little. Early this morning, one crew took us for a Government boat, +and treated us accordingly. We saw in this a way of smoothing matters, +so at Fundu, where the Bistritza runs into the Sereth, we got a +Roumanian flag which we now fly conspicuously. With every boat which we +have over-hauled since then this trick has succeeded; we have had every +deference shown to us, and not once any objection to whatever we chose +to ask or do. Some of the Slovaks tell us that a big boat passed them, +going at more than usual speed as she had a double crew on board. This +was before they came to Fundu, so they could not tell us whether the +boat turned into the Bistritza or continued on up the Sereth. At Fundu +we could not hear of any such boat, so she must have passed there in the +night. I am feeling very sleepy; the cold is perhaps beginning to tell +upon me, and nature must have rest some time. Godalming insists that he +shall keep the first watch. God bless him for all his goodness to poor +dear Mina and me. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--It is broad daylight. That good fellow would not +wake me. He says it would have been a sin to, for I slept peacefully and +was forgetting my trouble. It seems brutally selfish to me to have slept +so long, and let him watch all night; but he was quite right. I am a new +man this morning; and, as I sit here and watch him sleeping, I can do +all that is necessary both as to minding the engine, steering, and +keeping watch. I can feel that my strength and energy are coming back to +me. I wonder where Mina is now, and Van Helsing. They should have got to +Veresti about noon on Wednesday. It would take them some time to get the +carriage and horses; so if they had started and travelled hard, they +would be about now at the Borgo Pass. God guide and help them! I am +afraid to think what may happen. If we could only go faster! but we +cannot; the engines are throbbing and doing their utmost. I wonder how +Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris are getting on. There seem to be endless +streams running down the mountains into this river, but as none of them +are very large--at present, at all events, though they are terrible +doubtless in winter and when the snow melts--the horsemen may not have +met much obstruction. I hope that before we get to Strasba we may see +them; for if by that time we have not overtaken the Count, it may be +necessary to take counsel together what to do next. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 November._--Three days on the road. No news, and no time to write it +if there had been, for every moment is precious. We have had only the +rest needful for the horses; but we are both bearing it wonderfully. +Those adventurous days of ours are turning up useful. We must push on; +we shall never feel happy till we get the launch in sight again. + + * * * * * + +_3 November._--We heard at Fundu that the launch had gone up the +Bistritza. I wish it wasn't so cold. There are signs of snow coming; and +if it falls heavy it will stop us. In such case we must get a sledge and +go on, Russian fashion. + + * * * * * + +_4 November._--To-day we heard of the launch having been detained by an +accident when trying to force a way up the rapids. The Slovak boats get +up all right, by aid of a rope and steering with knowledge. Some went up +only a few hours before. Godalming is an amateur fitter himself, and +evidently it was he who put the launch in trim again. Finally, they got +up the rapids all right, with local help, and are off on the chase +afresh. I fear that the boat is not any better for the accident; the +peasantry tell us that after she got upon smooth water again, she kept +stopping every now and again so long as she was in sight. We must push +on harder than ever; our help may be wanted soon. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_31 October._--Arrived at Veresti at noon. The Professor tells me that +this morning at dawn he could hardly hypnotise me at all, and that all I +could say was: "dark and quiet." He is off now buying a carriage and +horses. He says that he will later on try to buy additional horses, so +that we may be able to change them on the way. We have something more +than 70 miles before us. The country is lovely, and most interesting; if +only we were under different conditions, how delightful it would be to +see it all. If Jonathan and I were driving through it alone what a +pleasure it would be. To stop and see people, and learn something of +their life, and to fill our minds and memories with all the colour and +picturesqueness of the whole wild, beautiful country and the quaint +people! But, alas!-- + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Dr. Van Helsing has returned. He has got the carriage and +horses; we are to have some dinner, and to start in an hour. The +landlady is putting us up a huge basket of provisions; it seems enough +for a company of soldiers. The Professor encourages her, and whispers to +me that it may be a week before we can get any good food again. He has +been shopping too, and has sent home such a wonderful lot of fur coats +and wraps, and all sorts of warm things. There will not be any chance of +our being cold. + + * * * * * + +We shall soon be off. I am afraid to think what may happen to us. We are +truly in the hands of God. He alone knows what may be, and I pray Him, +with all the strength of my sad and humble soul, that He will watch over +my beloved husband; that whatever may happen, Jonathan may know that I +loved him and honoured him more than I can say, and that my latest and +truest thought will be always for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 November._--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The +horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go +willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many +changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to +think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic; +he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well +to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea; and +off we go. It is a lovely country; full of beauties of all imaginable +kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full +of nice qualities. They are _very, very_ superstitious. In the first +house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my +forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to +keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an +extra amount of garlic into our food; and I can't abide garlic. Ever +since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have +escaped their suspicions. We are travelling fast, and as we have no +driver with us to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal; but I daresay +that fear of the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the way. The +Professor seems tireless; all day he would not take any rest, though he +made me sleep for a long spell. At sunset time he hypnotised me, and he +says that I answered as usual "darkness, lapping water and creaking +wood"; so our enemy is still on the river. I am afraid to think of +Jonathan, but somehow I have now no fear for him, or for myself. I write +this whilst we wait in a farmhouse for the horses to be got ready. Dr. +Van Helsing is sleeping, Poor dear, he looks very tired and old and +grey, but his mouth is set as firmly as a conqueror's; even in his sleep +he is instinct with resolution. When we have well started I must make +him rest whilst I drive. I shall tell him that we have days before us, +and we must not break down when most of all his strength will be +needed.... All is ready; we are off shortly. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--I was successful, and we took turns driving all +night; now the day is on us, bright though cold. There is a strange +heaviness in the air--I say heaviness for want of a better word; I mean +that it oppresses us both. It is very cold, and only our warm furs keep +us comfortable. At dawn Van Helsing hypnotised me; he says I answered +"darkness, creaking wood and roaring water," so the river is changing as +they ascend. I do hope that my darling will not run any chance of +danger--more than need be; but we are in God's hands. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, night._--All day long driving. The country gets wilder as +we go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at Veresti seemed +so far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to gather round us +and tower in front. We both seem in good spirits; I think we make an +effort each to cheer the other; in the doing so we cheer ourselves. Dr. +Van Helsing says that by morning we shall reach the Borgo Pass. The +houses are very few here now, and the Professor says that the last horse +we got will have to go on with us, as we may not be able to change. He +got two in addition to the two we changed, so that now we have a rude +four-in-hand. The dear horses are patient and good, and they give us no +trouble. We are not worried with other travellers, and so even I can +drive. We shall get to the Pass in daylight; we do not want to arrive +before. So we take it easy, and have each a long rest in turn. Oh, what +will to-morrow bring to us? We go to seek the place where my poor +darling suffered so much. God grant that we may be guided aright, and +that He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both, +and who are in such deadly peril. As for me, I am not worthy in His +sight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deign +to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred +His wrath. + + +_Memorandum by Abraham Van Helsing._ + +_4 November._--This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D., of +Purfleet, London, in case I may not see him. It may explain. It is +morning, and I write by a fire which all the night I have kept +alive--Madam Mina aiding me. It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey +heavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all +winter as the ground is hardening to receive it. It seems to have +affected Madam Mina; she has been so heavy of head all day that she was +not like herself. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps! She who is usual +so alert, have done literally nothing all the day; she even have lost +her appetite. She make no entry into her little diary, she who write so +faithful at every pause. Something whisper to me that all is not well. +However, to-night she is more _vif_. Her long sleep all day have refresh +and restore her, for now she is all sweet and bright as ever. At sunset +I try to hypnotise her, but alas! with no effect; the power has grown +less and less with each day, and to-night it fail me altogether. Well, +God's will be done--whatever it may be, and whithersoever it may lead! + +Now to the historical, for as Madam Mina write not in her stenography, I +must, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so each day of us may not go +unrecorded. + +We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday morning. When I +saw the signs of the dawn I got ready for the hypnotism. We stopped our +carriage, and got down so that there might be no disturbance. I made a +couch with furs, and Madam Mina, lying down, yield herself as usual, but +more slow and more short time than ever, to the hypnotic sleep. As +before, came the answer: "darkness and the swirling of water." Then she +woke, bright and radiant and we go on our way and soon reach the Pass. +At this time and place, she become all on fire with zeal; some new +guiding power be in her manifested, for she point to a road and say:-- + +"This is the way." + +"How know you it?" I ask. + +"Of course I know it," she answer, and with a pause, add: "Have not my +Jonathan travelled it and wrote of his travel?" + +At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be only one +such by-road. It is used but little, and very different from the coach +road from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more wide and hard, and +more of use. + +So we came down this road; when we meet other ways--not always were we +sure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect and light snow +have fallen--the horses know and they only. I give rein to them, and +they go on so patient. By-and-by we find all the things which Jonathan +have note in that wonderful diary of him. Then we go on for long, long +hours and hours. At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep; she try, and +she succeed. She sleep all the time; till at the last, I feel myself to +suspicious grow, and attempt to wake her. But she sleep on, and I may +not wake her though I try. I do not wish to try too hard lest I harm +her; for I know that she have suffer much, and sleep at times be +all-in-all to her. I think I drowse myself, for all of sudden I feel +guilt, as though I have done something; I find myself bolt up, with the +reins in my hand, and the good horses go along jog, jog, just as ever. I +look down and find Madam Mina still sleep. It is now not far off sunset +time, and over the snow the light of the sun flow in big yellow flood, +so that we throw great long shadow on where the mountain rise so steep. +For we are going up, and up; and all is oh! so wild and rocky, as though +it were the end of the world. + +Then I arouse Madam Mina. This time she wake with not much trouble, and +then I try to put her to hypnotic sleep. But she sleep not, being as +though I were not. Still I try and try, till all at once I find her and +myself in dark; so I look round, and find that the sun have gone down. +Madam Mina laugh, and I turn and look at her. She is now quite awake, +and look so well as I never saw her since that night at Carfax when we +first enter the Count's house. I am amaze, and not at ease then; but she +is so bright and tender and thoughtful for me that I forget all fear. I +light a fire, for we have brought supply of wood with us, and she +prepare food while I undo the horses and set them, tethered in shelter, +to feed. Then when I return to the fire she have my supper ready. I go +to help her; but she smile, and tell me that she have eat already--that +she was so hungry that she would not wait. I like it not, and I have +grave doubts; but I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of it. She +help me and I eat alone; and then we wrap in fur and lie beside the +fire, and I tell her to sleep while I watch. But presently I forget all +of watching; and when I sudden remember that I watch, I find her lying +quiet, but awake, and looking at me with so bright eyes. Once, twice +more the same occur, and I get much sleep till before morning. When I +wake I try to hypnotise her; but alas! though she shut her eyes +obedient, she may not sleep. The sun rise up, and up, and up; and then +sleep come to her too late, but so heavy that she will not wake. I have +to lift her up, and place her sleeping in the carriage when I have +harnessed the horses and made all ready. Madam still sleep, and she look +in her sleep more healthy and more redder than before. And I like it +not. And I am afraid, afraid, afraid!--I am afraid of all things--even +to think but I must go on my way. The stake we play for is life and +death, or more than these, and we must not flinch. + + * * * * * + +_5 November, morning._--Let me be accurate in everything, for though you +and I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first think +that I, Van Helsing, am mad--that the many horrors and the so long +strain on nerves has at the last turn my brain. + +All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains, and +moving into a more and more wild and desert land. There are great, +frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have held +sometime her carnival. Madam Mina still sleep and sleep; and though I +did have hunger and appeased it, I could not waken her--even for food. I +began to fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon her, tainted as +she is with that Vampire baptism. "Well," said I to myself, "if it be +that she sleep all the day, it shall also be that I do not sleep at +night." As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient and +imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept. Again I waked +with a sense of guilt and of time passed, and found Madam Mina still +sleeping, and the sun low down. But all was indeed changed; the frowning +mountains seemed further away, and we were near the top of a +steep-rising hill, on summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell +of in his diary. At once I exulted and feared; for now, for good or ill, +the end was near. + +I woke Madam Mina, and again tried to hypnotise her; but alas! +unavailing till too late. Then, ere the great dark came upon us--for +even after down-sun the heavens reflected the gone sun on the snow, and +all was for a time in a great twilight--I took out the horses and fed +them in what shelter I could. Then I make a fire; and near it I make +Madam Mina, now awake and more charming than ever, sit comfortable amid +her rugs. I got ready food: but she would not eat, simply saying that +she had not hunger. I did not press her, knowing her unavailingness. But +I myself eat, for I must needs now be strong for all. Then, with the +fear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so big for her comfort, round +where Madam Mina sat; and over the ring I passed some of the wafer, and +I broke it fine so that all was well guarded. She sat still all the +time--so still as one dead; and she grew whiter and ever whiter till the +snow was not more pale; and no word she said. But when I drew near, she +clung to me, and I could know that the poor soul shook her from head to +feet with a tremor that was pain to feel. I said to her presently, when +she had grown more quiet:-- + +"Will you not come over to the fire?" for I wished to make a test of +what she could. She rose obedient, but when she have made a step she +stopped, and stood as one stricken. + +"Why not go on?" I asked. She shook her head, and, coming back, sat +down in her place. Then, looking at me with open eyes, as of one waked +from sleep, she said simply:-- + +"I cannot!" and remained silent. I rejoiced, for I knew that what she +could not, none of those that we dreaded could. Though there might be +danger to her body, yet her soul was safe! + +Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their tethers till I +came to them and quieted them. When they did feel my hands on them, they +whinnied low as in joy, and licked at my hands and were quiet for a +time. Many times through the night did I come to them, till it arrive to +the cold hour when all nature is at lowest; and every time my coming was +with quiet of them. In the cold hour the fire began to die, and I was +about stepping forth to replenish it, for now the snow came in flying +sweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the dark there was a light of +some kind, as there ever is over snow; and it seemed as though the +snow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of women with +trailing garments. All was in dead, grim silence only that the horses +whinnied and cowered, as if in terror of the worst. I began to +fear--horrible fears; but then came to me the sense of safety in that +ring wherein I stood. I began, too, to think that my imaginings were of +the night, and the gloom, and the unrest that I have gone through, and +all the terrible anxiety. It was as though my memories of all Jonathan's +horrid experience were befooling me; for the snow flakes and the mist +began to wheel and circle round, till I could get as though a shadowy +glimpse of those women that would have kissed him. And then the horses +cowered lower and lower, and moaned in terror as men do in pain. Even +the madness of fright was not to them, so that they could break away. I +feared for my dear Madam Mina when these weird figures drew near and +circled round. I looked at her, but she sat calm, and smiled at me; when +I would have stepped to the fire to replenish it, she caught me and held +me back, and whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so low +it was:-- + +"No! No! Do not go without. Here you are safe!" I turned to her, and +looking in her eyes, said:-- + +"But you? It is for you that I fear!" whereat she laughed--a laugh, low +and unreal, and said:-- + +"Fear for _me_! Why fear for me? None safer in all the world from them +than I am," and as I wondered at the meaning of her words, a puff of +wind made the flame leap up, and I see the red scar on her forehead. +Then, alas! I knew. Did I not, I would soon have learned, for the +wheeling figures of mist and snow came closer, but keeping ever without +the Holy circle. Then they began to materialise till--if God have not +take away my reason, for I saw it through my eyes--there were before me +in actual flesh the same three women that Jonathan saw in the room, when +they would have kissed his throat. I knew the swaying round forms, the +bright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous +lips. They smiled ever at poor dear Madam Mina; and as their laugh came +through the silence of the night, they twined their arms and pointed to +her, and said in those so sweet tingling tones that Jonathan said were +of the intolerable sweetness of the water-glasses:-- + +"Come, sister. Come to us. Come! Come!" In fear I turned to my poor +Madam Mina, and my heart with gladness leapt like flame; for oh! the +terror in her sweet eyes, the repulsion, the horror, told a story to my +heart that was all of hope. God be thanked she was not, yet, of them. I +seized some of the firewood which was by me, and holding out some of the +Wafer, advanced on them towards the fire. They drew back before me, and +laughed their low horrid laugh. I fed the fire, and feared them not; for +I knew that we were safe within our protections. They could not +approach, me, whilst so armed, nor Madam Mina whilst she remained within +the ring, which she could not leave no more than they could enter. The +horses had ceased to moan, and lay still on the ground; the snow fell on +them softly, and they grew whiter. I knew that there was for the poor +beasts no more of terror. + +And so we remained till the red of the dawn to fall through the +snow-gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror; but +when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again. +At the first coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in the +whirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom moved away +towards the castle, and were lost. + +Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina, intending +to hypnotise her; but she lay in a deep and sudden sleep, from which I +could not wake her. I tried to hypnotise through her sleep, but she made +no response, none at all; and the day broke. I fear yet to stir. I have +made my fire and have seen the horses, they are all dead. To-day I have +much to do here, and I keep waiting till the sun is up high; for there +may be places where I must go, where that sunlight, though snow and mist +obscure it, will be to me a safety. + +I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my terrible +work. Madam Mina still sleeps; and, God be thanked! she is calm in her +sleep.... + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 November, evening._--The accident to the launch has been a terrible +thing for us. Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago; +and by now my dear Mina would have been free. I fear to think of her, +off on the wolds near that horrid place. We have got horses, and we +follow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready. We +have our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean fight. Oh, if only +Morris and Seward were with us. We must only hope! If I write no more +Good-bye, Mina! God bless and keep you. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 November._--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashing +away from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded it in a +cluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is falling lightly +and there is a strange excitement in the air. It may be our own +feelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the howling of +wolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and there are +dangers to all of us, and from all sides. The horses are nearly ready, +and we are soon off. We ride to death of some one. God alone knows who, +or where, or what, or when, or how it may be.... + + +_Dr. Van Helsing's Memorandum._ + +_5 November, afternoon._--I am at least sane. Thank God for that mercy +at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I left +Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the castle. +The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from Veresti was +useful; though the doors were all open I broke them off the rusty +hinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close them, so that +being entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter experience served +me here. By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel, for I +knew that here my work lay. The air was oppressive; it seemed as if +there was some sulphurous fume, which at times made me dizzy. Either +there was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar off the howl of wolves. +Then I bethought me of my dear Madam Mina, and I was in terrible plight. +The dilemma had me between his horns. + +Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe from the +Vampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf! I +resolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we must +submit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death and +freedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself the +choice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in than +the grave of the Vampire! So I make my choice to go on with my work. + +I knew that there were at least three graves to find--graves that are +inhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She lay in her +Vampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I shudder as +though I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in old time, when +such things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as mine, +found at the last his heart fail him, and then his nerve. So he delay, +and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of the +wanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain on and on, till sunset +come, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the beautiful eyes of the fair +woman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a +kiss--and man is weak. And there remain one more victim in the Vampire +fold; one more to swell the grim and grisly ranks of the Un-Dead!... + +There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presence +of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age and +heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour such +as the lairs of the Count have had. Yes, I was moved--I, Van Helsing, +with all my purpose and with my motive for hate--I was moved to a +yearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties and to clog my +very soul. It may have been that the need of natural sleep, and the +strange oppression of the air were beginning to overcome me. Certain it +was that I was lapsing into sleep, the open-eyed sleep of one who yields +to a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled air a +long, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me like the sound +of a clarion. For it was the voice of my dear Madam Mina that I heard. + +Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by wrenching +away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one. I dared not +pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should +begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find in +a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sister +which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of +the mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so +exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls +some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl +with new emotion. But God be thanked, that soul-wail of my dear Madam +Mina had not died out of my ears; and, before the spell could be wrought +further upon me, I had nerved myself to my wild work. By this time I had +searched all the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell; and as +there had been only three of these Un-Dead phantoms around us in the +night, I took it that there were no more of active Un-Dead existent. +There was one great tomb more lordly than all the rest; huge it was, and +nobly proportioned. On it was but one word + + DRACULA. + +This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so many more +were due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what I knew. +Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through my +awful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished +him from it, Un-Dead, for ever. + +Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it. Had it been but one, it +had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I had +been through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweet +Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survived +through centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of the +years; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives.... + +Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work; had I not been nerved by +thoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung such a pall of +fear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble even yet, though +till all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand. Had I not seen +the repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole over it just +ere the final dissolution came, as realisation that the soul had been +won, I could not have gone further with my butchery. I could not have +endured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging of +writhing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled in terror and +left my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls, I can pity them +now and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of death +for a short moment ere fading. For, friend John, hardly had my knife +severed the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away and +crumble in to its native dust, as though the death that should have come +centuries agone had at last assert himself and say at once and loud "I +am here!" + +Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never more can +the Count enter there Un-Dead. + +When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke from her +sleep, and, seeing, me, cried out in pain that I had endured too much. + +"Come!" she said, "come away from this awful place! Let us go to meet my +husband who is, I know, coming towards us." She was looking thin and +pale and weak; but her eyes were pure and glowed with fervour. I was +glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the +fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep. + +And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go eastward to meet +our friends--and _him_--whom Madam Mina tell me that she _know_ are +coming to meet us. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_6 November._--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I +took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming. We did +not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to take +heavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility of being +left without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take some of our +provisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as we +could see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign of +habitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavy +walking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw where the +clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so deep under +the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective of the +Carpathian mountains was far below it. We saw it in all its grandeur, +perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice, and with +seemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the adjacent mountain +on any side. There was something wild and uncanny about the place. We +could hear the distant howling of wolves. They were far off, but the +sound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was +full of terror. I knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching about +that he was trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be less +exposed in case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; we +could trace it through the drifted snow. + +In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and joined +him. He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow in a rock, +with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders. He took me by the +hand and drew me in: "See!" he said, "here you will be in shelter; and +if the wolves do come I can meet them one by one." He brought in our +furs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some provisions and +forced them upon me. But I could not eat; to even try to do so was +repulsive to me, and, much as I would have liked to please him, I could +not bring myself to the attempt. He looked very sad, but did not +reproach me. Taking his field-glasses from the case, he stood on the top +of the rock, and began to search the horizon. Suddenly he called out:-- + +"Look! Madam Mina, look! look!" I sprang up and stood beside him on the +rock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow was now falling +more heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginning +to blow. However, there were times when there were pauses between the +snow flurries and I could see a long way round. From the height where we +were it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond the +white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon in +kinks and curls as it wound its way. Straight in front of us and not far +off--in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before--came a +group of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a +long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail +wagging, with each stern inequality of the road. Outlined against the +snow as they were, I could see from the men's clothes that they were +peasants or gypsies of some kind. + +On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw it, for I +felt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing close, and +well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then imprisoned +there, would take new freedom and could in any of many forms elude all +pursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor; to my consternation, +however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him below me. Round +the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found shelter in last +night. When he had completed it he stood beside me again, saying:-- + +"At least you shall be safe here from _him_!" He took the glasses from +me, and at the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us. +"See," he said, "they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, and +galloping as hard as they can." He paused and went on in a hollow +voice:-- + +"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will be +done!" Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole +landscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and once more his +glasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden cry:-- + +"Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming up from the +south. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look before the snow +blots it all out!" I took it and looked. The two men might be Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan. +At the same time I _knew_ that Jonathan was not far off; looking around +I saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding at +break-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took, +of course, to be Lord Godalming. They, too, were pursuing the party with +the cart. When I told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy, +and, after looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, he +laid his Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at the +opening of our shelter. "They are all converging," he said. "When the +time comes we shall have gypsies on all sides." I got out my revolver +ready to hand, for whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came +louder and closer. When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again. +It was strange to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us, +and beyond, the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank down +towards the far mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I could +see here and there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger +numbers--the wolves were gathering for their prey. + +Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now in +fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us in +circling eddies. At times we could not see an arm's length before us; +but at others, as the hollow-sounding wind swept by us, it seemed to +clear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off. We had of +late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that we knew +with fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that before long the +sun would set. It was hard to believe that by our watches it was less +than an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the various +bodies began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercer +and more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seemingly +had driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts, +the snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each +party, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did +not seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they +seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower +and lower on the mountain tops. + +Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behind +our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determined +that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of our +presence. + +All at once two voices shouted out to: "Halt!" One was my Jonathan's, +raised in a high key of passion; the other Mr. Morris' strong resolute +tone of quiet command. The gypsies may not have known the language, but +there was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the words were +spoken. Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant Lord Godalming +and Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris on the +other. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid-looking fellow who sat his +horse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a fierce voice gave to his +companions some word to proceed. They lashed the horses which sprang +forward; but the four men raised their Winchester rifles, and in an +unmistakable way commanded them to stop. At the same moment Dr. Van +Helsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them. +Seeing that they were surrounded the men tightened their reins and drew +up. The leader turned to them and gave a word at which every man of the +gypsy party drew what weapon he carried, knife or pistol, and held +himself in readiness to attack. Issue was joined in an instant. + +The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out in +front, and pointing first to the sun--now close down on the hill +tops--and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand. +For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their horses +and dashed towards the cart. I should have felt terrible fear at seeing +Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have been +upon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild, +surging desire to do something. Seeing the quick movement of our +parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command; his men instantly +formed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined endeavour, each one +shouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness to carry out the +order. + +In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring +of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it was +evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun +should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither the +levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, nor +the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their +attention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his +purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they +cowered, aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon the +cart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great +box, and flung it over the wheel to the ground. In the meantime, Mr. +Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring of +Szgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had, +with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and had +seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them, and +they cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at first +I thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he sprang +beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could see that +with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the blood was +spurting through his fingers. He did not delay notwithstanding this, for +as Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked one end of the chest, +attempting to prize off the lid with his great Kukri knife, he attacked +the other frantically with his bowie. Under the efforts of both men the +lid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, and +the top of the box was thrown back. + +By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters, +and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and made +no resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the +shadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow. I saw the Count +lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from +the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen +image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I +knew too well. + +As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them +turned to triumph. + +But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. +I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same +moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart. + +It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in the +drawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed from +our sight. + +I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final +dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never +could have imagined might have rested there. + +The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone +of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the +setting sun. + +The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinary +disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away as +if for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped upon the +leiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them. The wolves, +which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their wake, leaving +us alone. + +Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his +hand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through his fingers. I +flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the +two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his +head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand +in that of his own which was unstained. He must have seen the anguish of +my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said:-- + +"I am only too happy to have been of any service! Oh, God!" he cried +suddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and pointing to me, "It was +worth for this to die! Look! look!" + +The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams +fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse +the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all +as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger. The dying man +spoke:-- + +"Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not +more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!" + +And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a +gallant gentleman. + + + + + NOTE + + +Seven years ago we all went through the flames; and the happiness of +some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured. It +is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same +day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the +secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into +him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together; but +we call him Quincey. + +In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania, and went +over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid and +terrible memories. It was almost impossible to believe that the things +which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears were +living truths. Every trace of all that had been was blotted out. The +castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation. + +When we got home we were talking of the old time--which we could all +look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are both happily +married. I took the papers from the safe where they had been ever since +our return so long ago. We were struck with the fact, that in all the +mass of material of which the record is composed, there is hardly one +authentic document; nothing but a mass of typewriting, except the later +note-books of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van Helsing's memorandum. +We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as +proofs of so wild a story. Van Helsing summed it all up as he said, with +our boy on his knee:-- + +"We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy will some day +know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is. Already he knows her +sweetness and loving care; later on he will understand how some men so +loved her, that they did dare much for her sake." + +JONATHAN HARKER. + + THE END + + * * * * * + + _There's More to Follow!_ + + More stories of the sort you like; more, probably, by the author of + this one; more than 500 titles all told by writers of world-wide + reputation, in the Authors' Alphabetical List which you will find + on the _reverse side_ of the wrapper of this book. Look it over + before you lay it aside. There are books here you are sure to + want--some, possibly, that you have _always_ wanted. + + It is a _selected_ list; every book in it has achieved a certain + measure of _success_. + + The Grosset & Dunlap list is not only the greatest Index of Good + Fiction available, it represents in addition a generally accepted + Standard of Value. It will pay you to + + _Look on the Other Side of the Wrapper!_ + + _In case the wrapper is lost write to the publishers for a complete + catalog_ + + * * * * * + +DETECTIVE STORIES BY J. S. FLETCHER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +THE SECRET OF THE BARBICAN + +THE ANNEXATION SOCIETY + +THE WOLVES AND THE LAMB + +GREEN INK + +THE KING versus WARGRAVE + +THE LOST MR. LINTHWAITE + +THE MILL OF MANY WINDOWS + +THE HEAVEN-KISSED HILL + +THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER + +RAVENSDENE COURT + +THE RAYNER-SLADE AMALGAMATION + +THE SAFETY PIN + +THE SECRET WAY + +THE VALLEY OF HEADSTRONG MEN + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +in a very simply way=> in a very simple way {pg 68} + +"The Westminister Gazette," 25 September.=> "The Westminster Gazette," +25 September. {pg 165} + +It have told him=> She must have told him {pg 169} + +from md sight=> from my sight {pg}184 + +Goldaming=> Godalming {pg 226} + +I I did not want to hinder him=> I did not want to hinder him {pg 267} + +They lay in a sort of or-orderly=> They lay in a sort of orderly {pg +279} + +Translyvania=> Transylvania {pg 294} + +this mrrning from Dardanelles=> this morning from Dardanelles {pg 313} + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + +***** This file should be named 345-8.txt or 345-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/345/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/content/my_content/poe.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/content/my_content/poe.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20bdbdb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/content/my_content/poe.txt @@ -0,0 +1,887 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven +Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition + Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes + +Author: Edgar Allan Poe + +Release Date: May 19, 2008 [EBook #25525] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Contents and Index of Five Volumes + + +THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE + +TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX OF THE FIVE VOLUMES + +The Raven Edition + + +Project Gutenberg Volumes: +#2147, #2148, #2149, #2150, #2151 + + + +CONTENTS + +INDEX + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME 1 + +EDGAR ALLAN POE + +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE + +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL + +THE GOLD-BUG + +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD + +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE + +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET + +THE BALLOON-HOAX + +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE + +THE OVAL PORTRAIT + +VOLUME 2 + +THE PURLOINED LETTER + +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE + +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM. + +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY + +MESMERIC REVELATION + +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR + +THE BLACK CAT. + +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER + +SILENCE—A FABLE + +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. + +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. + +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE + +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY + +THE ASSIGNATION + +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM + +THE PREMATURE BURIAL + +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM + +LANDOR'S COTTAGE + +WILLIAM WILSON + +THE TELL-TALE HEART. + +BERENICE + +ELEONORA + +VOLUME 3 +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM + +CHAPTER 1 + +CHAPTER 2 + +CHAPTER 3 + +CHAPTER 4 + +CHAPTER 5 + +CHAPTER 6 + +CHAPTER 7 + +CHAPTER 8 + +CHAPTER 9 + +CHAPTER 10 + +CHAPTER 11 + +CHAPTER 12 + +CHAPTER 13 + +CHAPTER 14 + +CHAPTER 15 + +CHAPTER 16 + +CHAPTER 17 + +CHAPTER 18 + +CHAPTER 19 + +CHAPTER 20 + +CHAPTER 21 + +CHAPTER 22 + +CHAPTER 23 + +CHAPTER 24 + +CHAPTER 25 + +Notes + +LIGEIA + +MORELLA + +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS + +THE SPECTACLES + +KING PEST. + +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK + +VOLUME 4 + +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY + +LIONIZING + +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +METZENGERSTEIN + +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER + +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. + +A PREDICAMENT + +MYSTIFICATION + +DIDDLING + +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD + +MELLONTA TAUTA + +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. + +THE OBLONG BOX. + +LOSS OF BREATH + +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. + +THE BUSINESS MAN + +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN + +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER + +THE POWER OF WORDS + +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA + +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION + +SHADOW—A PARABLE + +VOLUME 5 + +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. + +A TALE OF JERUSALEM + +THE SPHINX + +HOP-FROG + +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. + +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD + +THOU ART THE MAN + +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING + +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. + +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE + +OLD ENGLISH POETRY + +POEMS + +PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE + +THE RAVEN. + +THE BELLS. + +ULALUME + +TO HELEN + +ANNABEL LEE. + +A VALENTINE. + +AN ENIGMA + +FOR ANNIE + +TO F——. + +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD + +ELDORADO. + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + +THE SLEEPER. + +NOTES + +POEMS OF MANHOOD + +LENORE + +TO ONE IN PARADISE. + +THE COLISEUM. + +THE HAUNTED PALACE. + +THE CONQUEROR WORM. + +SILENCE + +DREAM-LAND + +HYMN + +TO ZANTE + +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" + +POEMS OF YOUTH + +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 + +LETTER TO MR. B—. + +SONNET—TO SCIENCE + +AL AARAAF + +TAMERLANE + +TO HELEN + +THE VALLEY OF UNREST + +ISRAFEL + +TO —— + +TO —— + +TO THE RIVER—— + +SONG + +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD + +A DREAM + +ROMANCE + +FAIRY-LAND + +THE LAKE —— TO—— + +EVENING STAR + +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." + +IMITATION + +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS + +DREAMS + +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +NOTES + +DOUBTFUL POEMS + +ALONE + +TO ISADORE + +THE VILLAGE STREET + +THE FOREST REVERIE + +NOTES + + + +INDEX + +PROSE +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD +THE ASSIGNATION +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. +THE BUSINESS MAN +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE +EDGAR ALLAN POE +THE BALLOON-HOAX +THE BLACK CAT. +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD +BERENICE +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY +DIDDLING +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. +ELEONORA +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING +THE GOLD-BUG +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM +HOP-FROG +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY +A TALE OF JERUSALEM +KING PEST. +LANDOR'S COTTAGE +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN +LIGEIA +LIONIZING +LOSS OF BREATH +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. +MELLONTA TAUTA +MESMERIC REVELATION +METZENGERSTEIN +MORELLA +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET +MYSTIFICATION +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD +THE OBLONG BOX. +THE OVAL PORTRAIT +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM +THE POWER OF WORDS +A PREDICAMENT +THE PREMATURE BURIAL +THE PURLOINED LETTER +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS +SHADOW—A PARABLE +SILENCE—A FABLE +THE SPECTACLES +THE SPHINX +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER +THE TELL-TALE HEART. +THOU ART THE MAN +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY +WILLIAM WILSON +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +POETRY +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE +OLD ENGLISH POETRY PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE +ANNABEL LEE. +FOR ANNIE +THE BELLS. +THE CITY IN THE SEA. +ELDORADO. +AN ENIGMA +TO F——. +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD +TO HELEN +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +THE RAVEN. +THE SLEEPER. +ULALUME +A VALENTINE. + +POEMS OF MANHOOD +THE COLISEUM. +THE CONQUEROR WORM. +DREAM-LAND +THE HAUNTED PALACE. +HYMN +LENORE +TO ONE IN PARADISE. +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" +SILENCE +TO ZANTE + +POEMS OF YOUTH +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 +LETTER TO MR. B—. +AL AARAAF +A DREAM +DREAMS +EVENING STAR +FAIRY-LAND +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." +TO HELEN +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS +IMITATION +ISRAFEL +THE LAKE —— TO—— +SONG +SONNET—TO SCIENCE +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD +TAMERLANE +TO —— +TO —— +TO THE RIVER—— +ROMANCE +THE VALLEY OF UNREST +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +DOUBTFUL POEMS +ALONE +THE FOREST REVERIE +TO ISADORE +THE VILLAGE STREET + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The +Raven Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + +***** This file should be named 25525-8.txt or 25525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/2/25525/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5491199 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example", + "head": "1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81ac450 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +03f76e45d6a4d8cee0ffff27adb3167427bf4317336a296245245afd0417125e34259a2bd75845e3b7d9855fbe93fe30f93dc29b30091c1857c505bb0b6e63a2 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5491199 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example", + "head": "1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81ac450 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_invalid_version_format/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +03f76e45d6a4d8cee0ffff27adb3167427bf4317336a296245245afd0417125e34259a2bd75845e3b7d9855fbe93fe30f93dc29b30091c1857c505bb0b6e63a2 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a97fd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "Version, the first", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "http://example.org/a_person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..559e3c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a38e93d8cfd22bc6622521d38e77e6814d109265fdbf2d0cb55310ff0e55497bb9cd56426afde58a6a8c7c05ed46415febee5c6b73f3c24e90c51d86d97a8e8f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a97fd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "Version, the first", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "http://example.org/a_person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..559e3c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a38e93d8cfd22bc6622521d38e77e6814d109265fdbf2d0cb55310ff0e55497bb9cd56426afde58a6a8c7c05ed46415febee5c6b73f3c24e90c51d86d97a8e8f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v2 b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v2 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d700b61 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E001_v2_file_in_root/v2 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +I look like a version directory but I am a file! diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E003_E063_empty/.keep b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_E063_empty/.keep new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69de29 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23b7a31 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-29T19:50:12+05:00", + "message": "Just a file", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "name": "Arthur B Gone", + "address": "https://example.org/a_b_gone" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08d2668 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +c577257fd39ab18316b7434b3c9851f29106ebf27259bca4bfcbdc856b17e0bd00411cd6112e2c469f9fc59179e968f4b7e82b17128d568bcac7d305e508988f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23b7a31 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-29T19:50:12+05:00", + "message": "Just a file", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "name": "Arthur B Gone", + "address": "https://example.org/a_b_gone" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08d2668 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E003_no_decl/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +c577257fd39ab18316b7434b3c9851f29106ebf27259bca4bfcbdc856b17e0bd00411cd6112e2c469f9fc59179e968f4b7e82b17128d568bcac7d305e508988f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e062052 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +This is not the right content! diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E007_bad_declaration_contents/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..05328a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,9 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "id": "http://example.org/E008_no_versions", + "manifest": { + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52100a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E008_E036_no_versions_no_head/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +1b43994e65641ec7d13bd80261bda22409291ef8f15d2af26c070b162f2bed8b206589a2c390eb74f94343af65e9898035455e4428bd4d0cd1e45d01168c9b52 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da644b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,72 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v4", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0a3ffc --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +854a7a53ab88df13b36fff1853c23b149cbf0c55075aee0a75db4a3b7cc86e74039b2079c8fcb98f28fa385b1869302b5c4ef74c1729117c084310256a3ca19c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fb8de1 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d3f2da --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +aa8501106bb71eac163074401fc654b1aa703bc1cb5faa460e66aa7e96e0e46e487b9efde2a570d77166790381de835c1f8669b4d83bfbda6f9d264fe422743e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ac9cea --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ec5a03 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +94bd9780f716c842e71b70541f329f82b21722963b396c02fcf2a83626353105326acb7ad2ce6808ecfbc2ee1126002339e6790e712d3e22a6e7a27d74a7eccc inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v4/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v4/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da644b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v4/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,72 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v4", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0a3ffc --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_missing_versions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +854a7a53ab88df13b36fff1853c23b149cbf0c55075aee0a75db4a3b7cc86e74039b2079c8fcb98f28fa385b1869302b5c4ef74c1729117c084310256a3ca19c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fa1fbb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,99 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v8", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v5": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v7": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:04.397642206-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Seventh", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v8": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:38.801918196-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-8.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-7.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Eighth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c01318f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2d2a06da3e95595f97523e87307c378945a07671e48210fede4922cab79468c6082797987c60fd70fa154af81c2c437ce01c9a66055fc9afc8c3ab7713ef762c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fb8de1 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d3f2da --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +aa8501106bb71eac163074401fc654b1aa703bc1cb5faa460e66aa7e96e0e46e487b9efde2a570d77166790381de835c1f8669b4d83bfbda6f9d264fe422743e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v4/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v4/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..512d038 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v4/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v4", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ce7356 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3f92ab3075a3ffc78f763dcfb60602ed88764fd80cb88039f2f3bf901f24ff311470a3fb79d7be535206e49eee05be6a10922a5ca4593ac14855f405d05471c4 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v5/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v5/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28f16da --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v5/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v5", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v5": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v5/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v5/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2d4a0b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v5/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +16dc5cbe936d8763ef470c1f48c58da8227acac70f1942232e60e3a3e224119421f3f7bc55adb5b24c87ef0f7b3e5877af69f0ce22231e40abccfcb7cc677090 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v7/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v7/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc84fba --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v7/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,79 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v7", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v5": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v7": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:04.397642206-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-6.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Seventh", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v7/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v7/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1725016 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v7/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +c9dce3764bb599208d254becdd680c2066d9f6fe68ad241d9ecccd5005cb7b854c6a8ef663270981b6c2741b923795343049967b2bd0cdf5d9bed6997da1cee8 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v8/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v8/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fa1fbb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v8/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,99 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v8", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v5": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v7": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:04.397642206-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Seventh", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v8": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:38.801918196-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-8.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-7.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Eighth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v8/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v8/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c01318f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E010_skipped_versions/v8/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2d2a06da3e95595f97523e87307c378945a07671e48210fede4922cab79468c6082797987c60fd70fa154af81c2c437ce01c9a66055fc9afc8c3ab7713ef762c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b263c20 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,189 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v10", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v04": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v05": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-5.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v06": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:55.050309342-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Sixth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v07": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:04.397642206-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Seventh", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v08": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:38.801918196-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-8.txt", + "test-5.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Eighth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v09": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:50.982547738-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-7.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-8.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-9.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Nineth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v10": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:22:00.563586735-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-9.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-8.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-10.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Tenth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18d95a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b73200f8e5add6ee7a9fcbc989681845e8bfb17fc486673fe53c25c90a1047d520af0e430daffb9ae185f7bc13441ee24b6ca8a82d76dc02a87c8e0a989aeb99 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..468e6b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v01", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64a15a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v01/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2449dd59d1f4d107a4d7c158b000dffdf98edff0d13ea7b7af84bf0e5af92e9e62a7a1913cdbe153b76b0a8675d11592325f66e187ff4b9e5221c5d62d3439b2 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v02/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v02/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d35b16b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v02/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v02", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v02/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v02/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..29101b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v02/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b0edca0bb910d5da7cb5dacca715b471727680796f16b7c5586b83742f4b85562b935e9d690689f117db4cea07675416228b1ce861a4f7790404e67251bd91a6 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v03/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v03/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..09a852d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v03/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v03", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v03/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v03/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..844faa9 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v03/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +aefddde77195ee97eb7687b1362ab9504faf6c1e8bb76b5cadb8ac85d1b87d756343814663d7fdc02452699492b23553d3d81004e3168d714cec0388d3a424e5 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v04/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v04/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08a1570 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v04/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,72 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v04", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v04": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v04/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v04/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d373b4b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v04/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +5cda2f668acaa20e08c4171e88c41437ffff04a49554c1578ac63ff988c33ec253f8d295036feb57286ef5eff6b6ba8047ff16849fe29298481dfb118ae033fd inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v05/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v05/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..57c08f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v05/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,89 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v05", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v04": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v05": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v05/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v05/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c871812 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v05/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a5dae965a47cab966713028081da34e0c2fe4762aeed81b26e715e143efbc1b72e70f518b9302efded2180a1a96f19a13dbacbc16965266a3cbe65412c4e3405 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v06/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v06/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a10fed7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v06/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,107 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v06", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v04": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v05": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v06": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:55.050309342-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Sixth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v06/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v06/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd97ad1 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v06/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +846ab5c8a2b0d43762f51ca7eac13b6f67ae19e2131fd15e40d7978fcbcfd7acee1de69387d812a2994a2888602302e5a0486faae638a47eec194aad842c8739 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v07/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v07/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe41890 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v07/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,126 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v07", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v04": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v05": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v06": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:55.050309342-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Sixth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v07": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:04.397642206-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-6.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Seventh", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v07/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v07/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2945c3e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v07/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +97f92de0048b3cd7b4f0f3f9267f9573b311bf0836eaaeee8ba7174b1d6decc90c0b42cdbee8c4fe6b961fcc9031c495f85b573c16682e54ed8bae1ff2795061 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v08/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v08/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a72e3f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v08/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,146 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v08", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v04": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v05": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v06": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:55.050309342-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-5.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Sixth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v07": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:04.397642206-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Seventh", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v08": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:38.801918196-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-8.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-7.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Eighth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v08/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v08/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cbafe5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v08/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +95602d4a6276248479578193095dbb2faad370d2add281710809f14c6c162cd16cdc1d7e9de1bf14680805f32bd3bc5149eb10d2138a0e06bf857cf72a9bb063 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v09/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v09/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..603e519 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v09/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,167 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v09", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v04": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v05": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-4.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v06": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:55.050309342-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Sixth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v07": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:04.397642206-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Seventh", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v08": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:38.801918196-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-8.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Eighth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v09": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:50.982547738-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-9.txt", + "test-8.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-7.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Nineth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v09/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v09/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..485b412 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v09/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +aa31bca4a66265ba6e03ec7c744bc0d6182f04ace6269d71fde121f6a778268efc00536d43a99ee3ea685f5e701b48c3d34594195141c851f001a36415088a10 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v10/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v10/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b263c20 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v10/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,189 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v10", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v01/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v01": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:18:29.613693922-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "First", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v02": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:11.044669118-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Second", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v03": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:23.149444725-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Third", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v04": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:32.474183369-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fourth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v05": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:44.945696903-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-5.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Fifth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v06": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:20:55.050309342-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Sixth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v07": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:04.397642206-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Seventh", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v08": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:38.801918196-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-8.txt", + "test-5.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Eighth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v09": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:21:50.982547738-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test-7.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-8.txt", + "test.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-9.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Nineth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v10": { + "created": "2021-03-30T15:22:00.563586735-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-7.txt", + "test-3.txt", + "test-5.txt", + "test-9.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-8.txt", + "test-6.txt", + "test-4.txt", + "test-10.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Tenth", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v10/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v10/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18d95a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E011_E013_invalid_padded_head_version/v10/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b73200f8e5add6ee7a9fcbc989681845e8bfb17fc486673fe53c25c90a1047d520af0e430daffb9ae185f7bc13441ee24b6ca8a82d76dc02a87c8e0a989aeb99 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5d9533 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/a_file.txt" + ], + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "v3/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "First version", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "message": "Second version", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2019-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Third version", + "state": { + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..03cea72 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4d8bcb8cc54259f631af1d8ac6e49c32d1e4ae85d672231414e29d087694152fa6ea05a9e3f570183b2228732056591fbfe5f4078a93f097766db32aeee45807 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..72dbaa4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "First version", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b401c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4af7ed54f1d38cc0e5eb5acd65362cd1d0ccc614da46c29a9a20f18ee3bb50e38425367f716034242e94e50ca390bf8490690d1101713ba0dd159ee658ffd0c0 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c38ee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a83e82a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "First version", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "message": "Second version", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3e3b8d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3647544dfb70397ec915d1ad267b8fbdf58751788c0792cb96fe9784624a1146f46ab356ef94e107f213d6de82493a71d983253ee1bcce7b0eec9e6415091e85 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..829781d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed again! diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5d9533 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/a_file.txt" + ], + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "v3/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "First version", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "message": "Second version", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2019-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Third version", + "state": { + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/xyz", + "name": "XYZ" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..03cea72 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E015_content_not_in_content_dir/v3/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4d8bcb8cc54259f631af1d8ac6e49c32d1e4ae85d672231414e29d087694152fa6ea05a9e3f570183b2228732056591fbfe5f4078a93f097766db32aeee45807 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c77ae5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content/dir", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/dir/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..325393b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9e2e2ebc410b66d412d6fa3593d7328aabd019e6e9ee5d3f5b871af01e9404bb16697eb11e0adbacb700ef685fc5c34852a8d2dda660431b89c61e3cb2b5d7b9 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c77ae5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content/dir", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/dir/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..325393b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E017_invalid_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9e2e2ebc410b66d412d6fa3593d7328aabd019e6e9ee5d3f5b871af01e9404bb16697eb11e0adbacb700ef685fc5c34852a8d2dda660431b89c61e3cb2b5d7b9 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e43ab26 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content-dir/test.txt" + ], + "d676d268eda2be94283dc2371c340a7e7700f4befbf246c9e570decba4a715d475ee53550cd0ee1c028f2d60e5abb1dd2e8fbba01c60d2a391c776463d232c73": [ + "v2/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ], + "d676d268eda2be94283dc2371c340a7e7700f4befbf246c9e570decba4a715d475ee53550cd0ee1c028f2d60e5abb1dd2e8fbba01c60d2a391c776463d232c73": [ + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fafa2f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9ccc0c986bf92c30585a59b84b73867d21da9f5a4eb308866409cb7e82bbdb2f03a8433bad13d8cc5e2bfe4bfcd6a5942c12f373b3fbf01bcb2cf5668bf4709c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/content-dir/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/content-dir/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/content-dir/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d3db22 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content-dir", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content-dir/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..386f1f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +582c354025bdade73423dba050c73b872c56b08f49d4b0f84973baf75c3d3a6a8bf489473045c7f42f57962a76b69ef7996367180dad3340677e60fca8f8369d inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f893e45 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing 2 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e43ab26 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content-dir/test.txt" + ], + "d676d268eda2be94283dc2371c340a7e7700f4befbf246c9e570decba4a715d475ee53550cd0ee1c028f2d60e5abb1dd2e8fbba01c60d2a391c776463d232c73": [ + "v2/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ], + "d676d268eda2be94283dc2371c340a7e7700f4befbf246c9e570decba4a715d475ee53550cd0ee1c028f2d60e5abb1dd2e8fbba01c60d2a391c776463d232c73": [ + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fafa2f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E019_inconsistent_content_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9ccc0c986bf92c30585a59b84b73867d21da9f5a4eb308866409cb7e82bbdb2f03a8433bad13d8cc5e2bfe4bfcd6a5942c12f373b3fbf01bcb2cf5668bf4709c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a300e16 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:bad05", + "manifest": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "v1/content/file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-10-31T12:54:57.688459Z", + "message": "", + "state": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "somewhere", + "name": "someone" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5662e57 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2dc052dae21c0557782a0d669ed759b623c63ba5c40da90d821f258d7ff614bdce572783a5e424bedd1d9d46d904ecb381f40ec26a0df01e91169177744438d4 inventory.json diff --git a/1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/content/file.txt similarity index 100% rename from 1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file.txt rename to 1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/content/file.txt diff --git a/1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/content/file2.txt similarity index 100% rename from 1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file2.txt rename to 1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/content/file2.txt diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a300e16 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:bad05", + "manifest": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "v1/content/file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-10-31T12:54:57.688459Z", + "message": "", + "state": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "somewhere", + "name": "someone" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5662e57 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_extra_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2dc052dae21c0557782a0d669ed759b623c63ba5c40da90d821f258d7ff614bdce572783a5e424bedd1d9d46d904ecb381f40ec26a0df01e91169177744438d4 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0342f06 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:bad05", + "manifest": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "v1/content/file.txt" + ], + "dfe9a0bbfdaab7173036571a1d9e34e2465b1e3a52e8b707bbf6dea9239a9a55b0fc9e511fc24882d7f493cd950a9dbef1de13e08a007909b21cd5ba54dc4888": [ + "v1/content/file2.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-10-31T12:54:57.688459Z", + "message": "", + "state": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "file.txt" + ], + "dfe9a0bbfdaab7173036571a1d9e34e2465b1e3a52e8b707bbf6dea9239a9a55b0fc9e511fc24882d7f493cd950a9dbef1de13e08a007909b21cd5ba54dc4888": [ + "file2.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "somewhere", + "name": "someone" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..086dc03 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9c5baf2d9e048d582fbf9af4833fd871d9c95ac2203dd9616563e256a821c3c37baf20a783b5969d0858efbe64e6a20021a314dcc6bf127501d16f2fe0cc059c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/content/file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/content/file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce01362 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/content/file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +hello diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0342f06 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:bad05", + "manifest": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "v1/content/file.txt" + ], + "dfe9a0bbfdaab7173036571a1d9e34e2465b1e3a52e8b707bbf6dea9239a9a55b0fc9e511fc24882d7f493cd950a9dbef1de13e08a007909b21cd5ba54dc4888": [ + "v1/content/file2.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-10-31T12:54:57.688459Z", + "message": "", + "state": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "file.txt" + ], + "dfe9a0bbfdaab7173036571a1d9e34e2465b1e3a52e8b707bbf6dea9239a9a55b0fc9e511fc24882d7f493cd950a9dbef1de13e08a007909b21cd5ba54dc4888": [ + "file2.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "somewhere", + "name": "someone" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..086dc03 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_missing_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9c5baf2d9e048d582fbf9af4833fd871d9c95ac2203dd9616563e256a821c3c37baf20a783b5969d0858efbe64e6a20021a314dcc6bf127501d16f2fe0cc059c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74bba2e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v2/content/file-4.txt", "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:23:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt", "file-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e298e4a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +90078934b48f1ed71d6aafaedc674f7b5e060d780da537d05c1cc5da0fe903d61b403569e3280a275e19b4589d777e0c5c3106aa5298caa07b0ef60bc63ab736 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-1.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5626abf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-1.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +one diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f719efd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +two diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-3.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-3.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/content/file-3.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e692bd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..991e179 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +84a149de7b276668d61cc35c9859bb2c1d8ce1d57eb5b9a619ea6679cf5993220925d14868e260723ef49304bf95b9cbd63273649ffb4a4c8d61012b58c5af43 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/content/file-4.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/content/file-4.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/content/file-4.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..575429c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v2/content/file-4.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1776652 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +13420a9869bf526984992b0543e60ed98f4df92deb59c2f3f77810b7170292f4a7d098f56b038827ecb6ad310efcc50be2ee1dde1d40dd463fec4b12a1f24834 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v3/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v3/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74bba2e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v3/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v2/content/file-4.txt", "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:23:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt", "file-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v3/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v3/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e298e4a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E023_old_manifest_missing_entries/v3/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +90078934b48f1ed71d6aafaedc674f7b5e060d780da537d05c1cc5da0fe903d61b403569e3280a275e19b4589d777e0c5c3106aa5298caa07b0ef60bc63ab736 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53d4f23 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example", + "head": "v1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "md5", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/inventory.json.md5 b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/inventory.json.md5 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6ab863 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/inventory.json.md5 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2289fef5dcc8f81d5c1fc67931a83be1 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51ee313 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15973 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Dracula + +Author: Bram Stoker + +Release Date: August 16, 2013 [EBook #345] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + DRACULA + + + + + + DRACULA + + _by_ + + Bram Stoker + + [Illustration: colophon] + + NEW YORK + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + _Publishers_ + + Copyright, 1897, in the United States of America, according + to Act of Congress, by Bram Stoker + + [_All rights reserved._] + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES + AT + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + + + TO + + MY DEAR FRIEND + + HOMMY-BEG + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + Page + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 1 + +CHAPTER II + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 14 + +CHAPTER III + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 26 + +CHAPTER IV + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 38 + +CHAPTER V + +Letters--Lucy and Mina 51 + +CHAPTER VI + +Mina Murray's Journal 59 + +CHAPTER VII + +Cutting from "The Dailygraph," 8 August 71 + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mina Murray's Journal 84 + +CHAPTER IX + +Mina Murray's Journal 98 + +CHAPTER X + +Mina Murray's Journal 111 + +CHAPTER XI + +Lucy Westenra's Diary 124 + +CHAPTER XII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 136 + +CHAPTER XIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 152 + +CHAPTER XIV + +Mina Harker's Journal 167 + +CHAPTER XV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 181 + +CHAPTER XVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 194 + +CHAPTER XVII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 204 + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 216 + +CHAPTER XIX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 231 + +CHAPTER XX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 243 + +CHAPTER XXI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 256 + +CHAPTER XXII + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 269 + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 281 + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Dr. Seward's Phonograph Diary, spoken by Van Helsing 294 + +CHAPTER XXV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 308 + +CHAPTER XXVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 322 + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Mina Harker's Journal 338 + + + + +DRACULA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + +(_Kept in shorthand._) + + +_3 May. Bistritz._--Left Munich at 8:35 P. M., on 1st May, arriving at +Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an +hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I +got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the +streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived +late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The +impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the +East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is +here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish +rule. + +We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. +Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or +rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was +very good but thirsty. (_Mem._, get recipe for Mina.) I asked the +waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and that, as it was a +national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the +Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I +don't know how I should be able to get on without it. + +Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the +British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library +regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the +country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a +nobleman of that country. I find that the district he named is in the +extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, +Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian +mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe. I was +not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the +Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare +with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post +town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter +here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my +travels with Mina. + +In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: +Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the +descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the +East and North. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended +from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered +the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. I +read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the +horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of +imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (_Mem._, I +must ask the Count all about them.) + +I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had +all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my +window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been +the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was +still thirsty. Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous +knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. +I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour +which they said was "mamaliga," and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a +very excellent dish, which they call "impletata." (_Mem._, get recipe +for this also.) I had to hurry breakfast, for the train started a little +before eight, or rather it ought to have done so, for after rushing to +the station at 7:30 I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour +before we began to move. It seems to me that the further east you go the +more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China? + +All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of +beauty of every kind. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the +top of steep hills such as we see in old missals; sometimes we ran by +rivers and streams which seemed from the wide stony margin on each side +of them to be subject to great floods. It takes a lot of water, and +running strong, to sweep the outside edge of a river clear. At every +station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts +of attire. Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I +saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets and round hats +and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque. The women +looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy +about the waist. They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, +and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something +fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of course there +were petticoats under them. The strangest figures we saw were the +Slovaks, who were more barbarian than the rest, with their big cow-boy +hats, great baggy dirty-white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous +heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass +nails. They wore high boots, with their trousers tucked into them, and +had long black hair and heavy black moustaches. They are very +picturesque, but do not look prepossessing. On the stage they would be +set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands. They are, +however, I am told, very harmless and rather wanting in natural +self-assertion. + +It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a +very interesting old place. Being practically on the frontier--for the +Borgo Pass leads from it into Bukovina--it has had a very stormy +existence, and it certainly shows marks of it. Fifty years ago a series +of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate +occasions. At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent +a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war +proper being assisted by famine and disease. + +Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I +found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of +course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. I was +evidently expected, for when I got near the door I faced a +cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress--white +undergarment with long double apron, front, and back, of coloured stuff +fitting almost too tight for modesty. When I came close she bowed and +said, "The Herr Englishman?" "Yes," I said, "Jonathan Harker." She +smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirt-sleeves, +who had followed her to the door. He went, but immediately returned with +a letter:-- + + "My Friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting + you. Sleep well to-night. At three to-morrow the diligence will + start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo + Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust + that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you + will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. + +"Your friend, + +"DRACULA." + + +_4 May._--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, +directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on +making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and +pretended that he could not understand my German. This could not be +true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he +answered my questions exactly as if he did. He and his wife, the old +lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of +way. He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that +was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could +tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, +and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak +further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask +any one else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means +comforting. + +Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a +very hysterical way: + +"Must you go? Oh! young Herr, must you go?" She was in such an excited +state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and +mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all. I +was just able to follow her by asking many questions. When I told her +that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, +she asked again: + +"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. +She shook her head as she said again: + +"Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?" On +my saying that I did not understand, she went on: + +"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when +the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have +full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" +She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but +without effect. Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not +to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very +ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business +to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it. I therefore +tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked +her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go. She then rose and +dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me. I +did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been +taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it +seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a +state of mind. She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the +rosary round my neck, and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out +of the room. I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting +for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still +round my neck. Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly +traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I +am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual. If this book should +ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. Here comes the +coach! + + * * * * * + +_5 May. The Castle._--The grey of the morning has passed, and the sun is +high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or +hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are +mixed. I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, +naturally I write till sleep comes. There are many odd things to put +down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I +left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they +called "robber steak"--bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red +pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple +style of the London cat's meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which +produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not +disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else. + +When I got on the coach the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him +talking with the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every +now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting +on the bench outside the door--which they call by a name meaning +"word-bearer"--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them +pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for +there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my polyglot +dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not +cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"--Satan, "pokol"--hell, +"stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both of which mean the same +thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is +either were-wolf or vampire. (_Mem._, I must ask the Count about these +superstitions) + +When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time +swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and +pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a +fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he would not answer at +first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a +charm or guard against the evil eye. This was not very pleasant for me, +just starting for an unknown place to meet an unknown man; but every one +seemed so kind-hearted, and so sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I +could not but be touched. I shall never forget the last glimpse which I +had of the inn-yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing +themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of +rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the +centre of the yard. Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered +the whole front of the box-seat--"gotza" they call them--cracked his big +whip over his four small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on +our journey. + +I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty of the +scene as we drove along, although had I known the language, or rather +languages, which my fellow-passengers were speaking, I might not have +been able to throw them off so easily. Before us lay a green sloping +land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned +with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the +road. There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom--apple, +plum, pear, cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under +the trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out amongst these +green hills of what they call here the "Mittel Land" ran the road, +losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut out by the +straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the +hillsides like tongues of flame. The road was rugged, but still we +seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste. I could not understand then +what the haste meant, but the driver was evidently bent on losing no +time in reaching Borgo Prund. I was told that this road is in summertime +excellent, but that it had not yet been put in order after the winter +snows. In this respect it is different from the general run of roads in +the Carpathians, for it is an old tradition that they are not to be kept +in too good order. Of old the Hospadars would not repair them, lest the +Turk should think that they were preparing to bring in foreign troops, +and so hasten the war which was always really at loading point. + +Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes +of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves. Right +and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon +them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, +deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where +grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and +pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where +the snowy peaks rose grandly. Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the +mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again +the white gleam of falling water. One of my companions touched my arm as +we swept round the base of a hill and opened up the lofty, snow-covered +peak of a mountain, which seemed, as we wound on our serpentine way, to +be right before us:-- + +"Look! Isten szek!"--"God's seat!"--and he crossed himself reverently. + +As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind +us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us. This was +emphasised by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the +sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink. Here and there +we passed Cszeks and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but I noticed +that goitre was painfully prevalent. By the roadside were many crosses, +and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves. Here and there +was a peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine, who did not even +turn round as we approached, but seemed in the self-surrender of +devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the outer world. There were +many things new to me: for instance, hay-ricks in the trees, and here +and there very beautiful masses of weeping birch, their white stems +shining like silver through the delicate green of the leaves. Now and +again we passed a leiter-wagon--the ordinary peasant's cart--with its +long, snake-like vertebra, calculated to suit the inequalities of the +road. On this were sure to be seated quite a group of home-coming +peasants, the Cszeks with their white, and the Slovaks with their +coloured, sheepskins, the latter carrying lance-fashion their long +staves, with axe at end. As the evening fell it began to get very cold, +and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the +gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which +ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the +Pass, the dark firs stood out here and there against the background of +late-lying snow. Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods +that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of +greyness, which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a +peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and +grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset +threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the +Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes the +hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could +only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, +but the driver would not hear of it. "No, no," he said; "you must not +walk here; the dogs are too fierce"; and then he added, with what he +evidently meant for grim pleasantry--for he looked round to catch the +approving smile of the rest--"and you may have enough of such matters +before you go to sleep." The only stop he would make was a moment's +pause to light his lamps. + +When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the +passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as +though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses unmercifully +with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on +to further exertions. Then through the darkness I could see a sort of +patch of grey light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the +hills. The excitement of the passengers grew greater; the crazy coach +rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a +stormy sea. I had to hold on. The road grew more level, and we appeared +to fly along. Then the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each +side and to frown down upon us; we were entering on the Borgo Pass. One +by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed +upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial; these were +certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good +faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that strange mixture of +fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at +Bistritz--the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye. +Then, as we flew along, the driver leaned forward, and on each side the +passengers, craning over the edge of the coach, peered eagerly into the +darkness. It was evident that something very exciting was either +happening or expected, but though I asked each passenger, no one would +give me the slightest explanation. This state of excitement kept on for +some little time; and at last we saw before us the Pass opening out on +the eastern side. There were dark, rolling clouds overhead, and in the +air the heavy, oppressive sense of thunder. It seemed as though the +mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got +into the thunderous one. I was now myself looking out for the conveyance +which was to take me to the Count. Each moment I expected to see the +glare of lamps through the blackness; but all was dark. The only light +was the flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our +hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud. We could see now the sandy +road lying white before us, but there was on it no sign of a vehicle. +The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock +my own disappointment. I was already thinking what I had best do, when +the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something which I +could hardly hear, it was spoken so quietly and in so low a tone; I +thought it was "An hour less than the time." Then turning to me, he said +in German worse than my own:-- + +"There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He will +now come on to Bukovina, and return to-morrow or the next day; better +the next day." Whilst he was speaking the horses began to neigh and +snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up. Then, +amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a universal crossing +of themselves, a calèche, with four horses, drove up behind us, overtook +us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see from the flash of our +lamps, as the rays fell on them, that the horses were coal-black and +splendid animals. They were driven by a tall man, with a long brown +beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide his face from us. I +could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red +in the lamplight, as he turned to us. He said to the driver:-- + +"You are early to-night, my friend." The man stammered in reply:-- + +"The English Herr was in a hurry," to which the stranger replied:-- + +"That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot +deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift." As he +spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with +very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my +companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore":-- + + "Denn die Todten reiten schnell"-- + ("For the dead travel fast.") + +The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a +gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time +putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. "Give me the Herr's +luggage," said the driver; and with exceeding alacrity my bags were +handed out and put in the calèche. Then I descended from the side of the +coach, as the calèche was close alongside, the driver helping me with a +hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel; his strength must have been +prodigious. Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we +swept into the darkness of the Pass. As I looked back I saw the steam +from the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected +against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves. Then +the driver cracked his whip and called to his horses, and off they swept +on their way to Bukovina. As they sank into the darkness I felt a +strange chill, and a lonely feeling came over me; but a cloak was thrown +over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the driver said in +excellent German:-- + +"The night is chill, mein Herr, and my master the Count bade me take all +care of you. There is a flask of slivovitz (the plum brandy of the +country) underneath the seat, if you should require it." I did not take +any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the same. I felt a +little strangely, and not a little frightened. I think had there been +any alternative I should have taken it, instead of prosecuting that +unknown night journey. The carriage went at a hard pace straight along, +then we made a complete turn and went along another straight road. It +seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground +again; and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was +so. I would have liked to have asked the driver what this all meant, but +I really feared to do so, for I thought that, placed as I was, any +protest would have had no effect in case there had been an intention to +delay. By-and-by, however, as I was curious to know how time was +passing, I struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch; it was +within a few minutes of midnight. This gave me a sort of shock, for I +suppose the general superstition about midnight was increased by my +recent experiences. I waited with a sick feeling of suspense. + +Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road--a +long, agonised wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by +another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which +now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed +to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp +it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to +strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly, and they +quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from +sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each +side of us began a louder and a sharper howling--that of wolves--which +affected both the horses and myself in the same way--for I was minded to +jump from the calèche and run, whilst they reared again and plunged +madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them +from bolting. In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to +the sound, and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able +to descend and to stand before them. He petted and soothed them, and +whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse-tamers +doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became +quite manageable again, though they still trembled. The driver again +took his seat, and shaking his reins, started off at a great pace. This +time, after going to the far side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a +narrow roadway which ran sharply to the right. + +Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the +roadway till we passed as through a tunnel; and again great frowning +rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in shelter, we +could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled through the +rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. +It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall, +so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket. The +keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew +fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer +and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. I +grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, +however, was not in the least disturbed; he kept turning his head to +left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. + +Suddenly, away on our left, I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The +driver saw it at the same moment; he at once checked the horses, and, +jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness. I did not know +what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer; but while +I wondered the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a word took +his seat, and we resumed our journey. I think I must have fallen asleep +and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be repeated +endlessly, and now looking back, it is like a sort of awful nightmare. +Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the darkness +around us I could watch the driver's motions. He went rapidly to where +the blue flame arose--it must have been very faint, for it did not seem +to illumine the place around it at all--and gathering a few stones, +formed them into some device. Once there appeared a strange optical +effect: when he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, +for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. This startled me, but +as the effect was only momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me +straining through the darkness. Then for a time there were no blue +flames, and we sped onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the +wolves around us, as though they were following in a moving circle. + +At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he +had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble worse +than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause +for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether; but just +then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the +jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw +around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, +with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more +terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled. +For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man +feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand +their true import. + +All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had +some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared, and +looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see; +but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side; and they +had perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for +it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the +ring and to aid his approach. I shouted and beat the side of the +calèche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from that side, so as +to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came there, I know +not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and +looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway. As he swept his +long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves +fell back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across +the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness. + +When I could see again the driver was climbing into the calèche, and the +wolves had disappeared. This was all so strange and uncanny that a +dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time +seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost complete +darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. We kept on +ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main +always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the +driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a +vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, +and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit +sky. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +_5 May._--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully +awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In +the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark +ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than +it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight. + +When the calèche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand +to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious +strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have +crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps, and placed +them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and +studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of +massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was +massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and +weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the +reins; the horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one +of the dark openings. + +I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell +or knocker there was no sign; through these frowning walls and dark +window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The +time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon +me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? +What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a +customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to +explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor's +clerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor--for just before leaving +London I got word that my examination was successful; and I am now a +full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if +I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I +expected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with +the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and again felt +in the morning after a day of overwork. But my flesh answered the +pinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awake +and among the Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and to +wait the coming of the morning. + +Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching +behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming +light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of +massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise +of long disuse, and the great door swung back. + +Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white +moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck +of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver +lamp, in which the flame burned without chimney or globe of any kind, +throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the +open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with a courtly +gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange intonation:-- + +"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!" He made no +motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his +gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that +I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and +holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, +an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed as cold as +ice--more like the hand of a dead than a living man. Again he said:-- + +"Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the +happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so much akin to +that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that +for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was +speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:-- + +"Count Dracula?" He bowed in a courtly way as he replied:-- + +"I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in; +the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest." As he was +speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, +took my luggage; he had carried it in before I could forestall him. I +protested but he insisted:-- + +"Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not +available. Let me see to your comfort myself." He insisted on carrying +my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and +along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang +heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced +to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper, +and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, +flamed and flared. + +The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing +the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit +by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing +through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a +welcome sight; for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with +another log fire,--also added to but lately, for the top logs were +fresh--which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The Count himself +left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he closed the +door:-- + +"You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your +toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come +into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared." + +The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have +dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal state, +I discovered that I was half famished with hunger; so making a hasty +toilet, I went into the other room. + +I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of the +great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of +his hand to the table, and said:-- + +"I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse +me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup." + +I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me. +He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile, he handed +it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of +pleasure. + +"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant +sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to +come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in +whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy +and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is +discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall +be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take +your instructions in all matters." + +The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I +fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese +and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was +my supper. During the time I was eating it the Count asked me many +questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had +experienced. + +By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn +up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, +at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an +opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked +physiognomy. + +His face was a strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bridge of the +thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and +hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His +eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy +hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I +could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather +cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over +the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a +man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops +extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm +though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. + +Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees +in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeing +them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather +coarse--broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in +the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp +point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not +repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a +horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could +not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a +grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his +protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the +fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the +window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a +strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from +down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes +gleamed, and he said:-- + +"Listen to them--the children of the night. What music they make!" +Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he +added:-- + +"Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the +hunter." Then he rose and said:-- + +"But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow you +shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon; +so sleep well and dream well!" With a courteous bow, he opened for me +himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom.... + +I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, +which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the +sake of those dear to me! + + * * * * * + +_7 May._--It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the +last twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my +own accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had +supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the +pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the table, on which +was written:-- + +"I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.--D." I set to and +enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, so that I +might let the servants know I had finished; but I could not find one. +There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, considering the +extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The table service +is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it must be of immense value. +The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and sofas and the hangings of +my bed are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have +been of fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, +though in excellent order. I saw something like them in Hampton Court, +but there they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of +the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my +table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I +could either shave or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant +anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. +Some time after I had finished my meal--I do not know whether to call it +breakfast or dinner, for it was between five and six o'clock when I had +it--I looked about for something to read, for I did not like to go about +the castle until I had asked the Count's permission. There was +absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing +materials; so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of +library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found it locked. + +In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English +books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and +newspapers. A table in the centre was littered with English magazines +and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The books +were of the most varied kind--history, geography, politics, political +economy, botany, geology, law--all relating to England and English life +and customs and manners. There were even such books of reference as the +London Directory, the "Red" and "Blue" books, Whitaker's Almanac, the +Army and Navy Lists, and--it somehow gladdened my heart to see it--the +Law List. + +Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Count +entered. He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a good +night's rest. Then he went on:-- + +"I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much that +will interest you. These companions"--and he laid his hand on some of +the books--"have been good friends to me, and for some years past, ever +since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many, many hours +of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your great England; and to +know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of +your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of +humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes +it what it is. But alas! as yet I only know your tongue through books. +To you, my friend, I look that I know it to speak." + +"But, Count," I said, "you know and speak English thoroughly!" He bowed +gravely. + +"I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet I +fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I know +the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them." + +"Indeed," I said, "you speak excellently." + +"Not so," he answered. "Well, I know that, did I move and speak in your +London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is not +enough for me. Here I am noble; I am _boyar_; the common people know me, +and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one; men +know him not--and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am +like the rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or pause in his +speaking if he hear my words, 'Ha, ha! a stranger!' I have been so long +master that I would be master still--or at least that none other should +be master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of my friend Peter +Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in London. You +shall, I trust, rest here with me awhile, so that by our talking I may +learn the English intonation; and I would that you tell me when I make +error, even of the smallest, in my speaking. I am sorry that I had to be +away so long to-day; but you will, I know, forgive one who has so many +important affairs in hand." + +Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might +come into that room when I chose. He answered: "Yes, certainly," and +added:-- + +"You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are +locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is reason that +all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with +my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand." I said I was sure of +this, and then he went on:-- + +"We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are +not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from +what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of +what strange things there may be." + +This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he wanted to +talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding +things that had already happened to me or come within my notice. +Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by +pretending not to understand; but generally he answered all I asked most +frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked +him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as, for +instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue +flames. He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a +certain night of the year--last night, in fact, when all evil spirits +are supposed to have unchecked sway--a blue flame is seen over any place +where treasure has been concealed. "That treasure has been hidden," he +went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be +but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by the +Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil +in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, +patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the +Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out +to meet them--men and women, the aged and the children too--and waited +their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep +destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader +was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been +sheltered in the friendly soil." + +"But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when +there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?" +The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, +sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:-- + +"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only +appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he +can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he +would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of who +marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight +even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to +find these places again?" + +"There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where even +to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters. + +"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you +have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went into my +own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in +order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as I +passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp +lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit +in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa, +reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's Guide. When I +came in he cleared the books and papers from the table; and with him I +went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested in +everything, and asked me a myriad questions about the place and its +surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the +subject of the neighbourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much +more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered:-- + +"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there +I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan--nay, pardon me, I +fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first--my friend +Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He will be +in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law with my +other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!" + +We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at +Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the +necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to +Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a +place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which I +inscribe here:-- + +"At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as seemed to +be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place +was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of ancient structure, +built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of +years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with +rust. + +"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old _Quatre +Face_, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of +the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded by +the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which +make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or +small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear and +flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large and of all +periods back, I should say, to mediæval times, for one part is of stone +immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily barred with +iron. It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an old chapel or +church. I could not enter it, as I had not the key of the door leading +to it from the house, but I have taken with my kodak views of it from +various points. The house has been added to, but in a very straggling +way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must +be very great. There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very +large house only recently added to and formed into a private lunatic +asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds." + +When I had finished, he said:-- + +"I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and to +live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable in a +day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice +also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles love +not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. I seek not +gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and +sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I am no longer young; +and my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead, is not +attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken; the +shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken +battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow, and would +be alone with my thoughts when I may." Somehow his words and his look +did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his +smile look malignant and saturnine. + +Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my papers +together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of +the books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally at +England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at it I found in +certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I noticed +that one was near London on the east side, manifestly where his new +estate was situated; the other two were Exeter, and Whitby on the +Yorkshire coast. + +It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned. "Aha!" he +said; "still at your books? Good! But you must not work always. Come; I +am informed that your supper is ready." He took my arm, and we went into +the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on the table. The +Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on his being away from +home. But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted whilst I ate. +After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the Count stayed with +me, chatting and asking questions on every conceivable subject, hour +after hour. I felt that it was getting very late indeed, but I did not +say anything, for I felt under obligation to meet my host's wishes in +every way. I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified +me; but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes over one at +the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. +They say that people who are near death die generally at the change to +the dawn or at the turn of the tide; any one who has when tired, and +tied as it were to his post, experienced this change in the atmosphere +can well believe it. All at once we heard the crow of a cock coming up +with preternatural shrillness through the clear morning air; Count +Dracula, jumping to his feet, said:-- + +"Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so +long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of +England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by +us," and, with a courtly bow, he quickly left me. + +I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little to +notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the +warm grey of quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again, and have +written of this day. + + * * * * * + +_8 May._--I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too +diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for +there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I +cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had +never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling on +me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk to I +could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak with, +and he!--I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. Let +me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me to bear up, and +imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am lost. Let me say +at once how I stand--or seem to. + +I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could +not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window, +and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, +and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good-morning." I started, for +it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass +covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, +but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count's +salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. +This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I +could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in +the mirror! The whole room behind me was displayed; but there was no +sign of a man in it, except myself. This was startling, and, coming on +the top of so many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague +feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at +the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was +trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half +round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my face, his +eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at +my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which +held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed +so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there. + +"Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself. It is more +dangerous than you think in this country." Then seizing the shaving +glass, he went on: "And this is the wretched thing that has done the +mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it!" and +opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung +out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones +of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very +annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or +the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal. + +When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could +not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is strange that +as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very +peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle. I +went out on the stairs, and found a room looking towards the South. The +view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every opportunity +of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A +stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without +touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree +tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and +there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through +the forests. + +But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I +explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and +bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there +an available exit. + +The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me. +I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of +every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my +helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I look back after a +few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much +as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me +that I was helpless I sat down quietly--as quietly as I have ever done +anything in my life--and began to think over what was best to be done. I +am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of +one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making my ideas known to +the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it +himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive +me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only +plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes +open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, +or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and +shall need, all my brains to get through. + +I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below +shut, and knew that the Count had returned. He did not come at once into +the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making +the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along +thought--that there were no servants in the house. When later I saw him +through the chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in the +dining-room, I was assured of it; for if he does himself all these +menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. +This gave me a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it +must have been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that +brought me here. This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it +mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his +hand in silence. How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the +coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the +crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless +that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! for it is a +comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing +which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous +should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there +is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, +a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Some +time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my +mind about it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count +Dracula, as it may help me to understand. To-night he may talk of +himself, if I turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, +however, not to awake his suspicion. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few +questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject +wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of +battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he +afterwards explained by saying that to a _boyar_ the pride of his house +and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their +fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said "we," +and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could put +down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most +fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He +grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his great +white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands as +though he would crush it by main strength. One thing he said which I +shall put down as nearly as I can; for it tells in its way the story of +his race:-- + +"We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood +of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, +in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from +Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their +Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, +and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the +were-wolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found +the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, +till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those +old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the devils in the +desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as +Attila, whose blood is in these veins?" He held up his arms. "Is it a +wonder that we were a conquering race; that we were proud; that when the +Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his +thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when +Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he found us +here when he reached the frontier; that the Honfoglalas was completed +there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were +claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries +was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkey-land; ay, and more +than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for, as the Turks say, +'water sleeps, and enemy is sleepless.' Who more gladly than we +throughout the Four Nations received the 'bloody sword,' or at its +warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was +redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the +flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who +was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat +the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that +his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the +Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, +indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and +again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, +when he was beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had +to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being +slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They +said that he thought only of himself. Bah! what good are peasants +without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart to +conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohács, we threw off the +Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for +our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the +Szekelys--and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains, and +their swords--can boast a record that mushroom growths like the +Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over. +Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace; and +the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told." + +It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. (_Mem._, this +diary seems horribly like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," for +everything has to break off at cockcrow--or like the ghost of Hamlet's +father.) + + * * * * * + +_12 May._--Let me begin with facts--bare, meagre facts, verified by +books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not +confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own +observation, or my memory of them. Last evening when the Count came from +his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the +doing of certain kinds of business. I had spent the day wearily over +books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the +matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn. There was a certain +method in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put them down in +sequence; the knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to me. + +First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more. I +told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not be +wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as only +one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to militate +against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to +ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one man to +attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case +local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking +solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not by any +chance mislead him, so he said:-- + +"I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from under +the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far from +London, buys for me through your good self my place at London. Good! Now +here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange that I have +sought the services of one so far off from London instead of some one +resident there, that my motive was that no local interest might be +served save my wish only; and as one of London residence might, perhaps, +have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus afield to +seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest. Now, suppose +I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to Newcastle, or +Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it not be that it could with more +ease be done by consigning to one in these ports?" I answered that +certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of +agency one for the other, so that local work could be done locally on +instruction from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing +himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by +him without further trouble. + +"But," said he, "I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it not so?" + +"Of course," I replied; and "such is often done by men of business, who +do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person." + +"Good!" he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making +consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of +difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded +against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability, +and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made a +wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of or +foresee. For a man who was never in the country, and who did not +evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were +wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had +spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books +available, he suddenly stood up and said:-- + +"Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter +Hawkins, or to any other?" It was with some bitterness in my heart that +I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of +sending letters to anybody. + +"Then write now, my young friend," he said, laying a heavy hand on my +shoulder: "write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will +please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now." + +"Do you wish me to stay so long?" I asked, for my heart grew cold at the +thought. + +"I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, +employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, +it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not +stinted. Is it not so?" + +What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins's interest, not +mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, while Count +Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing +which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I +could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his +mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but +in his own smooth, resistless way:-- + +"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things +other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please your +friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to getting +home to them. Is it not so?" As he spoke he handed me three sheets of +note-paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest foreign +post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, +with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood +as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for +he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only formal notes +now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for +to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle the Count, if he +did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a +book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to +some books on his table. Then he took up my two and placed them with his +own, and put by his writing materials, after which, the instant the door +had closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which +were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so, for +under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way +I could. + +One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The +Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the third was to +Coutts & Co., London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth, +bankers, Buda-Pesth. The second and fourth were unsealed. I was just +about to look at them when I saw the door-handle move. I sank back in my +seat, having just had time to replace the letters as they had been and +to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter in his +hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped +them carefully, and then turning to me, said:-- + +"I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this +evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish." At the door he +turned, and after a moment's pause said:-- + +"Let me advise you, my dear young friend--nay, let me warn you with all +seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any +chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has +many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be +warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then +haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be +safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then"--He finished his +speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were +washing them. I quite understood; my only doubt was as to whether any +dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom +and mystery which seemed closing around me. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no +doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is +not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed--I imagine that +my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain. + +When he left me I went to my room. After a little while, not hearing any +sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could look out +towards the South. There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, +inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow darkness +of the courtyard. Looking out on this, I felt that I was indeed in +prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air, though it were of +the night. I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. +It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and am full of all +sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is ground for my +terrible fear in this accursed place! I looked out over the beautiful +expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was almost as light as +day. In the soft light the distant hills became melted, and the shadows +in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness. The mere beauty seemed +to cheer me; there was peace and comfort in every breath I drew. As I +leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a storey +below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of +the rooms, that the windows of the Count's own room would look out. The +window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though +weatherworn, was still complete; but it was evidently many a day since +the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework, and looked +carefully out. + +What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not +see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his +back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had +so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and +somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest +and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to +repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the +window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, +_face down_ with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At +first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the +moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept looking, and it could +be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the +stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus +using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable +speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall. + +What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the +semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering +me; I am in fear--in awful fear--and there is no escape for me; I am +encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of.... + + * * * * * + +_15 May._--Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion. +He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good +deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head +had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without +avail--the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I +knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to +explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and +taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had +expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went down the +stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could +pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains; but the +door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's +room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and +escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs +and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two +small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in +them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, +however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it +seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, +and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came +from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door +rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have +again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that +I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right +than the rooms I knew and a storey lower down. From the windows I could +see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the +windows of the end room looking out both west and south. On the latter +side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle +was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was +quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or +bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, +impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the +west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged +mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with +mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and +crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle +occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of +comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the +yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to +see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over +all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My +lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was +glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place +which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better +than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the +presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I +found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak +table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much +thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my +diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is +nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my +senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own +which mere "modernity" cannot kill. + + * * * * * + +_Later: the Morning of 16 May._--God preserve my sanity, for to this I +am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. +Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not +go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it +is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this +hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I +can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his +purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way +lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which +have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant +when he made Hamlet say:-- + + "My tablets! quick, my tablets! + 'Tis meet that I put it down," etc., + +for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock +had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. +The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me. + +The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens +me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold upon +me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say! + +When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book and +pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count's warning came into my mind, +but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me, +and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The soft +moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom +which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the +gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat +and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for +their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great +couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay, I could look +at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring for +the dust, composed myself for sleep. I suppose I must have fallen +asleep; I hope so, but I fear, for all that followed was startlingly +real--so real that now sitting here in the broad, full sunlight of the +morning, I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep. + +I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I +came into it; I could see along the floor, in the brilliant moonlight, +my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of +dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by +their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming +when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they threw +no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some +time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline +noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes that seemed to be +almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was +fair, as fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes +like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it +in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the +moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like +pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something +about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some +deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would +kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some +day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth. +They whispered together, and then they all three laughed--such a +silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have +come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, +tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. +The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her +on. One said:-- + +"Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to +begin." The other added:-- + +"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all." I lay quiet, +looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. +The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement +of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent +the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter +underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood. + +I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under +the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply +gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling +and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips +like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining +on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp +teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of +my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. Then she +paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked +her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the +skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that +is to tickle it approaches nearer--nearer. I could feel the soft, +shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, +and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. +I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited--waited with beating +heart. + +But at that instant, another sensation swept through me as quick as +lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his +being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I +saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with +giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the +white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with +passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to +the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light +in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His +face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; +the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar +of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman +from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating +them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the +wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to +cut through the air and then ring round the room he said:-- + +"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when +I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware +how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me." The fair girl, +with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:-- + +"You yourself never loved; you never love!" On this the other women +joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the +room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure +of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, +and said in a soft whisper:-- + +"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it +not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall +kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work +to be done." + +"Are we to have nothing to-night?" said one of them, with a low laugh, +as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and which +moved as though there were some living thing within it. For answer he +nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my +ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a +half-smothered child. The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with +horror; but as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful +bag. There was no door near them, and they could not have passed me +without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the rays of the +moonlight and pass out through the window, for I could see outside the +dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely faded away. + +Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +I awoke in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must +have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but +could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were +certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by +in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am +rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and +many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been +evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, from some cause or +another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof. Of one +thing I am glad: if it was that the Count carried me here and undressed +me, he must have been hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I +am sure this diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not +have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look round this +room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of +sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who +were--who _are_--waiting to suck my blood. + + * * * * * + +_18 May._--I have been down to look at that room again in daylight, for +I _must_ know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the +stairs I found it closed. It had been so forcibly driven against the +jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered. I could see that the bolt +of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the inside. +I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise. + + * * * * * + +_19 May._--I am surely in the toils. Last night the Count asked me in +the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying that my work here +was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days, +another that I was starting on the next morning from the time of the +letter, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at +Bistritz. I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present state +of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I +am so absolutely in his power; and to refuse would be to excite his +suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and +that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only chance is to +prolong my opportunities. Something may occur which will give me a +chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something of that gathering wrath +which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from him. He explained +to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that my writing now would +ensure ease of mind to my friends; and he assured me with so much +impressiveness that he would countermand the later letters, which would +be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would admit of my +prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have been to create new +suspicion. I therefore pretended to fall in with his views, and asked +him what dates I should put on the letters. He calculated a minute, and +then said:-- + +"The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June +29." + +I know now the span of my life. God help me! + + * * * * * + +_28 May._--There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being able to +send word home. A band of Szgany have come to the castle, and are +encamped in the courtyard. These Szgany are gipsies; I have notes of +them in my book. They are peculiar to this part of the world, though +allied to the ordinary gipsies all the world over. There are thousands +of them in Hungary and Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. +They attach themselves as a rule to some great noble or _boyar_, and +call themselves by his name. They are fearless and without religion, +save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany +tongue. + +I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to have them +posted. I have already spoken them through my window to begin +acquaintanceship. They took their hats off and made obeisance and many +signs, which, however, I could not understand any more than I could +their spoken language.... + + * * * * * + +I have written the letters. Mina's is in shorthand, and I simply ask Mr. +Hawkins to communicate with her. To her I have explained my situation, +but without the horrors which I may only surmise. It would shock and +frighten her to death were I to expose my heart to her. Should the +letters not carry, then the Count shall not yet know my secret or the +extent of my knowledge.... + + * * * * * + +I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars of my window +with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to have them posted. The +man who took them pressed them to his heart and bowed, and then put them +in his cap. I could do no more. I stole back to the study, and began to +read. As the Count did not come in, I have written here.... + + * * * * * + +The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his smoothest +voice as he opened two letters:-- + +"The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not whence they +come, I shall, of course, take care. See!"--he must have looked at +it--"one is from you, and to my friend Peter Hawkins; the other"--here +he caught sight of the strange symbols as he opened the envelope, and +the dark look came into his face, and his eyes blazed wickedly--"the +other is a vile thing, an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is +not signed. Well! so it cannot matter to us." And he calmly held letter +and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed. Then he +went on:-- + +"The letter to Hawkins--that I shall, of course, send on, since it is +yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend, that +unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it again?" He held +out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow handed me a clean +envelope. I could only redirect it and hand it to him in silence. When +he went out of the room I could hear the key turn softly. A minute later +I went over and tried it, and the door was locked. + +When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room, his +coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the sofa. He was very +courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been +sleeping, he said:-- + +"So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. There is the surest rest. I +may not have the pleasure to talk to-night, since there are many labours +to me; but you will sleep, I pray." I passed to my room and went to bed, +and, strange to say, slept without dreaming. Despair has its own calms. + + * * * * * + +_31 May._--This morning when I woke I thought I would provide myself +with some paper and envelopes from my bag and keep them in my pocket, so +that I might write in case I should get an opportunity, but again a +surprise, again a shock! + +Every scrap of paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my memoranda, +relating to railways and travel, my letter of credit, in fact all that +might be useful to me were I once outside the castle. I sat and pondered +awhile, and then some thought occurred to me, and I made search of my +portmanteau and in the wardrobe where I had placed my clothes. + +The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and +rug; I could find no trace of them anywhere. This looked like some new +scheme of villainy.... + + * * * * * + +_17 June._--This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed +cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding +and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard. +With joy I hurried to the window, and saw drive into the yard two great +leiter-wagons, each drawn by eight sturdy horses, and at the head of +each pair a Slovak, with his wide hat, great nail-studded belt, dirty +sheepskin, and high boots. They had also their long staves in hand. I +ran to the door, intending to descend and try and join them through the +main hall, as I thought that way might be opened for them. Again a +shock: my door was fastened on the outside. + +Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me +stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, +and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they +laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised +entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away. +The leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick +rope; these were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks +handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved. When +they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one corner of the +yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the Szgany, and spitting on +it for luck, lazily went each to his horse's head. Shortly afterwards, I +heard the cracking of their whips die away in the distance. + + * * * * * + +_24 June, before morning._--Last night the Count left me early, and +locked himself into his own room. As soon as I dared I ran up the +winding stair, and looked out of the window, which opened south. I +thought I would watch for the Count, for there is something going on. +The Szgany are quartered somewhere in the castle and are doing work of +some kind. I know it, for now and then I hear a far-away muffled sound +as of mattock and spade, and, whatever it is, it must be the end of some +ruthless villainy. + +I had been at the window somewhat less than half an hour, when I saw +something coming out of the Count's window. I drew back and watched +carefully, and saw the whole man emerge. It was a new shock to me to +find that he had on the suit of clothes which I had worn whilst +travelling here, and slung over his shoulder the terrible bag which I +had seen the women take away. There could be no doubt as to his quest, +and in my garb, too! This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he will +allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may both leave +evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages posting my own +letters, and that any wickedness which he may do shall by the local +people be attributed to me. + +It makes me rage to think that this can go on, and whilst I am shut up +here, a veritable prisoner, but without that protection of the law which +is even a criminal's right and consolation. + +I thought I would watch for the Count's return, and for a long time sat +doggedly at the window. Then I began to notice that there were some +quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were +like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in +clusters in a nebulous sort of way. I watched them with a sense of +soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me. I leaned back in the +embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy more +fully the aërial gambolling. + +Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far +below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight. Louder it seemed to +ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to +the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to +awake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, +and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I +was becoming hypnotised! Quicker and quicker danced the dust; the +moonbeams seemed to quiver as they went by me into the mass of gloom +beyond. More and more they gathered till they seemed to take dim phantom +shapes. And then I started, broad awake and in full possession of my +senses, and ran screaming from the place. The phantom shapes, which were +becoming gradually materialised from the moonbeams, were those of the +three ghostly women to whom I was doomed. I fled, and felt somewhat +safer in my own room, where there was no moonlight and where the lamp +was burning brightly. + +When a couple of hours had passed I heard something stirring in the +Count's room, something like a sharp wail quickly suppressed; and then +there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me. With a +beating heart, I tried the door; but I was locked in my prison, and +could do nothing. I sat down and simply cried. + +As I sat I heard a sound in the courtyard without--the agonised cry of a +woman. I rushed to the window, and throwing it up, peered out between +the bars. There, indeed, was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her +hands over her heart as one distressed with running. She was leaning +against a corner of the gateway. When she saw my face at the window she +threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace:-- + +"Monster, give me my child!" + +She threw herself on her knees, and raising up her hands, cried the same +words in tones which wrung my heart. Then she tore her hair and beat her +breast, and abandoned herself to all the violences of extravagant +emotion. Finally, she threw herself forward, and, though I could not see +her, I could hear the beating of her naked hands against the door. + +Somewhere high overhead, probably on the tower, I heard the voice of the +Count calling in his harsh, metallic whisper. His call seemed to be +answered from far and wide by the howling of wolves. Before many minutes +had passed a pack of them poured, like a pent-up dam when liberated, +through the wide entrance into the courtyard. + +There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but +short. Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips. + +I could not pity her, for I knew now what had become of her child, and +she was better dead. + +What shall I do? what can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful +thing of night and gloom and fear? + + * * * * * + +_25 June, morning._--No man knows till he has suffered from the night +how sweet and how dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. When the +sun grew so high this morning that it struck the top of the great +gateway opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me +as if the dove from the ark had lighted there. My fear fell from me as +if it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth. I must +take action of some sort whilst the courage of the day is upon me. Last +night one of my post-dated letters went to post, the first of that fatal +series which is to blot out the very traces of my existence from the +earth. + +Let me not think of it. Action! + +It has always been at night-time that I have been molested or +threatened, or in some way in danger or in fear. I have not yet seen the +Count in the daylight. Can it be that he sleeps when others wake, that +he may be awake whilst they sleep? If I could only get into his room! +But there is no possible way. The door is always locked, no way for me. + +Yes, there is a way, if one dares to take it. Where his body has gone +why may not another body go? I have seen him myself crawl from his +window. Why should not I imitate him, and go in by his window? The +chances are desperate, but my need is more desperate still. I shall risk +it. At the worst it can only be death; and a man's death is not a +calf's, and the dreaded Hereafter may still be open to me. God help me +in my task! Good-bye, Mina, if I fail; good-bye, my faithful friend and +second father; good-bye, all, and last of all Mina! + + * * * * * + +_Same day, later._--I have made the effort, and God, helping me, have +come safely back to this room. I must put down every detail in order. I +went whilst my courage was fresh straight to the window on the south +side, and at once got outside on the narrow ledge of stone which runs +around the building on this side. The stones are big and roughly cut, +and the mortar has by process of time been washed away between them. I +took off my boots, and ventured out on the desperate way. I looked down +once, so as to make sure that a sudden glimpse of the awful depth would +not overcome me, but after that kept my eyes away from it. I knew pretty +well the direction and distance of the Count's window, and made for it +as well as I could, having regard to the opportunities available. I did +not feel dizzy--I suppose I was too excited--and the time seemed +ridiculously short till I found myself standing on the window-sill and +trying to raise up the sash. I was filled with agitation, however, when +I bent down and slid feet foremost in through the window. Then I looked +around for the Count, but, with surprise and gladness, made a discovery. +The room was empty! It was barely furnished with odd things, which +seemed to have never been used; the furniture was something the same +style as that in the south rooms, and was covered with dust. I looked +for the key, but it was not in the lock, and I could not find it +anywhere. The only thing I found was a great heap of gold in one +corner--gold of all kinds, Roman, and British, and Austrian, and +Hungarian, and Greek and Turkish money, covered with a film of dust, as +though it had lain long in the ground. None of it that I noticed was +less than three hundred years old. There were also chains and ornaments, +some jewelled, but all of them old and stained. + +At one corner of the room was a heavy door. I tried it, for, since I +could not find the key of the room or the key of the outer door, which +was the main object of my search, I must make further examination, or +all my efforts would be in vain. It was open, and led through a stone +passage to a circular stairway, which went steeply down. I descended, +minding carefully where I went, for the stairs were dark, being only lit +by loopholes in the heavy masonry. At the bottom there was a dark, +tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour, the +odour of old earth newly turned. As I went through the passage the smell +grew closer and heavier. At last I pulled open a heavy door which stood +ajar, and found myself in an old, ruined chapel, which had evidently +been used as a graveyard. The roof was broken, and in two places were +steps leading to vaults, but the ground had recently been dug over, and +the earth placed in great wooden boxes, manifestly those which had been +brought by the Slovaks. There was nobody about, and I made search for +any further outlet, but there was none. Then I went over every inch of +the ground, so as not to lose a chance. I went down even into the +vaults, where the dim light struggled, although to do so was a dread to +my very soul. Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments +of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a +discovery. + +There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a +pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep, I +could not say which--for the eyes were open and stony, but without the +glassiness of death--and the cheeks had the warmth of life through all +their pallor; the lips were as red as ever. But there was no sign of +movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart. I bent over him, +and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain. He could not have lain +there long, for the earthy smell would have passed away in a few hours. +By the side of the box was its cover, pierced with holes here and there. +I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw +the dead eyes, and in them, dead though they were, such a look of hate, +though unconscious of me or my presence, that I fled from the place, and +leaving the Count's room by the window, crawled again up the castle +wall. Regaining my room, I threw myself panting upon the bed and tried +to think.... + + * * * * * + +_29 June._--To-day is the date of my last letter, and the Count has +taken steps to prove that it was genuine, for again I saw him leave the +castle by the same window, and in my clothes. As he went down the wall, +lizard fashion, I wished I had a gun or some lethal weapon, that I might +destroy him; but I fear that no weapon wrought alone by man's hand would +have any effect on him. I dared not wait to see him return, for I feared +to see those weird sisters. I came back to the library, and read there +till I fell asleep. + +I was awakened by the Count, who looked at me as grimly as a man can +look as he said:-- + +"To-morrow, my friend, we must part. You return to your beautiful +England, I to some work which may have such an end that we may never +meet. Your letter home has been despatched; to-morrow I shall not be +here, but all shall be ready for your journey. In the morning come the +Szgany, who have some labours of their own here, and also come some +Slovaks. When they have gone, my carriage shall come for you, and shall +bear you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence from Bukovina to +Bistritz. But I am in hopes that I shall see more of you at Castle +Dracula." I suspected him, and determined to test his sincerity. +Sincerity! It seems like a profanation of the word to write it in +connection with such a monster, so asked him point-blank:-- + +"Why may I not go to-night?" + +"Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away on a mission." + +"But I would walk with pleasure. I want to get away at once." He smiled, +such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was some trick +behind his smoothness. He said:-- + +"And your baggage?" + +"I do not care about it. I can send for it some other time." + +The Count stood up, and said, with a sweet courtesy which made me rub my +eyes, it seemed so real:-- + +"You English have a saying which is close to my heart, for its spirit is +that which rules our _boyars_: 'Welcome the coming; speed the parting +guest.' Come with me, my dear young friend. Not an hour shall you wait +in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that +you so suddenly desire it. Come!" With a stately gravity, he, with the +lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he +stopped. + +"Hark!" + +Close at hand came the howling of many wolves. It was almost as if the +sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great +orchestra seems to leap under the bâton of the conductor. After a pause +of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back +the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it +open. + +To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlocked. Suspiciously, I +looked all round, but could see no key of any kind. + +As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder +and angrier; their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed +feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door. I knew then that +to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such +allies as these at his command, I could do nothing. But still the door +continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gap. +Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my +doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There +was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and +as a last chance I cried out:-- + +"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my +hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. With one sweep of his +powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and the great bolts clanged +and echoed through the hall as they shot back into their places. + +In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went +to my own room. The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand +to me; with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that +Judas in hell might be proud of. + +When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a +whispering at my door. I went to it softly and listened. Unless my ears +deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count:-- + +"Back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have +patience! To-night is mine. To-morrow night is yours!" There was a low, +sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open the door, and saw +without the three terrible women licking their lips. As I appeared they +all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away. + +I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees. It is then so near +the end? To-morrow! to-morrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am +dear! + + * * * * * + +_30 June, morning._--These may be the last words I ever write in this +diary. I slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself +on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me +ready. + +At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the morning +had come. Then came the welcome cock-crow, and I felt that I was safe. +With a glad heart, I opened my door and ran down to the hall. I had seen +that the door was unlocked, and now escape was before me. With hands +that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and drew back the +massive bolts. + +But the door would not move. Despair seized me. I pulled, and pulled, at +the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its +casement. I could see the bolt shot. It had been locked after I left the +Count. + +Then a wild desire took me to obtain that key at any risk, and I +determined then and there to scale the wall again and gain the Count's +room. He might kill me, but death now seemed the happier choice of +evils. Without a pause I rushed up to the east window, and scrambled +down the wall, as before, into the Count's room. It was empty, but that +was as I expected. I could not see a key anywhere, but the heap of gold +remained. I went through the door in the corner and down the winding +stair and along the dark passage to the old chapel. I knew now well +enough where to find the monster I sought. + +The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the lid +was laid on it, not fastened down, but with the nails ready in their +places to be hammered home. I knew I must reach the body for the key, so +I raised the lid, and laid it back against the wall; and then I saw +something which filled my very soul with horror. There lay the Count, +but looking as if his youth had been half renewed, for the white hair +and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, +and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than +ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the +corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, +burning eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches +underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were +simply gorged with blood. He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his +repletion. I shuddered as I bent over to touch him, and every sense in +me revolted at the contact; but I had to search, or I was lost. The +coming night might see my own body a banquet in a similar way to those +horrid three. I felt all over the body, but no sign could I find of the +key. Then I stopped and looked at the Count. There was a mocking smile +on the bloated face which seemed to drive me mad. This was the being I +was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come +he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and +create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the +helpless. The very thought drove me mad. A terrible desire came upon me +to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, +but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the +cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the +hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell full +upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to +paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, +merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my +hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade +caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid +thing from my sight. The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, +blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its +own in the nethermost hell. + +I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed +on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over me. As I +waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices coming +closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and the +cracking of whips; the Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count had +spoken were coming. With a last look around and at the box which +contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count's +room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be opened. +With strained ears, I listened, and heard downstairs the grinding of the +key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy door. There must +have been some other means of entry, or some one had a key for one of +the locked doors. Then there came the sound of many feet tramping and +dying away in some passage which sent up a clanging echo. I turned to +run down again towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance; +but at the moment there seemed to come a violent puff of wind, and the +door to the winding stair blew to with a shock that set the dust from +the lintels flying. When I ran to push it open, I found that it was +hopelessly fast. I was again a prisoner, and the net of doom was closing +round me more closely. + +As I write there is in the passage below a sound of many tramping feet +and the crash of weights being set down heavily, doubtless the boxes, +with their freight of earth. There is a sound of hammering; it is the +box being nailed down. Now I can hear the heavy feet tramping again +along the hall, with many other idle feet coming behind them. + +The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key +in the lock; I can hear the key withdraw: then another door opens and +shuts; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt. + +Hark! in the courtyard and down the rocky way the roll of heavy wheels, +the crack of whips, and the chorus of the Szgany as they pass into the +distance. + +I am alone in the castle with those awful women. Faugh! Mina is a woman, +and there is nought in common. They are devils of the Pit! + +I shall not remain alone with them; I shall try to scale the castle wall +farther than I have yet attempted. I shall take some of the gold with +me, lest I want it later. I may find a way from this dreadful place. + +And then away for home! away to the quickest and nearest train! away +from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his +children still walk with earthly feet! + +At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the +precipice is steep and high. At its foot a man may sleep--as a man. +Good-bye, all! Mina! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Letter from Miss Mina Murray to Miss Lucy Westenra._ + + +"_9 May._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed +with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. +I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together +freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard +lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have +been practising shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I shall +be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I +can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for +him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard. He +and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a +stenographic journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I +shall keep a diary in the same way. I don't mean one of those +two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a +sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I do not +suppose there will be much of interest to other people; but it is not +intended for them. I may show it to Jonathan some day if there is in it +anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try +to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing +descriptions and trying to remember conversations. I am told that, with +a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears +said during a day. However, we shall see. I will tell you of my little +plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan +from Transylvania. He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I +am longing to hear all his news. It must be so nice to see strange +countries. I wonder if we--I mean Jonathan and I--shall ever see them +together. There is the ten o'clock bell ringing. Good-bye. + +"Your loving + +"MINA. + +"Tell me all the news when you write. You have not told me anything for +a long time. I hear rumours, and especially of a tall, handsome, +curly-haired man???" + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_17, Chatham Street_, + +"_Wednesday_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"I must say you tax me _very_ unfairly with being a bad correspondent. I +wrote to you _twice_ since we parted, and your last letter was only your +_second_. Besides, I have nothing to tell you. There is really nothing +to interest you. Town is very pleasant just now, and we go a good deal +to picture-galleries and for walks and rides in the park. As to the +tall, curly-haired man, I suppose it was the one who was with me at the +last Pop. Some one has evidently been telling tales. That was Mr. +Holmwood. He often comes to see us, and he and mamma get on very well +together; they have so many things to talk about in common. We met some +time ago a man that would just _do for you_, if you were not already +engaged to Jonathan. He is an excellent _parti_, being handsome, well +off, and of good birth. He is a doctor and really clever. Just fancy! He +is only nine-and-twenty, and he has an immense lunatic asylum all under +his own care. Mr. Holmwood introduced him to me, and he called here to +see us, and often comes now. I think he is one of the most resolute men +I ever saw, and yet the most calm. He seems absolutely imperturbable. I +can fancy what a wonderful power he must have over his patients. He has +a curious habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to +read one's thoughts. He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter +myself he has got a tough nut to crack. I know that from my glass. Do +you ever try to read your own face? _I do_, and I can tell you it is not +a bad study, and gives you more trouble than you can well fancy if you +have never tried it. He says that I afford him a curious psychological +study, and I humbly think I do. I do not, as you know, take sufficient +interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions. Dress is a +bore. That is slang again, but never mind; Arthur says that every day. +There, it is all out. Mina, we have told all our secrets to each other +since we were _children_; we have slept together and eaten together, and +laughed and cried together; and now, though I have spoken, I would like +to speak more. Oh, Mina, couldn't you guess? I love him. I am blushing +as I write, for although I _think_ he loves me, he has not told me so in +words. But oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him! There, that +does me good. I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire +undressing, as we used to sit; and I would try to tell you what I feel. +I do not know how I am writing this even to you. I am afraid to stop, +or I should tear up the letter, and I don't want to stop, for I _do_ so +want to tell you all. Let me hear from you _at once_, and tell me all +that you think about it. Mina, I must stop. Good-night. Bless me in your +prayers; and, Mina, pray for my happiness. + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--I need not tell you this is a secret. Good-night again. + +"L." + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_24 May_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter. It was so +nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy. + +"My dear, it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. +Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a +proposal till to-day, not a real proposal, and to-day I have had three. +Just fancy! THREE proposals in one day! Isn't it awful! I feel sorry, +really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Mina, I am so +happy that I don't know what to do with myself. And three proposals! +But, for goodness' sake, don't tell any of the girls, or they would be +getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured +and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at +least. Some girls are so vain! You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and +are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can +despise vanity. Well, I must tell you about the three, but you must keep +it a secret, dear, from _every one_, except, of course, Jonathan. You +will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell +Arthur. A woman ought to tell her husband everything--don't you think +so, dear?--and I must be fair. Men like women, certainly their wives, to +be quite as fair as they are; and women, I am afraid, are not always +quite as fair as they should be. Well, my dear, number One came just +before lunch. I told you of him, Dr. John Seward, the lunatic-asylum +man, with the strong jaw and the good forehead. He was very cool +outwardly, but was nervous all the same. He had evidently been schooling +himself as to all sorts of little things, and remembered them; but he +almost managed to sit down on his silk hat, which men don't generally do +when they are cool, and then when he wanted to appear at ease he kept +playing with a lancet in a way that made me nearly scream. He spoke to +me, Mina, very straightforwardly. He told me how dear I was to him, +though he had known me so little, and what his life would be with me to +help and cheer him. He was going to tell me how unhappy he would be if I +did not care for him, but when he saw me cry he said that he was a brute +and would not add to my present trouble. Then he broke off and asked if +I could love him in time; and when I shook my head his hands trembled, +and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared already for any one +else. He put it very nicely, saying that he did not want to wring my +confidence from me, but only to know, because if a woman's heart was +free a man might have hope. And then, Mina, I felt a sort of duty to +tell him that there was some one. I only told him that much, and then he +stood up, and he looked very strong and very grave as he took both my +hands in his and said he hoped I would be happy, and that if I ever +wanted a friend I must count him one of my best. Oh, Mina dear, I can't +help crying: and you must excuse this letter being all blotted. Being +proposed to is all very nice and all that sort of thing, but it isn't at +all a happy thing when you have to see a poor fellow, whom you know +loves you honestly, going away and looking all broken-hearted, and to +know that, no matter what he may say at the moment, you are passing +quite out of his life. My dear, I must stop here at present, I feel so +miserable, though I am so happy. + +"_Evening._ + +"Arthur has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I left +off, so I can go on telling you about the day. Well, my dear, number Two +came after lunch. He is such a nice fellow, an American from Texas, and +he looks so young and so fresh that it seems almost impossible that he +has been to so many places and has had such adventures. I sympathise +with poor Desdemona when she had such a dangerous stream poured in her +ear, even by a black man. I suppose that we women are such cowards that +we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him. I know now +what I would do if I were a man and wanted to make a girl love me. No, I +don't, for there was Mr. Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never +told any, and yet---- My dear, I am somewhat previous. Mr. Quincey P. +Morris found me alone. It seems that a man always does find a girl +alone. No, he doesn't, for Arthur tried twice to _make_ a chance, and I +helping him all I could; I am not ashamed to say it now. I must tell you +beforehand that Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang--that is to say, +he never does so to strangers or before them, for he is really well +educated and has exquisite manners--but he found out that it amused me +to hear him talk American slang, and whenever I was present, and there +was no one to be shocked, he said such funny things. I am afraid, my +dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits exactly into whatever else he +has to say. But this is a way slang has. I do not know myself if I shall +ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it, as I have never +heard him use any as yet. Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked +as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see all the same that he was +very nervous. He took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly:-- + +"'Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your +little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you +will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won't +you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road +together, driving in double harness?' + +"Well, he did look so good-humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem +half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward; so I said, as +lightly as I could, that I did not know anything of hitching, and that I +wasn't broken to harness at all yet. Then he said that he had spoken in +a light manner, and he hoped that if he had made a mistake in doing so +on so grave, so momentous, an occasion for him, I would forgive him. He +really did look serious when he was saying it, and I couldn't help +feeling a bit serious too--I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid +flirt--though I couldn't help feeling a sort of exultation that he was +number two in one day. And then, my dear, before I could say a word he +began pouring out a perfect torrent of love-making, laying his very +heart and soul at my feet. He looked so earnest over it that I shall +never again think that a man must be playful always, and never earnest, +because he is merry at times. I suppose he saw something in my face +which checked him, for he suddenly stopped, and said with a sort of +manly fervour that I could have loved him for if I had been free:-- + +"'Lucy, you are an honest-hearted girl, I know. I should not be here +speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit, right +through to the very depths of your soul. Tell me, like one good fellow +to another, is there any one else that you care for? And if there is +I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again, but will be, if you will +let me, a very faithful friend.' + +"My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy +of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great-hearted, true +gentleman. I burst into tears--I am afraid, my dear, you will think +this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one--and I really felt very +badly. Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want +her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say +it. I am glad to say that, though I was crying, I was able to look into +Mr. Morris's brave eyes, and I told him out straight:-- + +"'Yes, there is some one I love, though he has not told me yet that he +even loves me.' I was right to speak to him so frankly, for quite a +light came into his face, and he put out both his hands and took mine--I +think I put them into his--and said in a hearty way:-- + +"'That's my brave girl. It's better worth being late for a chance of +winning you than being in time for any other girl in the world. Don't +cry, my dear. If it's for me, I'm a hard nut to crack; and I take it +standing up. If that other fellow doesn't know his happiness, well, he'd +better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal with me. Little girl, +your honesty and pluck have made me a friend, and that's rarer than a +lover; it's more unselfish anyhow. My dear, I'm going to have a pretty +lonely walk between this and Kingdom Come. Won't you give me one kiss? +It'll be something to keep off the darkness now and then. You can, you +know, if you like, for that other good fellow--he must be a good fellow, +my dear, and a fine fellow, or you could not love him--hasn't spoken +yet.' That quite won me, Mina, for it _was_ brave and sweet of him, and +noble, too, to a rival--wasn't it?--and he so sad; so I leant over and +kissed him. He stood up with my two hands in his, and as he looked down +into my face--I am afraid I was blushing very much--he said:-- + +"'Little girl, I hold your hand, and you've kissed me, and if these +things don't make us friends nothing ever will. Thank you for your sweet +honesty to me, and good-bye.' He wrung my hand, and taking up his hat, +went straight out of the room without looking back, without a tear or a +quiver or a pause; and I am crying like a baby. Oh, why must a man like +that be made unhappy when there are lots of girls about who would +worship the very ground he trod on? I know I would if I were free--only +I don't want to be free. My dear, this quite upset me, and I feel I +cannot write of happiness just at once, after telling you of it; and I +don't wish to tell of the number three until it can be all happy. + +"Ever your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--Oh, about number Three--I needn't tell you of number Three, need +I? Besides, it was all so confused; it seemed only a moment from his +coming into the room till both his arms were round me, and he was +kissing me. I am very, very happy, and I don't know what I have done to +deserve it. I must only try in the future to show that I am not +ungrateful to God for all His goodness to me in sending to me such a +lover, such a husband, and such a friend. + +"Good-bye." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +(Kept in phonograph) + +_25 May._--Ebb tide in appetite to-day. Cannot eat, cannot rest, so +diary instead. Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty +feeling; nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be worth +the doing.... As I knew that the only cure for this sort of thing was +work, I went down amongst the patients. I picked out one who has +afforded me a study of much interest. He is so quaint that I am +determined to understand him as well as I can. To-day I seemed to get +nearer than ever before to the heart of his mystery. + +I questioned him more fully than I had ever done, with a view to making +myself master of the facts of his hallucination. In my manner of doing +it there was, I now see, something of cruelty. I seemed to wish to keep +him to the point of his madness--a thing which I avoid with the patients +as I would the mouth of hell. + +(_Mem._, under what circumstances would I _not_ avoid the pit of hell?) +_Omnia Romæ venalia sunt._ Hell has its price! _verb. sap._ If there be +anything behind this instinct it will be valuable to trace it afterwards +_accurately_, so I had better commence to do so, therefore-- + +R. M. Renfield, ætat 59.--Sanguine temperament; great physical strength; +morbidly excitable; periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I +cannot make out. I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the +disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish; a possibly +dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men caution +is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of +on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is +balanced with the centrifugal; when duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed +point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of +accidents can balance it. + + +_Letter, Quincey P. Morris to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_25 May._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"We've told yarns by the camp-fire in the prairies; and dressed one +another's wounds after trying a landing at the Marquesas; and drunk +healths on the shore of Titicaca. There are more yarns to be told, and +other wounds to be healed, and another health to be drunk. Won't you let +this be at my camp-fire to-morrow night? I have no hesitation in asking +you, as I know a certain lady is engaged to a certain dinner-party, and +that you are free. There will only be one other, our old pal at the +Korea, Jack Seward. He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our +weeps over the wine-cup, and to drink a health with all our hearts to +the happiest man in all the wide world, who has won the noblest heart +that God has made and the best worth winning. We promise you a hearty +welcome, and a loving greeting, and a health as true as your own right +hand. We shall both swear to leave you at home if you drink too deep to +a certain pair of eyes. Come! + +"Yours, as ever and always, + +"QUINCEY P. MORRIS." + + +_Telegram from Arthur Holmwood to Quincey P. Morris._ + +"_26 May._ + +"Count me in every time. I bear messages which will make both your ears +tingle. + +"ART." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_24 July. Whitby._--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and +lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in +which they have rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the +Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the +harbour. A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through which the +view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is +beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land +on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to +see down. The houses of the old town--the side away from us--are all +red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the +pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby +Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of +"Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble +ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is +a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. Between it and +the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big +graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in +Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the +harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness +stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that +part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been +destroyed. In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches +out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside +them, through the churchyard; and people go and sit there all day long +looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze. I shall come and +sit here very often myself and work. Indeed, I am writing now, with my +book on my knee, and listening to the talk of three old men who are +sitting beside me. They seem to do nothing all day but sit up here and +talk. + +The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite wall +stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of it, in +the middle of which is a lighthouse. A heavy sea-wall runs along outside +of it. On the near side, the sea-wall makes an elbow crooked inversely, +and its end too has a lighthouse. Between the two piers there is a +narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly widens. + +It is nice at high water; but when the tide is out it shoals away to +nothing, and there is merely the stream of the Esk, running between +banks of sand, with rocks here and there. Outside the harbour on this +side there rises for about half a mile a great reef, the sharp edge of +which runs straight out from behind the south lighthouse. At the end of +it is a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in a +mournful sound on the wind. They have a legend here that when a ship is +lost bells are heard out at sea. I must ask the old man about this; he +is coming this way.... + +He is a funny old man. He must be awfully old, for his face is all +gnarled and twisted like the bark of a tree. He tells me that he is +nearly a hundred, and that he was a sailor in the Greenland fishing +fleet when Waterloo was fought. He is, I am afraid, a very sceptical +person, for when I asked him about the bells at sea and the White Lady +at the abbey he said very brusquely:-- + +"I wouldn't fash masel' about them, miss. Them things be all wore out. +Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say that they wasn't in +my time. They be all very well for comers and trippers, an' the like, +but not for a nice young lady like you. Them feet-folks from York and +Leeds that be always eatin' cured herrin's an' drinkin' tea an' lookin' +out to buy cheap jet would creed aught. I wonder masel' who'd be +bothered tellin' lies to them--even the newspapers, which is full of +fool-talk." I thought he would be a good person to learn interesting +things from, so I asked him if he would mind telling me something about +the whale-fishing in the old days. He was just settling himself to begin +when the clock struck six, whereupon he laboured to get up, and said:-- + +"I must gang ageeanwards home now, miss. My grand-daughter doesn't like +to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to +crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em; an', miss, I lack +belly-timber sairly by the clock." + +He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could, down +the steps. The steps are a great feature on the place. They lead from +the town up to the church, there are hundreds of them--I do not know how +many--and they wind up in a delicate curve; the slope is so gentle that +a horse could easily walk up and down them. I think they must originally +have had something to do with the abbey. I shall go home too. Lucy went +out visiting with her mother, and as they were only duty calls, I did +not go. They will be home by this. + + * * * * * + +_1 August._--I came up here an hour ago with Lucy, and we had a most +interesting talk with my old friend and the two others who always come +and join him. He is evidently the Sir Oracle of them, and I should think +must have been in his time a most dictatorial person. He will not admit +anything, and downfaces everybody. If he can't out-argue them he bullies +them, and then takes their silence for agreement with his views. Lucy +was looking sweetly pretty in her white lawn frock; she has got a +beautiful colour since she has been here. I noticed that the old men did +not lose any time in coming up and sitting near her when we sat down. +She is so sweet with old people; I think they all fell in love with her +on the spot. Even my old man succumbed and did not contradict her, but +gave me double share instead. I got him on the subject of the legends, +and he went off at once into a sort of sermon. I must try to remember it +and put it down:-- + +"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that's what it be, an' +nowt else. These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' barguests an' bogles +an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women +a-belderin'. They be nowt but air-blebs. They, an' all grims an' signs +an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome beuk-bodies an' +railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do +somethin' that they don't other incline to. It makes me ireful to think +o' them. Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on paper +an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them on the +tombstones. Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them +steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, +is acant--simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on +them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of +them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' +the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less +sacred. Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or another! My +gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they +come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an' tryin' to +drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them +trimmlin' and ditherin', with their hands that dozzened an' slippy from +lyin' in the sea that they can't even keep their grup o' them." + +I could see from the old fellow's self-satisfied air and the way in +which he looked round for the approval of his cronies that he was +"showing off," so I put in a word to keep him going:-- + +"Oh, Mr. Swales, you can't be serious. Surely these tombstones are not +all wrong?" + +"Yabblins! There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin' where they make +out the people too good; for there be folk that do think a balm-bowl be +like the sea, if only it be their own. The whole thing be only lies. Now +look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth." I +nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite +understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church. +He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be +happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again. "Then that be just where +the lie comes in. Why, there be scores of these lay-beds that be toom as +old Dun's 'bacca-box on Friday night." He nudged one of his companions, +and they all laughed. "And my gog! how could they be otherwise? Look at +that one, the aftest abaft the bier-bank: read it!" I went over and +read:-- + +"Edward Spencelagh, master mariner, murdered by pirates off the coast of +Andres, April, 1854, æt. 30." When I came back Mr. Swales went on:-- + +"Who brought him home, I wonder, to hap him here? Murdered off the coast +of Andres! an' you consated his body lay under! Why, I could name ye a +dozen whose bones lie in the Greenland seas above"--he pointed +northwards--"or where the currents may have drifted them. There be the +steans around ye. Ye can, with your young eyes, read the small-print of +the lies from here. This Braithwaite Lowrey--I knew his father, lost in +the _Lively_ off Greenland in '20; or Andrew Woodhouse, drowned in the +same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year +later; or old John Rawlings, whose grandfather sailed with me, drowned +in the Gulf of Finland in '50. Do ye think that all these men will have +to make a rush to Whitby when the trumpet sounds? I have me antherums +aboot it! I tell ye that when they got here they'd be jommlin' an' +jostlin' one another that way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice +in the old days, when we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' +tryin' to tie up our cuts by the light of the aurora borealis." This was +evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his +cronies joined in with gusto. + +"But," I said, "surely you are not quite correct, for you start on the +assumption that all the poor people, or their spirits, will have to +take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment. Do you think +that will be really necessary?" + +"Well, what else be they tombstones for? Answer me that, miss!" + +"To please their relatives, I suppose." + +"To please their relatives, you suppose!" This he said with intense +scorn. "How will it pleasure their relatives to know that lies is wrote +over them, and that everybody in the place knows that they be lies?" He +pointed to a stone at our feet which had been laid down as a slab, on +which the seat was rested, close to the edge of the cliff. "Read the +lies on that thruff-stean," he said. The letters were upside down to me +from where I sat, but Lucy was more opposite to them, so she leant over +and read:-- + +"Sacred to the memory of George Canon, who died, in the hope of a +glorious resurrection, on July, 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at +Kettleness. This tomb was erected by his sorrowing mother to her dearly +beloved son. 'He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.' +Really, Mr. Swales, I don't see anything very funny in that!" She spoke +her comment very gravely and somewhat severely. + +"Ye don't see aught funny! Ha! ha! But that's because ye don't gawm the +sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was +acrewk'd--a regular lamiter he was--an' he hated her so that he +committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put on +his life. He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that +they had for scarin' the crows with. 'Twarn't for crows then, for it +brought the clegs and the dowps to him. That's the way he fell off the +rocks. And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often heard him +say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was so pious +that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to addle where +she was. Now isn't that stean at any rate"--he hammered it with his +stick as he spoke--"a pack of lies? and won't it make Gabriel keckle +when Geordie comes pantin' up the grees with the tombstean balanced on +his hump, and asks it to be took as evidence!" + +I did not know what to say, but Lucy turned the conversation as she +said, rising up:-- + +"Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favourite seat, and I cannot +leave it; and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a +suicide." + +"That won't harm ye, my pretty; an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome to +have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap. That won't hurt ye. Why, I've +sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't done me +no harm. Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie +there either! It'll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the +tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field. +There's the clock, an' I must gang. My service to ye, ladies!" And off +he hobbled. + +Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we +took hands as we sat; and she told me all over again about Arthur and +their coming marriage. That made me just a little heart-sick, for I +haven't heard from Jonathan for a whole month. + + * * * * * + +_The same day._ I came up here alone, for I am very sad. There was no +letter for me. I hope there cannot be anything the matter with Jonathan. +The clock has just struck nine. I see the lights scattered all over the +town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and sometimes singly; +they run right up the Esk and die away in the curve of the valley. To my +left the view is cut off by a black line of roof of the old house next +the abbey. The sheep and lambs are bleating in the fields away behind +me, and there is a clatter of a donkey's hoofs up the paved road below. +The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further +along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street. +Neither of the bands hears the other, but up here I hear and see them +both. I wonder where Jonathan is and if he is thinking of me! I wish he +were here. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 June._--The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to +understand the man. He has certain qualities very largely developed; +selfishness, secrecy, and purpose. I wish I could get at what is the +object of the latter. He seems to have some settled scheme of his own, +but what it is I do not yet know. His redeeming quality is a love of +animals, though, indeed, he has such curious turns in it that I +sometimes imagine he is only abnormally cruel. His pets are of odd +sorts. Just now his hobby is catching flies. He has at present such a +quantity that I have had myself to expostulate. To my astonishment, he +did not break out into a fury, as I expected, but took the matter in +simple seriousness. He thought for a moment, and then said: "May I have +three days? I shall clear them away." Of course, I said that would do. I +must watch him. + + * * * * * + +_18 June._--He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several +very big fellows in a box. He keeps feeding them with his flies, and +the number of the latter is becoming sensibly diminished, although he +has used half his food in attracting more flies from outside to his +room. + + * * * * * + +_1 July._--His spiders are now becoming as great a nuisance as his +flies, and to-day I told him that he must get rid of them. He looked +very sad at this, so I said that he must clear out some of them, at all +events. He cheerfully acquiesced in this, and I gave him the same time +as before for reduction. He disgusted me much while with him, for when a +horrid blow-fly, bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, +he caught it, held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger +and thumb, and, before I knew what he was going to do, put it in his +mouth and ate it. I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it +was very good and very wholesome; that it was life, strong life, and +gave life to him. This gave me an idea, or the rudiment of one. I must +watch how he gets rid of his spiders. He has evidently some deep problem +in his mind, for he keeps a little note-book in which he is always +jotting down something. Whole pages of it are filled with masses of +figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the +totals added in batches again, as though he were "focussing" some +account, as the auditors put it. + + * * * * * + +_8 July._--There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in +my mind is growing. It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, +unconscious cerebration! you will have to give the wall to your +conscious brother. I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I +might notice if there were any change. Things remain as they were except +that he has parted with some of his pets and got a new one. He has +managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed it. His means +of taming is simple, for already the spiders have diminished. Those that +do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by +tempting them with his food. + + * * * * * + +_19 July._--We are progressing. My friend has now a whole colony of +sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated. When I came +in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour--a very, +very great favour; and as he spoke he fawned on me like a dog. I asked +him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his voice and +bearing:-- + +"A kitten, a nice little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, +and teach, and feed--and feed--and feed!" I was not unprepared for this +request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and +vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows +should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and the spiders; so +I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a +cat than a kitten. His eagerness betrayed him as he answered:-- + +"Oh, yes, I would like a cat! I only asked for a kitten lest you should +refuse me a cat. No one would refuse me a kitten, would they?" I shook +my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but +that I would see about it. His face fell, and I could see a warning of +danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong look which meant +killing. The man is an undeveloped homicidal maniac. I shall test him +with his present craving and see how it will work out; then I shall know +more. + + * * * * * + +_10 p. m._--I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner +brooding. When I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and +implored me to let him have a cat; that his salvation depended upon it. +I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon +he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the corner +where I had found him. I shall see him in the morning early. + + * * * * * + +_20 July._--Visited Renfield very early, before the attendant went his +rounds. Found him up and humming a tune. He was spreading out his sugar, +which he had saved, in the window, and was manifestly beginning his +fly-catching again; and beginning it cheerfully and with a good grace. I +looked around for his birds, and not seeing them, asked him where they +were. He replied, without turning round, that they had all flown away. +There were a few feathers about the room and on his pillow a drop of +blood. I said nothing, but went and told the keeper to report to me if +there were anything odd about him during the day. + + * * * * * + +_11 a. m._--The attendant has just been to me to say that Renfield has +been very sick and has disgorged a whole lot of feathers. "My belief is, +doctor," he said, "that he has eaten his birds, and that he just took +and ate them raw!" + + * * * * * + +_11 p. m._--I gave Renfield a strong opiate to-night, enough to make +even him sleep, and took away his pocket-book to look at it. The thought +that has been buzzing about my brain lately is complete, and the theory +proved. My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I shall have to +invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoöphagous +(life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he +can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way. He +gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then +wanted a cat to eat the many birds. What would have been his later +steps? It would almost be worth while to complete the experiment. It +might be done if there were only a sufficient cause. Men sneered at +vivisection, and yet look at its results to-day! Why not advance science +in its most difficult and vital aspect--the knowledge of the brain? Had +I even the secret of one such mind--did I hold the key to the fancy of +even one lunatic--I might advance my own branch of science to a pitch +compared with which Burdon-Sanderson's physiology or Ferrier's +brain-knowledge would be as nothing. If only there were a sufficient +cause! I must not think too much of this, or I may be tempted; a good +cause might turn the scale with me, for may not I too be of an +exceptional brain, congenitally? + +How well the man reasoned; lunatics always do within their own scope. I +wonder at how many lives he values a man, or if at only one. He has +closed the account most accurately, and to-day begun a new record. How +many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives? + +To me it seems only yesterday that my whole life ended with my new hope, +and that truly I began a new record. So it will be until the Great +Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a balance to +profit or loss. Oh, Lucy, Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be +angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on +hopeless and work. Work! work! + +If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there--a +good, unselfish cause to make me work--that would be indeed happiness. + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_26 July._--I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here; it +is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time. And +there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it +different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I +had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned; but +yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from +him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said the enclosed +had just been received. It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, +and says that he is just starting for home. That is not like Jonathan; +I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy. Then, too, Lucy, +although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in +her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided +that I am to lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra has +got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and +along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over +with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place. Poor dear, she is +naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy's +father, had the same habit; that he would get up in the night and dress +himself and go out, if he were not stopped. Lucy is to be married in the +autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is +to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan +and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to +make both ends meet. Mr. Holmwood--he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only +son of Lord Godalming--is coming up here very shortly--as soon as he can +leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is +counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up to the seat +on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it +is the waiting which disturbs her; she will be all right when he +arrives. + + * * * * * + +_27 July._--No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him, +though why I should I do not know; but I do wish that he would write, if +it were only a single line. Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I +am awakened by her moving about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so +hot that she cannot get cold; but still the anxiety and the perpetually +being wakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and +wakeful myself. Thank God, Lucy's health keeps up. Mr. Holmwood has been +suddenly called to Ring to see his father, who has been taken seriously +ill. Lucy frets at the postponement of seeing him, but it does not touch +her looks; she is a trifle stouter, and her cheeks are a lovely +rose-pink. She has lost that anæmic look which she had. I pray it will +all last. + + * * * * * + +_3 August._--Another week gone, and no news from Jonathan, not even to +Mr. Hawkins, from whom I have heard. Oh, I do hope he is not ill. He +surely would have written. I look at that last letter of his, but +somehow it does not satisfy me. It does not read like him, and yet it is +his writing. There is no mistake of that. Lucy has not walked much in +her sleep the last week, but there is an odd concentration about her +which I do not understand; even in her sleep she seems to be watching +me. She tries the door, and finding it locked, goes about the room +searching for the key. + +_6 August._--Another three days, and no news. This suspense is getting +dreadful. If I only knew where to write to or where to go to, I should +feel easier; but no one has heard a word of Jonathan since that last +letter. I must only pray to God for patience. Lucy is more excitable +than ever, but is otherwise well. Last night was very threatening, and +the fishermen say that we are in for a storm. I must try to watch it and +learn the weather signs. To-day is a grey day, and the sun as I write is +hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey--except +the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it; grey earthy rock; +grey clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the +grey sea, into which the sand-points stretch like grey fingers. The sea +is tumbling in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, +muffled in the sea-mists drifting inland. The horizon is lost in a grey +mist. All is vastness; the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and +there is a "brool" over the sea that sounds like some presage of doom. +Dark figures are on the beach here and there, sometimes half shrouded in +the mist, and seem "men like trees walking." The fishing-boats are +racing for home, and rise and dip in the ground swell as they sweep into +the harbour, bending to the scuppers. Here comes old Mr. Swales. He is +making straight for me, and I can see, by the way he lifts his hat, that +he wants to talk.... + +I have been quite touched by the change in the poor old man. When he sat +down beside me, he said in a very gentle way:-- + +"I want to say something to you, miss." I could see he was not at ease, +so I took his poor old wrinkled hand in mine and asked him to speak +fully; so he said, leaving his hand in mine:-- + +"I'm afraid, my deary, that I must have shocked you by all the wicked +things I've been sayin' about the dead, and such like, for weeks past; +but I didn't mean them, and I want ye to remember that when I'm gone. We +aud folks that be daffled, and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't +altogether like to think of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it; +an' that's why I've took to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my +own heart a bit. But, Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a +bit; only I don't want to die if I can help it. My time must be nigh at +hand now, for I be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to +expect; and I'm so nigh it that the Aud Man is already whettin' his +scythe. Ye see, I can't get out o' the habit of caffin' about it all at +once; the chafts will wag as they be used to. Some day soon the Angel of +Death will sound his trumpet for me. But don't ye dooal an' greet, my +deary!"--for he saw that I was crying--"if he should come this very +night I'd not refuse to answer his call. For life be, after all, only a +waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin'; and death be all that +we can rightly depend on. But I'm content, for it's comin' to me, my +deary, and comin' quick. It may be comin' while we be lookin' and +wonderin'. Maybe it's in that wind out over the sea that's bringin' with +it loss and wreck, and sore distress, and sad hearts. Look! look!" he +cried suddenly. "There's something in that wind and in the hoast beyont +that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It's in the +air; I feel it comin'. Lord, make me answer cheerful when my call +comes!" He held up his arms devoutly, and raised his hat. His mouth +moved as though he were praying. After a few minutes' silence, he got +up, shook hands with me, and blessed me, and said good-bye, and hobbled +off. It all touched me, and upset me very much. + +I was glad when the coastguard came along, with his spy-glass under his +arm. He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time +kept looking at a strange ship. + +"I can't make her out," he said; "she's a Russian, by the look of her; +but she's knocking about in the queerest way. She doesn't know her mind +a bit; she seems to see the storm coming, but can't decide whether to +run up north in the open, or to put in here. Look there again! She is +steered mighty strangely, for she doesn't mind the hand on the wheel; +changes about with every puff of wind. We'll hear more of her before +this time to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CUTTING FROM "THE DAILYGRAPH," 8 AUGUST + + +(_Pasted in Mina Murray's Journal._) + +From a Correspondent. + +_Whitby_. + +One of the greatest and suddenest storms on record has just been +experienced here, with results both strange and unique. The weather had +been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the month of +August. Saturday evening was as fine as was ever known, and the great +body of holiday-makers laid out yesterday for visits to Mulgrave Woods, +Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes, and the various trips in +the neighbourhood of Whitby. The steamers _Emma_ and _Scarborough_ made +trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of +"tripping" both to and from Whitby. The day was unusually fine till the +afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff +churchyard, and from that commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of +sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of +"mares'-tails" high in the sky to the north-west. The wind was then +blowing from the south-west in the mild degree which in barometrical +language is ranked "No. 2: light breeze." The coastguard on duty at once +made report, and one old fisherman, who for more than half a century has +kept watch on weather signs from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic +manner the coming of a sudden storm. The approach of sunset was so very +beautiful, so grand in its masses of splendidly-coloured clouds, that +there was quite an assemblage on the walk along the cliff in the old +churchyard to enjoy the beauty. Before the sun dipped below the black +mass of Kettleness, standing boldly athwart the western sky, its +downward way was marked by myriad clouds of every sunset-colour--flame, +purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold; with here and +there masses not large, but of seemingly absolute blackness, in all +sorts of shapes, as well outlined as colossal silhouettes. The +experience was not lost on the painters, and doubtless some of the +sketches of the "Prelude to the Great Storm" will grace the R. A. and R. +I. walls in May next. More than one captain made up his mind then and +there that his "cobble" or his "mule," as they term the different +classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed. +The wind fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there +was a dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity which, on +the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive nature. There +were but few lights in sight at sea, for even the coasting steamers, +which usually "hug" the shore so closely, kept well to seaward, and but +few fishing-boats were in sight. The only sail noticeable was a foreign +schooner with all sails set, which was seemingly going westwards. The +foolhardiness or ignorance of her officers was a prolific theme for +comment whilst she remained in sight, and efforts were made to signal +her to reduce sail in face of her danger. Before the night shut down she +was seen with sails idly flapping as she gently rolled on the undulating +swell of the sea, + + "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." + +Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite +oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a sheep +inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly heard, and the +band on the pier, with its lively French air, was like a discord in the +great harmony of nature's silence. A little after midnight came a +strange sound from over the sea, and high overhead the air began to +carry a strange, faint, hollow booming. + +Then without warning the tempest broke. With a rapidity which, at the +time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible to realize, +the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed. The waves rose in +growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till in a very few minutes +the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and devouring monster. +White-crested waves beat madly on the level sands and rushed up the +shelving cliffs; others broke over the piers, and with their spume swept +the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise from the end of either pier +of Whitby Harbour. The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such +force that it was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, +or clung with grim clasp to the iron stanchions. It was found necessary +to clear the entire piers from the mass of onlookers, or else the +fatalities of the night would have been increased manifold. To add to +the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came +drifting inland--white, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, +so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of +imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were +touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and many +a one shuddered as the wreaths of sea-mist swept by. At times the mist +cleared, and the sea for some distance could be seen in the glare of the +lightning, which now came thick and fast, followed by such sudden peals +of thunder that the whole sky overhead seemed trembling under the shock +of the footsteps of the storm. + +Some of the scenes thus revealed were of immeasurable grandeur and of +absorbing interest--the sea, running mountains high, threw skywards with +each wave mighty masses of white foam, which the tempest seemed to +snatch at and whirl away into space; here and there a fishing-boat, with +a rag of sail, running madly for shelter before the blast; now and again +the white wings of a storm-tossed sea-bird. On the summit of the East +Cliff the new searchlight was ready for experiment, but had not yet been +tried. The officers in charge of it got it into working order, and in +the pauses of the inrushing mist swept with it the surface of the sea. +Once or twice its service was most effective, as when a fishing-boat, +with gunwale under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance +of the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the +piers. As each boat achieved the safety of the port there was a shout of +joy from the mass of people on shore, a shout which for a moment seemed +to cleave the gale and was then swept away in its rush. + +Before long the searchlight discovered some distance away a schooner +with all sails set, apparently the same vessel which had been noticed +earlier in the evening. The wind had by this time backed to the east, +and there was a shudder amongst the watchers on the cliff as they +realized the terrible danger in which she now was. Between her and the +port lay the great flat reef on which so many good ships have from time +to time suffered, and, with the wind blowing from its present quarter, +it would be quite impossible that she should fetch the entrance of the +harbour. It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so +great that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost +visible, and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with such +speed that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up somewhere, +if it was only in hell." Then came another rush of sea-fog, greater than +any hitherto--a mass of dank mist, which seemed to close on all things +like a grey pall, and left available to men only the organ of hearing, +for the roar of the tempest, and the crash of the thunder, and the +booming of the mighty billows came through the damp oblivion even louder +than before. The rays of the searchlight were kept fixed on the harbour +mouth across the East Pier, where the shock was expected, and men waited +breathless. The wind suddenly shifted to the north-east, and the remnant +of the sea-fog melted in the blast; and then, _mirabile dictu_, between +the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, +swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and +gained the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed her, and a +shudder ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a +corpse, with drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each +motion of the ship. No other form could be seen on deck at all. A great +awe came on all as they realised that the ship, as if by a miracle, had +found the harbour, unsteered save by the hand of a dead man! However, +all took place more quickly than it takes to write these words. The +schooner paused not, but rushing across the harbour, pitched herself on +that accumulation of sand and gravel washed by many tides and many +storms into the south-east corner of the pier jutting under the East +Cliff, known locally as Tate Hill Pier. + +There was of course a considerable concussion as the vessel drove up on +the sand heap. Every spar, rope, and stay was strained, and some of the +"top-hammer" came crashing down. But, strangest of all, the very instant +the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as +if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow +on the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard +hangs over the laneway to the East Pier so steeply that some of the flat +tombstones--"thruff-steans" or "through-stones," as they call them in +the Whitby vernacular--actually project over where the sustaining cliff +has fallen away, it disappeared in the darkness, which seemed +intensified just beyond the focus of the searchlight. + +It so happened that there was no one at the moment on Tate Hill Pier, as +all those whose houses are in close proximity were either in bed or were +out on the heights above. Thus the coastguard on duty on the eastern +side of the harbour, who at once ran down to the little pier, was the +first to climb on board. The men working the searchlight, after scouring +the entrance of the harbour without seeing anything, then turned the +light on the derelict and kept it there. The coastguard ran aft, and +when he came beside the wheel, bent over to examine it, and recoiled at +once as though under some sudden emotion. This seemed to pique general +curiosity, and quite a number of people began to run. It is a good way +round from the West Cliff by the Drawbridge to Tate Hill Pier, but your +correspondent is a fairly good runner, and came well ahead of the crowd. +When I arrived, however, I found already assembled on the pier a crowd, +whom the coastguard and police refused to allow to come on board. By the +courtesy of the chief boatman, I was, as your correspondent, permitted +to climb on deck, and was one of a small group who saw the dead seaman +whilst actually lashed to the wheel. + +It was no wonder that the coastguard was surprised, or even awed, for +not often can such a sight have been seen. The man was simply fastened +by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between +the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix, the set of beads on which it +was fastened being around both wrists and wheel, and all kept fast by +the binding cords. The poor fellow may have been seated at one time, but +the flapping and buffeting of the sails had worked through the rudder of +the wheel and dragged him to and fro, so that the cords with which he +was tied had cut the flesh to the bone. Accurate note was made of the +state of things, and a doctor--Surgeon J. M. Caffyn, of 33, East Elliot +Place--who came immediately after me, declared, after making +examination, that the man must have been dead for quite two days. In his +pocket was a bottle, carefully corked, empty save for a little roll of +paper, which proved to be the addendum to the log. The coastguard said +the man must have tied up his own hands, fastening the knots with his +teeth. The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some +complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot +claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a +derelict. Already, however, the legal tongues are wagging, and one young +law student is loudly asserting that the rights of the owner are already +completely sacrificed, his property being held in contravention of the +statutes of mortmain, since the tiller, as emblemship, if not proof, of +delegated possession, is held in a _dead hand_. It is needless to say +that the dead steersman has been reverently removed from the place where +he held his honourable watch and ward till death--a steadfastness as +noble as that of the young Casabianca--and placed in the mortuary to +await inquest. + +Already the sudden storm is passing, and its fierceness is abating; +crowds are scattering homeward, and the sky is beginning to redden over +the Yorkshire wolds. I shall send, in time for your next issue, further +details of the derelict ship which found her way so miraculously into +harbour in the storm. + +_Whitby_ + +_9 August._--The sequel to the strange arrival of the derelict in the +storm last night is almost more startling than the thing itself. It +turns out that the schooner is a Russian from Varna, and is called the +_Demeter_. She is almost entirely in ballast of silver sand, with only a +small amount of cargo--a number of great wooden boxes filled with mould. +This cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor, Mr. S. F. Billington, of +7, The Crescent, who this morning went aboard and formally took +possession of the goods consigned to him. The Russian consul, too, +acting for the charter-party, took formal possession of the ship, and +paid all harbour dues, etc. Nothing is talked about here to-day except +the strange coincidence; the officials of the Board of Trade have been +most exacting in seeing that every compliance has been made with +existing regulations. As the matter is to be a "nine days' wonder," they +are evidently determined that there shall be no cause of after +complaint. A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which +landed when the ship struck, and more than a few of the members of the +S. P. C. A., which is very strong in Whitby, have tried to befriend the +animal. To the general disappointment, however, it was not to be found; +it seems to have disappeared entirely from the town. It may be that it +was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it is still +hiding in terror. There are some who look with dread on such a +possibility, lest later on it should in itself become a danger, for it +is evidently a fierce brute. Early this morning a large dog, a half-bred +mastiff belonging to a coal merchant close to Tate Hill Pier, was found +dead in the roadway opposite to its master's yard. It had been fighting, +and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn away, +and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--By the kindness of the Board of Trade inspector, I have been +permitted to look over the log-book of the _Demeter_, which was in order +up to within three days, but contained nothing of special interest +except as to facts of missing men. The greatest interest, however, is +with regard to the paper found in the bottle, which was to-day produced +at the inquest; and a more strange narrative than the two between them +unfold it has not been my lot to come across. As there is no motive for +concealment, I am permitted to use them, and accordingly send you a +rescript, simply omitting technical details of seamanship and +supercargo. It almost seems as though the captain had been seized with +some kind of mania before he had got well into blue water, and that +this had developed persistently throughout the voyage. Of course my +statement must be taken _cum grano_, since I am writing from the +dictation of a clerk of the Russian consul, who kindly translated for +me, time being short. + + LOG OF THE "DEMETER." + + +_Varna to Whitby._ + +_Written 18 July, things so strange happening, that I shall keep +accurate note henceforth till we land._ + + * * * * * + +On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes of earth. +At noon set sail. East wind, fresh. Crew, five hands ... two mates, +cook, and myself (captain). + + * * * * * + +On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus. Boarded by Turkish Customs +officers. Backsheesh. All correct. Under way at 4 p. m. + + * * * * * + +On 12 July through Dardanelles. More Customs officers and flagboat of +guarding squadron. Backsheesh again. Work of officers thorough, but +quick. Want us off soon. At dark passed into Archipelago. + + * * * * * + +On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. +Seemed scared, but would not speak out. + + * * * * * + +On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew. Men all steady fellows, who +sailed with me before. Mate could not make out what was wrong; they only +told him there was _something_, and crossed themselves. Mate lost temper +with one of them that day and struck him. Expected fierce quarrel, but +all was quiet. + + * * * * * + +On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of crew, Petrofsky, was +missing. Could not account for it. Took larboard watch eight bells last +night; was relieved by Abramoff, but did not go to bunk. Men more +downcast than ever. All said they expected something of the kind, but +would not say more than there was _something_ aboard. Mate getting very +impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead. + + * * * * * + +On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin, and in +an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a strange man +aboard the ship. He said that in his watch he had been sheltering +behind the deck-house, as there was a rain-storm, when he saw a tall, +thin man, who was not like any of the crew, come up the companion-way, +and go along the deck forward, and disappear. He followed cautiously, +but when he got to bows found no one, and the hatchways were all closed. +He was in a panic of superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may +spread. To allay it, I shall to-day search entire ship carefully from +stem to stern. + + * * * * * + +Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as they +evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would search from +stem to stern. First mate angry; said it was folly, and to yield to such +foolish ideas would demoralise the men; said he would engage to keep +them out of trouble with a handspike. I let him take the helm, while the +rest began thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns: we left +no corner unsearched. As there were only the big wooden boxes, there +were no odd corners where a man could hide. Men much relieved when +search over, and went back to work cheerfully. First mate scowled, but +said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_22 July_.--Rough weather last three days, and all hands busy with +sails--no time to be frightened. Men seem to have forgotten their dread. +Mate cheerful again, and all on good terms. Praised men for work in bad +weather. Passed Gibralter and out through Straits. All well. + + * * * * * + +_24 July_.--There seems some doom over this ship. Already a hand short, +and entering on the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and yet last +night another man lost--disappeared. Like the first, he came off his +watch and was not seen again. Men all in a panic of fear; sent a round +robin, asking to have double watch, as they fear to be alone. Mate +angry. Fear there will be some trouble, as either he or the men will do +some violence. + + * * * * * + +_28 July_.--Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of maelstrom, +and the wind a tempest. No sleep for any one. Men all worn out. Hardly +know how to set a watch, since no one fit to go on. Second mate +volunteered to steer and watch, and let men snatch a few hours' sleep. +Wind abating; seas still terrific, but feel them less, as ship is +steadier. + + * * * * * + +_29 July_.--Another tragedy. Had single watch to-night, as crew too +tired to double. When morning watch came on deck could find no one +except steersman. Raised outcry, and all came on deck. Thorough search, +but no one found. Are now without second mate, and crew in a panic. Mate +and I agreed to go armed henceforth and wait for any sign of cause. + + * * * * * + +_30 July_.--Last night. Rejoiced we are nearing England. Weather fine, +all sails set. Retired worn out; slept soundly; awaked by mate telling +me that both man of watch and steersman missing. Only self and mate and +two hands left to work ship. + + * * * * * + +_1 August_.--Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted. Had hoped when in +the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get in somewhere. +Not having power to work sails, have to run before wind. Dare not lower, +as could not raise them again. We seem to be drifting to some terrible +doom. Mate now more demoralised than either of men. His stronger nature +seems to have worked inwardly against himself. Men are beyond fear, +working stolidly and patiently, with minds made up to worst. They are +Russian, he Roumanian. + + * * * * * + +_2 August, midnight_.--Woke up from few minutes' sleep by hearing a cry, +seemingly outside my port. Could see nothing in fog. Rushed on deck, and +ran against mate. Tells me heard cry and ran, but no sign of man on +watch. One more gone. Lord, help us! Mate says we must be past Straits +of Dover, as in a moment of fog lifting he saw North Foreland, just as +he heard the man cry out. If so we are now off in the North Sea, and +only God can guide us in the fog, which seems to move with us; and God +seems to have deserted us. + + * * * * * + +_3 August_.--At midnight I went to relieve the man at the wheel, and +when I got to it found no one there. The wind was steady, and as we ran +before it there was no yawing. I dared not leave it, so shouted for the +mate. After a few seconds he rushed up on deck in his flannels. He +looked wild-eyed and haggard, and I greatly fear his reason has given +way. He came close to me and whispered hoarsely, with his mouth to my +ear, as though fearing the very air might hear: "_It_ is here; I know +it, now. On the watch last night I saw It, like a man, tall and thin, +and ghastly pale. It was in the bows, and looking out. I crept behind +It, and gave It my knife; but the knife went through It, empty as the +air." And as he spoke he took his knife and drove it savagely into +space. Then he went on: "But It is here, and I'll find It. It is in the +hold, perhaps in one of those boxes. I'll unscrew them one by one and +see. You work the helm." And, with a warning look and his finger on his +lip, he went below. There was springing up a choppy wind, and I could +not leave the helm. I saw him come out on deck again with a tool-chest +and a lantern, and go down the forward hatchway. He is mad, stark, +raving mad, and it's no use my trying to stop him. He can't hurt those +big boxes: they are invoiced as "clay," and to pull them about is as +harmless a thing as he can do. So here I stay, and mind the helm, and +write these notes. I can only trust in God and wait till the fog clears. +Then, if I can't steer to any harbour with the wind that is, I shall cut +down sails and lie by, and signal for help.... + + * * * * * + +It is nearly all over now. Just as I was beginning to hope that the mate +would come out calmer--for I heard him knocking away at something in the +hold, and work is good for him--there came up the hatchway a sudden, +startled scream, which made my blood run cold, and up on the deck he +came as if shot from a gun--a raging madman, with his eyes rolling and +his face convulsed with fear. "Save me! save me!" he cried, and then +looked round on the blanket of fog. His horror turned to despair, and in +a steady voice he said: "You had better come too, captain, before it is +too late. _He_ is there. I know the secret now. The sea will save me +from Him, and it is all that is left!" Before I could say a word, or +move forward to seize him, he sprang on the bulwark and deliberately +threw himself into the sea. I suppose I know the secret too, now. It was +this madman who had got rid of the men one by one, and now he has +followed them himself. God help me! How am I to account for all these +horrors when I get to port? _When_ I get to port! Will that ever be? + + * * * * * + +_4 August._--Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce. I know there is +sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not. I dared not go +below, I dared not leave the helm; so here all night I stayed, and in +the dimness of the night I saw It--Him! God forgive me, but the mate was +right to jump overboard. It was better to die like a man; to die like a +sailor in blue water no man can object. But I am captain, and I must not +leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie +my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with +them I shall tie that which He--It!--dare not touch; and then, come good +wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my honour as a captain. I am +growing weaker, and the night is coming on. If He can look me in the +face again, I may not have time to act.... If we are wrecked, mayhap +this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand; if not, +... well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trust. God +and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying +to do his duty.... + + * * * * * + +Of course the verdict was an open one. There is no evidence to adduce; +and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now +none to say. The folk here hold almost universally that the captain is +simply a hero, and he is to be given a public funeral. Already it is +arranged that his body is to be taken with a train of boats up the Esk +for a piece and then brought back to Tate Hill Pier and up the abbey +steps; for he is to be buried in the churchyard on the cliff. The owners +of more than a hundred boats have already given in their names as +wishing to follow him to the grave. + +No trace has ever been found of the great dog; at which there is much +mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he would, I +believe, be adopted by the town. To-morrow will see the funeral; and so +will end this one more "mystery of the sea." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_8 August._--Lucy was very restless all night, and I, too, could not +sleep. The storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the +chimney-pots, it made me shudder. When a sharp puff came it seemed to be +like a distant gun. Strangely enough, Lucy did not wake; but she got up +twice and dressed herself. Fortunately, each time I awoke in time and +managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bed. It +is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is +thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, +disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her +life. + +Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see +if anything had happened in the night. There were very few people about, +and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, +grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that +topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth +of the harbour--like a bullying man going through a crowd. Somehow I +felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on land. But, +oh, is he on land or sea? Where is he, and how? I am getting fearfully +anxious about him. If I only knew what to do, and could do anything! + + * * * * * + +_10 August._--The funeral of the poor sea-captain to-day was most +touching. Every boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin +was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the +churchyard. Lucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat, whilst +the cortège of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came down +again. We had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the way. +The poor fellow was laid to rest quite near our seat so that we stood on +it when the time came and saw everything. Poor Lucy seemed much upset. +She was restless and uneasy all the time, and I cannot but think that +her dreaming at night is telling on her. She is quite odd in one thing: +she will not admit to me that there is any cause for restlessness; or if +there be, she does not understand it herself. There is an additional +cause in that poor old Mr. Swales was found dead this morning on our +seat, his neck being broken. He had evidently, as the doctor said, +fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of +fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudder. Poor +dear old man! Perhaps he had seen Death with his dying eyes! Lucy is so +sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other +people do. Just now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did +not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals. One of the men +who came up here often to look for the boats was followed by his dog. +The dog is always with him. They are both quiet persons, and I never saw +the man angry, nor heard the dog bark. During the service the dog would +not come to its master, who was on the seat with us, but kept a few +yards off, barking and howling. Its master spoke to it gently, and then +harshly, and then angrily; but it would neither come nor cease to make a +noise. It was in a sort of fury, with its eyes savage, and all its hairs +bristling out like a cat's tail when puss is on the war-path. Finally +the man, too, got angry, and jumped down and kicked the dog, and then +took it by the scruff of the neck and half dragged and half threw it on +the tombstone on which the seat is fixed. The moment it touched the +stone the poor thing became quiet and fell all into a tremble. It did +not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was +in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, +to comfort it. Lucy was full of pity, too, but she did not attempt to +touch the dog, but looked at it in an agonised sort of way. I greatly +fear that she is of too super-sensitive a nature to go through the world +without trouble. She will be dreaming of this to-night, I am sure. The +whole agglomeration of things--the ship steered into port by a dead +man; his attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads; the +touching funeral; the dog, now furious and now in terror--will all +afford material for her dreams. + +I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I +shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and +back. She ought not to have much inclination for sleep-walking then. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_Same day, 11 o'clock p. m._--Oh, but I am tired! If it were not that I +had made my diary a duty I should not open it to-night. We had a lovely +walk. Lucy, after a while, was in gay spirits, owing, I think, to some +dear cows who came nosing towards us in a field close to the lighthouse, +and frightened the wits out of us. I believe we forgot everything +except, of course, personal fear, and it seemed to wipe the slate clean +and give us a fresh start. We had a capital "severe tea" at Robin Hood's +Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow-window right over +the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand. I believe we should have +shocked the "New Woman" with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless +them! Then we walked home with some, or rather many, stoppages to rest, +and with our hearts full of a constant dread of wild bulls. Lucy was +really tired, and we intended to creep off to bed as soon as we could. +The young curate came in, however, and Mrs. Westenra asked him to stay +for supper. Lucy and I had both a fight for it with the dusty miller; I +know it was a hard fight on my part, and I am quite heroic. I think that +some day the bishops must get together and see about breeding up a new +class of curates, who don't take supper, no matter how they may be +pressed to, and who will know when girls are tired. Lucy is asleep and +breathing softly. She has more colour in her cheeks than usual, and +looks, oh, so sweet. If Mr. Holmwood fell in love with her seeing her +only in the drawing-room, I wonder what he would say if he saw her now. +Some of the "New Women" writers will some day start an idea that men and +women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or +accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to +accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make +of it, too! There's some consolation in that. I am so happy to-night, +because dear Lucy seems better. I really believe she has turned the +corner, and that we are over her troubles with dreaming. I should be +quite happy if I only knew if Jonathan.... God bless and keep him. + + * * * * * + +_11 August, 3 a. m._--Diary again. No sleep now, so I may as well write. +I am too agitated to sleep. We have had such an adventure, such an +agonising experience. I fell asleep as soon as I had closed my diary.... +Suddenly I became broad awake, and sat up, with a horrible sense of fear +upon me, and of some feeling of emptiness around me. The room was dark, +so I could not see Lucy's bed; I stole across and felt for her. The bed +was empty. I lit a match and found that she was not in the room. The +door was shut, but not locked, as I had left it. I feared to wake her +mother, who has been more than usually ill lately, so threw on some +clothes and got ready to look for her. As I was leaving the room it +struck me that the clothes she wore might give me some clue to her +dreaming intention. Dressing-gown would mean house; dress, outside. +Dressing-gown and dress were both in their places. "Thank God," I said +to myself, "she cannot be far, as she is only in her nightdress." I ran +downstairs and looked in the sitting-room. Not there! Then I looked in +all the other open rooms of the house, with an ever-growing fear +chilling my heart. Finally I came to the hall door and found it open. It +was not wide open, but the catch of the lock had not caught. The people +of the house are careful to lock the door every night, so I feared that +Lucy must have gone out as she was. There was no time to think of what +might happen; a vague, overmastering fear obscured all details. I took a +big, heavy shawl and ran out. The clock was striking one as I was in the +Crescent, and there was not a soul in sight. I ran along the North +Terrace, but could see no sign of the white figure which I expected. At +the edge of the West Cliff above the pier I looked across the harbour to +the East Cliff, in the hope or fear--I don't know which--of seeing Lucy +in our favourite seat. There was a bright full moon, with heavy black, +driving clouds, which threw the whole scene into a fleeting diorama of +light and shade as they sailed across. For a moment or two I could see +nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church and all +around it. Then as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the abbey +coming into view; and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as +a sword-cut moved along, the church and the churchyard became gradually +visible. Whatever my expectation was, it was not disappointed, for +there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a +half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too +quick for me to see much, for shadow shut down on light almost +immediately; but it seemed to me as though something dark stood behind +the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, +whether man or beast, I could not tell; I did not wait to catch another +glance, but flew down the steep steps to the pier and along by the +fish-market to the bridge, which was the only way to reach the East +Cliff. The town seemed as dead, for not a soul did I see; I rejoiced +that it was so, for I wanted no witness of poor Lucy's condition. The +time and distance seemed endless, and my knees trembled and my breath +came laboured as I toiled up the endless steps to the abbey. I must have +gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as if my feet were weighted with +lead, and as though every joint in my body were rusty. When I got almost +to the top I could see the seat and the white figure, for I was now +close enough to distinguish it even through the spells of shadow. There +was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the +half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, "Lucy! Lucy!" and +something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face +and red, gleaming eyes. Lucy did not answer, and I ran on to the +entrance of the churchyard. As I entered, the church was between me and +the seat, and for a minute or so I lost sight of her. When I came in +view again the cloud had passed, and the moonlight struck so brilliantly +that I could see Lucy half reclining with her head lying over the back +of the seat. She was quite alone, and there was not a sign of any living +thing about. + +When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips +were parted, and she was breathing--not softly as usual with her, but in +long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every +breath. As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled the +collar of her nightdress close around her throat. Whilst she did so +there came a little shudder through her, as though she felt the cold. I +flung the warm shawl over her, and drew the edges tight round her neck, +for I dreaded lest she should get some deadly chill from the night air, +unclad as she was. I feared to wake her all at once, so, in order to +have my hands free that I might help her, I fastened the shawl at her +throat with a big safety-pin; but I must have been clumsy in my anxiety +and pinched or pricked her with it, for by-and-by, when her breathing +became quieter, she put her hand to her throat again and moaned. When I +had her carefully wrapped up I put my shoes on her feet and then began +very gently to wake her. At first she did not respond; but gradually she +became more and more uneasy in her sleep, moaning and sighing +occasionally. At last, as time was passing fast, and, for many other +reasons, I wished to get her home at once, I shook her more forcibly, +till finally she opened her eyes and awoke. She did not seem surprised +to see me, as, of course, she did not realise all at once where she was. +Lucy always wakes prettily, and even at such a time, when her body must +have been chilled with cold, and her mind somewhat appalled at waking +unclad in a churchyard at night, she did not lose her grace. She +trembled a little, and clung to me; when I told her to come at once with +me home she rose without a word, with the obedience of a child. As we +passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince. She +stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes; but I would not. +However, when we got to the pathway outside the churchyard, where there +was a puddle of water, remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet with +mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home, no +one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare feet. + +Fortune favoured us, and we got home without meeting a soul. Once we saw +a man, who seemed not quite sober, passing along a street in front of +us; but we hid in a door till he had disappeared up an opening such as +there are here, steep little closes, or "wynds," as they call them in +Scotland. My heart beat so loud all the time that sometimes I thought I +should faint. I was filled with anxiety about Lucy, not only for her +health, lest she should suffer from the exposure, but for her reputation +in case the story should get wind. When we got in, and had washed our +feet, and had said a prayer of thankfulness together, I tucked her into +bed. Before falling asleep she asked--even implored--me not to say a +word to any one, even her mother, about her sleep-walking adventure. I +hesitated at first to promise; but on thinking of the state of her +mother's health, and how the knowledge of such a thing would fret her, +and thinking, too, of how such a story might become distorted--nay, +infallibly would--in case it should leak out, I thought it wiser to do +so. I hope I did right. I have locked the door, and the key is tied to +my wrist, so perhaps I shall not be again disturbed. Lucy is sleeping +soundly; the reflex of the dawn is high and far over the sea.... + + * * * * * + +_Same day, noon._--All goes well. Lucy slept till I woke her and seemed +not to have even changed her side. The adventure of the night does not +seem to have harmed her; on the contrary, it has benefited her, for she +looks better this morning than she has done for weeks. I was sorry to +notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her. Indeed, it might +have been serious, for the skin of her throat was pierced. I must have +pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are +two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her nightdress +was a drop of blood. When I apologised and was concerned about it, she +laughed and petted me, and said she did not even feel it. Fortunately it +cannot leave a scar, as it is so tiny. + + * * * * * + +_Same day, night._--We passed a happy day. The air was clear, and the +sun bright, and there was a cool breeze. We took our lunch to Mulgrave +Woods, Mrs. Westenra driving by the road and Lucy and I walking by the +cliff-path and joining her at the gate. I felt a little sad myself, for +I could not but feel how _absolutely_ happy it would have been had +Jonathan been with me. But there! I must only be patient. In the evening +we strolled in the Casino Terrace, and heard some good music by Spohr +and Mackenzie, and went to bed early. Lucy seems more restful than she +has been for some time, and fell asleep at once. I shall lock the door +and secure the key the same as before, though I do not expect any +trouble to-night. + + * * * * * + +_12 August._--My expectations were wrong, for twice during the night I +was wakened by Lucy trying to get out. She seemed, even in her sleep, to +be a little impatient at finding the door shut, and went back to bed +under a sort of protest. I woke with the dawn, and heard the birds +chirping outside of the window. Lucy woke, too, and, I was glad to see, +was even better than on the previous morning. All her old gaiety of +manner seemed to have come back, and she came and snuggled in beside me +and told me all about Arthur. I told her how anxious I was about +Jonathan, and then she tried to comfort me. Well, she succeeded +somewhat, for, though sympathy can't alter facts, it can help to make +them more bearable. + + * * * * * + +_13 August._--Another quiet day, and to bed with the key on my wrist as +before. Again I awoke in the night, and found Lucy sitting up in bed, +still asleep, pointing to the window. I got up quietly, and pulling +aside the blind, looked out. It was brilliant moonlight, and the soft +effect of the light over the sea and sky--merged together in one great, +silent mystery--was beautiful beyond words. Between me and the moonlight +flitted a great bat, coming and going in great whirling circles. Once or +twice it came quite close, but was, I suppose, frightened at seeing me, +and flitted away across the harbour towards the abbey. When I came back +from the window Lucy had lain down again, and was sleeping peacefully. +She did not stir again all night. + + * * * * * + +_14 August._--On the East Cliff, reading and writing all day. Lucy seems +to have become as much in love with the spot as I am, and it is hard to +get her away from it when it is time to come home for lunch or tea or +dinner. This afternoon she made a funny remark. We were coming home for +dinner, and had come to the top of the steps up from the West Pier and +stopped to look at the view, as we generally do. The setting sun, low +down in the sky, was just dropping behind Kettleness; the red light was +thrown over on the East Cliff and the old abbey, and seemed to bathe +everything in a beautiful rosy glow. We were silent for a while, and +suddenly Lucy murmured as if to herself:-- + +"His red eyes again! They are just the same." It was such an odd +expression, coming _apropos_ of nothing, that it quite startled me. I +slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare +at her, and saw that she was in a half-dreamy state, with an odd look on +her face that I could not quite make out; so I said nothing, but +followed her eyes. She appeared to be looking over at our own seat, +whereon was a dark figure seated alone. I was a little startled myself, +for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes like +burning flames; but a second look dispelled the illusion. The red +sunlight was shining on the windows of St. Mary's Church behind our +seat, and as the sun dipped there was just sufficient change in the +refraction and reflection to make it appear as if the light moved. I +called Lucy's attention to the peculiar effect, and she became herself +with a start, but she looked sad all the same; it may have been that she +was thinking of that terrible night up there. We never refer to it; so I +said nothing, and we went home to dinner. Lucy had a headache and went +early to bed. I saw her asleep, and went out for a little stroll myself; +I walked along the cliffs to the westward, and was full of sweet +sadness, for I was thinking of Jonathan. When coming home--it was then +bright moonlight, so bright that, though the front of our part of the +Crescent was in shadow, everything could be well seen--I threw a glance +up at our window, and saw Lucy's head leaning out. I thought that +perhaps she was looking out for me, so I opened my handkerchief and +waved it. She did not notice or make any movement whatever. Just then, +the moonlight crept round an angle of the building, and the light fell +on the window. There distinctly was Lucy with her head lying up against +the side of the window-sill and her eyes shut. She was fast asleep, and +by her, seated on the window-sill, was something that looked like a +good-sized bird. I was afraid she might get a chill, so I ran upstairs, +but as I came into the room she was moving back to her bed, fast +asleep, and breathing heavily; she was holding her hand to her throat, +as though to protect it from cold. + +I did not wake her, but tucked her up warmly; I have taken care that the +door is locked and the window securely fastened. + +She looks so sweet as she sleeps; but she is paler than is her wont, and +there is a drawn, haggard look under her eyes which I do not like. I +fear she is fretting about something. I wish I could find out what it +is. + + * * * * * + +_15 August._--Rose later than usual. Lucy was languid and tired, and +slept on after we had been called. We had a happy surprise at breakfast. +Arthur's father is better, and wants the marriage to come off soon. Lucy +is full of quiet joy, and her mother is glad and sorry at once. Later on +in the day she told me the cause. She is grieved to lose Lucy as her +very own, but she is rejoiced that she is soon to have some one to +protect her. Poor dear, sweet lady! She confided to me that she has got +her death-warrant. She has not told Lucy, and made me promise secrecy; +her doctor told her that within a few months, at most, she must die, for +her heart is weakening. At any time, even now, a sudden shock would be +almost sure to kill her. Ah, we were wise to keep from her the affair of +the dreadful night of Lucy's sleep-walking. + + * * * * * + +_17 August._--No diary for two whole days. I have not had the heart to +write. Some sort of shadowy pall seems to be coming over our happiness. +No news from Jonathan, and Lucy seems to be growing weaker, whilst her +mother's hours are numbering to a close. I do not understand Lucy's +fading away as she is doing. She eats well and sleeps well, and enjoys +the fresh air; but all the time the roses in her cheeks are fading, and +she gets weaker and more languid day by day; at night I hear her gasping +as if for air. I keep the key of our door always fastened to my wrist at +night, but she gets up and walks about the room, and sits at the open +window. Last night I found her leaning out when I woke up, and when I +tried to wake her I could not; she was in a faint. When I managed to +restore her she was as weak as water, and cried silently between long, +painful struggles for breath. When I asked her how she came to be at the +window she shook her head and turned away. I trust her feeling ill may +not be from that unlucky prick of the safety-pin. I looked at her throat +just now as she lay asleep, and the tiny wounds seem not to have healed. +They are still open, and, if anything, larger than before, and the +edges of them are faintly white. They are like little white dots with +red centres. Unless they heal within a day or two, I shall insist on the +doctor seeing about them. + + +_Letter, Samuel F. Billington & Son, Solicitors, Whitby, to Messrs. +Carter, Paterson & Co., London._ + +"_17 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"Herewith please receive invoice of goods sent by Great Northern +Railway. Same are to be delivered at Carfax, near Purfleet, immediately +on receipt at goods station King's Cross. The house is at present empty, +but enclosed please find keys, all of which are labelled. + +"You will please deposit the boxes, fifty in number, which form the +consignment, in the partially ruined building forming part of the house +and marked 'A' on rough diagram enclosed. Your agent will easily +recognise the locality, as it is the ancient chapel of the mansion. The +goods leave by the train at 9:30 to-night, and will be due at King's +Cross at 4:30 to-morrow afternoon. As our client wishes the delivery +made as soon as possible, we shall be obliged by your having teams ready +at King's Cross at the time named and forthwith conveying the goods to +destination. In order to obviate any delays possible through any routine +requirements as to payment in your departments, we enclose cheque +herewith for ten pounds (£10), receipt of which please acknowledge. +Should the charge be less than this amount, you can return balance; if +greater, we shall at once send cheque for difference on hearing from +you. You are to leave the keys on coming away in the main hall of the +house, where the proprietor may get them on his entering the house by +means of his duplicate key. + +"Pray do not take us as exceeding the bounds of business courtesy in +pressing you in all ways to use the utmost expedition. + +_"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON."_ + + +_Letter, Messrs. Carter, Paterson & Co., London, to Messrs. Billington & +Son, Whitby._ + +"_21 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"We beg to acknowledge £10 received and to return cheque £1 17s. 9d, +amount of overplus, as shown in receipted account herewith. Goods are +delivered in exact accordance with instructions, and keys left in parcel +in main hall, as directed. + +"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Yours respectfully. + +"_Pro_ CARTER, PATERSON & CO." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_18 August._--I am happy to-day, and write sitting on the seat in the +churchyard. Lucy is ever so much better. Last night she slept well all +night, and did not disturb me once. The roses seem coming back already +to her cheeks, though she is still sadly pale and wan-looking. If she +were in any way anæmic I could understand it, but she is not. She is in +gay spirits and full of life and cheerfulness. All the morbid reticence +seems to have passed from her, and she has just reminded me, as if I +needed any reminding, of _that_ night, and that it was here, on this +very seat, I found her asleep. As she told me she tapped playfully with +the heel of her boot on the stone slab and said:-- + +"My poor little feet didn't make much noise then! I daresay poor old Mr. +Swales would have told me that it was because I didn't want to wake up +Geordie." As she was in such a communicative humour, I asked her if she +had dreamed at all that night. Before she answered, that sweet, puckered +look came into her forehead, which Arthur--I call him Arthur from her +habit--says he loves; and, indeed, I don't wonder that he does. Then she +went on in a half-dreaming kind of way, as if trying to recall it to +herself:-- + +"I didn't quite dream; but it all seemed to be real. I only wanted to be +here in this spot--I don't know why, for I was afraid of something--I +don't know what. I remember, though I suppose I was asleep, passing +through the streets and over the bridge. A fish leaped as I went by, and +I leaned over to look at it, and I heard a lot of dogs howling--the +whole town seemed as if it must be full of dogs all howling at once--as +I went up the steps. Then I had a vague memory of something long and +dark with red eyes, just as we saw in the sunset, and something very +sweet and very bitter all around me at once; and then I seemed sinking +into deep green water, and there was a singing in my ears, as I have +heard there is to drowning men; and then everything seemed passing away +from me; my soul seemed to go out from my body and float about the air. +I seem to remember that once the West Lighthouse was right under me, +and then there was a sort of agonising feeling, as if I were in an +earthquake, and I came back and found you shaking my body. I saw you do +it before I felt you." + +Then she began to laugh. It seemed a little uncanny to me, and I +listened to her breathlessly. I did not quite like it, and thought it +better not to keep her mind on the subject, so we drifted on to other +subjects, and Lucy was like her old self again. When we got home the +fresh breeze had braced her up, and her pale cheeks were really more +rosy. Her mother rejoiced when she saw her, and we all spent a very +happy evening together. + + * * * * * + +_19 August._--Joy, joy, joy! although not all joy. At last, news of +Jonathan. The dear fellow has been ill; that is why he did not write. I +am not afraid to think it or say it, now that I know. Mr. Hawkins sent +me on the letter, and wrote himself, oh, so kindly. I am to leave in the +morning and go over to Jonathan, and to help to nurse him if necessary, +and to bring him home. Mr. Hawkins says it would not be a bad thing if +we were to be married out there. I have cried over the good Sister's +letter till I can feel it wet against my bosom, where it lies. It is of +Jonathan, and must be next my heart, for he is _in_ my heart. My journey +is all mapped out, and my luggage ready. I am only taking one change of +dress; Lucy will bring my trunk to London and keep it till I send for +it, for it may be that ... I must write no more; I must keep it to say +to Jonathan, my husband. The letter that he has seen and touched must +comfort me till we meet. + + +_Letter, Sister Agatha, Hospital of St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, +Buda-Pesth, to Miss Wilhelmina Murray._ + +"_12 August._ + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not strong +enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St. Joseph +and Ste. Mary. He has been under our care for nearly six weeks, +suffering from a violent brain fever. He wishes me to convey his love, +and to say that by this post I write for him to Mr. Peter Hawkins, +Exeter, to say, with his dutiful respects, that he is sorry for his +delay, and that all of his work is completed. He will require some few +weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but will then return. He +wishes me to say that he has not sufficient money with him, and that he +would like to pay for his staying here, so that others who need shall +not be wanting for help. + +"Believe me, + +"Yours, with sympathy and all blessings, + +"SISTER AGATHA. + +"P. S.--My patient being asleep, I open this to let you know something +more. He has told me all about you, and that you are shortly to be his +wife. All blessings to you both! He has had some fearful shock--so says +our doctor--and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful; of +wolves and poison and blood; of ghosts and demons; and I fear to say of +what. Be careful with him always that there may be nothing to excite him +of this kind for a long time to come; the traces of such an illness as +his do not lightly die away. We should have written long ago, but we +knew nothing of his friends, and there was on him nothing that any one +could understand. He came in the train from Klausenburg, and the guard +was told by the station-master there that he rushed into the station +shouting for a ticket for home. Seeing from his violent demeanour that +he was English, they gave him a ticket for the furthest station on the +way thither that the train reached. + +"Be assured that he is well cared for. He has won all hearts by his +sweetness and gentleness. He is truly getting on well, and I have no +doubt will in a few weeks be all himself. But be careful of him for +safety's sake. There are, I pray God and St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, many, +many, happy years for you both." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_19 August._--Strange and sudden change in Renfield last night. About +eight o'clock he began to get excited and sniff about as a dog does when +setting. The attendant was struck by his manner, and knowing my interest +in him, encouraged him to talk. He is usually respectful to the +attendant and at times servile; but to-night, the man tells me, he was +quite haughty. Would not condescend to talk with him at all. All he +would say was:-- + + "I don't want to talk to you: you don't count now; the Master is at + hand." + +The attendant thinks it is some sudden form of religious mania which has +seized him. If so, we must look out for squalls, for a strong man with +homicidal and religious mania at once might be dangerous. The +combination is a dreadful one. At nine o'clock I visited him myself. His +attitude to me was the same as that to the attendant; in his sublime +self-feeling the difference between myself and attendant seemed to him +as nothing. It looks like religious mania, and he will soon think that +he himself is God. These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man +are too paltry for an Omnipotent Being. How these madmen give themselves +away! The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created +from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow. Oh, +if men only knew! + +For half an hour or more Renfield kept getting excited in greater and +greater degree. I did not pretend to be watching him, but I kept strict +observation all the same. All at once that shifty look came into his +eyes which we always see when a madman has seized an idea, and with it +the shifty movement of the head and back which asylum attendants come to +know so well. He became quite quiet, and went and sat on the edge of his +bed resignedly, and looked into space with lack-lustre eyes. I thought I +would find out if his apathy were real or only assumed, and tried to +lead him to talk of his pets, a theme which had never failed to excite +his attention. At first he made no reply, but at length said testily:-- + +"Bother them all! I don't care a pin about them." + +"What?" I said. "You don't mean to tell me you don't care about +spiders?" (Spiders at present are his hobby and the note-book is filling +up with columns of small figures.) To this he answered enigmatically:-- + +"The bride-maidens rejoice the eyes that wait the coming of the bride; +but when the bride draweth nigh, then the maidens shine not to the eyes +that are filled." + +He would not explain himself, but remained obstinately seated on his bed +all the time I remained with him. + +I am weary to-night and low in spirits. I cannot but think of Lucy, and +how different things might have been. If I don't sleep at once, chloral, +the modern Morpheus--C_{2}HCl_{3}O. H_{2}O! I must be careful not to let +it grow into a habit. No, I shall take none to-night! I have thought of +Lucy, and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two. If need be, +to-night shall be sleepless.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Glad I made the resolution; gladder that I kept to it. I had +lain tossing about, and had heard the clock strike only twice, when the +night-watchman came to me, sent up from the ward, to say that Renfield +had escaped. I threw on my clothes and ran down at once; my patient is +too dangerous a person to be roaming about. Those ideas of his might +work out dangerously with strangers. The attendant was waiting for me. +He said he had seen him not ten minutes before, seemingly asleep in his +bed, when he had looked through the observation-trap in the door. His +attention was called by the sound of the window being wrenched out. He +ran back and saw his feet disappear through the window, and had at once +sent up for me. He was only in his night-gear, and cannot be far off. +The attendant thought it would be more useful to watch where he should +go than to follow him, as he might lose sight of him whilst getting out +of the building by the door. He is a bulky man, and couldn't get through +the window. I am thin, so, with his aid, I got out, but feet foremost, +and, as we were only a few feet above ground, landed unhurt. The +attendant told me the patient had gone to the left, and had taken a +straight line, so I ran as quickly as I could. As I got through the belt +of trees I saw a white figure scale the high wall which separates our +grounds from those of the deserted house. + +I ran back at once, told the watchman to get three or four men +immediately and follow me into the grounds of Carfax, in case our friend +might be dangerous. I got a ladder myself, and crossing the wall, +dropped down on the other side. I could see Renfield's figure just +disappearing behind the angle of the house, so I ran after him. On the +far side of the house I found him pressed close against the old +ironbound oak door of the chapel. He was talking, apparently to some +one, but I was afraid to go near enough to hear what he was saying, lest +I might frighten him, and he should run off. Chasing an errant swarm of +bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic, when the fit of escaping +is upon him! After a few minutes, however, I could see that he did not +take note of anything around him, and so ventured to draw nearer to +him--the more so as my men had now crossed the wall and were closing him +in. I heard him say:-- + +"I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will +reward me, for I shall be faithful. I have worshipped You long and afar +off. Now that You are near, I await Your commands, and You will not pass +me by, will You, dear Master, in Your distribution of good things?" + +He _is_ a selfish old beggar anyhow. He thinks of the loaves and fishes +even when he believes he is in a Real Presence. His manias make a +startling combination. When we closed in on him he fought like a tiger. +He is immensely strong, for he was more like a wild beast than a man. I +never saw a lunatic in such a paroxysm of rage before; and I hope I +shall not again. It is a mercy that we have found out his strength and +his danger in good time. With strength and determination like his, he +might have done wild work before he was caged. He is safe now at any +rate. Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat +that keeps him restrained, and he's chained to the wall in the padded +room. His cries are at times awful, but the silences that follow are +more deadly still, for he means murder in every turn and movement. + +Just now he spoke coherent words for the first time:-- + +"I shall be patient, Master. It is coming--coming--coming!" + +So I took the hint, and came too. I was too excited to sleep, but this +diary has quieted me, and I feel I shall get some sleep to-night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +"_Buda-Pesth, 24 August._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"I know you will be anxious to hear all that has happened since we +parted at the railway station at Whitby. Well, my dear, I got to Hull +all right, and caught the boat to Hamburg, and then the train on here. I +feel that I can hardly recall anything of the journey, except that I +knew I was coming to Jonathan, and, that as I should have to do some +nursing, I had better get all the sleep I could.... I found my dear one, +oh, so thin and pale and weak-looking. All the resolution has gone out +of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his +face has vanished. He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not +remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At +least, he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask. He has had some +terrible shock, and I fear it might tax his poor brain if he were to try +to recall it. Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and a born nurse, +tells me that he raved of dreadful things whilst he was off his head. I +wanted her to tell me what they were; but she would only cross herself, +and say she would never tell; that the ravings of the sick were the +secrets of God, and that if a nurse through her vocation should hear +them, she should respect her trust. She is a sweet, good soul, and the +next day, when she saw I was troubled, she opened up the subject again, +and after saying that she could never mention what my poor dear raved +about, added: 'I can tell you this much, my dear: that it was not about +anything which he has done wrong himself; and you, as his wife to be, +have no cause to be concerned. He has not forgotten you or what he owes +to you. His fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can +treat of.' I do believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my +poor dear should have fallen in love with any other girl. The idea of +_my_ being jealous about Jonathan! And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I +felt a thrill of joy through me when I _knew_ that no other woman was a +cause of trouble. I am now sitting by his bedside, where I can see his +face while he sleeps. He is waking!... + +"When he woke he asked me for his coat, as he wanted to get something +from the pocket; I asked Sister Agatha, and she brought all his things. +I saw that amongst them was his note-book, and was going to ask him to +let me look at it--for I knew then that I might find some clue to his +trouble--but I suppose he must have seen my wish in my eyes, for he sent +me over to the window, saying he wanted to be quite alone for a moment. +Then he called me back, and when I came he had his hand over the +note-book, and he said to me very solemnly:-- + +"'Wilhelmina'--I knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has +never called me by that name since he asked me to marry him--'you know, +dear, my ideas of the trust between husband and wife: there should be no +secret, no concealment. I have had a great shock, and when I try to +think of what it is I feel my head spin round, and I do not know if it +was all real or the dreaming of a madman. You know I have had brain +fever, and that is to be mad. The secret is here, and I do not want to +know it. I want to take up my life here, with our marriage.' For, my +dear, we had decided to be married as soon as the formalities are +complete. 'Are you willing, Wilhelmina, to share my ignorance? Here is +the book. Take it and keep it, read it if you will, but never let me +know; unless, indeed, some solemn duty should come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, sane or mad, recorded here.' He fell +back exhausted, and I put the book under his pillow, and kissed him. I +have asked Sister Agatha to beg the Superior to let our wedding be this +afternoon, and am waiting her reply.... + + * * * * * + +"She has come and told me that the chaplain of the English mission +church has been sent for. We are to be married in an hour, or as soon +after as Jonathan awakes.... + + * * * * * + +"Lucy, the time has come and gone. I feel very solemn, but very, very +happy. Jonathan woke a little after the hour, and all was ready, and he +sat up in bed, propped up with pillows. He answered his 'I will' firmly +and strongly. I could hardly speak; my heart was so full that even those +words seemed to choke me. The dear sisters were so kind. Please God, I +shall never, never forget them, nor the grave and sweet responsibilities +I have taken upon me. I must tell you of my wedding present. When the +chaplain and the sisters had left me alone with my husband--oh, Lucy, it +is the first time I have written the words 'my husband'--left me alone +with my husband, I took the book from under his pillow, and wrapped it +up in white paper, and tied it with a little bit of pale blue ribbon +which was round my neck, and sealed it over the knot with sealing-wax, +and for my seal I used my wedding ring. Then I kissed it and showed it +to my husband, and told him that I would keep it so, and then it would +be an outward and visible sign for us all our lives that we trusted each +other; that I would never open it unless it were for his own dear sake +or for the sake of some stern duty. Then he took my hand in his, and oh, +Lucy, it was the first time he took _his wife's_ hand, and said that it +was the dearest thing in all the wide world, and that he would go +through all the past again to win it, if need be. The poor dear meant to +have said a part of the past, but he cannot think of time yet, and I +shall not wonder if at first he mixes up not only the month, but the +year. + +"Well, my dear, what could I say? I could only tell him that I was the +happiest woman in all the wide world, and that I had nothing to give him +except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these went my love +and duty for all the days of my life. And, my dear, when he kissed me, +and drew me to him with his poor weak hands, it was like a very solemn +pledge between us.... + +"Lucy dear, do you know why I tell you all this? It is not only because +it is all sweet to me, but because you have been, and are, very dear to +me. It was my privilege to be your friend and guide when you came from +the schoolroom to prepare for the world of life. I want you to see now, +and with the eyes of a very happy wife, whither duty has led me; so that +in your own married life you too may be all happy as I am. My dear, +please Almighty God, your life may be all it promises: a long day of +sunshine, with no harsh wind, no forgetting duty, no distrust. I must +not wish you no pain, for that can never be; but I do hope you will be +_always_ as happy as I am _now_. Good-bye, my dear. I shall post this at +once, and, perhaps, write you very soon again. I must stop, for Jonathan +is waking--I must attend to my husband! + +"Your ever-loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Harker._ + +"_Whitby, 30 August._ + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Oceans of love and millions of kisses, and may you soon be in your own +home with your husband. I wish you could be coming home soon enough to +stay with us here. The strong air would soon restore Jonathan; it has +quite restored me. I have an appetite like a cormorant, am full of +life, and sleep well. You will be glad to know that I have quite given +up walking in my sleep. I think I have not stirred out of my bed for a +week, that is when I once got into it at night. Arthur says I am getting +fat. By the way, I forgot to tell you that Arthur is here. We have such +walks and drives, and rides, and rowing, and tennis, and fishing +together; and I love him more than ever. He _tells_ me that he loves me +more, but I doubt that, for at first he told me that he couldn't love me +more than he did then. But this is nonsense. There he is, calling to me. +So no more just at present from your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P. S.--Mother sends her love. She seems better, poor dear. "P. P. +S.--We are to be married on 28 September." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 August._--The case of Renfield grows even more interesting. He has +now so far quieted that there are spells of cessation from his passion. +For the first week after his attack he was perpetually violent. Then one +night, just as the moon rose, he grew quiet, and kept murmuring to +himself: "Now I can wait; now I can wait." The attendant came to tell +me, so I ran down at once to have a look at him. He was still in the +strait-waistcoat and in the padded room, but the suffused look had gone +from his face, and his eyes had something of their old pleading--I might +almost say, "cringing"--softness. I was satisfied with his present +condition, and directed him to be relieved. The attendants hesitated, +but finally carried out my wishes without protest. It was a strange +thing that the patient had humour enough to see their distrust, for, +coming close to me, he said in a whisper, all the while looking +furtively at them:-- + +"They think I could hurt you! Fancy _me_ hurting _you_! The fools!" + +It was soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself dissociated +even in the mind of this poor madman from the others; but all the same I +do not follow his thought. Am I to take it that I have anything in +common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together; or has +he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well-being is needful +to him? I must find out later on. To-night he will not speak. Even the +offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat will not tempt him. He will +only say: "I don't take any stock in cats. I have more to think of now, +and I can wait; I can wait." + +After a while I left him. The attendant tells me that he was quiet +until just before dawn, and that then he began to get uneasy, and at +length violent, until at last he fell into a paroxysm which exhausted +him so that he swooned into a sort of coma. + + * * * * * + +... Three nights has the same thing happened--violent all day then quiet +from moonrise to sunrise. I wish I could get some clue to the cause. It +would almost seem as if there was some influence which came and went. +Happy thought! We shall to-night play sane wits against mad ones. He +escaped before without our help; to-night he shall escape with it. We +shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow in case they +are required.... + + * * * * * + +_23 August._--"The unexpected always happens." How well Disraeli knew +life. Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly, so all our +subtle arrangements were for nought. At any rate, we have proved one +thing; that the spells of quietness last a reasonable time. We shall in +future be able to ease his bonds for a few hours each day. I have given +orders to the night attendant merely to shut him in the padded room, +when once he is quiet, until an hour before sunrise. The poor soul's +body will enjoy the relief even if his mind cannot appreciate it. Hark! +The unexpected again! I am called; the patient has once more escaped. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another night adventure. Renfield artfully waited until the +attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past him +and flew down the passage. I sent word for the attendants to follow. +Again he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we found him +in the same place, pressed against the old chapel door. When he saw me +he became furious, and had not the attendants seized him in time, he +would have tried to kill me. As we were holding him a strange thing +happened. He suddenly redoubled his efforts, and then as suddenly grew +calm. I looked round instinctively, but could see nothing. Then I caught +the patient's eye and followed it, but could trace nothing as it looked +into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was flapping its silent and +ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit about, but this one +seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound for or had +some intention of its own. The patient grew calmer every instant, and +presently said:-- + +"You needn't tie me; I shall go quietly!" Without trouble we came back +to the house. I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall +not forget this night.... + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary_ + +_Hillingham, 24 August._--I must imitate Mina, and keep writing things +down. Then we can have long talks when we do meet. I wonder when it will +be. I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy. Last night I +seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby. Perhaps it is the +change of air, or getting home again. It is all dark and horrid to me, +for I can remember nothing; but I am full of vague fear, and I feel so +weak and worn out. When Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved +when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to be cheerful. I wonder +if I could sleep in mother's room to-night. I shall make an excuse and +try. + + * * * * * + +_25 August._--Another bad night. Mother did not seem to take to my +proposal. She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to +worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but when the +clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been falling +asleep. There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I +did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have +fallen asleep. More bad dreams. I wish I could remember them. This +morning I am horribly weak. My face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains +me. It must be something wrong with my lungs, for I don't seem ever to +get air enough. I shall try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I +know he will be miserable to see me so. + + +_Letter, Arthur Holmwood to Dr. Seward._ + +"_Albemarle Hotel, 31 August._ + +"My dear Jack,-- + +"I want you to do me a favour. Lucy is ill; that is, she has no special +disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every day. I have +asked her if there is any cause; I do not dare to ask her mother, for to +disturb the poor lady's mind about her daughter in her present state of +health would be fatal. Mrs. Westenra has confided to me that her doom is +spoken--disease of the heart--though poor Lucy does not know it yet. I +am sure that there is something preying on my dear girl's mind. I am +almost distracted when I think of her; to look at her gives me a pang. I +told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at +first--I know why, old fellow--she finally consented. It will be a +painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it is for _her_ sake, and +I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act. You are to come to lunch at +Hillingham to-morrow, two o'clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in +Mrs. Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being +alone with you. I shall come in for tea, and we can go away together; I +am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I +can after you have seen her. Do not fail! + +"ARTHUR." + + +_Telegram, Arthur Holmwood to Seward._ + +"_1 September._ + +"Am summoned to see my father, who is worse. Am writing. Write me fully +by to-night's post to Ring. Wire me if necessary." + + +_Letter from Dr. Seward to Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My dear old fellow,-- + +"With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at once +that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady +that I know of. At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with +her appearance; she is woefully different from what she was when I saw +her last. Of course you must bear in mind that I did not have full +opportunity of examination such as I should wish; our very friendship +makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can +bridge over. I had better tell you exactly what happened, leaving you to +draw, in a measure, your own conclusions. I shall then say what I have +done and propose doing. + +"I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, +and in a few seconds I made up my mind that she was trying all she knew +to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious. I have no +doubt she guesses, if she does not know, what need of caution there is. +We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we +got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real cheerfulness +amongst us. Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and Lucy was left with +me. We went into her boudoir, and till we got there her gaiety remained, +for the servants were coming and going. As soon as the door was closed, +however, the mask fell from her face, and she sank down into a chair +with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her hand. When I saw that her +high spirits had failed, I at once took advantage of her reaction to +make a diagnosis. She said to me very sweetly:-- + +"'I cannot tell you how I loathe talking about myself.' I reminded her +that a doctor's confidence was sacred, but that you were grievously +anxious about her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that +matter in a word. 'Tell Arthur everything you choose. I do not care for +myself, but all for him!' So I am quite free. + +"I could easily see that she is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see +the usual anæmic signs, and by a chance I was actually able to test the +quality of her blood, for in opening a window which was stiff a cord +gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with broken glass. It was a +slight matter in itself, but it gave me an evident chance, and I secured +a few drops of the blood and have analysed them. The qualitative +analysis gives a quite normal condition, and shows, I should infer, in +itself a vigorous state of health. In other physical matters I was quite +satisfied that there is no need for anxiety; but as there must be a +cause somewhere, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something +mental. She complains of difficulty in breathing satisfactorily at +times, and of heavy, lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but +regarding which she can remember nothing. She says that as a child she +used to walk in her sleep, and that when in Whitby the habit came back, +and that once she walked out in the night and went to East Cliff, where +Miss Murray found her; but she assures me that of late the habit has not +returned. I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of; I +have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of +Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the +world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that all things +were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who you are and your +relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow, is in obedience to +your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to do anything I can for +her. Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal +reason, so, no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his +wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, but this is because he knows +what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a philosopher +and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; +and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron +nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, an indomitable resolution, +self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the +kindliest and truest heart that beats--these form his equipment for the +noble work that he is doing for mankind--work both in theory and +practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy. I +tell you these facts that you may know why I have such confidence in +him. I have asked him to come at once. I shall see Miss Westenra +to-morrow again. She is to meet me at the Stores, so that I may not +alarm her mother by too early a repetition of my call. + +"Yours always, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Letter, Abraham Van Helsing, M. D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc., to Dr. +Seward._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My good Friend,-- + +"When I have received your letter I am already coming to you. By good +fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who have +trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who have +trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those he holds +dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so +swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other +friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my +aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do. But it +is pleasure added to do for him, your friend; it is to you that I come. +Have then rooms for me at the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I may be near +to hand, and please it so arrange that we may see the young lady not too +late on to-morrow, for it is likely that I may have to return here that +night. But if need be I shall come again in three days, and stay longer +if it must. Till then good-bye, my friend John. + + "VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_3 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"Van Helsing has come and gone. He came on with me to Hillingham, and +found that, by Lucy's discretion, her mother was lunching out, so that +we were alone with her. Van Helsing made a very careful examination of +the patient. He is to report to me, and I shall advise you, for of +course I was not present all the time. He is, I fear, much concerned, +but says he must think. When I told him of our friendship and how you +trust to me in the matter, he said: 'You must tell him all you think. +Tell him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will. Nay, I am not +jesting. This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.' I asked +what he meant by that, for he was very serious. This was when we had +come back to town, and he was having a cup of tea before starting on his +return to Amsterdam. He would not give me any further clue. You must not +be angry with me, Art, because his very reticence means that all his +brains are working for her good. He will speak plainly enough when the +time comes, be sure. So I told him I would simply write an account of +our visit, just as if I were doing a descriptive special article for +_The Daily Telegraph_. He seemed not to notice, but remarked that the +smuts in London were not quite so bad as they used to be when he was a +student here. I am to get his report to-morrow if he can possibly make +it. In any case I am to have a letter. + +"Well, as to the visit. Lucy was more cheerful than on the day I first +saw her, and certainly looked better. She had lost something of the +ghastly look that so upset you, and her breathing was normal. She was +very sweet to the professor (as she always is), and tried to make him +feel at ease; though I could see that the poor girl was making a hard +struggle for it. I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw the quick +look under his bushy brows that I knew of old. Then he began to chat of +all things except ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite +geniality that I could see poor Lucy's pretense of animation merge into +reality. Then, without any seeming change, he brought the conversation +gently round to his visit, and suavely said:-- + +"'My dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you are so +much beloved. That is much, my dear, ever were there that which I do not +see. They told me you were down in the spirit, and that you were of a +ghastly pale. To them I say: "Pouf!"' And he snapped his fingers at me +and went on: 'But you and I shall show them how wrong they are. How can +he'--and he pointed at me with the same look and gesture as that with +which once he pointed me out to his class, on, or rather after, a +particular occasion which he never fails to remind me of--'know anything +of a young ladies? He has his madams to play with, and to bring them +back to happiness, and to those that love them. It is much to do, and, +oh, but there are rewards, in that we can bestow such happiness. But the +young ladies! He has no wife nor daughter, and the young do not tell +themselves to the young, but to the old, like me, who have known so many +sorrows and the causes of them. So, my dear, we will send him away to +smoke the cigarette in the garden, whiles you and I have little talk all +to ourselves.' I took the hint, and strolled about, and presently the +professor came to the window and called me in. He looked grave, but +said: 'I have made careful examination, but there is no functional +cause. With you I agree that there has been much blood lost; it has +been, but is not. But the conditions of her are in no way anæmic. I have +asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or two question, +that so I may not chance to miss nothing. I know well what she will say. +And yet there is cause; there is always cause for everything. I must go +back home and think. You must send to me the telegram every day; and if +there be cause I shall come again. The disease--for not to be all well +is a disease--interest me, and the sweet young dear, she interest me +too. She charm me, and for her, if not for you or disease, I come.' + +"As I tell you, he would not say a word more, even when we were alone. +And so now, Art, you know all I know. I shall keep stern watch. I trust +your poor father is rallying. It must be a terrible thing to you, my +dear old fellow, to be placed in such a position between two people who +are both so dear to you. I know your idea of duty to your father, and +you are right to stick to it; but, if need be, I shall send you word to +come at once to Lucy; so do not be over-anxious unless you hear from +me." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_4 September._--Zoöphagous patient still keeps up our interest in him. +He had only one outburst and that was yesterday at an unusual time. Just +before the stroke of noon he began to grow restless. The attendant knew +the symptoms, and at once summoned aid. Fortunately the men came at a +run, and were just in time, for at the stroke of noon he became so +violent that it took all their strength to hold him. In about five +minutes, however, he began to get more and more quiet, and finally sank +into a sort of melancholy, in which state he has remained up to now. The +attendant tells me that his screams whilst in the paroxysm were really +appalling; I found my hands full when I got in, attending to some of the +other patients who were frightened by him. Indeed, I can quite +understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed even me, though I was +some distance away. It is now after the dinner-hour of the asylum, and +as yet my patient sits in a corner brooding, with a dull, sullen, +woe-begone look in his face, which seems rather to indicate than to show +something directly. I cannot quite understand it. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another change in my patient. At five o'clock I looked in on +him, and found him seemingly as happy and contented as he used to be. He +was catching flies and eating them, and was keeping note of his capture +by making nail-marks on the edge of the door between the ridges of +padding. When he saw me, he came over and apologised for his bad +conduct, and asked me in a very humble, cringing way to be led back to +his own room and to have his note-book again. I thought it well to +humour him: so he is back in his room with the window open. He has the +sugar of his tea spread out on the window-sill, and is reaping quite a +harvest of flies. He is not now eating them, but putting them into a +box, as of old, and is already examining the corners of his room to find +a spider. I tried to get him to talk about the past few days, for any +clue to his thoughts would be of immense help to me; but he would not +rise. For a moment or two he looked very sad, and said in a sort of +far-away voice, as though saying it rather to himself than to me:-- + +"All over! all over! He has deserted me. No hope for me now unless I do +it for myself!" Then suddenly turning to me in a resolute way, he said: +"Doctor, won't you be very good to me and let me have a little more +sugar? I think it would be good for me." + +"And the flies?" I said. + +"Yes! The flies like it, too, and I like the flies; therefore I like +it." And there are people who know so little as to think that madmen do +not argue. I procured him a double supply, and left him as happy a man +as, I suppose, any in the world. I wish I could fathom his mind. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--Another change in him. I had been to see Miss Westenra, +whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at our +own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him yelling. As +his room is on this side of the house, I could hear it better than in +the morning. It was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky +beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights and inky shadows +and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds even as on foul +water, and to realise all the grim sternness of my own cold stone +building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own desolate heart +to endure it all. I reached him just as the sun was going down, and from +his window saw the red disc sink. As it sank he became less and less +frenzied; and just as it dipped he slid from the hands that held him, an +inert mass, on the floor. It is wonderful, however, what intellectual +recuperative power lunatics have, for within a few minutes he stood up +quite calmly and looked around him. I signalled to the attendants not to +hold him, for I was anxious to see what he would do. He went straight +over to the window and brushed out the crumbs of sugar; then he took his +fly-box, and emptied it outside, and threw away the box; then he shut +the window, and crossing over, sat down on his bed. All this surprised +me, so I asked him: "Are you not going to keep flies any more?" + +"No," said he; "I am sick of all that rubbish!" He certainly is a +wonderfully interesting study. I wish I could get some glimpse of his +mind or of the cause of his sudden passion. Stop; there may be a clue +after all, if we can find why to-day his paroxysms came on at high noon +and at sunset. Can it be that there is a malign influence of the sun at +periods which affects certain natures--as at times the moon does others? +We shall see. + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_4 September._--Patient still better to-day." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_5 September._--Patient greatly improved. Good appetite; sleeps +naturally; good spirits; colour coming back." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_6 September._--Terrible change for the worse. Come at once; do not +lose an hour. I hold over telegram to Holmwood till have seen you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_6 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a bit. +There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it; Mrs. +Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me +professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told +her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to +stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with +myself; so now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a +shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak +condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with +difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall +come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if you +do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for +news. In haste + +Yours ever, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_7 September._--The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at +Liverpool Street was:-- + +"Have you said anything to our young friend the lover of her?" + +"No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my telegram. I +wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were coming, as Miss +Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him know if need be." + +"Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as yet; +perhaps he shall never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then he +shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You deal +with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch +as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's madmen, +too--the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what you do nor why +you do it; you tell them not what you think. So you shall keep knowledge +in its place, where it may rest--where it may gather its kind around it +and breed. You and I shall keep as yet what we know here, and here." He +touched me on the heart and on the forehead, and then touched himself +the same way. "I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall +unfold to you." + +"Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at some +decision." He stopped and looked at me, and said:-- + +"My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has +ripened--while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshine +has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the +ear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, +and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the +time comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For reply +he reached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully, as +he used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The good husbandman tell +you so then because he knows, but not till then. But you do not find the +good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is for +the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as of +the work of their life. See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn, +and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, +there's some promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He broke +off, for he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and very +gravely:-- + +"You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever more +full than the rest. You were only student then; now you are master, and +I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, that +knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker. +Even if you have not kept the good practise, let me tell you that this +case of our dear miss is one that may be--mind, I say _may be_--of such +interest to us and others that all the rest may not make him kick the +beam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is too +small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. +Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We +learn from failure, not from success!" + +When I described Lucy's symptoms--the same as before, but infinitely +more marked--he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with him a +bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly paraphernalia +of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of his lectures, the +equipment of a professor of the healing craft. When we were shown in, +Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as I +expected to find her. Nature in one of her beneficent moods has ordained +that even death has some antidote to its own terrors. Here, in a case +where any shock may prove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some +cause or other, the things not personal--even the terrible change in her +daughter to whom she is so attached--do not seem to reach her. It is +something like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an +envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that +which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an ordered +selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one for the vice +of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes than we have +knowledge of. + +I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid down +a rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think of her illness +more than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so readily that +I saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life. Van Helsing and I were +shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, I +was horrified when I saw her to-day. She was ghastly, chalkily pale; the +red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gums, and the bones of +her face stood out prominently; her breathing was painful to see or +hear. Van Helsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged +till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not +seem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. Then +Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the room. The +instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along the passage to +the next door, which was open. Then he pulled me quickly in with him and +closed the door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no time +to be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's +action as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at once. Is +it you or me?" + +"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me." + +"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am prepared." + +I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock at +the hall-door. When we reached the hall the maid had just opened the +door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me, saying in +an eager whisper:-- + +"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter, and +have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran down here to see for +myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so thankful to you, +sir, for coming." When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he had +been angry at his interruption at such a time; but now, as he took in +his stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood which +seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause he said to +him gravely as he held out his hand:-- + +"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss. She is +bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For he +suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are to +help her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is your +best help." + +"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it. My +life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for +her." The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old +knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer:-- + +"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that--not the last!" + +"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostril +quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder. "Come!" +he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want. You are better than +me, better than my friend John." Arthur looked bewildered, and the +Professor went on by explaining in a kindly way:-- + +"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must have +or die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about to perform +what we call transfusion of blood--to transfer from full veins of one to +the empty veins which pine for him. John was to give his blood, as he is +the more young and strong than me"--here Arthur took my hand and wrung +it hard in silence--"but, now you are here, you are more good than us, +old or young, who toil much in the world of thought. Our nerves are not +so calm and our blood not so bright than yours!" Arthur turned to him +and said:-- + +"If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you would +understand----" + +He stopped, with a sort of choke in his voice. + +"Good boy!" said Van Helsing. "In the not-so-far-off you will be happy +that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be silent. You +shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must go; and you +must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame; you know how it is with +her! There must be no shock; any knowledge of this would be one. Come!" + +We all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained outside. +Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing. She was not +asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort. Her eyes spoke +to us; that was all. Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laid +them on a little table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, and +coming over to the bed, said cheerily:-- + +"Now, little miss, here is your medicine. Drink it off, like a good +child. See, I lift you so that to swallow is easy. Yes." She had made +the effort with success. + +It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact, marked +the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until sleep began to +flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the narcotic began to manifest +its potency; and she fell into a deep sleep. When the Professor was +satisfied he called Arthur into the room, and bade him strip off his +coat. Then he added: "You may take that one little kiss whiles I bring +over the table. Friend John, help to me!" So neither of us looked whilst +he bent over her. + +Van Helsing turning to me, said: + +"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not +defibrinate it." + +Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed the +operation. As the transfusion went on something like life seemed to come +back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing pallor the joy +of his face seemed absolutely to shine. After a bit I began to grow +anxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur, strong man as he +was. It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain Lucy's system must +have undergone that what weakened Arthur only partially restored her. +But the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand and with +his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I could hear my own +heart beat. Presently he said in a soft voice: "Do not stir an instant. +It is enough. You attend him; I will look to her." When all was over I +could see how much Arthur was weakened. I dressed the wound and took his +arm to bring him away, when Van Helsing spoke without turning round--the +man seems to have eyes in the back of his head:-- + +"The brave lover, I think, deserve another kiss, which he shall have +presently." And as he had now finished his operation, he adjusted the +pillow to the patient's head. As he did so the narrow black velvet band +which she seems always to wear round her throat, buckled with an old +diamond buckle which her lover had given her, was dragged a little up, +and showed a red mark on her throat. Arthur did not notice it, but I +could hear the deep hiss of indrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing's +ways of betraying emotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned to +me, saying: "Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port +wine, and let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleep +much and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given to +his love. He must not stay here. Hold! a moment. I may take it, sir, +that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you that in all ways +the operation is successful. You have saved her life this time, and you +can go home and rest easy in mind that all that can be is. I shall tell +her all when she is well; she shall love you none the less for what you +have done. Good-bye." + +When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping gently, +but her breathing was stronger; I could see the counterpane move as her +breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking at her intently. +The velvet band again covered the red mark. I asked the Professor in a +whisper:-- + +"What do you make of that mark on her throat?" + +"What do you make of it?" + +"I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there proceeded +to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein there were two +punctures, not large, but not wholesome-looking. There was no sign of +disease, but the edges were white and worn-looking, as if by some +trituration. It at once occurred to me that this wound, or whatever it +was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood; but I abandoned +the idea as soon as formed, for such a thing could not be. The whole bed +would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must +have lost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion. + +"Well?" said Van Helsing. + +"Well," said I, "I can make nothing of it." The Professor stood up. "I +must go back to Amsterdam to-night," he said. "There are books and +things there which I want. You must remain here all the night, and you +must not let your sight pass from her." + +"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked. + +"We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night; see that +she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must not sleep all +the night. Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall be back as soon as +possible. And then we may begin." + +"May begin?" I said. "What on earth do you mean?" + +"We shall see!" he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a moment +later and put his head inside the door and said with warning finger held +up:-- + +"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave her, and harm befall, you +shall not sleep easy hereafter!" + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary--continued._ + +_8 September._--I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked itself +off towards dusk, and she waked naturally; she looked a different being +from what she had been before the operation. Her spirits even were good, +and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see evidences of the +absolute prostration which she had undergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra +that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should sit up with her she +almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her daughter's renewed +strength and excellent spirits. I was firm, however, and made +preparations for my long vigil. When her maid had prepared her for the +night I came in, having in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by +the bedside. She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me +gratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed +sinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together +and shook it off. This was repeated several times, with greater effort +and with shorter pauses as the time moved on. It was apparent that she +did not want to sleep, so I tackled the subject at once:-- + +"You do not want to go to sleep?" + +"No; I am afraid." + +"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave for." + +"Ah, not if you were like me--if sleep was to you a presage of horror!" + +"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?" + +"I don't know; oh, I don't know. And that is what is so terrible. All +this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very thought." + +"But, my dear girl, you may sleep to-night. I am here watching you, and +I can promise that nothing will happen." + +"Ah, I can trust you!" I seized the opportunity, and said: "I promise +you that if I see any evidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once." + +"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I will +sleep!" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief, and sank +back, asleep. + +All night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on and on +in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep. Her lips were +slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity of a +pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was evident that no bad +dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind. + +In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and took +myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I sent a short +wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent result +of the operation. My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all +day to clear off; it was dark when I was able to inquire about my +zoöphagous patient. The report was good; he had been quite quiet for the +past day and night. A telegram came from Van Helsing at Amsterdam whilst +I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at Hillingham to-night, as +it might be well to be at hand, and stating that he was leaving by the +night mail and would join me early in the morning. + + * * * * * + +_9 September_.--I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to +Hillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my +brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral +exhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook hands +with me she looked sharply in my face and said:-- + +"No sitting up to-night for you. You are worn out. I am quite well +again; indeed, I am; and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I who +will sit up with you." I would not argue the point, but went and had my +supper. Lucy came with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I +made an excellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than +excellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room next +her own, where a cozy fire was burning. "Now," she said, "you must stay +here. I shall leave this door open and my door too. You can lie on the +sofa for I know that nothing would induce any of you doctors to go to +bed whilst there is a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I +shall call out, and you can come to me at once." I could not but +acquiesce, for I was "dog-tired," and could not have sat up had I tried. +So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she should want anything, +I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about everything. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_9 September._--I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably weak, +that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after +a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky. Somehow Arthur feels very, +very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about me. I suppose +it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things and turn our inner +eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and strength give Love +rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know +where my thoughts are. If Arthur only knew! My dear, my dear, your ears +must tingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of +last night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching me. +And to-night I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at hand and +within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me! Thank God! +Good-night, Arthur. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_10 September._--I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head, and +started awake all in a second. That is one of the things that we learn +in an asylum, at any rate. + +"And how is our patient?" + +"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered. + +"Come, let us see," he said. And together we went into the room. + +The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van +Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed. + +As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I +heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity, a +deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over he moved back, and +his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no enforcement from +his agonised face. He raised his hand and pointed to the bed, and his +iron face was drawn and ashen white. I felt my knees begin to tremble. + +There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly +white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white, and the gums +seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes see in a +corpse after a prolonged illness. Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp +in anger, but the instinct of his life and all the long years of habit +stood to him, and he put it down again softly. "Quick!" he said. "Bring +the brandy." I flew to the dining-room, and returned with the decanter. +He wetted the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and +wrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonising +suspense said:-- + +"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work is +undone; we must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now; I have +to call on you yourself this time, friend John." As he spoke, he was +dipping into his bag and producing the instruments for transfusion; I +had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt-sleeve. There was no +possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of one; and so, +without a moment's delay, we began the operation. After a time--it did +not seem a short time either, for the draining away of one's blood, no +matter how willingly it be given, is a terrible feeling--Van Helsing +held up a warning finger. "Do not stir," he said, "but I fear that with +growing strength she may wake; and that would make danger, oh, so much +danger. But I shall precaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection +of morphia." He proceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his +intent. The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge +subtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal pride +that I could see a faint tinge of colour steal back into the pallid +cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to +feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves. + +The Professor watched me critically. "That will do," he said. "Already?" +I remonstrated. "You took a great deal more from Art." To which he +smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied:-- + +"He is her lover, her _fiancé_. You have work, much work, to do for her +and for others; and the present will suffice." + +When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied +digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, whilst I waited his +leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sick. By-and-by +he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for +myself. As I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half +whispered:-- + +"Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should turn up +unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once frighten him and +enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!" + +When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said:-- + +"You are not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and +rest awhile; then have much breakfast, and come here to me." + +I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they were. I +had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strength. I +felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at +what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over +and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how +she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign anywhere to +show for it. I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, +sleeping and waking, my thoughts always came back to the little +punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their +edges--tiny though they were. + +Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well and +strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before. When Van Helsing +had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge, with strict +injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment. I could hear his +voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest telegraph office. + +Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that anything +had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested. When her mother +came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change whatever, but +said to me gratefully:-- + +"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you really +must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking pale +yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit; that you +do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only momentarily, +for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long such an unwonted +drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned +imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my +lips; with a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows. + +Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me: +"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself strong. I +stay here to-night, and I shall sit up with little miss myself. You and +I must watch the case, and we must have none other to know. I have grave +reasons. No, do not ask them; think what you will. Do not fear to think +even the most not-probable. Good-night." + +In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either of +them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to let them; and +when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either he or I should sit +up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the "foreign +gentleman." I was much touched by their kindness. Perhaps it is because +I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on Lucy's account, that +their devotion was manifested; for over and over again have I seen +similar instances of woman's kindness. I got back here in time for a +late dinner; went my rounds--all well; and set this down whilst waiting +for sleep. It is coming. + + * * * * * + +_11 September._--This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found Van +Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly after I had +arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor. He opened it +with much impressment--assumed, of course--and showed a great bundle of +white flowers. + +"These are for you, Miss Lucy," he said. + +"For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!" + +"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are medicines." Here +Lucy made a wry face. "Nay, but they are not to take in a decoction or +in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming nose, or I shall +point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have to endure in seeing +so much beauty that he so loves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, +that bring the so nice nose all straight again. This is medicinal, but +you do not know how. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and +hang him round your neck, so that you sleep well. Oh yes! they, like the +lotus flower, make your trouble forgotten. It smell so like the waters +of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought +for in the Floridas, and find him all too late." + +Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and smelling +them. Now she threw them down, saying, with half-laughter, and +half-disgust:-- + +"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why, +these flowers are only common garlic." + +To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his +iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:-- + +"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do; +and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of +others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she might +well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my dear, do not fear +me. I only do for your good; but there is much virtue to you in those so +common flowers. See, I place them myself in your room. I make myself the +wreath that you are to wear. But hush! no telling to others that make so +inquisitive questions. We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience; +and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait +for you. Now sit still awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall +help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, +where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year. +I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here." + +We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's +actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia +that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them +securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over +the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get +in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed +all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round +the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and +presently I said:-- + +"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but +this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he +would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit." + +"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which +Lucy was to wear round her neck. + +We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she +was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her +neck. The last words he said to her were:-- + +"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close, do +not to-night open the window or the door." + +"I promise," said Lucy, "and thank you both a thousand times for all +your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such +friends?" + +As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said:-- + +"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want--two nights of travel, +much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow, +and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the morning early +you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much +more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho! ho!" + +He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights +before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror. It must +have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but +I felt it all the more, like unshed tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + + +_12 September._--How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. +Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He +positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been +right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread +being alone to-night, and I can go to sleep without fear. I shall not +mind any flapping outside the window. Oh, the terrible struggle that I +have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, +or the pain of the fear of sleep, with such unknown horrors as it has +for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no +dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings +nothing but sweet dreams. Well, here I am to-night, hoping for sleep, +and lying like Ophelia in the play, with "virgin crants and maiden +strewments." I never liked garlic before, but to-night it is delightful! +There is peace in its smell; I feel sleep coming already. Good-night, +everybody. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_13 September._--Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual, +up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting. The +Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now. + +Let all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at +eight o'clock. It was a lovely morning; the bright sunshine and all the +fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of nature's +annual work. The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, +but had not yet begun to drop from the trees. When we entered we met +Mrs. Westenra coming out of the morning room. She is always an early +riser. She greeted us warmly and said:-- + +"You will be glad to know that Lucy is better. The dear child is still +asleep. I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go in, lest I +should disturb her." The Professor smiled, and looked quite jubilant. He +rubbed his hands together, and said:-- + +"Aha! I thought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working," to +which she answered:-- + +"You must not take all the credit to yourself, doctor. Lucy's state this +morning is due in part to me." + +"How you do mean, ma'am?" asked the Professor. + +"Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went into +her room. She was sleeping soundly--so soundly that even my coming did +not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There were a lot of those +horrible, strong-smelling flowers about everywhere, and she had actually +a bunch of them round her neck. I feared that the heavy odour would be +too much for the dear child in her weak state, so I took them all away +and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh air. You will be +pleased with her, I am sure." + +She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted early. As +she had spoken, I watched the Professor's face, and saw it turn ashen +grey. He had been able to retain his self-command whilst the poor lady +was present, for he knew her state and how mischievous a shock would be; +he actually smiled on her as he held open the door for her to pass into +her room. But the instant she had disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and +forcibly, into the dining-room and closed the door. + +Then, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break down. He +raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then beat +his palms together in a helpless way; finally he sat down on a chair, +and putting his hands before his face, began to sob, with loud, dry sobs +that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart. Then he raised +his arms again, as though appealing to the whole universe. "God! God! +God!" he said. "What have we done, what has this poor thing done, that +we are so sore beset? Is there fate amongst us still, sent down from the +pagan world of old, that such things must be, and in such way? This poor +mother, all unknowing, and all for the best as she think, does such +thing as lose her daughter body and soul; and we must not tell her, we +must not even warn her, or she die, and then both die. Oh, how we are +beset! How are all the powers of the devils against us!" Suddenly he +jumped to his feet. "Come," he said, "come, we must see and act. Devils +or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him +all the same." He went to the hall-door for his bag; and together we +went up to Lucy's room. + +Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards the bed. +This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face with the same +awful, waxen pallor as before. He wore a look of stern sadness and +infinite pity. + +"As I expected," he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of his which +meant so much. Without a word he went and locked the door, and then +began to set out on the little table the instruments for yet another +operation of transfusion of blood. I had long ago recognised the +necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he stopped me with a +warning hand. "No!" he said. "To-day you must operate. I shall provide. +You are weakened already." As he spoke he took off his coat and rolled +up his shirt-sleeve. + +Again the operation; again the narcotic; again some return of colour to +the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep. This time I +watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and rested. + +Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she must +not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him; that the +flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of their odour +was a part of the system of cure. Then he took over the care of the case +himself, saying that he would watch this night and the next and would +send me word when to come. + +After another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright and +seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal. + +What does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of life +amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_17 September._--Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so strong +again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed through some +long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and +feel the fresh air of the morning around me. I have a dim +half-remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing; darkness +in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present distress +more poignant: and then long spells of oblivion, and the rising back to +life as a diver coming up through a great press of water. Since, +however, Dr. Van Helsing has been with me, all this bad dreaming seems +to have passed away; the noises that used to frighten me out of my +wits--the flapping against the windows, the distant voices which seemed +so close to me, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and +commanded me to do I know not what--have all ceased. I go to bed now +without any fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown +quite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day from +Haarlem. To-night Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to be for a +day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched; I am well enough to be left +alone. Thank God for mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our +friends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change, for +last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time. I found +him asleep twice when I awoke; but I did not fear to go to sleep again, +although the boughs or bats or something napped almost angrily against +the window-panes. + + +_"The Pall Mall Gazette," 18 September._ + + THE ESCAPED WOLF. + + PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER. + + _Interview with the Keeper in the Zoölogical Gardens._ + +After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and perpetually using +the words "Pall Mall Gazette" as a sort of talisman, I managed to find +the keeper of the section of the Zoölogical Gardens in which the wolf +department is included. Thomas Bilder lives in one of the cottages in +the enclosure behind the elephant-house, and was just sitting down to +his tea when I found him. Thomas and his wife are hospitable folk, +elderly, and without children, and if the specimen I enjoyed of their +hospitality be of the average kind, their lives must be pretty +comfortable. The keeper would not enter on what he called "business" +until the supper was over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the +table was cleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said:-- + +"Now, sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want. You'll excoose me +refoosin' to talk of perfeshunal subjects afore meals. I gives the +wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section their tea afore +I begins to arsk them questions." + +"How do you mean, ask them questions?" I queried, wishful to get him +into a talkative humour. + +"'Ittin' of them over the 'ead with a pole is one way; scratchin' of +their hears is another, when gents as is flush wants a bit of a show-orf +to their gals. I don't so much mind the fust--the 'ittin' with a pole +afore I chucks in their dinner; but I waits till they've 'ad their +sherry and kawffee, so to speak, afore I tries on with the +ear-scratchin'. Mind you," he added philosophically, "there's a deal of +the same nature in us as in them theer animiles. Here's you a-comin' and +arskin' of me questions about my business, and I that grumpy-like that +only for your bloomin' 'arf-quid I'd 'a' seen you blowed fust 'fore I'd +answer. Not even when you arsked me sarcastic-like if I'd like you to +arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me questions. Without offence +did I tell yer to go to 'ell?" + +"You did." + +"An' when you said you'd report me for usin' of obscene language that +was 'ittin' me over the 'ead; but the 'arf-quid made that all right. I +weren't a-goin' to fight, so I waited for the food, and did with my 'owl +as the wolves, and lions, and tigers does. But, Lor' love yer 'art, now +that the old 'ooman has stuck a chunk of her tea-cake in me, an' rinsed +me out with her bloomin' old teapot, and I've lit hup, you may scratch +my ears for all you're worth, and won't git even a growl out of me. +Drive along with your questions. I know what yer a-comin' at, that 'ere +escaped wolf." + +"Exactly. I want you to give me your view of it. Just tell me how it +happened; and when I know the facts I'll get you to say what you +consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole affair will +end." + +"All right, guv'nor. This 'ere is about the 'ole story. That 'ere wolf +what we called Bersicker was one of three grey ones that came from +Norway to Jamrach's, which we bought off him four years ago. He was a +nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk of. I'm more +surprised at 'im for wantin' to get out nor any other animile in the +place. But, there, you can't trust wolves no more nor women." + +"Don't you mind him, sir!" broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery laugh. "'E's +got mindin' the animiles so long that blest if he ain't like a old wolf +'isself! But there ain't no 'arm in 'im." + +"Well, sir, it was about two hours after feedin' yesterday when I first +hear my disturbance. I was makin' up a litter in the monkey-house for a +young puma which is ill; but when I heard the yelpin' and 'owlin' I kem +away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin' like a mad thing at the +bars as if he wanted to get out. There wasn't much people about that +day, and close at hand was only one man, a tall, thin chap, with a 'ook +nose and a pointed beard, with a few white hairs runnin' through it. He +had a 'ard, cold look and red eyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, +for it seemed as if it was 'im as they was hirritated at. He 'ad white +kid gloves on 'is 'ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says: +'Keeper, these wolves seem upset at something.' + +"'Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he give +'isself. He didn't git angry, as I 'oped he would, but he smiled a kind +of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. 'Oh no, they +wouldn't like me,' 'e says. + +"'Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin' of him. 'They always likes a +bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea-time, which you 'as a +bagful.' + +"Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us a-talkin' they +lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let me stroke his ears +same as ever. That there man kem over, and blessed but if he didn't put +in his hand and stroke the old wolf's ears too! + +"'Tyke care,' says I. 'Bersicker is quick.' + +"'Never mind,' he says. 'I'm used to 'em!' + +"'Are you in the business yourself?' I says, tyking off my 'at, for a +man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to keepers. + +"'No' says he, 'not exactly in the business, but I 'ave made pets of +several.' And with that he lifts his 'at as perlite as a lord, and walks +away. Old Bersicker kep' a-lookin' arter 'im till 'e was out of sight, +and then went and lay down in a corner and wouldn't come hout the 'ole +hevening. Well, larst night, so soon as the moon was hup, the wolves +here all began a-'owling. There warn't nothing for them to 'owl at. +There warn't no one near, except some one that was evidently a-callin' a +dog somewheres out back of the gardings in the Park road. Once or twice +I went out to see that all was right, and it was, and then the 'owling +stopped. Just before twelve o'clock I just took a look round afore +turnin' in, an', bust me, but when I kem opposite to old Bersicker's +cage I see the rails broken and twisted about and the cage empty. And +that's all I know for certing." + +"Did any one else see anything?" + +"One of our gard'ners was a-comin' 'ome about that time from a 'armony, +when he sees a big grey dog comin' out through the garding 'edges. At +least, so he says, but I don't give much for it myself, for if he did 'e +never said a word about it to his missis when 'e got 'ome, and it was +only after the escape of the wolf was made known, and we had been up all +night-a-huntin' of the Park for Bersicker, that he remembered seein' +anything. My own belief was that the 'armony 'ad got into his 'ead." + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape of the +wolf?" + +"Well, sir," he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, "I think I can; +but I don't know as 'ow you'd be satisfied with the theory." + +"Certainly I shall. If a man like you, who knows the animals from +experience, can't hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even to try?" + +"Well then, sir, I accounts for it this way; it seems to me that 'ere +wolf escaped--simply because he wanted to get out." + +From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the joke I +could see that it had done service before, and that the whole +explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I couldn't cope in badinage +with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way to his heart, +so I said:-- + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, we'll consider that first half-sovereign worked off, +and this brother of his is waiting to be claimed when you've told me +what you think will happen." + +"Right y'are, sir," he said briskly. "Ye'll excoose me, I know, for +a-chaffin' of ye, but the old woman here winked at me, which was as much +as telling me to go on." + +"Well, I never!" said the old lady. + +"My opinion is this: that 'ere wolf is a-'idin' of, somewheres. The +gard'ner wot didn't remember said he was a-gallopin' northward faster +than a horse could go; but I don't believe him, for, yer see, sir, +wolves don't gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein' built that +way. Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay when they gets +in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more afeared than they is +they can make a devil of a noise and chop it up, whatever it is. But, +Lor' bless you, in real life a wolf is only a low creature, not half so +clever or bold as a good dog; and not half a quarter so much fight in +'im. This one ain't been used to fightin' or even to providin' for +hisself, and more like he's somewhere round the Park a-'idin' an' +a-shiverin' of, and, if he thinks at all, wonderin' where he is to get +his breakfast from; or maybe he's got down some area and is in a +coal-cellar. My eye, won't some cook get a rum start when she sees his +green eyes a-shining at her out of the dark! If he can't get food he's +bound to look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher's +shop in time. If he doesn't, and some nursemaid goes a-walkin' orf with +a soldier, leavin' of the hinfant in the perambulator--well, then I +shouldn't be surprised if the census is one babby the less. That's +all." + +I was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came bobbing up +against the window, and Mr. Bilder's face doubled its natural length +with surprise. + +"God bless me!" he said. "If there ain't old Bersicker come back by +'isself!" + +He went to the door and opened it; a most unnecessary proceeding it +seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so +well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us; a +personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea. + +After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither Bilder nor +his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a dog. The animal +itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all +picture-wolves--Red Riding Hood's quondam friend, whilst moving her +confidence in masquerade. + +The whole scene was an unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos. The +wicked wolf that for half a day had paralysed London and set all the +children in the town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of +penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine +prodigal son. Old Bilder examined him all over with most tender +solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent said:-- + +"There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of trouble; +didn't I say it all along? Here's his head all cut and full of broken +glass. 'E's been a-gettin' over some bloomin' wall or other. It's a +shyme that people are allowed to top their walls with broken bottles. +This 'ere's what comes of it. Come along, Bersicker." + +He took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece of meat that +satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary conditions of the +fatted calf, and went off to report. + +I came off, too, to report the only exclusive information that is given +to-day regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_17 September._--I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up my +books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to Lucy, +had fallen sadly into arrear. Suddenly the door was burst open, and in +rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion. I was +thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord +into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown. Without an instant's +pause he made straight at me. He had a dinner-knife in his hand, and, +as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to keep the table between us. He was +too quick and too strong for me, however; for before I could get my +balance he had struck at me and cut my left wrist rather severely. +Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right and he was +sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled freely, and quite a +little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw that my friend was not +intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist, +keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time. When the +attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his employment +positively sickened me. He was lying on his belly on the floor licking +up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was +easily secured, and, to my surprise, went with the attendants quite +placidly, simply repeating over and over again: "The blood is the life! +The blood is the life!" + +I cannot afford to lose blood just at present; I have lost too much of +late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of Lucy's +illness and its horrible phases is telling on me. I am over-excited and +weary, and I need rest, rest, rest. Happily Van Helsing has not summoned +me, so I need not forego my sleep; to-night I could not well do without +it. + + +_Telegram, Van Helsing, Antwerp, to Seward, Carfax._ + +(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given; delivered late by +twenty-two hours.) + +"_17 September._--Do not fail to be at Hillingham to-night. If not +watching all the time frequently, visit and see that flowers are as +placed; very important; do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as +possible after arrival." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_18 September._--Just off for train to London. The arrival of Van +Helsing's telegram filled me with dismay. A whole night lost, and I know +by bitter experience what may happen in a night. Of course it is +possible that all may be well, but what _may_ have happened? Surely +there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every possible accident +should thwart us in all we try to do. I shall take this cylinder with +me, and then I can complete my entry on Lucy's phonograph. + + +_Memorandum left by Lucy Westenra._ + +_17 September. Night._--I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no +one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact +record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and +have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the +doing. + +I went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were placed as Dr. +Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep. + +I was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after that +sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and which now I +know so well. I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr. Seward was in +the next room--as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be--so that I might have +called him. I tried to go to sleep, but could not. Then there came to me +the old fear of sleep, and I determined to keep awake. Perversely sleep +would try to come then when I did not want it; so, as I feared to be +alone, I opened my door and called out: "Is there anybody there?" There +was no answer. I was afraid to wake mother, and so closed my door again. +Then outside in the shrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog's, but +more fierce and deeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could +see nothing, except a big bat, which had evidently been buffeting its +wings against the window. So I went back to bed again, but determined +not to go to sleep. Presently the door opened, and mother looked in; +seeing by my moving that I was not asleep, came in, and sat by me. She +said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont:-- + +"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you were all +right." + +I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to come in +and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down beside me; she did +not take off her dressing gown, for she said she would only stay a while +and then go back to her own bed. As she lay there in my arms, and I in +hers, the flapping and buffeting came to the window again. She was +startled and a little frightened, and cried out: "What is that?" I tried +to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet; but I could +hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly. After a while there was +the low howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly after there was a +crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass was hurled on the floor. +The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the +aperture of the broken panes there was the head of a great, gaunt grey +wolf. Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting +posture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her. Amongst +other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing +insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me. For a +second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was a strange +and horrible gurgling in her throat; then she fell over--as if struck +with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and made me dizzy for a +moment or two. The room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my +eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole +myriad of little specks seemed to come blowing in through the broken +window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that +travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I tried to +stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear mother's poor body, +which seemed to grow cold already--for her dear heart had ceased to +beat--weighed me down; and I remembered no more for a while. + +The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered +consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling; the +dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling; and in our shrubbery, +seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing. I was dazed and +stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the sound of the +nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort +me. The sounds seemed to have awakened the maids, too, for I could hear +their bare feet pattering outside my door. I called to them, and they +came in, and when they saw what had happened, and what it was that lay +over me on the bed, they screamed out. The wind rushed in through the +broken window, and the door slammed to. They lifted off the body of my +dear mother, and laid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I +had got up. They were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them +to go to the dining-room and have each a glass of wine. The door flew +open for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then went +in a body to the dining-room; and I laid what flowers I had on my dear +mother's breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr. Van Helsing +had told me, but I didn't like to remove them, and, besides, I would +have some of the servants to sit up with me now. I was surprised that +the maids did not come back. I called them, but got no answer, so I went +to the dining-room to look for them. + +My heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay helpless +on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry was on the table +half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about. I was suspicious, +and examined the decanter. It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the +sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for +her--oh! did use--was empty. What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back +in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for +the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I +dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the +broken window. + +The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from +the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God +shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, +where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother +gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not +survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_18 September._--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early. +Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently +and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy or her +mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door. After a while, +finding no response, I knocked and rang again; still no answer. I cursed +the laziness of the servants that they should lie abed at such an +hour--for it was now ten o'clock--and so rang and knocked again, but +more impatiently, but still without response. Hitherto I had blamed only +the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me. Was this +desolation but another link in the chain of doom which seemed drawing +tight around us? Was it indeed a house of death to which I had come, too +late? I knew that minutes, even seconds of delay, might mean hours of +danger to Lucy, if she had had again one of those frightful relapses; +and I went round the house to try if I could find by chance an entry +anywhere. + +I could find no means of ingress. Every window and door was fastened and +locked, and I returned baffled to the porch. As I did so, I heard the +rapid pit-pat of a swiftly driven horse's feet. They stopped at the +gate, and a few seconds later I met Van Helsing running up the avenue. +When he saw me, he gasped out:-- + +"Then it was you, and just arrived. How is she? Are we too late? Did you +not get my telegram?" + +I answered as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got his +telegram early in the morning, and had not lost a minute in coming here, +and that I could not make any one in the house hear me. He paused and +raised his hat as he said solemnly:-- + +"Then I fear we are too late. God's will be done!" With his usual +recuperative energy, he went on: "Come. If there be no way open to get +in, we must make one. Time is all in all to us now." + +We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen +window. The Professor took a small surgical saw from his case, and +handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window. I +attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them. Then +with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the sashes and +opened the window. I helped the Professor in, and followed him. There +was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which were close at +hand. We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in the dining-room, +dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters, found four +servant-women lying on the floor. There was no need to think them dead, +for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the +room left no doubt as to their condition. Van Helsing and I looked at +each other, and as we moved away he said: "We can attend to them later." +Then we ascended to Lucy's room. For an instant or two we paused at the +door to listen, but there was no sound that we could hear. With white +faces and trembling hands, we opened the door gently, and entered the +room. + +How shall I describe what we saw? On the bed lay two women, Lucy and her +mother. The latter lay farthest in, and she was covered with a white +sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the draught through the +broken window, showing the drawn, white face, with a look of terror +fixed upon it. By her side lay Lucy, with face white and still more +drawn. The flowers which had been round her neck we found upon her +mother's bosom, and her throat was bare, showing the two little wounds +which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white and mangled. +Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head almost touching +poor Lucy's breast; then he gave a quick turn of his head, as of one who +listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to me:-- + +"It is not yet too late! Quick! quick! Bring the brandy!" + +I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste +it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I found +on the table. The maids were still breathing, but more restlessly, and I +fancied that the narcotic was wearing off. I did not stay to make sure, +but returned to Van Helsing. He rubbed the brandy, as on another +occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists and the palms of her +hands. He said to me:-- + +"I can do this, all that can be at the present. You go wake those maids. +Flick them in the face with a wet towel, and flick them hard. Make them +get heat and fire and a warm bath. This poor soul is nearly as cold as +that beside her. She will need be heated before we can do anything +more." + +I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the +women. The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently +affected her more strongly, so I lifted her on the sofa and let her +sleep. The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to +them they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner. I was stern with +them, however, and would not let them talk. I told them that one life +was bad enough to lose, and that if they delayed they would sacrifice +Miss Lucy. So, sobbing and crying, they went about their way, half clad +as they were, and prepared fire and water. Fortunately, the kitchen and +boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water. We +got a bath and carried Lucy out as she was and placed her in it. Whilst +we were busy chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall door. One +of the maids ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and opened it. Then +she returned and whispered to us that there was a gentleman who had come +with a message from Mr. Holmwood. I bade her simply tell him that he +must wait, for we could see no one now. She went away with the message, +and, engrossed with our work, I clean forgot all about him. + +I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly +earnest. I knew--as he knew--that it was a stand-up fight with death, +and in a pause told him so. He answered me in a way that I did not +understand, but with the sternest look that his face could wear:-- + +"If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her fade +away into peace, for I see no light in life over her horizon." He went +on with his work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied vigour. + +Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to +be of some effect. Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the +stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement. Van Helsing's +face almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her in +a hot sheet to dry her he said to me:-- + +"The first gain is ours! Check to the King!" + +We took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and laid +her in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat. I noticed +that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round her throat. She was +still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not worse than, we had +ever seen her. + +Van Helsing called in one of the women, and told her to stay with her +and not to take her eyes off her till we returned, and then beckoned me +out of the room. + +"We must consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended the +stairs. In the hall he opened the dining-room door, and we passed in, he +closing the door carefully behind him. The shutters had been opened, but +the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the etiquette of +death which the British woman of the lower classes always rigidly +observes. The room was, therefore, dimly dark. It was, however, light +enough for our purposes. Van Helsing's sternness was somewhat relieved +by a look of perplexity. He was evidently torturing his mind about +something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke:-- + +"What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help? We must have +another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life +won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted already; I am +exhausted too. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have +courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his +veins for her?" + +"What's the matter with me, anyhow?" + +The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought +relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris. Van +Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but his face softened and a +glad look came into his eyes as I cried out: "Quincey Morris!" and +rushed towards him with outstretched hands. + +"What brought you here?" I cried as our hands met. + +"I guess Art is the cause." + +He handed me a telegram:-- + +"Have not heard from Seward for three days, and am terribly anxious. +Cannot leave. Father still in same condition. Send me word how Lucy is. +Do not delay.--HOLMWOOD." + +"I think I came just in the nick of time. You know you have only to tell +me what to do." + +Van Helsing strode forward, and took his hand, looking him straight in +the eyes as he said:-- + +"A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in +trouble. You're a man and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against +us for all he's worth, but God sends us men when we want them." + +Once again we went through that ghastly operation. I have not the heart +to go through with the details. Lucy had got a terrible shock and it +told on her more than before, for though plenty of blood went into her +veins, her body did not respond to the treatment as well as on the other +occasions. Her struggle back into life was something frightful to see +and hear. However, the action of both heart and lungs improved, and Van +Helsing made a subcutaneous injection of morphia, as before, and with +good effect. Her faint became a profound slumber. The Professor watched +whilst I went downstairs with Quincey Morris, and sent one of the maids +to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting. I left Quincey lying down +after having a glass of wine, and told the cook to get ready a good +breakfast. Then a thought struck me, and I went back to the room where +Lucy now was. When I came softly in, I found Van Helsing with a sheet or +two of note-paper in his hand. He had evidently read it, and was +thinking it over as he sat with his hand to his brow. There was a look +of grim satisfaction in his face, as of one who has had a doubt solved. +He handed me the paper saying only: "It dropped from Lucy's breast when +we carried her to the bath." + +When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause +asked him: "In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, +mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it?" I was so bewildered that I +did not know what to say more. Van Helsing put out his hand and took the +paper, saying:-- + +"Do not trouble about it now. Forget it for the present. You shall know +and understand it all in good time; but it will be later. And now what +is it that you came to me to say?" This brought me back to fact, and I +was all myself again. + +"I came to speak about the certificate of death. If we do not act +properly and wisely, there may be an inquest, and that paper would have +to be produced. I am in hopes that we need have no inquest, for if we +had it would surely kill poor Lucy, if nothing else did. I know, and you +know, and the other doctor who attended her knows, that Mrs. Westenra +had disease of the heart, and we can certify that she died of it. Let us +fill up the certificate at once, and I shall take it myself to the +registrar and go on to the undertaker." + +"Good, oh my friend John! Well thought of! Truly Miss Lucy, if she be +sad in the foes that beset her, is at least happy in the friends that +love her. One, two, three, all open their veins for her, besides one old +man. Ah yes, I know, friend John; I am not blind! I love you all the +more for it! Now go." + +In the hall I met Quincey Morris, with a telegram for Arthur telling him +that Mrs. Westenra was dead; that Lucy also had been ill, but was now +going on better; and that Van Helsing and I were with her. I told him +where I was going, and he hurried me out, but as I was going said:-- + +"When you come back, Jack, may I have two words with you all to +ourselves?" I nodded in reply and went out. I found no difficulty about +the registration, and arranged with the local undertaker to come up in +the evening to measure for the coffin and to make arrangements. + +When I got back Quincey was waiting for me. I told him I would see him +as soon as I knew about Lucy, and went up to her room. She was still +sleeping, and the Professor seemingly had not moved from his seat at her +side. From his putting his finger to his lips, I gathered that he +expected her to wake before long and was afraid of forestalling nature. +So I went down to Quincey and took him into the breakfast-room, where +the blinds were not drawn down, and which was a little more cheerful, or +rather less cheerless, than the other rooms. When we were alone, he said +to me:-- + +"Jack Seward, I don't want to shove myself in anywhere where I've no +right to be; but this is no ordinary case. You know I loved that girl +and wanted to marry her; but, although that's all past and gone, I can't +help feeling anxious about her all the same. What is it that's wrong +with her? The Dutchman--and a fine old fellow he is; I can see +that--said, that time you two came into the room, that you must have +_another_ transfusion of blood, and that both you and he were exhausted. +Now I know well that you medical men speak _in camera_, and that a man +must not expect to know what they consult about in private. But this is +no common matter, and, whatever it is, I have done my part. Is not that +so?" + +"That's so," I said, and he went on:-- + +"I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did +to-day. Is not that so?" + +"That's so." + +"And I guess Art was in it too. When I saw him four days ago down at his +own place he looked queer. I have not seen anything pulled down so quick +since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of go to grass +all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at +her in the night, and what with his gorge and the vein left open, there +wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up, and I had to put a +bullet through her as she lay. Jack, if you may tell me without +betraying confidence, Arthur was the first, is not that so?" As he spoke +the poor fellow looked terribly anxious. He was in a torture of suspense +regarding the woman he loved, and his utter ignorance of the terrible +mystery which seemed to surround her intensified his pain. His very +heart was bleeding, and it took all the manhood of him--and there was a +royal lot of it, too--to keep him from breaking down. I paused before +answering, for I felt that I must not betray anything which the +Professor wished kept secret; but already he knew so much, and guessed +so much, that there could be no reason for not answering, so I answered +in the same phrase: "That's so." + +"And how long has this been going on?" + +"About ten days." + +"Ten days! Then I guess, Jack Seward, that that poor pretty creature +that we all love has had put into her veins within that time the blood +of four strong men. Man alive, her whole body wouldn't hold it." Then, +coming close to me, he spoke in a fierce half-whisper: "What took it +out?" + +I shook my head. "That," I said, "is the crux. Van Helsing is simply +frantic about it, and I am at my wits' end. I can't even hazard a guess. +There has been a series of little circumstances which have thrown out +all our calculations as to Lucy being properly watched. But these shall +not occur again. Here we stay until all be well--or ill." Quincey held +out his hand. "Count me in," he said. "You and the Dutchman will tell me +what to do, and I'll do it." + +When she woke late in the afternoon, Lucy's first movement was to feel +in her breast, and, to my surprise, produced the paper which Van Helsing +had given me to read. The careful Professor had replaced it where it had +come from, lest on waking she should be alarmed. Her eye then lit on Van +Helsing and on me too, and gladdened. Then she looked around the room, +and seeing where she was, shuddered; she gave a loud cry, and put her +poor thin hands before her pale face. We both understood what that +meant--that she had realised to the full her mother's death; so we tried +what we could to comfort her. Doubtless sympathy eased her somewhat, but +she was very low in thought and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for +a long time. We told her that either or both of us would now remain with +her all the time, and that seemed to comfort her. Towards dusk she fell +into a doze. Here a very odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep she +took the paper from her breast and tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped +over and took the pieces from her. All the same, however, she went on +with the action of tearing, as though the material were still in her +hands; finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though scattering +the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered as +if in thought, but he said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_19 September._--All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid +to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it. The Professor and +I took it in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment +unattended. Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I knew +that all night long he patrolled round and round the house. + +When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucy's +strength. She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little +nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good. At times she +slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her, between +sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep she looked stronger, although more +haggard, and her breathing was softer; her open mouth showed the pale +gums drawn back from the teeth, which thus looked positively longer and +sharper than usual; when she woke the softness of her eyes evidently +changed the expression, for she looked her own self, although a dying +one. In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him. +Quincey went off to meet him at the station. + +When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full +and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more +colour to the pale cheeks. When he saw her, Arthur was simply choking +with emotion, and none of us could speak. In the hours that had passed, +the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had +grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible +were shortened. Arthur's presence, however, seemed to act as a +stimulant; she rallied a little, and spoke to him more brightly than she +had done since we arrived. He too pulled himself together, and spoke as +cheerily as he could, so that the best was made of everything. + +It was now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with +her. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering +this on Lucy's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I +fear that to-morrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too +great; the poor child cannot rally. God help us all. + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_17 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"It seems _an age_ since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote. You +will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when you have read all my +budget of news. Well, I got my husband back all right; when we arrived +at Exeter there was a carriage waiting for us, and in it, though he had +an attack of gout, Mr. Hawkins. He took us to his house, where there +were rooms for us all nice and comfortable, and we dined together. After +dinner Mr. Hawkins said:-- + +"'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity; and may every +blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with +love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here +with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child; all are gone, and in +my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and +the old man clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one. + +"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my +bedroom and the drawing-room I can see the great elms of the cathedral +close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow +stone of the cathedral and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and +cawing and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of +rooks--and humans. I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging things and +housekeeping. Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all day; for, now that +Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to tell him all about the +clients. + +"How is your dear mother getting on? I wish I could run up to town for a +day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not go yet, with so much on my +shoulders; and Jonathan wants looking after still. He is beginning to +put some flesh on his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the +long illness; even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in a sudden +way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him back to his usual +placidity. However, thank God, these occasions grow less frequent as the +days go on, and they will in time pass away altogether, I trust. And now +I have told you my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, +and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, +and is it to be a public or a private wedding? Tell me all about it, +dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests +you which will not be dear to me. Jonathan asks me to send his +'respectful duty,' but I do not think that is good enough from the +junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker; and so, as you +love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses +of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead. Good-bye, my dearest +Lucy, and all blessings on you. + +"Yours, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Report from Patrick Hennessey, M. D., M. R. C. S. L. K. Q. C. P. I., +etc., etc., to John Seward, M. D._ + +"_20 September._ + +"My dear Sir,-- + +"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the conditions of +everything left in my charge.... With regard to patient, Renfield, there +is more to say. He has had another outbreak, which might have had a +dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately happened, was unattended +with any unhappy results. This afternoon a carrier's cart with two men +made a call at the empty house whose grounds abut on ours--the house to +which, you will remember, the patient twice ran away. The men stopped at +our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers. I was +myself looking out of the study window, having a smoke after dinner, and +saw one of them come up to the house. As he passed the window of +Renfield's room, the patient began to rate him from within, and called +him all the foul names he could lay his tongue to. The man, who seemed a +decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling him to "shut up for a +foul-mouthed beggar," whereon our man accused him of robbing him and +wanting to murder him and said that he would hinder him if he were to +swing for it. I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, +so he contented himself after looking the place over and making up his +mind as to what kind of a place he had got to by saying: 'Lor' bless +yer, sir, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin' madhouse. I +pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the house with a wild +beast like that.' Then he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him +where the gate of the empty house was; he went away, followed by threats +and curses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I could +make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a +well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind had +ever occurred. I found him, to my astonishment, quite composed and most +genial in his manner. I tried to get him to talk of the incident, but he +blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe +that he was completely oblivious of the affair. It was, I am sorry to +say, however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an +hour I heard of him again. This time he had broken out through the +window of his room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the +attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I feared he was intent +on some mischief. My fear was justified when I saw the same cart which +had passed before coming down the road, having on it some great wooden +boxes. The men were wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the +face, as if with violent exercise. Before I could get up to him the +patient rushed at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to +knock his head against the ground. If I had not seized him just at the +moment I believe he would have killed the man there and then. The other +fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt-end of his +heavy whip. It was a terrible blow; but he did not seem to mind it, but +seized him also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and +fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no light weight, and the others +were both burly men. At first he was silent in his fighting; but as we +began to master him, and the attendants were putting a strait-waistcoat +on him, he began to shout: 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me! +they shan't murder me by inches! I'll fight for my Lord and Master!' and +all sorts of similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable +difficulty that they got him back to the house and put him in the padded +room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken. However, I set +it all right; and he is going on well. + +"The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of actions for +damages, and promised to rain all the penalties of the law on us. Their +threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for +the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman. They said that if it +had not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying and +raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made short work of +him. They gave as another reason for their defeat the extraordinary +state of drouth to which they had been reduced by the dusty nature of +their occupation and the reprehensible distance from the scene of their +labours of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their +drift, and after a stiff glass of grog, or rather more of the same, and +with each a sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore +that they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of +meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent. I took their +names and addresses, in case they might be needed. They are as +follows:--Jack Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, King George's Road, Great +Walworth, and Thomas Snelling, Peter Farley's Row, Guide Court, Bethnal +Green. They are both in the employment of Harris & Sons, Moving and +Shipment Company, Orange Master's Yard, Soho. + +"I shall report to you any matter of interest occurring here, and shall +wire you at once if there is anything of importance. + +"Believe me, dear Sir, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"PATRICK HENNESSEY." + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra_. + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_18 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly. +Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had both come to so love him +that it really seems as though we had lost a father. I never knew either +father or mother, so that the dear old man's death is a real blow to me. +Jonathan is greatly distressed. It is not only that he feels sorrow, +deep sorrow, for the dear, good man who has befriended him all his life, +and now at the end has treated him like his own son and left him a +fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is wealth beyond the +dream of avarice, but Jonathan feels it on another account. He says the +amount of responsibility which it puts upon him makes him nervous. He +begins to doubt himself. I try to cheer him up, and _my_ belief in _him_ +helps him to have a belief in himself. But it is here that the grave +shock that he experienced tells upon him the most. Oh, it is too hard +that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his--a nature which +enabled him by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to master +in a few years--should be so injured that the very essence of its +strength is gone. Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my troubles in +the midst of your own happiness; but, Lucy dear, I must tell some one, +for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan +tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in. I dread coming +up to London, as we must do the day after to-morrow; for poor Mr. +Hawkins left in his will that he was to be buried in the grave with his +father. As there are no relations at all, Jonathan will have to be chief +mourner. I shall try to run over to see you, dearest, if only for a few +minutes. Forgive me for troubling you. With all blessings, + +"Your loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 September._--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry +to-night. I am too miserable, too low-spirited, too sick of the world +and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard +this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death. And he has +been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late--Lucy's mother +and Arthur's father, and now.... Let me get on with my work. + +I duly relieved Van Helsing in his watch over Lucy. We wanted Arthur to +go to rest also, but he refused at first. It was only when I told him +that we should want him to help us during the day, and that we must not +all break down for want of rest, lest Lucy should suffer, that he agreed +to go. Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he said; +"come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much +mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You +must not be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. +Come to the drawing-room, where there is a big fire, and there are two +sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will +be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we +sleep." Arthur went off with him, casting back a longing look on Lucy's +face, which lay in her pillow, almost whiter than the lawn. She lay +quite still, and I looked round the room to see that all was as it +should be. I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, +as in the other, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the +window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk +handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of +the same odorous flowers. Lucy was breathing somewhat stertorously, and +her face was at its worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums. Her +teeth, in the dim, uncertain light, seemed longer and sharper than they +had been in the morning. In particular, by some trick of the light, the +canine teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest. I sat down by her, +and presently she moved uneasily. At the same moment there came a sort +of dull flapping or buffeting at the window. I went over to it softly, +and peeped out by the corner of the blind. There was a full moonlight, +and I could see that the noise was made by a great bat, which wheeled +round--doubtless attracted by the light, although so dim--and every now +and again struck the window with its wings. When I came back to my seat, +I found that Lucy had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic +flowers from her throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and sat +watching her. + +Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had prescribed. +She took but a little, and that languidly. There did not seem to be with +her now the unconscious struggle for life and strength that had hitherto +so marked her illness. It struck me as curious that the moment she +became conscious she pressed the garlic flowers close to her. It was +certainly odd that whenever she got into that lethargic state, with the +stertorous breathing, she put the flowers from her; but that when she +waked she clutched them close. There was no possibility of making any +mistake about this, for in the long hours that followed, she had many +spells of sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times. + +At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Arthur had then fallen +into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on. When he saw Lucy's face +I could hear the sissing indraw of his breath, and he said to me in a +sharp whisper: "Draw up the blind; I want light!" Then he bent down, +and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her carefully. He +removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat. As +he did so he started back, and I could hear his ejaculation, "Mein +Gott!" as it was smothered in his throat. I bent over and looked, too, +and as I noticed some queer chill came over me. + +The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared. + +For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with his face +at its sternest. Then he turned to me and said calmly:-- + +"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark +me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor boy, and +let him come and see the last; he trusts us, and we have promised him." + +I went to the dining-room and waked him. He was dazed for a moment, but +when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters +he thought he was late, and expressed his fear. I assured him that Lucy +was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that both Van +Helsing and I feared that the end was near. He covered his face with his +hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he remained, +perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders +shook with grief. I took him by the hand and raised him up. "Come," I +said, "my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude: it will be best +and easiest for her." + +When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with +his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making +everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed Lucy's +hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples. When we +came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered +softly:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!" He was stooping to +kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back. "No," he whispered, "not +yet! Hold her hand; it will comfort her more." + +So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best, +with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes. Then +gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a little bit her +breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired child's. + +And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in +the night. Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale +gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever. In a +sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which +were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, +such as I had never heard from her lips:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Arthur bent +eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, +had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by +the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which +I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost +across the room. + +"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" And +he stood between them like a lion at bay. + +Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to do +or say; and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realised +the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting. + +I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as +of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champed +together. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily. + +Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and +putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown +one; drawing it to her, she kissed it. "My true friend," she said, in a +faint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend, and his! Oh, +guard him, and give me peace!" + +"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his +hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and said +to him: "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the +forehead, and only once." + +Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted. + +Lucy's eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took +Arthur's arm, and drew him away. + +And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it +ceased. + +"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!" + +I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, where he +sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way that +nearly broke me down to see. + +I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy, and +his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body. +Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had +recovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost their +deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working +of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as +might be. + + "We thought her dying whilst she slept, + And sleeping when she died." + +I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:-- + +"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!" + +He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:-- + +"Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!" + +When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:-- + +"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and +her mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastly +formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff were +afflicted--or blessed--with something of his own obsequious suavity. +Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to +me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out +from the death-chamber:-- + +"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege to +attend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to our +establishment!" + +I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possible from +the disordered state of things in the household. There were no relatives +at hand; and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend at his +father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should have been +bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it upon +ourselves to examine papers, etc. He insisted upon looking over Lucy's +papers himself. I asked him why, for I feared that he, being a +foreigner, might not be quite aware of English legal requirements, and +so might in ignorance make some unnecessary trouble. He answered me:-- + +"I know; I know. You forget that I am a lawyer as well as a doctor. But +this is not altogether for the law. You knew that, when you avoided the +coroner. I have more than him to avoid. There may be papers more--such +as this." + +As he spoke he took from his pocket-book the memorandum which had been +in Lucy's breast, and which she had torn in her sleep. + +"When you find anything of the solicitor who is for the late Mrs. +Westenra, seal all her papers, and write him to-night. For me, I watch +here in the room and in Miss Lucy's old room all night, and I myself +search for what may be. It is not well that her very thoughts go into +the hands of strangers." + +I went on with my part of the work, and in another half hour had found +the name and address of Mrs. Westenra's solicitor and had written to +him. All the poor lady's papers were in order; explicit directions +regarding the place of burial were given. I had hardly sealed the +letter, when, to my surprise, Van Helsing walked into the room, +saying:-- + +"Can I help you, friend John? I am free, and if I may, my service is to +you." + +"Have you got what you looked for?" I asked, to which he replied:-- + +"I did not look for any specific thing. I only hoped to find, and find I +have, all that there was--only some letters and a few memoranda, and a +diary new begun. But I have them here, and we shall for the present say +nothing of them. I shall see that poor lad to-morrow evening, and, with +his sanction, I shall use some." + +When we had finished the work in hand, he said to me:-- + +"And now, friend John, I think we may to bed. We want sleep, both you +and I, and rest to recuperate. To-morrow we shall have much to do, but +for the to-night there is no need of us. Alas!" + +Before turning in we went to look at poor Lucy. The undertaker had +certainly done his work well, for the room was turned into a small +_chapelle ardente_. There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, +and death was made as little repulsive as might be. The end of the +winding-sheet was laid over the face; when the Professor bent over and +turned it gently back, we both started at the beauty before us, the tall +wax candles showing a sufficient light to note it well. All Lucy's +loveliness had come back to her in death, and the hours that had passed, +instead of leaving traces of "decay's effacing fingers," had but +restored the beauty of life, till positively I could not believe my eyes +that I was looking at a corpse. + +The Professor looked sternly grave. He had not loved her as I had, and +there was no need for tears in his eyes. He said to me: "Remain till I +return," and left the room. He came back with a handful of wild garlic +from the box waiting in the hall, but which had not been opened, and +placed the flowers amongst the others on and around the bed. Then he +took from his neck, inside his collar, a little gold crucifix, and +placed it over the mouth. He restored the sheet to its place, and we +came away. + +I was undressing in my own room, when, with a premonitory tap at the +door, he entered, and at once began to speak:-- + +"To-morrow I want you to bring me, before night, a set of post-mortem +knives." + +"Must we make an autopsy?" I asked. + +"Yes and no. I want to operate, but not as you think. Let me tell you +now, but not a word to another. I want to cut off her head and take out +her heart. Ah! you a surgeon, and so shocked! You, whom I have seen with +no tremble of hand or heart, do operations of life and death that make +the rest shudder. Oh, but I must not forget, my dear friend John, that +you loved her; and I have not forgotten it, for it is I that shall +operate, and you must only help. I would like to do it to-night, but for +Arthur I must not; he will be free after his father's funeral to-morrow, +and he will want to see her--to see _it_. Then, when she is coffined +ready for the next day, you and I shall come when all sleep. We shall +unscrew the coffin-lid, and shall do our operation: and then replace +all, so that none know, save we alone." + +"But why do it at all? The girl is dead. Why mutilate her poor body +without need? And if there is no necessity for a post-mortem and nothing +to gain by it--no good to her, to us, to science, to human +knowledge--why do it? Without such it is monstrous." + +For answer he put his hand on my shoulder, and said, with infinite +tenderness:-- + +"Friend John, I pity your poor bleeding heart; and I love you the more +because it does so bleed. If I could, I would take on myself the burden +that you do bear. But there are things that you know not, but that you +shall know, and bless me for knowing, though they are not pleasant +things. John, my child, you have been my friend now many years, and yet +did you ever know me to do any without good cause? I may err--I am but +man; but I believe in all I do. Was it not for these causes that you +send for me when the great trouble came? Yes! Were you not amazed, nay +horrified, when I would not let Arthur kiss his love--though she was +dying--and snatched him away by all my strength? Yes! And yet you saw +how she thanked me, with her so beautiful dying eyes, her voice, too, so +weak, and she kiss my rough old hand and bless me? Yes! And did you not +hear me swear promise to her, that so she closed her eyes grateful? Yes! + +"Well, I have good reason now for all I want to do. You have for many +years trust me; you have believe me weeks past, when there be things so +strange that you might have well doubt. Believe me yet a little, friend +John. If you trust me not, then I must tell what I think; and that is +not perhaps well. And if I work--as work I shall, no matter trust or no +trust--without my friend trust in me, I work with heavy heart and feel, +oh! so lonely when I want all help and courage that may be!" He paused a +moment and went on solemnly: "Friend John, there are strange and +terrible days before us. Let us not be two, but one, that so we work to +a good end. Will you not have faith in me?" + +I took his hand, and promised him. I held my door open as he went away, +and watched him go into his room and close the door. As I stood without +moving, I saw one of the maids pass silently along the passage--she had +her back towards me, so did not see me--and go into the room where Lucy +lay. The sight touched me. Devotion is so rare, and we are so grateful +to those who show it unasked to those we love. Here was a poor girl +putting aside the terrors which she naturally had of death to go watch +alone by the bier of the mistress whom she loved, so that the poor clay +might not be lonely till laid to eternal rest.... + + * * * * * + +I must have slept long and soundly, for it was broad daylight when Van +Helsing waked me by coming into my room. He came over to my bedside and +said:-- + +"You need not trouble about the knives; we shall not do it." + +"Why not?" I asked. For his solemnity of the night before had greatly +impressed me. + +"Because," he said sternly, "it is too late--or too early. See!" Here he +held up the little golden crucifix. "This was stolen in the night." + +"How, stolen," I asked in wonder, "since you have it now?" + +"Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from the +woman who robbed the dead and the living. Her punishment will surely +come, but not through me; she knew not altogether what she did and thus +unknowing, she only stole. Now we must wait." + +He went away on the word, leaving me with a new mystery to think of, a +new puzzle to grapple with. + +The forenoon was a dreary time, but at noon the solicitor came: Mr. +Marquand, of Wholeman, Sons, Marquand & Lidderdale. He was very genial +and very appreciative of what we had done, and took off our hands all +cares as to details. During lunch he told us that Mrs. Westenra had for +some time expected sudden death from her heart, and had put her affairs +in absolute order; he informed us that, with the exception of a certain +entailed property of Lucy's father's which now, in default of direct +issue, went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate, +real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood. When he had +told us so much he went on:-- + +"Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition, and +pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter either +penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a matrimonial +alliance. Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we almost came into +collision, for she asked us if we were or were not prepared to carry out +her wishes. Of course, we had then no alternative but to accept. We were +right in principle, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred we should +have proved, by the logic of events, the accuracy of our judgment. +Frankly, however, I must admit that in this case any other form of +disposition would have rendered impossible the carrying out of her +wishes. For by her predeceasing her daughter the latter would have come +into possession of the property, and, even had she only survived her +mother by five minutes, her property would, in case there were no +will--and a will was a practical impossibility in such a case--have been +treated at her decease as under intestacy. In which case Lord Godalming, +though so dear a friend, would have had no claim in the world; and the +inheritors, being remote, would not be likely to abandon their just +rights, for sentimental reasons regarding an entire stranger. I assure +you, my dear sirs, I am rejoiced at the result, perfectly rejoiced." + +He was a good fellow, but his rejoicing at the one little part--in which +he was officially interested--of so great a tragedy, was an +object-lesson in the limitations of sympathetic understanding. + +He did not remain long, but said he would look in later in the day and +see Lord Godalming. His coming, however, had been a certain comfort to +us, since it assured us that we should not have to dread hostile +criticism as to any of our acts. Arthur was expected at five o'clock, so +a little before that time we visited the death-chamber. It was so in +very truth, for now both mother and daughter lay in it. The undertaker, +true to his craft, had made the best display he could of his goods, and +there was a mortuary air about the place that lowered our spirits at +once. Van Helsing ordered the former arrangement to be adhered to, +explaining that, as Lord Godalming was coming very soon, it would be +less harrowing to his feelings to see all that was left of his _fiancée_ +quite alone. The undertaker seemed shocked at his own stupidity and +exerted himself to restore things to the condition in which we left them +the night before, so that when Arthur came such shocks to his feelings +as we could avoid were saved. + +Poor fellow! He looked desperately sad and broken; even his stalwart +manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his +much-tried emotions. He had, I knew, been very genuinely and devotedly +attached to his father; and to lose him, and at such a time, was a +bitter blow to him. With me he was warm as ever, and to Van Helsing he +was sweetly courteous; but I could not help seeing that there was some +constraint with him. The Professor noticed it, too, and motioned me to +bring him upstairs. I did so, and left him at the door of the room, as I +felt he would like to be quite alone with her, but he took my arm and +led me in, saying huskily:-- + +"You loved her too, old fellow; she told me all about it, and there was +no friend had a closer place in her heart than you. I don't know how to +thank you for all you have done for her. I can't think yet...." + +Here he suddenly broke down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and +laid his head on my breast, crying:-- + +"Oh, Jack! Jack! What shall I do! The whole of life seems gone from me +all at once, and there is nothing in the wide world for me to live for." + +I comforted him as well as I could. In such cases men do not need much +expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the +shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man's +heart. I stood still and silent till his sobs died away, and then I said +softly to him:-- + +"Come and look at her." + +Together we moved over to the bed, and I lifted the lawn from her face. +God! how beautiful she was. Every hour seemed to be enhancing her +loveliness. It frightened and amazed me somewhat; and as for Arthur, he +fell a-trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as with an ague. At +last, after a long pause, he said to me in a faint whisper:-- + +"Jack, is she really dead?" + +I assured him sadly that it was so, and went on to suggest--for I felt +that such a horrible doubt should not have life for a moment longer than +I could help--that it often happened that after death faces became +softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty; that this was +especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or prolonged +suffering. It seemed to quite do away with any doubt, and, after +kneeling beside the couch for a while and looking at her lovingly and +long, he turned aside. I told him that that must be good-bye, as the +coffin had to be prepared; so he went back and took her dead hand in his +and kissed it, and bent over and kissed her forehead. He came away, +fondly looking back over his shoulder at her as he came. + +I left him in the drawing-room, and told Van Helsing that he had said +good-bye; so the latter went to the kitchen to tell the undertaker's men +to proceed with the preparations and to screw up the coffin. When he +came out of the room again I told him of Arthur's question, and he +replied:-- + +"I am not surprised. Just now I doubted for a moment myself!" + +We all dined together, and I could see that poor Art was trying to make +the best of things. Van Helsing had been silent all dinner-time; but +when we had lit our cigars he said-- + +"Lord----"; but Arthur interrupted him:-- + +"No, no, not that, for God's sake! not yet at any rate. Forgive me, sir: +I did not mean to speak offensively; it is only because my loss is so +recent." + +The Professor answered very sweetly:-- + +"I only used that name because I was in doubt. I must not call you +'Mr.,' and I have grown to love you--yes, my dear boy, to love you--as +Arthur." + +Arthur held out his hand, and took the old man's warmly. + +"Call me what you will," he said. "I hope I may always have the title of +a friend. And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for +your goodness to my poor dear." He paused a moment, and went on: "I know +that she understood your goodness even better than I do; and if I was +rude or in any way wanting at that time you acted so--you remember"--the +Professor nodded--"you must forgive me." + +He answered with a grave kindness:-- + +"I know it was hard for you to quite trust me then, for to trust such +violence needs to understand; and I take it that you do not--that you +cannot--trust me now, for you do not yet understand. And there may be +more times when I shall want you to trust when you cannot--and may +not--and must not yet understand. But the time will come when your trust +shall be whole and complete in me, and when you shall understand as +though the sunlight himself shone through. Then you shall bless me from +first to last for your own sake, and for the sake of others and for her +dear sake to whom I swore to protect." + +"And, indeed, indeed, sir," said Arthur warmly, "I shall in all ways +trust you. I know and believe you have a very noble heart, and you are +Jack's friend, and you were hers. You shall do what you like." + +The Professor cleared his throat a couple of times, as though about to +speak, and finally said:-- + +"May I ask you something now?" + +"Certainly." + +"You know that Mrs. Westenra left you all her property?" + +"No, poor dear; I never thought of it." + +"And as it is all yours, you have a right to deal with it as you will. I +want you to give me permission to read all Miss Lucy's papers and +letters. Believe me, it is no idle curiosity. I have a motive of which, +be sure, she would have approved. I have them all here. I took them +before we knew that all was yours, so that no strange hand might touch +them--no strange eye look through words into her soul. I shall keep +them, if I may; even you may not see them yet, but I shall keep them +safe. No word shall be lost; and in the good time I shall give them back +to you. It's a hard thing I ask, but you will do it, will you not, for +Lucy's sake?" + +Arthur spoke out heartily, like his old self:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, you may do what you will. I feel that in saying this I +am doing what my dear one would have approved. I shall not trouble you +with questions till the time comes." + +The old Professor stood up as he said solemnly:-- + +"And you are right. There will be pain for us all; but it will not be +all pain, nor will this pain be the last. We and you too--you most of +all, my dear boy--will have to pass through the bitter water before we +reach the sweet. But we must be brave of heart and unselfish, and do our +duty, and all will be well!" + +I slept on a sofa in Arthur's room that night. Van Helsing did not go to +bed at all. He went to and fro, as if patrolling the house, and was +never out of sight of the room where Lucy lay in her coffin, strewn with +the wild garlic flowers, which sent, through the odour of lily and rose, +a heavy, overpowering smell into the night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_22 September._--In the train to Exeter. Jonathan sleeping. + +It seems only yesterday that the last entry was made, and yet how much +between then, in Whitby and all the world before me, Jonathan away and +no news of him; and now, married to Jonathan, Jonathan a solicitor, a +partner, rich, master of his business, Mr. Hawkins dead and buried, and +Jonathan with another attack that may harm him. Some day he may ask me +about it. Down it all goes. I am rusty in my shorthand--see what +unexpected prosperity does for us--so it may be as well to freshen it up +again with an exercise anyhow.... + +The service was very simple and very solemn. There were only ourselves +and the servants there, one or two old friends of his from Exeter, his +London agent, and a gentleman representing Sir John Paxton, the +President of the Incorporated Law Society. Jonathan and I stood hand in +hand, and we felt that our best and dearest friend was gone from us.... + +We came back to town quietly, taking a 'bus to Hyde Park Corner. +Jonathan thought it would interest me to go into the Row for a while, so +we sat down; but there were very few people there, and it was +sad-looking and desolate to see so many empty chairs. It made us think +of the empty chair at home; so we got up and walked down Piccadilly. +Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in old days +before I went to school. I felt it very improper, for you can't go on +for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other girls without the +pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit; but it was Jonathan, and he +was my husband, and we didn't know anybody who saw us--and we didn't +care if they did--so on we walked. I was looking at a very beautiful +girl, in a big cart-wheel hat, sitting in a victoria outside Guiliano's, +when I felt Jonathan clutch my arm so tight that he hurt me, and he said +under his breath: "My God!" I am always anxious about Jonathan, for I +fear that some nervous fit may upset him again; so I turned to him +quickly, and asked him what it was that disturbed him. + +He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and +half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and +black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the pretty +girl. He was looking at her so hard that he did not see either of us, +and so I had a good view of him. His face was not a good face; it was +hard, and cruel, and sensual, and his big white teeth, that looked all +the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like an animal's. +Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I +feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty. I asked +Jonathan why he was disturbed, and he answered, evidently thinking that +I knew as much about it as he did: "Do you see who it is?" + +"No, dear," I said; "I don't know him; who is it?" His answer seemed to +shock and thrill me, for it was said as if he did not know that it was +to me, Mina, to whom he was speaking:-- + +"It is the man himself!" + +The poor dear was evidently terrified at something--very greatly +terrified; I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to +support him he would have sunk down. He kept staring; a man came out of +the shop with a small parcel, and gave it to the lady, who then drove +off. The dark man kept his eyes fixed on her, and when the carriage +moved up Piccadilly he followed in the same direction, and hailed a +hansom. Jonathan kept looking after him, and said, as if to himself:-- + +"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God, if this be +so! Oh, my God! my God! If I only knew! if I only knew!" He was +distressing himself so much that I feared to keep his mind on the +subject by asking him any questions, so I remained silent. I drew him +away quietly, and he, holding my arm, came easily. We walked a little +further, and then went in and sat for a while in the Green Park. It was +a hot day for autumn, and there was a comfortable seat in a shady place. +After a few minutes' staring at nothing, Jonathan's eyes closed, and he +went quietly into a sleep, with his head on my shoulder. I thought it +was the best thing for him, so did not disturb him. In about twenty +minutes he woke up, and said to me quite cheerfully:-- + +"Why, Mina, have I been asleep! Oh, do forgive me for being so rude. +Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere." He had evidently forgotten +all about the dark stranger, as in his illness he had forgotten all that +this episode had reminded him of. I don't like this lapsing into +forgetfulness; it may make or continue some injury to the brain. I must +not ask him, for fear I shall do more harm than good; but I must somehow +learn the facts of his journey abroad. The time is come, I fear, when I +must open that parcel, and know what is written. Oh, Jonathan, you will, +I know, forgive me if I do wrong, but it is for your own dear sake. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--A sad home-coming in every way--the house empty of the dear +soul who was so good to us; Jonathan still pale and dizzy under a slight +relapse of his malady; and now a telegram from Van Helsing, whoever he +may be:-- + +"You will be grieved to hear that Mrs. Westenra died five days ago, and +that Lucy died the day before yesterday. They were both buried to-day." + +Oh, what a wealth of sorrow in a few words! Poor Mrs. Westenra! poor +Lucy! Gone, gone, never to return to us! And poor, poor Arthur, to have +lost such sweetness out of his life! God help us all to bear our +troubles. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_22 September._--It is all over. Arthur has gone back to Ring, and has +taken Quincey Morris with him. What a fine fellow is Quincey! I believe +in my heart of hearts that he suffered as much about Lucy's death as any +of us; but he bore himself through it like a moral Viking. If America +can go on breeding men like that, she will be a power in the world +indeed. Van Helsing is lying down, having a rest preparatory to his +journey. He goes over to Amsterdam to-night, but says he returns +to-morrow night; that he only wants to make some arrangements which can +only be made personally. He is to stop with me then, if he can; he says +he has work to do in London which may take him some time. Poor old +fellow! I fear that the strain of the past week has broken down even his +iron strength. All the time of the burial he was, I could see, putting +some terrible restraint on himself. When it was all over, we were +standing beside Arthur, who, poor fellow, was speaking of his part in +the operation where his blood had been transfused to his Lucy's veins; I +could see Van Helsing's face grow white and purple by turns. Arthur was +saying that he felt since then as if they two had been really married +and that she was his wife in the sight of God. None of us said a word of +the other operations, and none of us ever shall. Arthur and Quincey went +away together to the station, and Van Helsing and I came on here. The +moment we were alone in the carriage he gave way to a regular fit of +hysterics. He has denied to me since that it was hysterics, and insisted +that it was only his sense of humour asserting itself under very +terrible conditions. He laughed till he cried, and I had to draw down +the blinds lest any one should see us and misjudge; and then he cried, +till he laughed again; and laughed and cried together, just as a woman +does. I tried to be stern with him, as one is to a woman under the +circumstances; but it had no effect. Men and women are so different in +manifestations of nervous strength or weakness! Then when his face grew +grave and stern again I asked him why his mirth, and why at such a time. +His reply was in a way characteristic of him, for it was logical and +forceful and mysterious. He said:-- + +"Ah, you don't comprehend, friend John. Do not think that I am not sad, +though I laugh. See, I have cried even when the laugh did choke me. But +no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh he come +just the same. Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your +door and say, 'May I come in?' is not the true laughter. No! he is a +king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person; he choose no +time of suitability. He say, 'I am here.' Behold, in example I grieve my +heart out for that so sweet young girl; I give my blood for her, though +I am old and worn; I give my time, my skill, my sleep; I let my other +sufferers want that so she may have all. And yet I can laugh at her very +grave--laugh when the clay from the spade of the sexton drop upon her +coffin and say 'Thud! thud!' to my heart, till it send back the blood +from my cheek. My heart bleed for that poor boy--that dear boy, so of +the age of mine own boy had I been so blessed that he live, and with his +hair and eyes the same. There, you know now why I love him so. And yet +when he say things that touch my husband-heart to the quick, and make my +father-heart yearn to him as to no other man--not even to you, friend +John, for we are more level in experiences than father and son--yet even +at such moment King Laugh he come to me and shout and bellow in my ear, +'Here I am! here I am!' till the blood come dance back and bring some of +the sunshine that he carry with him to my cheek. Oh, friend John, it is +a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and +troubles; and yet when King Laugh come he make them all dance to the +tune he play. Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and +tears that burn as they fall--all dance together to the music that he +make with that smileless mouth of him. And believe me, friend John, that +he is good to come, and kind. Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn +tight with strain that pull us different ways. Then tears come; and, +like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain +become too great, and we break. But King Laugh he come like the +sunshine, and he ease off the strain again; and we bear to go on with +our labour, what it may be." + +I did not like to wound him by pretending not to see his idea; but, as I +did not yet understand the cause of his laughter, I asked him. As he +answered me his face grew stern, and he said in quite a different +tone:-- + +"Oh, it was the grim irony of it all--this so lovely lady garlanded with +flowers, that looked so fair as life, till one by one we wondered if she +were truly dead; she laid in that so fine marble house in that lonely +churchyard, where rest so many of her kin, laid there with the mother +who loved her, and whom she loved; and that sacred bell going 'Toll! +toll! toll!' so sad and slow; and those holy men, with the white +garments of the angel, pretending to read books, and yet all the time +their eyes never on the page; and all of us with the bowed head. And all +for what? She is dead; so! Is it not?" + +"Well, for the life of me, Professor," I said, "I can't see anything to +laugh at in all that. Why, your explanation makes it a harder puzzle +than before. But even if the burial service was comic, what about poor +Art and his trouble? Why, his heart was simply breaking." + +"Just so. Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins had +made her truly his bride?" + +"Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him." + +"Quite so. But there was a difficulty, friend John. If so that, then +what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist, +and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though +no wits, all gone--even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife, +am bigamist." + +"I don't see where the joke comes in there either!" I said; and I did +not feel particularly pleased with him for saying such things. He laid +his hand on my arm, and said:-- + +"Friend John, forgive me if I pain. I showed not my feeling to others +when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust. +If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; +if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so +now, when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him--for +he go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time--maybe you would +perhaps pity me the most of all." + +I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why. + +"Because I know!" + +And now we are all scattered; and for many a long day loneliness will +sit over our roofs with brooding wings. Lucy lies in the tomb of her +kin, a lordly death-house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming +London; where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill, +and where wild flowers grow of their own accord. + +So I can finish this diary; and God only knows if I shall ever begin +another. If I do, or if I even open this again, it will be to deal with +different people and different themes; for here at the end, where the +romance of my life is told, ere I go back to take up the thread of my +life-work, I say sadly and without hope, + + "FINIS." + + +_"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + A HAMPSTEAD MYSTERY. + + +The neighbourhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with a +series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what +was known to the writers of headlines as "The Kensington Horror," or +"The Stabbing Woman," or "The Woman in Black." During the past two or +three days several cases have occurred of young children straying from +home or neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath. In all +these cases the children were too young to give any properly +intelligible account of themselves, but the consensus of their excuses +is that they had been with a "bloofer lady." It has always been late in +the evening when they have been missed, and on two occasions the +children have not been found until early in the following morning. It is +generally supposed in the neighbourhood that, as the first child missed +gave as his reason for being away that a "bloofer lady" had asked him to +come for a walk, the others had picked up the phrase and used it as +occasion served. This is the more natural as the favourite game of the +little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles. A +correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to +be the "bloofer lady" is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists +might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the +reality and the picture. It is only in accordance with general +principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady" should be the popular +rôle at these _al fresco_ performances. Our correspondent naïvely says +that even Ellen Terry could not be so winningly attractive as some of +these grubby-faced little children pretend--and even imagine +themselves--to be. + +There is, however, possibly a serious side to the question, for some of +the children, indeed all who have been missed at night, have been +slightly torn or wounded in the throat. The wounds seem such as might be +made by a rat or a small dog, and although of not much importance +individually, would tend to show that whatever animal inflicts them has +a system or method of its own. The police of the division have been +instructed to keep a sharp look-out for straying children, especially +when very young, in and around Hampstead Heath, and for any stray dog +which may be about. + + + _"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + _Extra Special._ + + THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR. + + ANOTHER CHILD INJURED. + + _The "Bloofer Lady."_ + +We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last +night, was only discovered late in the morning under a furze bush at the +Shooter's Hill side of Hampstead Heath, which is, perhaps, less +frequented than the other parts. It has the same tiny wound in the +throat as has been noticed in other cases. It was terribly weak, and +looked quite emaciated. It too, when partially restored, had the common +story to tell of being lured away by the "bloofer lady." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_23 September_.--Jonathan is better after a bad night. I am so glad that +he has plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the terrible +things; and oh, I am rejoiced that he is not now weighed down with the +responsibility of his new position. I knew he would be true to himself, +and now how proud I am to see my Jonathan rising to the height of his +advancement and keeping pace in all ways with the duties that come upon +him. He will be away all day till late, for he said he could not lunch +at home. My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal, +and lock myself up in my room and read it.... + + +_24 September_.--I hadn't the heart to write last night; that terrible +record of Jonathan's upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, +whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth +in it at all. Did he get his brain fever, and then write all those +terrible things, or had he some cause for it all? I suppose I shall +never know, for I dare not open the subject to him.... And yet that man +we saw yesterday! He seemed quite certain of him.... Poor fellow! I +suppose it was the funeral upset him and sent his mind back on some +train of thought.... He believes it all himself. I remember how on our +wedding-day he said: "Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, mad or sane." There seems to be +through it all some thread of continuity.... That fearful Count was +coming to London.... If it should be, and he came to London, with his +teeming millions.... There may be a solemn duty; and if it come we must +not shrink from it.... I shall be prepared. I shall get my typewriter +this very hour and begin transcribing. Then we shall be ready for other +eyes if required. And if it be wanted; then, perhaps, if I am ready, +poor Jonathan may not be upset, for I can speak for him and never let +him be troubled or worried with it at all. If ever Jonathan quite gets +over the nervousness he may want to tell me of it all, and I can ask him +questions and find out things, and see how I may comfort him. + + +_Letter, Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_24 September._ + +(_Confidence_) + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I pray you to pardon my writing, in that I am so far friend as that I +sent to you sad news of Miss Lucy Westenra's death. By the kindness of +Lord Godalming, I am empowered to read her letters and papers, for I am +deeply concerned about certain matters vitally important. In them I find +some letters from you, which show how great friends you were and how you +love her. Oh, Madam Mina, by that love, I implore you, help me. It is +for others' good that I ask--to redress great wrong, and to lift much +and terrible troubles--that may be more great than you can know. May it +be that I see you? You can trust me. I am friend of Dr. John Seward and +of Lord Godalming (that was Arthur of Miss Lucy). I must keep it private +for the present from all. I should come to Exeter to see you at once if +you tell me I am privilege to come, and where and when. I implore your +pardon, madam. I have read your letters to poor Lucy, and know how good +you are and how your husband suffer; so I pray you, if it may be, +enlighten him not, lest it may harm. Again your pardon, and forgive me. + +"VAN HELSING." + + +_Telegram, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September._--Come to-day by quarter-past ten train if you can catch +it. Can see you any time you call. + +"WILHELMINA HARKER." + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL. + +_25 September._--I cannot help feeling terribly excited as the time +draws near for the visit of Dr. Van Helsing, for somehow I expect that +it will throw some light upon Jonathan's sad experience; and as he +attended poor dear Lucy in her last illness, he can tell me all about +her. That is the reason of his coming; it is concerning Lucy and her +sleep-walking, and not about Jonathan. Then I shall never know the real +truth now! How silly I am. That awful journal gets hold of my +imagination and tinges everything with something of its own colour. Of +course it is about Lucy. That habit came back to the poor dear, and that +awful night on the cliff must have made her ill. I had almost forgotten +in my own affairs how ill she was afterwards. She must have told him +of her sleep-walking adventure on the cliff, and that I knew all about +it; and now he wants me to tell him what she knows, so that he may +understand. I hope I did right in not saying anything of it to Mrs. +Westenra; I should never forgive myself if any act of mine, were it even +a negative one, brought harm on poor dear Lucy. I hope, too, Dr. Van +Helsing will not blame me; I have had so much trouble and anxiety of +late that I feel I cannot bear more just at present. + +I suppose a cry does us all good at times--clears the air as other rain +does. Perhaps it was reading the journal yesterday that upset me, and +then Jonathan went away this morning to stay away from me a whole day +and night, the first time we have been parted since our marriage. I do +hope the dear fellow will take care of himself, and that nothing will +occur to upset him. It is two o'clock, and the doctor will be here soon +now. I shall say nothing of Jonathan's journal unless he asks me. I am +so glad I have type-written out my own journal, so that, in case he asks +about Lucy, I can hand it to him; it will save much questioning. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--He has come and gone. Oh, what a strange meeting, and how it +all makes my head whirl round! I feel like one in a dream. Can it be all +possible, or even a part of it? If I had not read Jonathan's journal +first, I should never have accepted even a possibility. Poor, poor, dear +Jonathan! How he must have suffered. Please the good God, all this may +not upset him again. I shall try to save him from it; but it may be even +a consolation and a help to him--terrible though it be and awful in its +consequences--to know for certain that his eyes and ears and brain did +not deceive him, and that it is all true. It may be that it is the doubt +which haunts him; that when the doubt is removed, no matter +which--waking or dreaming--may prove the truth, he will be more +satisfied and better able to bear the shock. Dr. Van Helsing must be a +good man as well as a clever one if he is Arthur's friend and Dr. +Seward's, and if they brought him all the way from Holland to look after +Lucy. I feel from having seen him that he _is_ good and kind and of a +noble nature. When he comes to-morrow I shall ask him about Jonathan; +and then, please God, all this sorrow and anxiety may lead to a good +end. I used to think I would like to practise interviewing; Jonathan's +friend on "The Exeter News" told him that memory was everything in such +work--that you must be able to put down exactly almost every word +spoken, even if you had to refine some of it afterwards. Here was a rare +interview; I shall try to record it _verbatim_. + +It was half-past two o'clock when the knock came. I took my courage _à +deux mains_ and waited. In a few minutes Mary opened the door, and +announced "Dr. Van Helsing." + +I rose and bowed, and he came towards me; a man of medium weight, +strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and +a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise +of the head strikes one at once as indicative of thought and power; the +head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, +clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large, resolute, mobile +mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive +nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big, bushy brows come down and the +mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost +straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart; +such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, +but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set +widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods. He +said to me:-- + +"Mrs. Harker, is it not?" I bowed assent. + +"That was Miss Mina Murray?" Again I assented. + +"It is Mina Murray that I came to see that was friend of that poor dear +child Lucy Westenra. Madam Mina, it is on account of the dead I come." + +"Sir," I said, "you could have no better claim on me than that you were +a friend and helper of Lucy Westenra." And I held out my hand. He took +it and said tenderly:-- + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I knew that the friend of that poor lily girl must be +good, but I had yet to learn----" He finished his speech with a courtly +bow. I asked him what it was that he wanted to see me about, so he at +once began:-- + +"I have read your letters to Miss Lucy. Forgive me, but I had to begin +to inquire somewhere, and there was none to ask. I know that you were +with her at Whitby. She sometimes kept a diary--you need not look +surprised, Madam Mina; it was begun after you had left, and was in +imitation of you--and in that diary she traces by inference certain +things to a sleep-walking in which she puts down that you saved her. In +great perplexity then I come to you, and ask you out of your so much +kindness to tell me all of it that you can remember." + +"I can tell you, I think, Dr. Van Helsing, all about it." + +"Ah, then you have good memory for facts, for details? It is not always +so with young ladies." + +"No, doctor, but I wrote it all down at the time. I can show it to you +if you like." + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I will be grateful; you will do me much favour." I +could not resist the temptation of mystifying him a bit--I suppose it is +some of the taste of the original apple that remains still in our +mouths--so I handed him the shorthand diary. He took it with a grateful +bow, and said:-- + +"May I read it?" + +"If you wish," I answered as demurely as I could. He opened it, and for +an instant his face fell. Then he stood up and bowed. + +"Oh, you so clever woman!" he said. "I knew long that Mr. Jonathan was a +man of much thankfulness; but see, his wife have all the good things. +And will you not so much honour me and so help me as to read it for me? +Alas! I know not the shorthand." By this time my little joke was over, +and I was almost ashamed; so I took the typewritten copy from my +workbasket and handed it to him. + +"Forgive me," I said: "I could not help it; but I had been thinking that +it was of dear Lucy that you wished to ask, and so that you might not +have time to wait--not on my account, but because I know your time must +be precious--I have written it out on the typewriter for you." + +He took it and his eyes glistened. "You are so good," he said. "And may +I read it now? I may want to ask you some things when I have read." + +"By all means," I said, "read it over whilst I order lunch; and then you +can ask me questions whilst we eat." He bowed and settled himself in a +chair with his back to the light, and became absorbed in the papers, +whilst I went to see after lunch chiefly in order that he might not be +disturbed. When I came back, I found him walking hurriedly up and down +the room, his face all ablaze with excitement. He rushed up to me and +took me by both hands. + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "how can I say what I owe to you? This paper +is as sunshine. It opens the gate to me. I am daze, I am dazzle, with so +much light, and yet clouds roll in behind the light every time. But that +you do not, cannot, comprehend. Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so +clever woman. Madam"--he said this very solemnly--"if ever Abraham Van +Helsing can do anything for you or yours, I trust you will let me know. +It will be pleasure and delight if I may serve you as a friend; as a +friend, but all I have ever learned, all I can ever do, shall be for you +and those you love. There are darknesses in life, and there are lights; +you are one of the lights. You will have happy life and good life, and +your husband will be blessed in you." + +"But, doctor, you praise me too much, and--and you do not know me." + +"Not know you--I, who am old, and who have studied all my life men and +women; I, who have made my specialty the brain and all that belongs to +him and all that follow from him! And I have read your diary that you +have so goodly written for me, and which breathes out truth in every +line. I, who have read your so sweet letter to poor Lucy of your +marriage and your trust, not know you! Oh, Madam Mina, good women tell +all their lives, and by day and by hour and by minute, such things that +angels can read; and we men who wish to know have in us something of +angels' eyes. Your husband is noble nature, and you are noble too, for +you trust, and trust cannot be where there is mean nature. And your +husband--tell me of him. Is he quite well? Is all that fever gone, and +is he strong and hearty?" I saw here an opening to ask him about +Jonathan, so I said:-- + +"He was almost recovered, but he has been greatly upset by Mr. Hawkins's +death." He interrupted:-- + +"Oh, yes, I know, I know. I have read your last two letters." I went +on:-- + +"I suppose this upset him, for when we were in town on Thursday last he +had a sort of shock." + +"A shock, and after brain fever so soon! That was not good. What kind of +a shock was it?" + +"He thought he saw some one who recalled something terrible, something +which led to his brain fever." And here the whole thing seemed to +overwhelm me in a rush. The pity for Jonathan, the horror which he +experienced, the whole fearful mystery of his diary, and the fear that +has been brooding over me ever since, all came in a tumult. I suppose I +was hysterical, for I threw myself on my knees and held up my hands to +him, and implored him to make my husband well again. He took my hands +and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me; he held my +hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetness:-- + +"My life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have not +had much time for friendships; but since I have been summoned to here by +my friend John Seward I have known so many good people and seen such +nobility that I feel more than ever--and it has grown with my advancing +years--the loneliness of my life. Believe, me, then, that I come here +full of respect for you, and you have given me hope--hope, not in what I +am seeking of, but that there are good women still left to make life +happy--good women, whose lives and whose truths may make good lesson for +the children that are to be. I am glad, glad, that I may here be of some +use to you; for if your husband suffer, he suffer within the range of my +study and experience. I promise you that I will gladly do _all_ for him +that I can--all to make his life strong and manly, and your life a happy +one. Now you must eat. You are overwrought and perhaps over-anxious. +Husband Jonathan would not like to see you so pale; and what he like not +where he love, is not to his good. Therefore for his sake you must eat +and smile. You have told me all about Lucy, and so now we shall not +speak of it, lest it distress. I shall stay in Exeter to-night, for I +want to think much over what you have told me, and when I have thought I +will ask you questions, if I may. And then, too, you will tell me of +husband Jonathan's trouble so far as you can, but not yet. You must eat +now; afterwards you shall tell me all." + +After lunch, when we went back to the drawing-room, he said to me:-- + +"And now tell me all about him." When it came to speaking to this great +learned man, I began to fear that he would think me a weak fool, and +Jonathan a madman--that journal is all so strange--and I hesitated to go +on. But he was so sweet and kind, and he had promised to help, and I +trusted him, so I said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, what I have to tell you is so queer that you must not +laugh at me or at my husband. I have been since yesterday in a sort of +fever of doubt; you must be kind to me, and not think me foolish that I +have even half believed some very strange things." He reassured me by +his manner as well as his words when he said:-- + +"Oh, my dear, if you only know how strange is the matter regarding which +I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little +of any one's belief, no matter how strange it be. I have tried to keep +an open mind; and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close +it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that +make one doubt if they be mad or sane." + +"Thank you, thank you, a thousand times! You have taken a weight off my +mind. If you will let me, I shall give you a paper to read. It is long, +but I have typewritten it out. It will tell you my trouble and +Jonathan's. It is the copy of his journal when abroad, and all that +happened. I dare not say anything of it; you will read for yourself and +judge. And then when I see you, perhaps, you will be very kind and tell +me what you think." + +"I promise," he said as I gave him the papers; "I shall in the morning, +so soon as I can, come to see you and your husband, if I may." + +"Jonathan will be here at half-past eleven, and you must come to lunch +with us and see him then; you could catch the quick 3:34 train, which +will leave you at Paddington before eight." He was surprised at my +knowledge of the trains off-hand, but he does not know that I have made +up all the trains to and from Exeter, so that I may help Jonathan in +case he is in a hurry. + +So he took the papers with him and went away, and I sit here +thinking--thinking I don't know what. + + * * * * * + +_Letter (by hand), Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_25 September, 6 o'clock._ + +"Dear Madam Mina,-- + +"I have read your husband's so wonderful diary. You may sleep without +doubt. Strange and terrible as it is, it is _true_! I will pledge my +life on it. It may be worse for others; but for him and you there is no +dread. He is a noble fellow; and let me tell you from experience of men, +that one who would do as he did in going down that wall and to that +room--ay, and going a second time--is not one to be injured in +permanence by a shock. His brain and his heart are all right; this I +swear, before I have even seen him; so be at rest. I shall have much to +ask him of other things. I am blessed that to-day I come to see you, for +I have learn all at once so much that again I am dazzle--dazzle more +than ever, and I must think. + +"Yours the most faithful, + +"ABRAHAM VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September, 6:30 p. m._ + +"My dear Dr. Van Helsing,-- + +"A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which has taken a great weight +off my mind. And yet, if it be true, what terrible things there are in +the world, and what an awful thing if that man, that monster, be really +in London! I fear to think. I have this moment, whilst writing, had a +wire from Jonathan, saying that he leaves by the 6:25 to-night from +Launceston and will be here at 10:18, so that I shall have no fear +to-night. Will you, therefore, instead of lunching with us, please come +to breakfast at eight o'clock, if this be not too early for you? You can +get away, if you are in a hurry, by the 10:30 train, which will bring +you to Paddington by 2:35. Do not answer this, as I shall take it that, +if I do not hear, you will come to breakfast. + +"Believe me, + +"Your faithful and grateful friend, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_26 September._--I thought never to write in this diary again, but the +time has come. When I got home last night Mina had supper ready, and +when we had supped she told me of Van Helsing's visit, and of her having +given him the two diaries copied out, and of how anxious she has been +about me. She showed me in the doctor's letter that all I wrote down was +true. It seems to have made a new man of me. It was the doubt as to the +reality of the whole thing that knocked me over. I felt impotent, and in +the dark, and distrustful. But, now that I _know_, I am not afraid, even +of the Count. He has succeeded after all, then, in his design in getting +to London, and it was he I saw. He has got younger, and how? Van Helsing +is the man to unmask him and hunt him out, if he is anything like what +Mina says. We sat late, and talked it all over. Mina is dressing, and I +shall call at the hotel in a few minutes and bring him over.... + +He was, I think, surprised to see me. When I came into the room where he +was, and introduced myself, he took me by the shoulder, and turned my +face round to the light, and said, after a sharp scrutiny:-- + +"But Madam Mina told me you were ill, that you had had a shock." It was +so funny to hear my wife called "Madam Mina" by this kindly, +strong-faced old man. I smiled, and said:-- + +"I _was_ ill, I _have_ had a shock; but you have cured me already." + +"And how?" + +"By your letter to Mina last night. I was in doubt, and then everything +took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust, even the +evidence of my own senses. Not knowing what to trust, I did not know +what to do; and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been +the groove of my life. The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted +myself. Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt everything, even +yourself. No, you don't; you couldn't with eyebrows like yours." He +seemed pleased, and laughed as he said:-- + +"So! You are physiognomist. I learn more here with each hour. I am with +so much pleasure coming to you to breakfast; and, oh, sir, you will +pardon praise from an old man, but you are blessed in your wife." I +would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day, so I simply nodded +and stood silent. + +"She is one of God's women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and +other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its +light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an +egoist--and that, let me tell you, is much in this age, so sceptical and +selfish. And you, sir--I have read all the letters to poor Miss Lucy, +and some of them speak of you, so I know you since some days from the +knowing of others; but I have seen your true self since last night. You +will give me your hand, will you not? And let us be friends for all our +lives." + +We shook hands, and he was so earnest and so kind that it made me quite +choky. + +"And now," he said, "may I ask you for some more help? I have a great +task to do, and at the beginning it is to know. You can help me here. +Can you tell me what went before your going to Transylvania? Later on I +may ask more help, and of a different kind; but at first this will do." + +"Look here, sir," I said, "does what you have to do concern the Count?" + +"It does," he said solemnly. + +"Then I am with you heart and soul. As you go by the 10:30 train, you +will not have time to read them; but I shall get the bundle of papers. +You can take them with you and read them in the train." + +After breakfast I saw him to the station. When we were parting he +said:-- + +"Perhaps you will come to town if I send to you, and take Madam Mina +too." + +"We shall both come when you will," I said. + +I had got him the morning papers and the London papers of the previous +night, and while we were talking at the carriage window, waiting for the +train to start, he was turning them over. His eyes suddenly seemed to +catch something in one of them, "The Westminster Gazette"--I knew it by +the colour--and he grew quite white. He read something intently, +groaning to himself: "Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! so soon!" I do not +think he remembered me at the moment. Just then the whistle blew, and +the train moved off. This recalled him to himself, and he leaned out of +the window and waved his hand, calling out: "Love to Madam Mina; I shall +write so soon as ever I can." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_26 September._--Truly there is no such thing as finality. Not a week +since I said "Finis," and yet here I am starting fresh again, or rather +going on with the same record. Until this afternoon I had no cause to +think of what is done. Renfield had become, to all intents, as sane as +he ever was. He was already well ahead with his fly business; and he had +just started in the spider line also; so he had not been of any trouble +to me. I had a letter from Arthur, written on Sunday, and from it I +gather that he is bearing up wonderfully well. Quincey Morris is with +him, and that is much of a help, for he himself is a bubbling well of +good spirits. Quincey wrote me a line too, and from him I hear that +Arthur is beginning to recover something of his old buoyancy; so as to +them all my mind is at rest. As for myself, I was settling down to my +work with the enthusiasm which I used to have for it, so that I might +fairly have said that the wound which poor Lucy left on me was becoming +cicatrised. Everything is, however, now reopened; and what is to be the +end God only knows. I have an idea that Van Helsing thinks he knows, +too, but he will only let out enough at a time to whet curiosity. He +went to Exeter yesterday, and stayed there all night. To-day he came +back, and almost bounded into the room at about half-past five o'clock, +and thrust last night's "Westminster Gazette" into my hand. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked as he stood back and folded his +arms. + +I looked over the paper, for I really did not know what he meant; but he +took it from me and pointed out a paragraph about children being decoyed +away at Hampstead. It did not convey much to me, until I reached a +passage where it described small punctured wounds on their throats. An +idea struck me, and I looked up. "Well?" he said. + +"It is like poor Lucy's." + +"And what do you make of it?" + +"Simply that there is some cause in common. Whatever it was that injured +her has injured them." I did not quite understand his answer:-- + +"That is true indirectly, but not directly." + +"How do you mean, Professor?" I asked. I was a little inclined to take +his seriousness lightly--for, after all, four days of rest and freedom +from burning, harrowing anxiety does help to restore one's spirits--but +when I saw his face, it sobered me. Never, even in the midst of our +despair about poor Lucy, had he looked more stern. + +"Tell me!" I said. "I can hazard no opinion. I do not know what to +think, and I have no data on which to found a conjecture." + +"Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to +what poor Lucy died of; not after all the hints given, not only by +events, but by me?" + +"Of nervous prostration following on great loss or waste of blood." + +"And how the blood lost or waste?" I shook my head. He stepped over and +sat down beside me, and went on:-- + +"You are clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold; +but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears +hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to +you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, +and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But +there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's +eyes, because they know--or think they know--some things which other men +have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to +explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to +explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, +which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend +to be young--like the fine ladies at the opera. I suppose now you do not +believe in corporeal transference. No? Nor in materialisation. No? Nor +in astral bodies. No? Nor in the reading of thought. No? Nor in +hypnotism----" + +"Yes," I said. "Charcot has proved that pretty well." He smiled as he +went on: "Then you are satisfied as to it. Yes? And of course then you +understand how it act, and can follow the mind of the great +Charcot--alas that he is no more!--into the very soul of the patient +that he influence. No? Then, friend John, am I to take it that you +simply accept fact, and are satisfied to let from premise to conclusion +be a blank? No? Then tell me--for I am student of the brain--how you +accept the hypnotism and reject the thought reading. Let me tell you, my +friend, that there are things done to-day in electrical science which +would have been deemed unholy by the very men who discovered +electricity--who would themselves not so long before have been burned +as wizards. There are always mysteries in life. Why was it that +Methuselah lived nine hundred years, and 'Old Parr' one hundred and +sixty-nine, and yet that poor Lucy, with four men's blood in her poor +veins, could not live even one day? For, had she live one more day, we +could have save her. Do you know all the mystery of life and death? Do +you know the altogether of comparative anatomy and can say wherefore the +qualities of brutes are in some men, and not in others? Can you tell me +why, when other spiders die small and soon, that one great spider lived +for centuries in the tower of the old Spanish church and grew and grew, +till, on descending, he could drink the oil of all the church lamps? Can +you tell me why in the Pampas, ay and elsewhere, there are bats that +come at night and open the veins of cattle and horses and suck dry their +veins; how in some islands of the Western seas there are bats which hang +on the trees all day, and those who have seen describe as like giant +nuts or pods, and that when the sailors sleep on the deck, because that +it is hot, flit down on them, and then--and then in the morning are +found dead men, white as even Miss Lucy was?" + +"Good God, Professor!" I said, starting up. "Do you mean to tell me that +Lucy was bitten by such a bat; and that such a thing is here in London +in the nineteenth century?" He waved his hand for silence, and went +on:-- + +"Can you tell me why the tortoise lives more long than generations of +men; why the elephant goes on and on till he have seen dynasties; and +why the parrot never die only of bite of cat or dog or other complaint? +Can you tell me why men believe in all ages and places that there are +some few who live on always if they be permit; that there are men and +women who cannot die? We all know--because science has vouched for the +fact--that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of +years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of +the world. Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to die +and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it, and the +corn reaped and be cut and sown and reaped and cut again, and then men +come and take away the unbroken seal and that there lie the Indian +fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as before?" Here +I interrupted him. I was getting bewildered; he so crowded on my mind +his list of nature's eccentricities and possible impossibilities that my +imagination was getting fired. I had a dim idea that he was teaching me +some lesson, as long ago he used to do in his study at Amsterdam; but +he used then to tell me the thing, so that I could have the object of +thought in mind all the time. But now I was without this help, yet I +wanted to follow him, so I said:-- + +"Professor, let me be your pet student again. Tell me the thesis, so +that I may apply your knowledge as you go on. At present I am going in +my mind from point to point as a mad man, and not a sane one, follows an +idea. I feel like a novice lumbering through a bog in a mist, jumping +from one tussock to another in the mere blind effort to move on without +knowing where I am going." + +"That is good image," he said. "Well, I shall tell you. My thesis is +this: I want you to believe." + +"To believe what?" + +"To believe in things that you cannot. Let me illustrate. I heard once +of an American who so defined faith: 'that faculty which enables us to +believe things which we know to be untrue.' For one, I follow that man. +He meant that we shall have an open mind, and not let a little bit of +truth check the rush of a big truth, like a small rock does a railway +truck. We get the small truth first. Good! We keep him, and we value +him; but all the same we must not let him think himself all the truth in +the universe." + +"Then you want me not to let some previous conviction injure the +receptivity of my mind with regard to some strange matter. Do I read +your lesson aright?" + +"Ah, you are my favourite pupil still. It is worth to teach you. Now +that you are willing to understand, you have taken the first step to +understand. You think then that those so small holes in the children's +throats were made by the same that made the hole in Miss Lucy?" + +"I suppose so." He stood up and said solemnly:-- + +"Then you are wrong. Oh, would it were so! but alas! no. It is worse, +far, far worse." + +"In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what do you mean?" I cried. + +He threw himself with a despairing gesture into a chair, and placed his +elbows on the table, covering his face with his hands as he spoke:-- + +"They were made by Miss Lucy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +For a while sheer anger mastered me; it was as if he had during her life +struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to +him:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?" He raised his head and looked at me, and +somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once. "Would I were!" he +said. "Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my +friend, why, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell +you so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all +my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, +now so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a +fearful death? Ah no!" + +"Forgive me," said I. He went on:-- + +"My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the breaking to you, +for I know you have loved that so sweet lady. But even yet I do not +expect you to believe. It is so hard to accept at once any abstract +truth, that we may doubt such to be possible when we have always +believed the 'no' of it; it is more hard still to accept so sad a +concrete truth, and of such a one as Miss Lucy. To-night I go to prove +it. Dare you come with me?" + +This staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth; Byron +excepted from the category, jealousy. + + "And prove the very truth he most abhorred." + +He saw my hesitation, and spoke:-- + +"The logic is simple, no madman's logic this time, jumping from tussock +to tussock in a misty bog. If it be not true, then proof will be relief; +at worst it will not harm. If it be true! Ah, there is the dread; yet +very dread should help my cause, for in it is some need of belief. Come, +I tell you what I propose: first, that we go off now and see that child +in the hospital. Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where the papers +say the child is, is friend of mine, and I think of yours since you were +in class at Amsterdam. He will let two scientists see his case, if he +will not let two friends. We shall tell him nothing, but only that we +wish to learn. And then----" + +"And then?" He took a key from his pocket and held it up. "And then we +spend the night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is +the key that lock the tomb. I had it from the coffin-man to give to +Arthur." My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful +ordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what +heart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon was +passing.... + +We found the child awake. It had had a sleep and taken some food, and +altogether was going on well. Dr. Vincent took the bandage from its +throat, and showed us the punctures. There was no mistaking the +similarity to those which had been on Lucy's throat. They were smaller, +and the edges looked fresher; that was all. We asked Vincent to what he +attributed them, and he replied that it must have been a bite of some +animal, perhaps a rat; but, for his own part, he was inclined to think +that it was one of the bats which are so numerous on the northern +heights of London. "Out of so many harmless ones," he said, "there may +be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant species. Some +sailor may have brought one home, and it managed to escape; or even from +the Zoölogical Gardens a young one may have got loose, or one be bred +there from a vampire. These things do occur, you know. Only ten days ago +a wolf got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a +week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the +Heath and in every alley in the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare +came along, since when it has been quite a gala-time with them. Even +this poor little mite, when he woke up to-day, asked the nurse if he +might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted +to play with the 'bloofer lady.'" + +"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child home +you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it. These fancies +to stray are most dangerous; and if the child were to remain out another +night, it would probably be fatal. But in any case I suppose you will +not let it away for some days?" + +"Certainly not, not for a week at least; longer if the wound is not +healed." + +Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned on, and +the sun had dipped before we came out. When Van Helsing saw how dark it +was, he said:-- + +"There is no hurry. It is more late than I thought. Come, let us seek +somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our way." + +We dined at "Jack Straw's Castle" along with a little crowd of +bicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o'clock we +started from the inn. It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps +made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual +radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we were to go, for he +went on unhesitatingly; but, as for me, I was in quite a mixup as to +locality. As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at +last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse +police going their usual suburban round. At last we reached the wall of +the churchyard, which we climbed over. With some little difficulty--for +it was very dark, and the whole place seemed so strange to us--we found +the Westenra tomb. The Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, +and standing back, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to +precede him. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the +courtliness of giving preference on such a ghastly occasion. My +companion followed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after +carefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a spring, +one. In the latter case we should have been in a bad plight. Then he +fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece of candle, +proceeded to make a light. The tomb in the day-time, and when wreathed +with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough; but now, some +days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites +turning to rust and their greens to browns; when the spider and the +beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance; when time-discoloured +stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished +brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a +candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been +imagined. It conveyed irresistibly the idea that life--animal life--was +not the only thing which could pass away. + +Van Helsing went about his work systematically. Holding his candle so +that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm +dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he +made assurance of Lucy's coffin. Another search in his bag, and he took +out a turnscrew. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked. + +"To open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced." Straightway he began +taking out the screws, and finally lifted off the lid, showing the +casing of lead beneath. The sight was almost too much for me. It seemed +to be as much an affront to the dead as it would have been to have +stripped off her clothing in her sleep whilst living; I actually took +hold of his hand to stop him. He only said: "You shall see," and again +fumbling in his bag, took out a tiny fret-saw. Striking the turnscrew +through the lead with a swift downward stab, which made me wince, he +made a small hole, which was, however, big enough to admit the point of +the saw. I had expected a rush of gas from the week-old corpse. We +doctors, who have had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to +such things, and I drew back towards the door. But the Professor never +stopped for a moment; he sawed down a couple of feet along one side of +the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side. Taking the +edge of the loose flange, he bent it back towards the foot of the +coffin, and holding up the candle into the aperture, motioned to me to +look. + +I drew near and looked. The coffin was empty. + +It was certainly a surprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but +Van Helsing was unmoved. He was now more sure than ever of his ground, +and so emboldened to proceed in his task. "Are you satisfied now, friend +John?" he asked. + +I felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake within me as +I answered him:-- + +"I am satisfied that Lucy's body is not in that coffin; but that only +proves one thing." + +"And what is that, friend John?" + +"That it is not there." + +"That is good logic," he said, "so far as it goes. But how do you--how +can you--account for it not being there?" + +"Perhaps a body-snatcher," I suggested. "Some of the undertaker's people +may have stolen it." I felt that I was speaking folly, and yet it was +the only real cause which I could suggest. The Professor sighed. "Ah +well!" he said, "we must have more proof. Come with me." + +He put on the coffin-lid again, gathered up all his things and placed +them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle also in the +bag. We opened the door, and went out. Behind us he closed the door and +locked it. He handed me the key, saying: "Will you keep it? You had +better be assured." I laughed--it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am +bound to say--as I motioned him to keep it. "A key is nothing," I said; +"there may be duplicates; and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock +of that kind." He said nothing, but put the key in his pocket. Then he +told me to watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at +the other. I took up my place behind a yew-tree, and I saw his dark +figure move until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my +sight. + +It was a lonely vigil. Just after I had taken my place I heard a distant +clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two. I was chilled and +unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking me on such an errand +and with myself for coming. I was too cold and too sleepy to be keenly +observant, and not sleepy enough to betray my trust so altogether I had +a dreary, miserable time. + +Suddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a white +streak, moving between two dark yew-trees at the side of the churchyard +farthest from the tomb; at the same time a dark mass moved from the +Professor's side of the ground, and hurriedly went towards it. Then I +too moved; but I had to go round headstones and railed-off tombs, and I +stumbled over graves. The sky was overcast, and somewhere far off an +early cock crew. A little way off, beyond a line of scattered +juniper-trees, which marked the pathway to the church, a white, dim +figure flitted in the direction of the tomb. The tomb itself was hidden +by trees, and I could not see where the figure disappeared. I heard the +rustle of actual movement where I had first seen the white figure, and +coming over, found the Professor holding in his arms a tiny child. When +he saw me he held it out to me, and said:-- + +"Are you satisfied now?" + +"No," I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive. + +"Do you not see the child?" + +"Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here? And is it wounded?" I +asked. + +"We shall see," said the Professor, and with one impulse we took our way +out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child. + +When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump of +trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child's throat. It was +without a scratch or scar of any kind. + +"Was I right?" I asked triumphantly. + +"We were just in time," said the Professor thankfully. + +We had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so consulted +about it. If we were to take it to a police-station we should have to +give some account of our movements during the night; at least, we should +have had to make some statement as to how we had come to find the child. +So finally we decided that we would take it to the Heath, and when we +heard a policeman coming, would leave it where he could not fail to find +it; we would then seek our way home as quickly as we could. All fell out +well. At the edge of Hampstead Heath we heard a policeman's heavy +tramp, and laying the child on the pathway, we waited and watched until +he saw it as he flashed his lantern to and fro. We heard his exclamation +of astonishment, and then we went away silently. By good chance we got a +cab near the "Spaniards," and drove to town. + +I cannot sleep, so I make this entry. But I must try to get a few hours' +sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon. He insists that I shall +go with him on another expedition. + + * * * * * + +_27 September._--It was two o'clock before we found a suitable +opportunity for our attempt. The funeral held at noon was all completed, +and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken themselves lazily +away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump of alder-trees, we saw +the sexton lock the gate after him. We knew then that we were safe till +morning did we desire it; but the Professor told me that we should not +want more than an hour at most. Again I felt that horrid sense of the +reality of things, in which any effort of imagination seemed out of +place; and I realised distinctly the perils of the law which we were +incurring in our unhallowed work. Besides, I felt it was all so useless. +Outrageous as it was to open a leaden coffin, to see if a woman dead +nearly a week were really dead, it now seemed the height of folly to +open the tomb again, when we knew, from the evidence of our own +eyesight, that the coffin was empty. I shrugged my shoulders, however, +and rested silent, for Van Helsing had a way of going on his own road, +no matter who remonstrated. He took the key, opened the vault, and again +courteously motioned me to precede. The place was not so gruesome as +last night, but oh, how unutterably mean-looking when the sunshine +streamed in. Van Helsing walked over to Lucy's coffin, and I followed. +He bent over and again forced back the leaden flange; and then a shock +of surprise and dismay shot through me. + +There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her +funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever; and I +could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red, nay redder than +before; and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom. + +"Is this a juggle?" I said to him. + +"Are you convinced now?" said the Professor in response, and as he spoke +he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder, pulled back the +dead lips and showed the white teeth. + +"See," he went on, "see, they are even sharper than before. With this +and this"--and he touched one of the canine teeth and that below +it--"the little children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend +John?" Once more, argumentative hostility woke within me. I _could_ not +accept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested; so, with an attempt to +argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said:-- + +"She may have been placed here since last night." + +"Indeed? That is so, and by whom?" + +"I do not know. Some one has done it." + +"And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time would not +look so." I had no answer for this, so was silent. Van Helsing did not +seem to notice my silence; at any rate, he showed neither chagrin nor +triumph. He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman, raising +the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening the lips and +examining the teeth. Then he turned to me and said:-- + +"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded; here is +some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by the vampire +when she was in a trance, sleep-walking--oh, you start; you do not know +that, friend John, but you shall know it all later--and in trance could +he best come to take more blood. In trance she died, and in trance she +is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ from all other. Usually when +the Un-Dead sleep at home"--as he spoke he made a comprehensive sweep of +his arm to designate what to a vampire was "home"--"their face show what +they are, but this so sweet that was when she not Un-Dead she go back to +the nothings of the common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so +it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep." This turned my blood +cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I was accepting Van Helsing's +theories; but if she were really dead, what was there of terror in the +idea of killing her? He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in +my face, for he said almost joyously:-- + +"Ah, you believe now?" + +I answered: "Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing to +accept. How will you do this bloody work?" + +"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall +drive a stake through her body." It made me shudder to think of so +mutilating the body of the woman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling +was not so strong as I had expected. I was, in fact, beginning to +shudder at the presence of this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing +called it, and to loathe it. Is it possible that love is all subjective, +or all objective? + +I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he stood as +if wrapped in thought. Presently he closed the catch of his bag with a +snap, and said:-- + +"I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is best. If I +did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment, what is +to be done; but there are other things to follow, and things that are +thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know. This is +simple. She have yet no life taken, though that is of time; and to act +now would be to take danger from her for ever. But then we may have to +want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this? If you, who saw the +wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child's at +the hospital; if you, who saw the coffin empty last night and full +to-day with a woman who have not change only to be more rose and more +beautiful in a whole week, after she die--if you know of this and know +of the white figure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, +and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how, then, can I expect +Arthur, who know none of those things, to believe? He doubted me when I +took him from her kiss when she was dying. I know he has forgiven me +because in some mistaken idea I have done things that prevent him say +good-bye as he ought; and he may think that in some more mistaken idea +this woman was buried alive; and that in most mistake of all we have +killed her. He will then argue back that it is we, mistaken ones, that +have killed her by our ideas; and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet +he never can be sure; and that is the worst of all. And he will +sometimes think that she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint +his dreams with horrors of what she must have suffered; and again, he +will think that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all, +an Un-Dead. No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now, since +I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I know that he +must pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweet. He, poor fellow, +must have one hour that will make the very face of heaven grow black to +him; then we can act for good all round and send him peace. My mind is +made up. Let us go. You return home for to-night to your asylum, and see +that all be well. As for me, I shall spend the night here in this +churchyard in my own way. To-morrow night you will come to me to the +Berkeley Hotel at ten of the clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, +and also that so fine young man of America that gave his blood. Later we +shall all have work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and +there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set." + +So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of the +churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to Piccadilly. + + +_Note left by Van Helsing in his portmanteau, Berkeley Hotel directed to +John Seward, M. D._ + +(Not delivered.) + +"_27 September._ + +"Friend John,-- + +"I write this in case anything should happen. I go alone to watch in +that churchyard. It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss Lucy, shall not +leave to-night, that so on the morrow night she may be more eager. +Therefore I shall fix some things she like not--garlic and a +crucifix--and so seal up the door of the tomb. She is young as Un-Dead, +and will heed. Moreover, these are only to prevent her coming out; they +may not prevail on her wanting to get in; for then the Un-Dead is +desperate, and must find the line of least resistance, whatsoever it may +be. I shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after the sunrise, +and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn it. For Miss +Lucy or from her, I have no fear; but that other to whom is there that +she is Un-Dead, he have now the power to seek her tomb and find shelter. +He is cunning, as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all +along he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and +we lost; and in many ways the Un-Dead are strong. He have always the +strength in his hand of twenty men; even we four who gave our strength +to Miss Lucy it also is all to him. Besides, he can summon his wolf and +I know not what. So if it be that he come thither on this night he shall +find me; but none other shall--until it be too late. But it may be that +he will not attempt the place. There is no reason why he should; his +hunting ground is more full of game than the churchyard where the +Un-Dead woman sleep, and the one old man watch. + +"Therefore I write this in case.... Take the papers that are with this, +the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and then find this +great Un-Dead, and cut off his head and burn his heart or drive a stake +through it, so that the world may rest from him. + +"If it be so, farewell. + +"VAN HELSING." + + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 September._--It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do for +one. Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's monstrous +ideas; but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on +common sense. I have no doubt that he believes it all. I wonder if his +mind can have become in any way unhinged. Surely there must be _some_ +rational explanation of all these mysterious things. Is it possible that +the Professor can have done it himself? He is so abnormally clever that +if he went off his head he would carry out his intent with regard to +some fixed idea in a wonderful way. I am loath to think it, and indeed +it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van +Helsing was mad; but anyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some +light on the mystery. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, morning._.... Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, +Arthur and Quincey came into Van Helsing's room; he told us all that he +wanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if all +our wills were centred in his. He began by saying that he hoped we would +all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be done +there. You were doubtless surprised at my letter?" This query was +directly addressed to Lord Godalming. + +"I was. It rather upset me for a bit. There has been so much trouble +around my house of late that I could do without any more. I have been +curious, too, as to what you mean. Quincey and I talked it over; but the +more we talked, the more puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself +that I'm about up a tree as to any meaning about anything." + +"Me too," said Quincey Morris laconically. + +"Oh," said the Professor, "then you are nearer the beginning, both of +you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back before he can +even get so far as to begin." + +It was evident that he recognised my return to my old doubting frame of +mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other two, he said +with intense gravity:-- + +"I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It is, I +know, much to ask; and when you know what it is I propose to do you will +know, and only then, how much. Therefore may I ask that you promise me +in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be angry with me for a +time--I must not disguise from myself the possibility that such may +be--you shall not blame yourselves for anything." + +"That's frank anyhow," broke in Quincey. "I'll answer for the Professor. +I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest; and that's good +enough for me." + +"I thank you, sir," said Van Helsing proudly. "I have done myself the +honour of counting you one trusting friend, and such endorsement is dear +to me." He held out a hand, which Quincey took. + +Then Arthur spoke out:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to 'buy a pig in a poke,' as they +say in Scotland, and if it be anything in which my honour as a gentleman +or my faith as a Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. +If you can assure me that what you intend does not violate either of +these two, then I give my consent at once; though for the life of me, I +cannot understand what you are driving at." + +"I accept your limitation," said Van Helsing, "and all I ask of you is +that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine, you will first +consider it well and be satisfied that it does not violate your +reservations." + +"Agreed!" said Arthur; "that is only fair. And now that the +_pourparlers_ are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?" + +"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the churchyard at +Kingstead." + +Arthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way:-- + +"Where poor Lucy is buried?" The Professor bowed. Arthur went on: "And +when there?" + +"To enter the tomb!" Arthur stood up. + +"Professor, are you in earnest; or it is some monstrous joke? Pardon me, +I see that you are in earnest." He sat down again, but I could see that +he sat firmly and proudly, as one who is on his dignity. There was +silence until he asked again:-- + +"And when in the tomb?" + +"To open the coffin." + +"This is too much!" he said, angrily rising again. "I am willing to be +patient in all things that are reasonable; but in this--this desecration +of the grave--of one who----" He fairly choked with indignation. The +Professor looked pityingly at him. + +"If I could spare you one pang, my poor friend," he said, "God knows I +would. But this night our feet must tread in thorny paths; or later, and +for ever, the feet you love must walk in paths of flame!" + +Arthur looked up with set white face and said:-- + +"Take care, sir, take care!" + +"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?" said Van Helsing. +"And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose. Shall I go +on?" + +"That's fair enough," broke in Morris. + +After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort:-- + +"Miss Lucy is dead; is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong to +her. But if she be not dead----" + +Arthur jumped to his feet. + +"Good God!" he cried. "What do you mean? Has there been any mistake; has +she been buried alive?" He groaned in anguish that not even hope could +soften. + +"I did not say she was alive, my child; I did not think it. I go no +further than to say that she might be Un-Dead." + +"Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare, or what +is it?" + +"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they +may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the verge of one. But +I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?" + +"Heavens and earth, no!" cried Arthur in a storm of passion. "Not for +the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead body. Dr. +Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to you that you should +torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl do that you should want to +cast such dishonour on her grave? Are you mad that speak such things, or +am I mad to listen to them? Don't dare to think more of such a +desecration; I shall not give my consent to anything you do. I have a +duty to do in protecting her grave from outrage; and, by God, I shall do +it!" + +Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated, and +said, gravely and sternly:-- + +"My Lord Godalming, I, too, have a duty to do, a duty to others, a duty +to you, a duty to the dead; and, by God, I shall do it! All I ask you +now is that you come with me, that you look and listen; and if when +later I make the same request you do not be more eager for its +fulfilment even than I am, then--then I shall do my duty, whatever it +may seem to me. And then, to follow of your Lordship's wishes I shall +hold myself at your disposal to render an account to you, when and where +you will." His voice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of +pity:-- + +"But, I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long life of +acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did wring +my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now. Believe me that if +the time comes for you to change your mind towards me, one look from +you will wipe away all this so sad hour, for I would do what a man can +to save you from sorrow. Just think. For why should I give myself so +much of labour and so much of sorrow? I have come here from my own land +to do what I can of good; at the first to please my friend John, and +then to help a sweet young lady, whom, too, I came to love. For her--I +am ashamed to say so much, but I say it in kindness--I gave what you +gave; the blood of my veins; I gave it, I, who was not, like you, her +lover, but only her physician and her friend. I gave to her my nights +and days--before death, after death; and if my death can do her good +even now, when she is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely." He +said this with a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected +by it. He took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice:-- + +"Oh, it is hard to think of it, and I cannot understand; but at least I +shall go with you and wait." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +It was just a quarter before twelve o'clock when we got into the +churchyard over the low wall. The night was dark with occasional gleams +of moonlight between the rents of the heavy clouds that scudded across +the sky. We all kept somehow close together, with Van Helsing slightly +in front as he led the way. When we had come close to the tomb I looked +well at Arthur, for I feared that the proximity to a place laden with so +sorrowful a memory would upset him; but he bore himself well. I took it +that the very mystery of the proceeding was in some way a counteractant +to his grief. The Professor unlocked the door, and seeing a natural +hesitation amongst us for various reasons, solved the difficulty by +entering first himself. The rest of us followed, and he closed the door. +He then lit a dark lantern and pointed to the coffin. Arthur stepped +forward hesitatingly; Van Helsing said to me:-- + +"You were with me here yesterday. Was the body of Miss Lucy in that +coffin?" + +"It was." The Professor turned to the rest saying:-- + +"You hear; and yet there is no one who does not believe with me." He +took his screwdriver and again took off the lid of the coffin. Arthur +looked on, very pale but silent; when the lid was removed he stepped +forward. He evidently did not know that there was a leaden coffin, or, +at any rate, had not thought of it. When he saw the rent in the lead, +the blood rushed to his face for an instant, but as quickly fell away +again, so that he remained of a ghastly whiteness; he was still silent. +Van Helsing forced back the leaden flange, and we all looked in and +recoiled. + +The coffin was empty! + +For several minutes no one spoke a word. The silence was broken by +Quincey Morris:-- + +"Professor, I answered for you. Your word is all I want. I wouldn't ask +such a thing ordinarily--I wouldn't so dishonour you as to imply a +doubt; but this is a mystery that goes beyond any honour or dishonour. +Is this your doing?" + +"I swear to you by all that I hold sacred that I have not removed nor +touched her. What happened was this: Two nights ago my friend Seward and +I came here--with good purpose, believe me. I opened that coffin, which +was then sealed up, and we found it, as now, empty. We then waited, and +saw something white come through the trees. The next day we came here in +day-time, and she lay there. Did she not, friend John?" + +"Yes." + +"That night we were just in time. One more so small child was missing, +and we find it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves. Yesterday I came +here before sundown, for at sundown the Un-Dead can move. I waited here +all the night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing. It was most probable +that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors garlic, +which the Un-Dead cannot bear, and other things which they shun. Last +night there was no exodus, so to-night before the sundown I took away my +garlic and other things. And so it is we find this coffin empty. But +bear with me. So far there is much that is strange. Wait you with me +outside, unseen and unheard, and things much stranger are yet to be. +So"--here he shut the dark slide of his lantern--"now to the outside." +He opened the door, and we filed out, he coming last and locking the +door behind him. + +Oh! but it seemed fresh and pure in the night air after the terror of +that vault. How sweet it was to see the clouds race by, and the passing +gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing and +passing--like the gladness and sorrow of a man's life; how sweet it was +to breathe the fresh air, that had no taint of death and decay; how +humanising to see the red lighting of the sky beyond the hill, and to +hear far away the muffled roar that marks the life of a great city. Each +in his own way was solemn and overcome. Arthur was silent, and was, I +could see, striving to grasp the purpose and the inner meaning of the +mystery. I was myself tolerably patient, and half inclined again to +throw aside doubt and to accept Van Helsing's conclusions. Quincey +Morris was phlegmatic in the way of a man who accepts all things, and +accepts them in the spirit of cool bravery, with hazard of all he has to +stake. Not being able to smoke, he cut himself a good-sized plug of +tobacco and began to chew. As to Van Helsing, he was employed in a +definite way. First he took from his bag a mass of what looked like +thin, wafer-like biscuit, which was carefully rolled up in a white +napkin; next he took out a double-handful of some whitish stuff, like +dough or putty. He crumbled the wafer up fine and worked it into the +mass between his hands. This he then took, and rolling it into thin +strips, began to lay them into the crevices between the door and its +setting in the tomb. I was somewhat puzzled at this, and being close, +asked him what it was that he was doing. Arthur and Quincey drew near +also, as they too were curious. He answered:-- + +"I am closing the tomb, so that the Un-Dead may not enter." + +"And is that stuff you have put there going to do it?" asked Quincey. +"Great Scott! Is this a game?" + +"It is." + +"What is that which you are using?" This time the question was by +Arthur. Van Helsing reverently lifted his hat as he answered:-- + +"The Host. I brought it from Amsterdam. I have an Indulgence." It was an +answer that appalled the most sceptical of us, and we felt individually +that in the presence of such earnest purpose as the Professor's, a +purpose which could thus use the to him most sacred of things, it was +impossible to distrust. In respectful silence we took the places +assigned to us close round the tomb, but hidden from the sight of any +one approaching. I pitied the others, especially Arthur. I had myself +been apprenticed by my former visits to this watching horror; and yet I, +who had up to an hour ago repudiated the proofs, felt my heart sink +within me. Never did tombs look so ghastly white; never did cypress, or +yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of funereal gloom; never did tree +or grass wave or rustle so ominously; never did bough creak so +mysteriously; and never did the far-away howling of dogs send such a +woeful presage through the night. + +There was a long spell of silence, a big, aching void, and then from the +Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!" He pointed; and far down the avenue of yews +we saw a white figure advance--a dim white figure, which held something +dark at its breast. The figure stopped, and at the moment a ray of +moonlight fell upon the masses of driving clouds and showed in startling +prominence a dark-haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave. +We could not see the face, for it was bent down over what we saw to be a +fair-haired child. There was a pause and a sharp little cry, such as a +child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreams. We +were starting forward, but the Professor's warning hand, seen by us as +he stood behind a yew-tree, kept us back; and then as we looked the +white figure moved forwards again. It was now near enough for us to see +clearly, and the moonlight still held. My own heart grew cold as ice, +and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognised the features of +Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was +turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous +wantonness. Van Helsing stepped out, and, obedient to his gesture, we +all advanced too; the four of us ranged in a line before the door of the +tomb. Van Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide; by the +concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips +were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her +chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe. + +We shuddered with horror. I could see by the tremulous light that even +Van Helsing's iron nerve had failed. Arthur was next to me, and if I had +not seized his arm and held him up, he would have fallen. + +When Lucy--I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her +shape--saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives +when taken unawares; then her eyes ranged over us. Lucy's eyes in form +and colour; but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of +the pure, gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love +passed into hate and loathing; had she then to be killed, I could have +done it with savage delight. As she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy +light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile. Oh, God, +how it made me shudder to see it! With a careless motion, she flung to +the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had +clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls +over a bone. The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning. There +was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from Arthur; when +she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell +back and hid his face in his hands. + +She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, +said:-- + +"Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are +hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!" + +There was something diabolically sweet in her tones--something of the +tingling of glass when struck--which rang through the brains even of us +who heard the words addressed to another. As for Arthur, he seemed under +a spell; moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms. She +was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between +them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a +suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter +the tomb. + +When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if +arrested by some irresistible force. Then she turned, and her face was +shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had now no +quiver from Van Helsing's iron nerves. Never did I see such baffled +malice on a face; and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by +mortal eyes. The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw +out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of +the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, +blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of +the Greeks and Japanese. If ever a face meant death--if looks could +kill--we saw it at that moment. + +And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained +between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of +entry. Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur:-- + +"Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?" + +Arthur threw himself on his knees, and hid his face in his hands, as he +answered:-- + +"Do as you will, friend; do as you will. There can be no horror like +this ever any more;" and he groaned in spirit. Quincey and I +simultaneously moved towards him, and took his arms. We could hear the +click of the closing lantern as Van Helsing held it down; coming close +to the tomb, he began to remove from the chinks some of the sacred +emblem which he had placed there. We all looked on in horrified +amazement as we saw, when he stood back, the woman, with a corporeal +body as real at that moment as our own, pass in through the interstice +where scarce a knife-blade could have gone. We all felt a glad sense of +relief when we saw the Professor calmly restoring the strings of putty +to the edges of the door. + +When this was done, he lifted the child and said: + +"Come now, my friends; we can do no more till to-morrow. There is a +funeral at noon, so here we shall all come before long after that. The +friends of the dead will all be gone by two, and when the sexton lock +the gate we shall remain. Then there is more to do; but not like this of +to-night. As for this little one, he is not much harm, and by to-morrow +night he shall be well. We shall leave him where the police will find +him, as on the other night; and then to home." Coming close to Arthur, +he said:-- + +"My friend Arthur, you have had a sore trial; but after, when you look +back, you will see how it was necessary. You are now in the bitter +waters, my child. By this time to-morrow you will, please God, have +passed them, and have drunk of the sweet waters; so do not mourn +overmuch. Till then I shall not ask you to forgive me." + +Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other +on the way. We had left the child in safety, and were tired; so we all +slept with more or less reality of sleep. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, night._--A little before twelve o'clock we three--Arthur, +Quincey Morris, and myself--called for the Professor. It was odd to +notice that by common consent we had all put on black clothes. Of +course, Arthur wore black, for he was in deep mourning, but the rest of +us wore it by instinct. We got to the churchyard by half-past one, and +strolled about, keeping out of official observation, so that when the +gravediggers had completed their task and the sexton under the belief +that every one had gone, had locked the gate, we had the place all to +ourselves. Van Helsing, instead of his little black bag, had with him a +long leather one, something like a cricketing bag; it was manifestly of +fair weight. + +When we were alone and had heard the last of the footsteps die out up +the road, we silently, and as if by ordered intention, followed the +Professor to the tomb. He unlocked the door, and we entered, closing it +behind us. Then he took from his bag the lantern, which he lit, and also +two wax candles, which, when lighted, he stuck, by melting their own +ends, on other coffins, so that they might give light sufficient to work +by. When he again lifted the lid off Lucy's coffin we all looked--Arthur +trembling like an aspen--and saw that the body lay there in all its +death-beauty. But there was no love in my own heart, nothing but +loathing for the foul Thing which had taken Lucy's shape without her +soul. I could see even Arthur's face grow hard as he looked. Presently +he said to Van Helsing:-- + +"Is this really Lucy's body, or only a demon in her shape?" + +"It is her body, and yet not it. But wait a while, and you all see her +as she was, and is." + +She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there; the pointed teeth, +the bloodstained, voluptuous mouth--which it made one shudder to +see--the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a +devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity. Van Helsing, with his usual +methodicalness, began taking the various contents from his bag and +placing them ready for use. First he took out a soldering iron and some +plumbing solder, and then a small oil-lamp, which gave out, when lit in +a corner of the tomb, gas which burned at fierce heat with a blue +flame; then his operating knives, which he placed to hand; and last a +round wooden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick and about +three feet long. One end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and +was sharpened to a fine point. With this stake came a heavy hammer, such +as in households is used in the coal-cellar for breaking the lumps. To +me, a doctor's preparations for work of any kind are stimulating and +bracing, but the effect of these things on both Arthur and Quincey was +to cause them a sort of consternation. They both, however, kept their +courage, and remained silent and quiet. + +When all was ready, Van Helsing said:-- + +"Before we do anything, let me tell you this; it is out of the lore and +experience of the ancients and of all those who have studied the powers +of the Un-Dead. When they become such, there comes with the change the +curse of immortality; they cannot die, but must go on age after age +adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world; for all that +die from the preying of the Un-Dead becomes themselves Un-Dead, and prey +on their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the +ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met +that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die; or again, last night +when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, +have become _nosferatu_, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would +all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have fill us with horror. +The career of this so unhappy dear lady is but just begun. Those +children whose blood she suck are not as yet so much the worse; but if +she live on, Un-Dead, more and more they lose their blood and by her +power over them they come to her; and so she draw their blood with that +so wicked mouth. But if she die in truth, then all cease; the tiny +wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their plays +unknowing ever of what has been. But of the most blessed of all, when +this now Un-Dead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor +lady whom we love shall again be free. Instead of working wickedness by +night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she +shall take her place with the other Angels. So that, my friend, it will +be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow that sets her free. +To this I am willing; but is there none amongst us who has a better +right? Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in the silence of the +night when sleep is not: 'It was my hand that sent her to the stars; it +was the hand of him that loved her best; the hand that of all she would +herself have chosen, had it been to her to choose?' Tell me if there be +such a one amongst us?" + +We all looked at Arthur. He saw, too, what we all did, the infinite +kindness which suggested that his should be the hand which would restore +Lucy to us as a holy, and not an unholy, memory; he stepped forward and +said bravely, though his hand trembled, and his face was as pale as +snow:-- + +"My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I thank you. Tell me +what I am to do, and I shall not falter!" Van Helsing laid a hand on his +shoulder, and said:-- + +"Brave lad! A moment's courage, and it is done. This stake must be +driven through her. It will be a fearful ordeal--be not deceived in +that--but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more +than your pain was great; from this grim tomb you will emerge as though +you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only +think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for +you all the time." + +"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me what I am to do." + +"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place the point over the +heart, and the hammer in your right. Then when we begin our prayer for +the dead--I shall read him, I have here the book, and the others shall +follow--strike in God's name, that so all may be well with the dead that +we love and that the Un-Dead pass away." + +Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set on +action his hands never trembled nor even quivered. Van Helsing opened +his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we +could. Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could +see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with all his might. + +The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech +came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted +in wild contortions; the sharp white teeth champed together till the +lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur +never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm +rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst +the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it. His +face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; the sight of it +gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little +vault. + +And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the +teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver. Finally it lay still. The +terrible task was over. + +The hammer fell from Arthur's hand. He reeled and would have fallen had +we not caught him. The great drops of sweat sprang from his forehead, +and his breath came in broken gasps. It had indeed been an awful strain +on him; and had he not been forced to his task by more than human +considerations he could never have gone through with it. For a few +minutes we were so taken up with him that we did not look towards the +coffin. When we did, however, a murmur of startled surprise ran from one +to the other of us. We gazed so eagerly that Arthur rose, for he had +been seated on the ground, and came and looked too; and then a glad, +strange light broke over his face and dispelled altogether the gloom of +horror that lay upon it. + +There, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing that we had so dreaded +and grown to hate that the work of her destruction was yielded as a +privilege to the one best entitled to it, but Lucy as we had seen her in +her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity. True that +there were there, as we had seen them in life, the traces of care and +pain and waste; but these were all dear to us, for they marked her truth +to what we knew. One and all we felt that the holy calm that lay like +sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and +symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever. + +Van Helsing came and laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and said to +him:-- + +"And now, Arthur my friend, dear lad, am I not forgiven?" + +The reaction of the terrible strain came as he took the old man's hand +in his, and raising it to his lips, pressed it, and said:-- + +"Forgiven! God bless you that you have given my dear one her soul again, +and me peace." He put his hands on the Professor's shoulder, and laying +his head on his breast, cried for a while silently, whilst we stood +unmoving. When he raised his head Van Helsing said to him:-- + +"And now, my child, you may kiss her. Kiss her dead lips if you will, as +she would have you to, if for her to choose. For she is not a grinning +devil now--not any more a foul Thing for all eternity. No longer she is +the devil's Un-Dead. She is God's true dead, whose soul is with Him!" + +Arthur bent and kissed her, and then we sent him and Quincey out of the +tomb; the Professor and I sawed the top off the stake, leaving the point +of it in the body. Then we cut off the head and filled the mouth with +garlic. We soldered up the leaden coffin, screwed on the coffin-lid, +and gathering up our belongings, came away. When the Professor locked +the door he gave the key to Arthur. + +Outside the air was sweet, the sun shone, and the birds sang, and it +seemed as if all nature were tuned to a different pitch. There was +gladness and mirth and peace everywhere, for we were at rest ourselves +on one account, and we were glad, though it was with a tempered joy. + +Before we moved away Van Helsing said:-- + +"Now, my friends, one step of our work is done, one the most harrowing +to ourselves. But there remains a greater task: to find out the author +of all this our sorrow and to stamp him out. I have clues which we can +follow; but it is a long task, and a difficult, and there is danger in +it, and pain. Shall you not all help me? We have learned to believe, all +of us--is it not so? And since so, do we not see our duty? Yes! And do +we not promise to go on to the bitter end?" + +Each in turn, we took his hand, and the promise was made. Then said the +Professor as we moved off:-- + +"Two nights hence you shall meet with me and dine together at seven of +the clock with friend John. I shall entreat two others, two that you +know not as yet; and I shall be ready to all our work show and our plans +unfold. Friend John, you come with me home, for I have much to consult +about, and you can help me. To-night I leave for Amsterdam, but shall +return to-morrow night. And then begins our great quest. But first I +shall have much to say, so that you may know what is to do and to dread. +Then our promise shall be made to each other anew; for there is a +terrible task before us, and once our feet are on the ploughshare we +must not draw back." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +When we arrived at the Berkeley Hotel, Van Helsing found a telegram +waiting for him:-- + + "Am coming up by train. Jonathan at Whitby. Important news.--MINA + HARKER." + +The Professor was delighted. "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina," he said, +"pearl among women! She arrive, but I cannot stay. She must go to your +house, friend John. You must meet her at the station. Telegraph her _en +route_, so that she may be prepared." + +When the wire was despatched he had a cup of tea; over it he told me of +a diary kept by Jonathan Harker when abroad, and gave me a typewritten +copy of it, as also of Mrs. Harker's diary at Whitby. "Take these," he +said, "and study them well. When I have returned you will be master of +all the facts, and we can then better enter on our inquisition. Keep +them safe, for there is in them much of treasure. You will need all your +faith, even you who have had such an experience as that of to-day. What +is here told," he laid his hand heavily and gravely on the packet of +papers as he spoke, "may be the beginning of the end to you and me and +many another; or it may sound the knell of the Un-Dead who walk the +earth. Read all, I pray you, with the open mind; and if you can add in +any way to the story here told do so, for it is all-important. You have +kept diary of all these so strange things; is it not so? Yes! Then we +shall go through all these together when we meet." He then made ready +for his departure, and shortly after drove off to Liverpool Street. I +took my way to Paddington, where I arrived about fifteen minutes before +the train came in. + +The crowd melted away, after the bustling fashion common to arrival +platforms; and I was beginning to feel uneasy, lest I might miss my +guest, when a sweet-faced, dainty-looking girl stepped up to me, and, +after a quick glance, said: "Dr. Seward, is it not?" + +"And you are Mrs. Harker!" I answered at once; whereupon she held out +her hand. + +"I knew you from the description of poor dear Lucy; but----" She stopped +suddenly, and a quick blush overspread her face. + +The blush that rose to my own cheeks somehow set us both at ease, for it +was a tacit answer to her own. I got her luggage, which included a +typewriter, and we took the Underground to Fenchurch Street, after I had +sent a wire to my housekeeper to have a sitting-room and bedroom +prepared at once for Mrs. Harker. + +In due time we arrived. She knew, of course, that the place was a +lunatic asylum, but I could see that she was unable to repress a shudder +when we entered. + +She told me that, if she might, she would come presently to my study, as +she had much to say. So here I am finishing my entry in my phonograph +diary whilst I await her. As yet I have not had the chance of looking at +the papers which Van Helsing left with me, though they lie open before +me. I must get her interested in something, so that I may have an +opportunity of reading them. She does not know how precious time is, or +what a task we have in hand. I must be careful not to frighten her. Here +she is! + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After I had tidied myself, I went down to Dr. Seward's +study. At the door I paused a moment, for I thought I heard him talking +with some one. As, however, he had pressed me to be quick, I knocked at +the door, and on his calling out, "Come in," I entered. + +To my intense surprise, there was no one with him. He was quite alone, +and on the table opposite him was what I knew at once from the +description to be a phonograph. I had never seen one, and was much +interested. + +"I hope I did not keep you waiting," I said; "but I stayed at the door +as I heard you talking, and thought there was some one with you." + +"Oh," he replied with a smile, "I was only entering my diary." + +"Your diary?" I asked him in surprise. + +"Yes," he answered. "I keep it in this." As he spoke he laid his hand on +the phonograph. I felt quite excited over it, and blurted out:-- + +"Why, this beats even shorthand! May I hear it say something?" + +"Certainly," he replied with alacrity, and stood up to put it in train +for speaking. Then he paused, and a troubled look overspread his face. + +"The fact is," he began awkwardly, "I only keep my diary in it; and as +it is entirely--almost entirely--about my cases, it may be awkward--that +is, I mean----" He stopped, and I tried to help him out of his +embarrassment:-- + +"You helped to attend dear Lucy at the end. Let me hear how she died; +for all that I know of her, I shall be very grateful. She was very, very +dear to me." + +To my surprise, he answered, with a horrorstruck look in his face:-- + +"Tell you of her death? Not for the wide world!" + +"Why not?" I asked, for some grave, terrible feeling was coming over me. +Again he paused, and I could see that he was trying to invent an excuse. +At length he stammered out:-- + +"You see, I do not know how to pick out any particular part of the +diary." Even while he was speaking an idea dawned upon him, and he said +with unconscious simplicity, in a different voice, and with the naïveté +of a child: "That's quite true, upon my honour. Honest Indian!" I could +not but smile, at which he grimaced. "I gave myself away that time!" he +said. "But do you know that, although I have kept the diary for months +past, it never once struck me how I was going to find any particular +part of it in case I wanted to look it up?" By this time my mind was +made up that the diary of a doctor who attended Lucy might have +something to add to the sum of our knowledge of that terrible Being, and +I said boldly:-- + +"Then, Dr. Seward, you had better let me copy it out for you on my +typewriter." He grew to a positively deathly pallor as he said:-- + +"No! no! no! For all the world, I wouldn't let you know that terrible +story!" + +Then it was terrible; my intuition was right! For a moment I thought, +and as my eyes ranged the room, unconsciously looking for something or +some opportunity to aid me, they lit on a great batch of typewriting on +the table. His eyes caught the look in mine, and, without his thinking, +followed their direction. As they saw the parcel he realised my meaning. + +"You do not know me," I said. "When you have read those papers--my own +diary and my husband's also, which I have typed--you will know me +better. I have not faltered in giving every thought of my own heart in +this cause; but, of course, you do not know me--yet; and I must not +expect you to trust me so far." + +He is certainly a man of noble nature; poor dear Lucy was right about +him. He stood up and opened a large drawer, in which were arranged in +order a number of hollow cylinders of metal covered with dark wax, and +said:-- + +"You are quite right. I did not trust you because I did not know you. +But I know you now; and let me say that I should have known you long +ago. I know that Lucy told you of me; she told me of you too. May I make +the only atonement in my power? Take the cylinders and hear them--the +first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they will not horrify +you; then you will know me better. Dinner will by then be ready. In the +meantime I shall read over some of these documents, and shall be better +able to understand certain things." He carried the phonograph himself up +to my sitting-room and adjusted it for me. Now I shall learn something +pleasant, I am sure; for it will tell me the other side of a true love +episode of which I know one side already.... + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_29 September._--I was so absorbed in that wonderful diary of Jonathan +Harker and that other of his wife that I let the time run on without +thinking. Mrs. Harker was not down when the maid came to announce +dinner, so I said: "She is possibly tired; let dinner wait an hour," and +I went on with my work. I had just finished Mrs. Harker's diary, when +she came in. She looked sweetly pretty, but very sad, and her eyes were +flushed with crying. This somehow moved me much. Of late I have had +cause for tears, God knows! but the relief of them was denied me; and +now the sight of those sweet eyes, brightened with recent tears, went +straight to my heart. So I said as gently as I could:-- + +"I greatly fear I have distressed you." + +"Oh, no, not distressed me," she replied, "but I have been more touched +than I can say by your grief. That is a wonderful machine, but it is +cruelly true. It told me, in its very tones, the anguish of your heart. +It was like a soul crying out to Almighty God. No one must hear them +spoken ever again! See, I have tried to be useful. I have copied out the +words on my typewriter, and none other need now hear your heart beat, as +I did." + +"No one need ever know, shall ever know," I said in a low voice. She +laid her hand on mine and said very gravely:-- + +"Ah, but they must!" + +"Must! But why?" I asked. + +"Because it is a part of the terrible story, a part of poor dear Lucy's +death and all that led to it; because in the struggle which we have +before us to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all +the knowledge and all the help which we can get. I think that the +cylinders which you gave me contained more than you intended me to know; +but I can see that there are in your record many lights to this dark +mystery. You will let me help, will you not? I know all up to a certain +point; and I see already, though your diary only took me to 7 September, +how poor Lucy was beset, and how her terrible doom was being wrought +out. Jonathan and I have been working day and night since Professor Van +Helsing saw us. He is gone to Whitby to get more information, and he +will be here to-morrow to help us. We need have no secrets amongst us; +working together and with absolute trust, we can surely be stronger than +if some of us were in the dark." She looked at me so appealingly, and at +the same time manifested such courage and resolution in her bearing, +that I gave in at once to her wishes. "You shall," I said, "do as you +like in the matter. God forgive me if I do wrong! There are terrible +things yet to learn of; but if you have so far travelled on the road to +poor Lucy's death, you will not be content, I know, to remain in the +dark. Nay, the end--the very end--may give you a gleam of peace. Come, +there is dinner. We must keep one another strong for what is before us; +we have a cruel and dreadful task. When you have eaten you shall learn +the rest, and I shall answer any questions you ask--if there be anything +which you do not understand, though it was apparent to us who were +present." + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After dinner I came with Dr. Seward to his study. He +brought back the phonograph from my room, and I took my typewriter. He +placed me in a comfortable chair, and arranged the phonograph so that I +could touch it without getting up, and showed me how to stop it in case +I should want to pause. Then he very thoughtfully took a chair, with his +back to me, so that I might be as free as possible, and began to read. I +put the forked metal to my ears and listened. + +When the terrible story of Lucy's death, and--and all that followed, was +done, I lay back in my chair powerless. Fortunately I am not of a +fainting disposition. When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped up with a +horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking a case-bottle from a +cupboard, gave me some brandy, which in a few minutes somewhat restored +me. My brain was all in a whirl, and only that there came through all +the multitude of horrors, the holy ray of light that my dear, dear Lucy +was at last at peace, I do not think I could have borne it without +making a scene. It is all so wild, and mysterious, and strange that if I +had not known Jonathan's experience in Transylvania I could not have +believed. As it was, I didn't know what to believe, and so got out of my +difficulty by attending to something else. I took the cover off my +typewriter, and said to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Let me write this all out now. We must be ready for Dr. Van Helsing +when he comes. I have sent a telegram to Jonathan to come on here when +he arrives in London from Whitby. In this matter dates are everything, +and I think that if we get all our material ready, and have every item +put in chronological order, we shall have done much. You tell me that +Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris are coming too. Let us be able to tell him +when they come." He accordingly set the phonograph at a slow pace, and I +began to typewrite from the beginning of the seventh cylinder. I used +manifold, and so took three copies of the diary, just as I had done with +all the rest. It was late when I got through, but Dr. Seward went about +his work of going his round of the patients; when he had finished he +came back and sat near me, reading, so that I did not feel too lonely +whilst I worked. How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of +good men--even if there _are_ monsters in it. Before I left him I +remembered what Jonathan put in his diary of the Professor's +perturbation at reading something in an evening paper at the station at +Exeter; so, seeing that Dr. Seward keeps his newspapers, I borrowed the +files of "The Westminster Gazette" and "The Pall Mall Gazette," and took +them to my room. I remember how much "The Dailygraph" and "The Whitby +Gazette," of which I had made cuttings, helped us to understand the +terrible events at Whitby when Count Dracula landed, so I shall look +through the evening papers since then, and perhaps I shall get some new +light. I am not sleepy, and the work will help to keep me quiet. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_30 September._--Mr. Harker arrived at nine o'clock. He had got his +wife's wire just before starting. He is uncommonly clever, if one can +judge from his face, and full of energy. If this journal be true--and +judging by one's own wonderful experiences, it must be--he is also a man +of great nerve. That going down to the vault a second time was a +remarkable piece of daring. After reading his account of it I was +prepared to meet a good specimen of manhood, but hardly the quiet, +business-like gentleman who came here to-day. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--After lunch Harker and his wife went back to their own room, +and as I passed a while ago I heard the click of the typewriter. They +are hard at it. Mrs. Harker says that they are knitting together in +chronological order every scrap of evidence they have. Harker has got +the letters between the consignee of the boxes at Whitby and the +carriers in London who took charge of them. He is now reading his wife's +typescript of my diary. I wonder what they make out of it. Here it +is.... + + Strange that it never struck me that the very next house might be + the Count's hiding-place! Goodness knows that we had enough clues + from the conduct of the patient Renfield! The bundle of letters + relating to the purchase of the house were with the typescript. Oh, + if we had only had them earlier we might have saved poor Lucy! + Stop; that way madness lies! Harker has gone back, and is again + collating his material. He says that by dinner-time they will be + able to show a whole connected narrative. He thinks that in the + meantime I should see Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of + index to the coming and going of the Count. I hardly see this yet, + but when I get at the dates I suppose I shall. What a good thing + that Mrs. Harker put my cylinders into type! We never could have + found the dates otherwise.... + + I found Renfield sitting placidly in his room with his hands + folded, smiling benignly. At the moment he seemed as sane as any + one I ever saw. I sat down and talked with him on a lot of + subjects, all of which he treated naturally. He then, of his own + accord, spoke of going home, a subject he has never mentioned to my + knowledge during his sojourn here. In fact, he spoke quite + confidently of getting his discharge at once. I believe that, had I + not had the chat with Harker and read the letters and the dates of + his outbursts, I should have been prepared to sign for him after a + brief time of observation. As it is, I am darkly suspicious. All + those outbreaks were in some way linked with the proximity of the + Count. What then does this absolute content mean? Can it be that + his instinct is satisfied as to the vampire's ultimate triumph? + Stay; he is himself zoöphagous, and in his wild ravings outside the + chapel door of the deserted house he always spoke of "master." This + all seems confirmation of our idea. However, after a while I came + away; my friend is just a little too sane at present to make it + safe to probe him too deep with questions. He might begin to think, + and then--! So I came away. I mistrust these quiet moods of his; so + I have given the attendant a hint to look closely after him, and to + have a strait-waistcoat ready in case of need. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September, in train to London._--When I received Mr. Billington's +courteous message that he would give me any information in his power I +thought it best to go down to Whitby and make, on the spot, such +inquiries as I wanted. It was now my object to trace that horrid cargo +of the Count's to its place in London. Later, we may be able to deal +with it. Billington junior, a nice lad, met me at the station, and +brought me to his father's house, where they had decided that I must +stay the night. They are hospitable, with true Yorkshire hospitality: +give a guest everything, and leave him free to do as he likes. They all +knew that I was busy, and that my stay was short, and Mr. Billington had +ready in his office all the papers concerning the consignment of boxes. +It gave me almost a turn to see again one of the letters which I had +seen on the Count's table before I knew of his diabolical plans. +Everything had been carefully thought out, and done systematically and +with precision. He seemed to have been prepared for every obstacle which +might be placed by accident in the way of his intentions being carried +out. To use an Americanism, he had "taken no chances," and the absolute +accuracy with which his instructions were fulfilled, was simply the +logical result of his care. I saw the invoice, and took note of it: +"Fifty cases of common earth, to be used for experimental purposes." +Also the copy of letter to Carter Paterson, and their reply; of both of +these I got copies. This was all the information Mr. Billington could +give me, so I went down to the port and saw the coastguards, the Customs +officers and the harbour-master. They had all something to say of the +strange entry of the ship, which is already taking its place in local +tradition; but no one could add to the simple description "Fifty cases +of common earth." I then saw the station-master, who kindly put me in +communication with the men who had actually received the boxes. Their +tally was exact with the list, and they had nothing to add except that +the boxes were "main and mortal heavy," and that shifting them was dry +work. One of them added that it was hard lines that there wasn't any +gentleman "such-like as yourself, squire," to show some sort of +appreciation of their efforts in a liquid form; another put in a rider +that the thirst then generated was such that even the time which had +elapsed had not completely allayed it. Needless to add, I took care +before leaving to lift, for ever and adequately, this source of +reproach. + + * * * * * + +_30 September._--The station-master was good enough to give me a line to +his old companion the station-master at King's Cross, so that when I +arrived there in the morning I was able to ask him about the arrival of +the boxes. He, too, put me at once in communication with the proper +officials, and I saw that their tally was correct with the original +invoice. The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here +limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was +compelled to deal with the result in an _ex post facto_ manner. + +From thence I went on to Carter Paterson's central office, where I met +with the utmost courtesy. They looked up the transaction in their +day-book and letter-book, and at once telephoned to their King's Cross +office for more details. By good fortune, the men who did the teaming +were waiting for work, and the official at once sent them over, sending +also by one of them the way-bill and all the papers connected with the +delivery of the boxes at Carfax. Here again I found the tally agreeing +exactly; the carriers' men were able to supplement the paucity of the +written words with a few details. These were, I shortly found, connected +almost solely with the dusty nature of the job, and of the consequent +thirst engendered in the operators. On my affording an opportunity, +through the medium of the currency of the realm, of the allaying, at a +later period, this beneficial evil, one of the men remarked:-- + +"That 'ere 'ouse, guv'nor, is the rummiest I ever was in. Blyme! but it +ain't been touched sence a hundred years. There was dust that thick in +the place that you might have slep' on it without 'urtin' of yer bones; +an' the place was that neglected that yer might 'ave smelled ole +Jerusalem in it. But the ole chapel--that took the cike, that did! Me +and my mate, we thort we wouldn't never git out quick enough. Lor', I +wouldn't take less nor a quid a moment to stay there arter dark." + +Having been in the house, I could well believe him; but if he knew what +I know, he would, I think, have raised his terms. + +Of one thing I am now satisfied: that _all_ the boxes which arrived at +Whitby from Varna in the _Demeter_ were safely deposited in the old +chapel at Carfax. There should be fifty of them there, unless any have +since been removed--as from Dr. Seward's diary I fear. + +I shall try to see the carter who took away the boxes from Carfax when +Renfield attacked them. By following up this clue we may learn a good +deal. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Mina and I have worked all day, and we have put all the papers +into order. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal_ + +_30 September._--I am so glad that I hardly know how to contain myself. +It is, I suppose, the reaction from the haunting fear which I have had: +that this terrible affair and the reopening of his old wound might act +detrimentally on Jonathan. I saw him leave for Whitby with as brave a +face as I could, but I was sick with apprehension. The effort has, +however, done him good. He was never so resolute, never so strong, never +so full of volcanic energy, as at present. It is just as that dear, good +Professor Van Helsing said: he is true grit, and he improves under +strain that would kill a weaker nature. He came back full of life and +hope and determination; we have got everything in order for to-night. I +feel myself quite wild with excitement. I suppose one ought to pity any +thing so hunted as is the Count. That is just it: this Thing is not +human--not even beast. To read Dr. Seward's account of poor Lucy's +death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in +one's heart. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris arrived earlier than we +expected. Dr. Seward was out on business, and had taken Jonathan with +him, so I had to see them. It was to me a painful meeting, for it +brought back all poor dear Lucy's hopes of only a few months ago. Of +course they had heard Lucy speak of me, and it seemed that Dr. Van +Helsing, too, has been quite "blowing my trumpet," as Mr. Morris +expressed it. Poor fellows, neither of them is aware that I know all +about the proposals they made to Lucy. They did not quite know what to +say or do, as they were ignorant of the amount of my knowledge; so they +had to keep on neutral subjects. However, I thought the matter over, and +came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do would be to post +them in affairs right up to date. I knew from Dr. Seward's diary that +they had been at Lucy's death--her real death--and that I need not fear +to betray any secret before the time. So I told them, as well as I +could, that I had read all the papers and diaries, and that my husband +and I, having typewritten them, had just finished putting them in order. +I gave them each a copy to read in the library. When Lord Godalming got +his and turned it over--it does make a pretty good pile--he said:-- + +"Did you write all this, Mrs. Harker?" + +I nodded, and he went on:-- + +"I don't quite see the drift of it; but you people are all so good and +kind, and have been working so earnestly and so energetically, that all +I can do is to accept your ideas blindfold and try to help you. I have +had one lesson already in accepting facts that should make a man humble +to the last hour of his life. Besides, I know you loved my poor Lucy--" +Here he turned away and covered his face with his hands. I could hear +the tears in his voice. Mr. Morris, with instinctive delicacy, just laid +a hand for a moment on his shoulder, and then walked quietly out of the +room. I suppose there is something in woman's nature that makes a man +free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or +emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood; for when +Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat down on the sofa and +gave way utterly and openly. I sat down beside him and took his hand. I +hope he didn't think it forward of me, and that if he ever thinks of it +afterwards he never will have such a thought. There I wrong him; I +_know_ he never will--he is too true a gentleman. I said to him, for I +could see that his heart was breaking:-- + +"I loved dear Lucy, and I know what she was to you, and what you were to +her. She and I were like sisters; and now she is gone, will you not let +me be like a sister to you in your trouble? I know what sorrows you have +had, though I cannot measure the depth of them. If sympathy and pity can +help in your affliction, won't you let me be of some little service--for +Lucy's sake?" + +In an instant the poor dear fellow was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed +to me that all that he had of late been suffering in silence found a +vent at once. He grew quite hysterical, and raising his open hands, beat +his palms together in a perfect agony of grief. He stood up and then sat +down again, and the tears rained down his cheeks. I felt an infinite +pity for him, and opened my arms unthinkingly. With a sob he laid his +head on my shoulder and cried like a wearied child, whilst he shook with +emotion. + +We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above +smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked; I felt this big +sorrowing man's head resting on me, as though it were that of the baby +that some day may lie on my bosom, and I stroked his hair as though he +were my own child. I never thought at the time how strange it all was. + +After a little bit his sobs ceased, and he raised himself with an +apology, though he made no disguise of his emotion. He told me that for +days and nights past--weary days and sleepless nights--he had been +unable to speak with any one, as a man must speak in his time of +sorrow. There was no woman whose sympathy could be given to him, or with +whom, owing to the terrible circumstance with which his sorrow was +surrounded, he could speak freely. "I know now how I suffered," he said, +as he dried his eyes, "but I do not know even yet--and none other can +ever know--how much your sweet sympathy has been to me to-day. I shall +know better in time; and believe me that, though I am not ungrateful +now, my gratitude will grow with my understanding. You will let me be +like a brother, will you not, for all our lives--for dear Lucy's sake?" + +"For dear Lucy's sake," I said as we clasped hands. "Ay, and for your +own sake," he added, "for if a man's esteem and gratitude are ever worth +the winning, you have won mine to-day. If ever the future should bring +to you a time when you need a man's help, believe me, you will not call +in vain. God grant that no such time may ever come to you to break the +sunshine of your life; but if it should ever come, promise me that you +will let me know." He was so earnest, and his sorrow was so fresh, that +I felt it would comfort him, so I said:-- + +"I promise." + +As I came along the corridor I saw Mr. Morris looking out of a window. +He turned as he heard my footsteps. "How is Art?" he said. Then noticing +my red eyes, he went on: "Ah, I see you have been comforting him. Poor +old fellow! he needs it. No one but a woman can help a man when he is in +trouble of the heart; and he had no one to comfort him." + +He bore his own trouble so bravely that my heart bled for him. I saw the +manuscript in his hand, and I knew that when he read it he would realise +how much I knew; so I said to him:-- + +"I wish I could comfort all who suffer from the heart. Will you let me +be your friend, and will you come to me for comfort if you need it? You +will know, later on, why I speak." He saw that I was in earnest, and +stooping, took my hand, and raising it to his lips, kissed it. It seemed +but poor comfort to so brave and unselfish a soul, and impulsively I +bent over and kissed him. The tears rose in his eyes, and there was a +momentary choking in his throat; he said quite calmly:-- + +"Little girl, you will never regret that true-hearted kindness, so long +as ever you live!" Then he went into the study to his friend. + +"Little girl!"--the very words he had used to Lucy, and oh, but he +proved himself a friend! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_30 September._--I got home at five o'clock, and found that Godalming +and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied the transcript +of the various diaries and letters which Harker and his wonderful wife +had made and arranged. Harker had not yet returned from his visit to the +carriers' men, of whom Dr. Hennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave +us a cup of tea, and I can honestly say that, for the first time since I +have lived in it, this old house seemed like _home_. When we had +finished, Mrs. Harker said:-- + +"Dr. Seward, may I ask a favour? I want to see your patient, Mr. +Renfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your diary +interests me so much!" She looked so appealing and so pretty that I +could not refuse her, and there was no possible reason why I should; so +I took her with me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a +lady would like to see him; to which he simply answered: "Why?" + +"She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in it," I +answered. "Oh, very well," he said; "let her come in, by all means; but +just wait a minute till I tidy up the place." His method of tidying was +peculiar: he simply swallowed all the flies and spiders in the boxes +before I could stop him. It was quite evident that he feared, or was +jealous of, some interference. When he had got through his disgusting +task, he said cheerfully: "Let the lady come in," and sat down on the +edge of his bed with his head down, but with his eyelids raised so that +he could see her as she entered. For a moment I thought that he might +have some homicidal intent; I remembered how quiet he had been just +before he attacked me in my own study, and I took care to stand where I +could seize him at once if he attempted to make a spring at her. She +came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command +the respect of any lunatic--for easiness is one of the qualities mad +people most respect. She walked over to him, smiling pleasantly, and +held out her hand. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Renfield," said she. "You see, I know you, for Dr. +Seward has told me of you." He made no immediate reply, but eyed her all +over intently with a set frown on his face. This look gave way to one +of wonder, which merged in doubt; then, to my intense astonishment, he +said:-- + +"You're not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you? You can't be, +you know, for she's dead." Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied:-- + +"Oh no! I have a husband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever +saw Dr. Seward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker." + +"Then what are you doing here?" + +"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward." + +"Then don't stay." + +"But why not?" I thought that this style of conversation might not be +pleasant to Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in:-- + +"How did you know I wanted to marry any one?" His reply was simply +contemptuous, given in a pause in which he turned his eyes from Mrs. +Harker to me, instantly turning them back again:-- + +"What an asinine question!" + +"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield," said Mrs. Harker, at once +championing me. He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as +he had shown contempt to me:-- + +"You will, of course, understand, Mrs. Harker, that when a man is so +loved and honoured as our host is, everything regarding him is of +interest in our little community. Dr. Seward is loved not only by his +household and his friends, but even by his patients, who, being some of +them hardly in mental equilibrium, are apt to distort causes and +effects. Since I myself have been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I +cannot but notice that the sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates +lean towards the errors of _non causa_ and _ignoratio elenchi_." I +positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my own pet +lunatic--the most pronounced of his type that I had ever met +with--talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a polished +gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which had touched +some chord in his memory. If this new phase was spontaneous, or in any +way due to her unconscious influence, she must have some rare gift or +power. + +We continued to talk for some time; and, seeing that he was seemingly +quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me questioningly as she +began, to lead him to his favourite topic. I was again astonished, for +he addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of the +completest sanity; he even took himself as an example when he mentioned +certain things. + +"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief. Indeed, +it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on my being +put under control. I used to fancy that life was a positive and +perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of live things, no +matter how low in the scale of creation, one might indefinitely prolong +life. At times I held the belief so strongly that I actually tried to +take human life. The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I +tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by +the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his +blood--relying, of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is +the life.' Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has +vulgarised the truism to the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, +doctor?" I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to +either think or say; it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat up +his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my watch, I +saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, so I told Mrs. +Harker that it was time to leave. She came at once, after saying +pleasantly to Mr. Renfield: "Good-bye, and I hope I may see you often, +under auspices pleasanter to yourself," to which, to my astonishment, he +replied:-- + +"Good-bye, my dear. I pray God I may never see your sweet face again. +May He bless and keep you!" + +When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys behind +me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy first took +ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self than he has been for +many a long day. + +Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness of a +boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying:-- + +"Ah, friend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come +here to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I have +much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine husband? And +Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too? Good!" + +As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of how my own +diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's suggestion; at +which the Professor interrupted me:-- + +"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain--a brain that a man +should have were he much gifted--and a woman's heart. The good God +fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good +combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made that woman of help +to us; after to-night she must not have to do with this so terrible +affair. It is not good that she run a risk so great. We men are +determined--nay, are we not pledged?--to destroy this monster; but it is +no part for a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her +in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer--both in +waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams. And, besides, +she is young woman and not so long married; there may be other things to +think of some time, if not now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she +must consult with us; but to-morrow she say good-bye to this work, and +we go alone." I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we +had found in his absence: that the house which Dracula had bought was +the very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern seemed +to come on him. "Oh that we had known it before!" he said, "for then we +might have reached him in time to save poor Lucy. However, 'the milk +that is spilt cries not out afterwards,' as you say. We shall not think +of that, but go on our way to the end." Then he fell into a silence that +lasted till we entered my own gateway. Before we went to prepare for +dinner he said to Mrs. Harker:-- + +"I am told, Madam Mina, by my friend John that you and your husband have +put up in exact order all things that have been, up to this moment." + +"Not up to this moment, Professor," she said impulsively, "but up to +this morning." + +"But why not up to now? We have seen hitherto how good light all the +little things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet no one who +has told is the worse for it." + +Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets, she +said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it must go in. It +is my record of to-day. I too have seen the need of putting down at +present everything, however trivial; but there is little in this except +what is personal. Must it go in?" The Professor read it over gravely, +and handed it back, saying:-- + +"It need not go in if you do not wish it; but I pray that it may. It can +but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your friends, more +honour you--as well as more esteem and love." She took it back with +another blush and a bright smile. + +And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are complete +and in order. The Professor took away one copy to study after dinner, +and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock. The rest of us +have already read everything; so when we meet in the study we shall all +be informed as to facts, and can arrange our plan of battle with this +terrible and mysterious enemy. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 September._--When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after +dinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a sort of +board or committee. Professor Van Helsing took the head of the table, to +which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the room. He made me sit +next to him on his right, and asked me to act as secretary; Jonathan sat +next to me. Opposite us were Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. +Morris--Lord Godalming being next the Professor, and Dr. Seward in the +centre. The Professor said:-- + +"I may, I suppose, take it that we are all acquainted with the facts +that are in these papers." We all expressed assent, and he went on:-- + +"Then it were, I think good that I tell you something of the kind of +enemy with which we have to deal. I shall then make known to you +something of the history of this man, which has been ascertained for me. +So we then can discuss how we shall act, and can take our measure +according. + +"There are such beings as vampires; some of us have evidence that they +exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the +teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane +peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic. Were it not that +through long years I have train myself to keep an open mind, I could not +have believe until such time as that fact thunder on my ear. 'See! see! +I prove; I prove.' Alas! Had I known at the first what now I know--nay, +had I even guess at him--one so precious life had been spared to many of +us who did love her. But that is gone; and we must so work, that other +poor souls perish not, whilst we can save. The _nosferatu_ do not die +like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger; and being +stronger, have yet more power to work evil. This vampire which is +amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men; he is of +cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages; he have +still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the +divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are +for him at command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in +callous, and the heart of him is not; he can, within limitations, appear +at will when, and where, and in any of the forms that are to him; he +can, within his range, direct the elements; the storm, the fog, the +thunder; he can command all the meaner things: the rat, and the owl, and +the bat--the moth, and the fox, and the wolf; he can grow and become +small; and he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to +begin our strike to destroy him? How shall we find his where; and having +found it, how can we destroy? My friends, this is much; it is a terrible +task that we undertake, and there may be consequence to make the brave +shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must surely win; and then +where end we? Life is nothings; I heed him not. But to fail here, is not +mere life or death. It is that we become as him; that we henceforward +become foul things of the night like him--without heart or conscience, +preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love best. To us for +ever are the gates of heaven shut; for who shall open them to us again? +We go on for all time abhorred by all; a blot on the face of God's +sunshine; an arrow in the side of Him who died for man. But we are face +to face with duty; and in such case must we shrink? For me, I say, no; +but then I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair places, his +song of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind. You others are +young. Some have seen sorrow; but there are fair days yet in store. What +say you?" + +Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand. I feared, oh so +much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him when I +saw his hand stretch out; but it was life to me to feel its touch--so +strong, so self-reliant, so resolute. A brave man's hand can speak for +itself; it does not even need a woman's love to hear its music. + +When the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my eyes, and I +in his; there was no need for speaking between us. + +"I answer for Mina and myself," he said. + +"Count me in, Professor," said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically as usual. + +"I am with you," said Lord Godalming, "for Lucy's sake, if for no other +reason." + +Dr. Seward simply nodded. The Professor stood up and, after laying his +golden crucifix on the table, held out his hand on either side. I took +his right hand, and Lord Godalming his left; Jonathan held my right with +his left and stretched across to Mr. Morris. So as we all took hands our +solemn compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not even +occur to me to draw back. We resumed our places, and Dr. Van Helsing +went on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the serious work +had begun. It was to be taken as gravely, and in as businesslike a way, +as any other transaction of life:-- + +"Well, you know what we have to contend against; but we, too, are not +without strength. We have on our side power of combination--a power +denied to the vampire kind; we have sources of science; we are free to +act and think; and the hours of the day and the night are ours equally. +In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are +free to use them. We have self-devotion in a cause, and an end to +achieve which is not a selfish one. These things are much. + +"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us are +restrict, and how the individual cannot. In fine, let us consider the +limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one in particular. + +"All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions. These do not +at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and death--nay +of more than either life or death. Yet must we be satisfied; in the +first place because we have to be--no other means is at our control--and +secondly, because, after all, these things--tradition and +superstition--are everything. Does not the belief in vampires rest for +others--though not, alas! for us--on them? A year ago which of us would +have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, +sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth century? We even scouted a belief +that we saw justified under our very eyes. Take it, then, that the +vampire, and the belief in his limitations and his cure, rest for the +moment on the same base. For, let me tell you, he is known everywhere +that men have been. In old Greece, in old Rome; he flourish in Germany +all over, in France, in India, even in the Chernosese; and in China, so +far from us in all ways, there even is he, and the peoples fear him at +this day. He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the +devil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, the Magyar. So far, then, we +have all we may act upon; and let me tell you that very much of the +beliefs are justified by what we have seen in our own so unhappy +experience. The vampire live on, and cannot die by mere passing of the +time; he can flourish when that he can fatten on the blood of the +living. Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can even grow +younger; that his vital faculties grow strenuous, and seem as though +they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty. But he +cannot flourish without this diet; he eat not as others. Even friend +Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him to eat, never! +He throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect, as again +Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of his hand--witness again +Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him +from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather +from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog; he can be as +bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John +saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at +the window of Miss Lucy. He can come in mist which he create--that noble +ship's captain proved him of this; but, from what we know, the distance +he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself. He +come on moonlight rays as elemental dust--as again Jonathan saw those +sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small--we ourselves saw +Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a hairbreadth space at the +tomb door. He can, when once he find his way, come out from anything or +into anything, no matter how close it be bound or even fused up with +fire--solder you call it. He can see in the dark--no small power this, +in a world which is one half shut from the light. Ah, but hear me +through. He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay; he is even +more prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell. +He cannot go where he lists; he who is not of nature has yet to obey +some of nature's laws--why we know not. He may not enter anywhere at the +first, unless there be some one of the household who bid him to come; +though afterwards he can come as he please. His power ceases, as does +that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times +can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is +bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset. +These things are we told, and in this record of ours we have proof by +inference. Thus, whereas he can do as he will within his limit, when he +have his earth-home, his coffin-home, his hell-home, the place +unhallowed, as we saw when he went to the grave of the suicide at +Whitby; still at other time he can only change when the time come. It is +said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood +of the tide. Then there are things which so afflict him that he has no +power, as the garlic that we know of; and as for things sacred, as this +symbol, my crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to +them he is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and +silent with respect. There are others, too, which I shall tell you of, +lest in our seeking we may need them. The branch of wild rose on his +coffin keep him that he move not from it; a sacred bullet fired into the +coffin kill him so that he be true dead; and as for the stake through +him, we know already of its peace; or the cut-off head that giveth rest. +We have seen it with our eyes. + +"Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can confine +him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know. But he is +clever. I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to +make his record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he +has been. He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his +name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of +Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man; for in that time, +and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most +cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the +forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his +grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says +Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who +were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They +learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake +Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the +records are such words as 'stregoica'--witch, 'ordog,' and +'pokol'--Satan and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is +spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well. There have been +from the loins of this very one great men and good women, and their +graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness can dwell. For it +is not the least of its terrors that this evil thing is rooted deep in +all good; in soil barren of holy memories it cannot rest." + +Whilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the window, +and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room. There was a little +pause, and then the Professor went on:-- + +"And now we must settle what we do. We have here much data, and we must +proceed to lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry of Jonathan +that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all of which +were delivered at Carfax; we also know that at least some of these boxes +have been removed. It seems to me, that our first step should be to +ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond that wall +where we look to-day; or whether any more have been removed. If the +latter, we must trace----" + +Here we were interrupted in a very startling way. Outside the house came +the sound of a pistol-shot; the glass of the window was shattered with a +bullet, which, ricochetting from the top of the embrasure, struck the +far wall of the room. I am afraid I am at heart a coward, for I shrieked +out. The men all jumped to their feet; Lord Godalming flew over to the +window and threw up the sash. As he did so we heard Mr. Morris's voice +without:-- + +"Sorry! I fear I have alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about +it." A minute later he came in and said:-- + +"It was an idiotic thing of me to do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. +Harker, most sincerely; I fear I must have frightened you terribly. But +the fact is that whilst the Professor was talking there came a big bat +and sat on the window-sill. I have got such a horror of the damned +brutes from recent events that I cannot stand them, and I went out to +have a shot, as I have been doing of late of evenings, whenever I have +seen one. You used to laugh at me for it then, Art." + +"Did you hit it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing. + +"I don't know; I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood." Without +saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began to resume his +statement:-- + +"We must trace each of these boxes; and when we are ready, we must +either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to +speak, sterilise the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it. +Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours of +noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most weak. + +"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. +You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part to-night, you +no more must question. We shall tell you all in good time. We are men +and are able to bear; but you must be our star and our hope, and we +shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we +are." + +All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved; but it did not seem to me +good that they should brave danger and, perhaps, lessen their +safety--strength being the best safety--through care of me; but their +minds were made up, and, though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, +I could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me. + +Mr. Morris resumed the discussion:-- + +"As there is no time to lose, I vote we have a look at his house right +now. Time is everything with him; and swift action on our part may save +another victim." + +I own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action came so +close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear that if I +appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even leave +me out of their counsels altogether. They have now gone off to Carfax, +with means to get into the house. + +Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep; as if a woman can +sleep when those she loves are in danger! I shall lie down and pretend +to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he returns. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October, 4 a. m._--Just as we were about to leave the house, an +urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see +him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me. +I told the messenger to say that I would attend to his wishes in the +morning; I was busy just at the moment. The attendant added:-- + +"He seems very importunate, sir. I have never seen him so eager. I don't +know but what, if you don't see him soon, he will have one of his +violent fits." I knew the man would not have said this without some +cause, so I said: "All right; I'll go now"; and I asked the others to +wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and see my "patient." + +"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your +diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on _our_ +case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is +disturbed." + +"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming. + +"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and +we all went down the passage together. + +We found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more +rational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him. There was an +unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything I had ever +met with in a lunatic; and he took it for granted that his reasons would +prevail with others entirely sane. We all four went into the room, but +none of the others at first said anything. His request was that I would +at once release him from the asylum and send him home. This he backed up +with arguments regarding his complete recovery, and adduced his own +existing sanity. "I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, +perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have +not introduced me." I was so much astonished, that the oddness of +introducing a madman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment; and, +besides, there was a certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of +the habit of equality, that I at once made the introduction: "Lord +Godalming; Professor Van Helsing; Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas; Mr. +Renfield." He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn:-- + +"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the +Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no +more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his +youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much +patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great +state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have +far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold +alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a +vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true +place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at +meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of +conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics +by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, +conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to +one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by +the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective +places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at +least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. +And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as +well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to +be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last +appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own +charm. + +I think we were all staggered. For my own part, I was under the +conviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and history, +that his reason had been restored; and I felt under a strong impulse to +tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity, and would see about the +necessary formalities for his release in the morning. I thought it +better to wait, however, before making so grave a statement, for of old +I knew the sudden changes to which this particular patient was liable. +So I contented myself with making a general statement that he appeared +to be improving very rapidly; that I would have a longer chat with him +in the morning, and would then see what I could do in the direction of +meeting his wishes. This did not at all satisfy him, for he said +quickly:-- + +"But I fear, Dr. Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish. I desire to +go at once--here--now--this very hour--this very moment, if I may. Time +presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman it is of +the essence of the contract. I am sure it is only necessary to put +before so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward so simple, yet so +momentous a wish, to ensure its fulfilment." He looked at me keenly, and +seeing the negative in my face, turned to the others, and scrutinised +them closely. Not meeting any sufficient response, he went on:-- + +"Is it possible that I have erred in my supposition?" + +"You have," I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt, brutally. +There was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly:-- + +"Then I suppose I must only shift my ground of request. Let me ask for +this concession--boon, privilege, what you will. I am content to implore +in such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of others. I +am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons; but you may, I +assure you, take it from me that they are good ones, sound and +unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty. Could you look, +sir, into my heart, you would approve to the full the sentiments which +animate me. Nay, more, you would count me amongst the best and truest of +your friends." Again he looked at us all keenly. I had a growing +conviction that this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was +but yet another form or phase of his madness, and so determined to let +him go on a little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like +all lunatics, give himself away in the end. Van Helsing was gazing at +him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting +with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone +which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it +afterwards--for it was as of one addressing an equal:-- + +"Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be free +to-night? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me--a stranger, +without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open mind--Dr. +Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own responsibility, the +privilege you seek." He shook his head sadly, and with a look of +poignant regret on his face. The Professor went on:-- + +"Come, sir, bethink yourself. You claim the privilege of reason in the +highest degree, since you seek to impress us with your complete +reasonableness. You do this, whose sanity we have reason to doubt, since +you are not yet released from medical treatment for this very defect. If +you will not help us in our effort to choose the wisest course, how can +we perform the duty which you yourself put upon us? Be wise, and help +us; and if we can we shall aid you to achieve your wish." He still shook +his head as he said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I have nothing to say. Your argument is complete, and +if I were free to speak I should not hesitate a moment; but I am not my +own master in the matter. I can only ask you to trust me. If I am +refused, the responsibility does not rest with me." I thought it was now +time to end the scene, which was becoming too comically grave, so I went +towards the door, simply saying:-- + +"Come, my friends, we have work to do. Good-night." + +As, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the patient. He +moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I feared that he was +about to make another homicidal attack. My fears, however, were +groundless, for he held up his two hands imploringly, and made his +petition in a moving manner. As he saw that the very excess of his +emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old +relations, he became still more demonstrative. I glanced at Van Helsing, +and saw my conviction reflected in his eyes; so I became a little more +fixed in my manner, if not more stern, and motioned to him that his +efforts were unavailing. I had previously seen something of the same +constantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some request of +which at the time he had thought much, such, for instance, as when he +wanted a cat; and I was prepared to see the collapse into the same +sullen acquiescence on this occasion. My expectation was not realised, +for, when he found that his appeal would not be successful, he got into +quite a frantic condition. He threw himself on his knees, and held up +his hands, wringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a +torrent of entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his +whole face and form expressive of the deepest emotion:-- + +"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out +of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; +send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a +strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go +out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am +speaking from the depths of my heart--of my very soul. You don't know +whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. +By all you hold sacred--by all you hold dear--by your love that is +lost--by your hope that lives--for the sake of the Almighty, take me out +of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you +understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and +earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting +for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!" + +I thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get, and so +would bring on a fit; so I took him by the hand and raised him up. + +"Come," I said sternly, "no more of this; we have had quite enough +already. Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly." + +He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several moments. Then, +without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on the side of the +bed. The collapse had come, as on former occasion, just as I had +expected. + +When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in a +quiet, well-bred voice:-- + +"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later +on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, 5 a. m._--I went with the party to the search with an easy +mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well. I am +so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work. +Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful business at +all; but now that her work is done, and that it is due to her energy and +brains and foresight that the whole story is put together in such a way +that every point tells, she may well feel that her part is finished, and +that she can henceforth leave the rest to us. We were, I think, all a +little upset by the scene with Mr. Renfield. When we came away from his +room we were silent till we got back to the study. Then Mr. Morris said +to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the +sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had some +serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a +chance." Lord Godalming and I were silent, but Dr. Van Helsing added:-- + +"Friend John, you know more of lunatics than I do, and I'm glad of it, +for I fear that if it had been to me to decide I would before that last +hysterical outburst have given him free. But we live and learn, and in +our present task we must take no chance, as my friend Quincey would say. +All is best as they are." Dr. Seward seemed to answer them both in a +dreamy kind of way:-- + +"I don't know but that I agree with you. If that man had been an +ordinary lunatic I would have taken my chance of trusting him; but he +seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way that I am +afraid of doing anything wrong by helping his fads. I can't forget how +he prayed with almost equal fervour for a cat, and then tried to tear my +throat out with his teeth. Besides, he called the Count 'lord and +master,' and he may want to get out to help him in some diabolical way. +That horrid thing has the wolves and the rats and his own kind to help +him, so I suppose he isn't above trying to use a respectable lunatic. He +certainly did seem earnest, though. I only hope we have done what is +best. These things, in conjunction with the wild work we have in hand, +help to unnerve a man." The Professor stepped over, and laying his hand +on his shoulder, said in his grave, kindly way:-- + +"Friend John, have no fear. We are trying to do our duty in a very sad +and terrible case; we can only do as we deem best. What else have we to +hope for, except the pity of the good God?" Lord Godalming had slipped +away for a few minutes, but now he returned. He held up a little silver +whistle, as he remarked:-- + +"That old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote on +call." Having passed the wall, we took our way to the house, taking care +to keep in the shadows of the trees on the lawn when the moonlight shone +out. When we got to the porch the Professor opened his bag and took out +a lot of things, which he laid on the step, sorting them into four +little groups, evidently one for each. Then he spoke:-- + +"My friends, we are going into a terrible danger, and we need arms of +many kinds. Our enemy is not merely spiritual. Remember that he has the +strength of twenty men, and that, though our necks or our windpipes are +of the common kind--and therefore breakable or crushable--his are not +amenable to mere strength. A stronger man, or a body of men more strong +in all than him, can at certain times hold him; but they cannot hurt him +as we can be hurt by him. We must, therefore, guard ourselves from his +touch. Keep this near your heart"--as he spoke he lifted a little silver +crucifix and held it out to me, I being nearest to him--"put these +flowers round your neck"--here he handed to me a wreath of withered +garlic blossoms--"for other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this +knife; and for aid in all, these so small electric lamps, which you can +fasten to your breast; and for all, and above all at the last, this, +which we must not desecrate needless." This was a portion of Sacred +Wafer, which he put in an envelope and handed to me. Each of the others +was similarly equipped. "Now," he said, "friend John, where are the +skeleton keys? If so that we can open the door, we need not break house +by the window, as before at Miss Lucy's." + +Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical dexterity as a +surgeon standing him in good stead. Presently he got one to suit; after +a little play back and forward the bolt yielded, and, with a rusty +clang, shot back. We pressed on the door, the rusty hinges creaked, and +it slowly opened. It was startlingly like the image conveyed to me in +Dr. Seward's diary of the opening of Miss Westenra's tomb; I fancy that +the same idea seemed to strike the others, for with one accord they +shrank back. The Professor was the first to move forward, and stepped +into the open door. + +"_In manus tuas, Domine!_" he said, crossing himself as he passed over +the threshold. We closed the door behind us, lest when we should have +lit our lamps we should possibly attract attention from the road. The +Professor carefully tried the lock, lest we might not be able to open it +from within should we be in a hurry making our exit. Then we all lit our +lamps and proceeded on our search. + +The light from the tiny lamps fell in all sorts of odd forms, as the +rays crossed each other, or the opacity of our bodies threw great +shadows. I could not for my life get away from the feeling that there +was some one else amongst us. I suppose it was the recollection, so +powerfully brought home to me by the grim surroundings, of that terrible +experience in Transylvania. I think the feeling was common to us all, +for I noticed that the others kept looking over their shoulders at every +sound and every new shadow, just as I felt myself doing. + +The whole place was thick with dust. The floor was seemingly inches +deep, except where there were recent footsteps, in which on holding down +my lamp I could see marks of hobnails where the dust was cracked. The +walls were fluffy and heavy with dust, and in the corners were masses of +spider's webs, whereon the dust had gathered till they looked like old +tattered rags as the weight had torn them partly down. On a table in the +hall was a great bunch of keys, with a time-yellowed label on each. They +had been used several times, for on the table were several similar rents +in the blanket of dust, similar to that exposed when the Professor +lifted them. He turned to me and said:-- + +"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know +it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an +idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to +get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings +found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. +"This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small +map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence +regarding the purchase. With a little trouble we found the key on the +bunch and opened the door. We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for +as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale +through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we +encountered. None of the others had met the Count at all at close +quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of +his existence in his rooms or, when he was gloated with fresh blood, in +a ruined building open to the air; but here the place was small and +close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul. There was +an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler +air. But as to the odour itself, how shall I describe it? It was not +alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the +pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had +become itself corrupt. Faugh! it sickens me to think of it. Every breath +exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and +intensified its loathsomeness. + +Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our +enterprise to an end; but this was no ordinary case, and the high and +terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength which rose +above merely physical considerations. After the involuntary shrinking +consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set about our +work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses. + +We made an accurate examination of the place, the Professor saying as we +began:-- + +"The first thing is to see how many of the boxes are left; we must then +examine every hole and corner and cranny and see if we cannot get some +clue as to what has become of the rest." A glance was sufficient to show +how many remained, for the great earth chests were bulky, and there was +no mistaking them. + +There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty! Once I got a fright, +for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of the vaulted +door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and for an instant my +heart stood still. Somewhere, looking out from the shadow, I seemed to +see the high lights of the Count's evil face, the ridge of the nose, the +red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor. It was only for a moment, for, +as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I saw a face, but it was only the +shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I turned my lamp in the direction, +and stepped into the passage. There was no sign of any one; and as there +were no corners, no doors, no aperture of any kind, but only the solid +walls of the passage, there could be no hiding-place even for _him_. I +took it that fear had helped imagination, and said nothing. + +A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a corner, which +he was examining. We all followed his movements with our eyes, for +undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and we saw a whole mass +of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars. We all instinctively drew +back. The whole place was becoming alive with rats. + +For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was +seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great +iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, +and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the +huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver +whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered +from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a +minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house. +Unconsciously we had all moved towards the door, and as we moved I +noticed that the dust had been much disturbed: the boxes which had been +taken out had been brought this way. But even in the minute that had +elapsed the number of the rats had vastly increased. They seemed to +swarm over the place all at once, till the lamplight, shining on their +moving dark bodies and glittering, baleful eyes, made the place look +like a bank of earth set with fireflies. The dogs dashed on, but at the +threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then, simultaneously lifting +their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion. The rats were +multiplying in thousands, and we moved out. + +Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in, placed him +on the floor. The instant his feet touched the ground he seemed to +recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies. They fled before +him so fast that before he had shaken the life out of a score, the other +dogs, who had by now been lifted in the same manner, had but small prey +ere the whole mass had vanished. + +With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had departed, for +the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they made sudden darts at +their prostrate foes, and turned them over and over and tossed them in +the air with vicious shakes. We all seemed to find our spirits rise. +Whether it was the purifying of the deadly atmosphere by the opening of +the chapel door, or the relief which we experienced by finding ourselves +in the open I know not; but most certainly the shadow of dread seemed to +slip from us like a robe, and the occasion of our coming lost something +of its grim significance, though we did not slacken a whit in our +resolution. We closed the outer door and barred and locked it, and +bringing the dogs with us, began our search of the house. We found +nothing throughout except dust in extraordinary proportions, and all +untouched save for my own footsteps when I had made my first visit. +Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of uneasiness, and even when +we returned to the chapel they frisked about as though they had been +rabbit-hunting in a summer wood. + +The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the front. +Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall-door from the bunch, and +locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into his pocket +when he had done. + +"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful. No harm has +come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained how +many boxes are missing. More than all do I rejoice that this, our +first--and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous--step has been +accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina or +troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds and +smells of horror which she might never forget. One lesson, too, we have +learned, if it be allowable to argue _a particulari_: that the brute +beasts which are to the Count's command are yet themselves not amenable +to his spiritual power; for look, these rats that would come to his +call, just as from his castle top he summon the wolves to your going and +to that poor mother's cry, though they come to him, they run pell-mell +from the so little dogs of my friend Arthur. We have other matters +before us, other dangers, other fears; and that monster--he has not used +his power over the brute world for the only or the last time to-night. +So be it that he has gone elsewhere. Good! It has given us opportunity +to cry 'check' in some ways in this chess game, which we play for the +stake of human souls. And now let us go home. The dawn is close at hand, +and we have reason to be content with our first night's work. It may be +ordained that we have many nights and days to follow, if full of peril; +but we must go on, and from no danger shall we shrink." + +The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who +was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound +from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, +after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain. + +I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so +softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than +usual. I hope the meeting to-night has not upset her. I am truly +thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of our +deliberations. It is too great a strain for a woman to bear. I did not +think so at first, but I know better now. Therefore I am glad that it is +settled. There may be things which would frighten her to hear; and yet +to conceal them from her might be worse than to tell her if once she +suspected that there was any concealment. Henceforth our work is to be a +sealed book to her, till at least such time as we can tell her that all +is finished, and the earth free from a monster of the nether world. I +daresay it will be difficult to begin to keep silence after such +confidence as ours; but I must be resolute, and to-morrow I shall keep +dark over to-night's doings, and shall refuse to speak of anything that +has happened. I rest on the sofa, so as not to disturb her. + + * * * * * + +_1 October, later._--I suppose it was natural that we should have all +overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had no +rest at all. Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I slept +till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call two or +three times before she awoke. Indeed, she was so sound asleep that for a +few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with a sort of +blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad dream. She +complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest till later in the +day. We now know of twenty-one boxes having been removed, and if it be +that several were taken in any of these removals we may be able to trace +them all. Such will, of course, immensely simplify our labour, and the +sooner the matter is attended to the better. I shall look up Thomas +Snelling to-day. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--It was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor +walking into my room. He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and it +is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of the +brooding weight off his mind. After going over the adventure of the +night he suddenly said:-- + +"Your patient interests me much. May it be that with you I visit him +this morning? Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it may +be. It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk philosophy, +and reason so sound." I had some work to do which pressed, so I told him +that if he would go alone I would be glad, as then I should not have to +keep him waiting; so I called an attendant and gave him the necessary +instructions. Before the Professor left the room I cautioned him against +getting any false impression from my patient. "But," he answered, "I +want him to talk of himself and of his delusion as to consuming live +things. He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your diary of yesterday, that +he had once had such a belief. Why do you smile, friend John?" + +"Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here." I laid my hand on the +type-written matter. "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very +statement of how he _used_ to consume life, his mouth was actually +nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before Mrs. +Harker entered the room." Van Helsing smiled in turn. "Good!" he said. +"Your memory is true, friend John. I should have remembered. And yet it +is this very obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease +such a fascinating study. Perhaps I may gain more knowledge out of the +folly of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise. +Who knows?" I went on with my work, and before long was through that in +hand. It seemed that the time had been very short indeed, but there was +Van Helsing back in the study. "Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he +stood at the door. + +"Not at all," I answered. "Come in. My work is finished, and I am free. +I can go with you now, if you like. + +"It is needless; I have seen him!" + +"Well?" + +"I fear that he does not appraise me at much. Our interview was short. +When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the centre, with +his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture of sullen +discontent. I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and with such a +measure of respect as I could assume. He made no reply whatever. "Don't +you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well +enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself +and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed +Dutchmen!" Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable +sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at +all. Thus departed for this time my chance of much learning from this so +clever lunatic; so I shall go, if I may, and cheer myself with a few +happy words with that sweet soul Madam Mina. Friend John, it does +rejoice me unspeakable that she is no more to be pained, no more to be +worried with our terrible things. Though we shall much miss her help, it +is better so." + +"I agree with you with all my heart," I answered earnestly, for I did +not want him to weaken in this matter. "Mrs. Harker is better out of it. +Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have +been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, +and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time +infallibly have wrecked her." + +So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs. Harker and Harker; Quincey +and Art are all out following up the clues as to the earth-boxes. I +shall finish my round of work and we shall meet to-night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_1 October._--It is strange to me to be kept in the dark as I am to-day; +after Jonathan's full confidence for so many years, to see him +manifestly avoid certain matters, and those the most vital of all. This +morning I slept late after the fatigues of yesterday, and though +Jonathan was late too, he was the earlier. He spoke to me before he went +out, never more sweetly or tenderly, but he never mentioned a word of +what had happened in the visit to the Count's house. And yet he must +have known how terribly anxious I was. Poor dear fellow! I suppose it +must have distressed him even more than it did me. They all agreed that +it was best that I should not be drawn further into this awful work, and +I acquiesced. But to think that he keeps anything from me! And now I am +crying like a silly fool, when I _know_ it comes from my husband's great +love and from the good, good wishes of those other strong men. + +That has done me good. Well, some day Jonathan will tell me all; and +lest it should ever be that he should think for a moment that I kept +anything from him, I still keep my journal as usual. Then if he has +feared of my trust I shall show it to him, with every thought of my +heart put down for his dear eyes to read. I feel strangely sad and +low-spirited to-day. I suppose it is the reaction from the terrible +excitement. + +Last night I went to bed when the men had gone, simply because they told +me to. I didn't feel sleepy, and I did feel full of devouring anxiety. I +kept thinking over everything that has been ever since Jonathan came to +see me in London, and it all seems like a horrible tragedy, with fate +pressing on relentlessly to some destined end. Everything that one does +seems, no matter how right it may be, to bring on the very thing which +is most to be deplored. If I hadn't gone to Whitby, perhaps poor dear +Lucy would be with us now. She hadn't taken to visiting the churchyard +till I came, and if she hadn't come there in the day-time with me she +wouldn't have walked there in her sleep; and if she hadn't gone there at +night and asleep, that monster couldn't have destroyed her as he did. +Oh, why did I ever go to Whitby? There now, crying again! I wonder what +has come over me to-day. I must hide it from Jonathan, for if he knew +that I had been crying twice in one morning--I, who never cried on my +own account, and whom he has never caused to shed a tear--the dear +fellow would fret his heart out. I shall put a bold face on, and if I do +feel weepy, he shall never see it. I suppose it is one of the lessons +that we poor women have to learn.... + +I can't quite remember how I fell asleep last night. I remember hearing +the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like praying +on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is somewhere +under this. And then there was silence over everything, silence so +profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out of the window. +All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by the moonlight +seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a thing seemed to be +stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate; so that a thin +streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness +across the grass towards the house, seemed to have a sentience and a +vitality of its own. I think that the digression of my thoughts must +have done me good, for when I got back to bed I found a lethargy +creeping over me. I lay a while, but could not quite sleep, so I got out +and looked out of the window again. The mist was spreading, and was now +close up to the house, so that I could see it lying thick against the +wall, as though it were stealing up to the windows. The poor man was +more loud than ever, and though I could not distinguish a word he said, +I could in some way recognise in his tones some passionate entreaty on +his part. Then there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the +attendants were dealing with him. I was so frightened that I crept into +bed, and pulled the clothes over my head, putting my fingers in my ears. +I was not then a bit sleepy, at least so I thought; but I must have +fallen asleep, for, except dreams, I do not remember anything until the +morning, when Jonathan woke me. I think that it took me an effort and a +little time to realise where I was, and that it was Jonathan who was +bending over me. My dream was very peculiar, and was almost typical of +the way that waking thoughts become merged in, or continued in, dreams. + +I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come back. I +was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my feet, and my +hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at the +usual pace. And so I slept uneasily and thought. Then it began to dawn +upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold. I put back the +clothes from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was dim +around. The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but turned down, +came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which had evidently +grown thicker and poured into the room. Then it occurred to me that I +had shut the window before I had come to bed. I would have got out to +make certain on the point, but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my +limbs and even my will. I lay still and endured; that was all. I closed +my eyes, but could still see through my eyelids. (It is wonderful what +tricks our dreams play us, and how conveniently we can imagine.) The +mist grew thicker and thicker and I could see now how it came in, for I +could see it like smoke--or with the white energy of boiling +water--pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of +the door. It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became +concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the top +of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red eye. Things +began to whirl through my brain just as the cloudy column was now +whirling in the room, and through it all came the scriptural words "a +pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night." Was it indeed some such +spiritual guidance that was coming to me in my sleep? But the pillar was +composed of both the day and the night-guiding, for the fire was in the +red eye, which at the thought got a new fascination for me; till, as I +looked, the fire divided, and seemed to shine on me through the fog like +two red eyes, such as Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering +when, on the cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's +Church. Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan +had seen those awful women growing into reality through the whirling mist +in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all became +black darkness. The last conscious effort which imagination made was to +show me a livid white face bending over me out of the mist. I must be +careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one's reason if there were +too much of them. I would get Dr. Van Helsing or Dr. Seward to prescribe +something for me which would make me sleep, only that I fear to alarm +them. Such a dream at the present time would become woven into their +fears for me. To-night I shall strive hard to sleep naturally. If I do +not, I shall to-morrow night get them to give me a dose of chloral; that +cannot hurt me for once, and it will give me a good night's sleep. Last +night tired me more than if I had not slept at all. + + * * * * * + +_2 October 10 p. m._--Last night I slept, but did not dream. I must have +slept soundly, for I was not waked by Jonathan coming to bed; but the +sleep has not refreshed me, for to-day I feel terribly weak and +spiritless. I spent all yesterday trying to read, or lying down dozing. +In the afternoon Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me. Poor man, he was +very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and bade God bless +me. Some way it affected me much; I am crying when I think of him. This +is a new weakness, of which I must be careful. Jonathan would be +miserable if he knew I had been crying. He and the others were out till +dinner-time, and they all came in tired. I did what I could to brighten +them up, and I suppose that the effort did me good, for I forgot how +tired I was. After dinner they sent me to bed, and all went off to smoke +together, as they said, but I knew that they wanted to tell each other +of what had occurred to each during the day; I could see from Jonathan's +manner that he had something important to communicate. I was not so +sleepy as I should have been; so before they went I asked Dr. Seward to +give me a little opiate of some kind, as I had not slept well the night +before. He very kindly made me up a sleeping draught, which he gave to +me, telling me that it would do me no harm, as it was very mild.... I +have taken it, and am waiting for sleep, which still keeps aloof. I hope +I have not done wrong, for as sleep begins to flirt with me, a new fear +comes: that I may have been foolish in thus depriving myself of the +power of waking. I might want it. Here comes sleep. Good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, evening._--I found Thomas Snelling in his house at Bethnal +Green, but unhappily he was not in a condition to remember anything. The +very prospect of beer which my expected coming had opened to him had +proved too much, and he had begun too early on his expected debauch. I +learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor soul, that he +was only the assistant to Smollet, who of the two mates was the +responsible person. So off I drove to Walworth, and found Mr. Joseph +Smollet at home and in his shirtsleeves, taking a late tea out of a +saucer. He is a decent, intelligent fellow, distinctly a good, reliable +type of workman, and with a headpiece of his own. He remembered all +about the incident of the boxes, and from a wonderful dog's-eared +notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle about the +seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries in thick, +half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the boxes. There +were, he said, six in the cartload which he took from Carfax and left at +197, Chicksand Street, Mile End New Town, and another six which he +deposited at Jamaica Lane, Bermondsey. If then the Count meant to +scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were +chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more +fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that +he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now +fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern +shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to +be left out of his diabolical scheme--let alone the City itself and the +very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west. I went back +to Smollet, and asked him if he could tell us if any other boxes had +been taken from Carfax. + +He replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, you've treated me wery 'an'some"--I had given him half a +sovereign--"an' I'll tell yer all I know. I heard a man by the name of +Bloxam say four nights ago in the 'Are an' 'Ounds, in Pincher's Alley, +as 'ow he an' his mate 'ad 'ad a rare dusty job in a old 'ouse at +Purfect. There ain't a-many such jobs as this 'ere, an' I'm thinkin' +that maybe Sam Bloxam could tell ye summut." I asked if he could tell me +where to find him. I told him that if he could get me the address it +would be worth another half-sovereign to him. So he gulped down the rest +of his tea and stood up, saying that he was going to begin the search +then and there. At the door he stopped, and said:-- + +"Look 'ere, guv'nor, there ain't no sense in me a-keepin' you 'ere. I +may find Sam soon, or I mayn't; but anyhow he ain't like to be in a way +to tell ye much to-night. Sam is a rare one when he starts on the booze. +If you can give me a envelope with a stamp on it, and put yer address on +it, I'll find out where Sam is to be found and post it ye to-night. But +ye'd better be up arter 'im soon in the mornin', or maybe ye won't ketch +'im; for Sam gets off main early, never mind the booze the night afore." + +This was all practical, so one of the children went off with a penny to +buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and to keep the change. When she +came back, I addressed the envelope and stamped it, and when Smollet had +again faithfully promised to post the address when found, I took my way +to home. We're on the track anyhow. I am tired to-night, and want sleep. +Mina is fast asleep, and looks a little too pale; her eyes look as +though she had been crying. Poor dear, I've no doubt it frets her to be +kept in the dark, and it may make her doubly anxious about me and the +others. But it is best as it is. It is better to be disappointed and +worried in such a way now than to have her nerve broken. The doctors +were quite right to insist on her being kept out of this dreadful +business. I must be firm, for on me this particular burden of silence +must rest. I shall not ever enter on the subject with her under any +circumstances. Indeed, it may not be a hard task, after all, for she +herself has become reticent on the subject, and has not spoken of the +Count or his doings ever since we told her of our decision. + + * * * * * + +_2 October, evening._--A long and trying and exciting day. By the first +post I got my directed envelope with a dirty scrap of paper enclosed, on +which was written with a carpenter's pencil in a sprawling hand:-- + +"Sam Bloxam, Korkrans, 4, Poters Cort, Bartel Street, Walworth. Arsk for +the depite." + +I got the letter in bed, and rose without waking Mina. She looked heavy +and sleepy and pale, and far from well. I determined not to wake her, +but that, when I should return from this new search, I would arrange for +her going back to Exeter. I think she would be happier in our own home, +with her daily tasks to interest her, than in being here amongst us and +in ignorance. I only saw Dr. Seward for a moment, and told him where I +was off to, promising to come back and tell the rest so soon as I should +have found out anything. I drove to Walworth and found, with some +difficulty, Potter's Court. Mr. Smollet's spelling misled me, as I asked +for Poter's Court instead of Potter's Court. However, when I had found +the court, I had no difficulty in discovering Corcoran's lodging-house. +When I asked the man who came to the door for the "depite," he shook his +head, and said: "I dunno 'im. There ain't no such a person 'ere; I never +'eard of 'im in all my bloomin' days. Don't believe there ain't nobody +of that kind livin' ere or anywheres." I took out Smollet's letter, and +as I read it it seemed to me that the lesson of the spelling of the name +of the court might guide me. "What are you?" I asked. + +"I'm the depity," he answered. I saw at once that I was on the right +track; phonetic spelling had again misled me. A half-crown tip put the +deputy's knowledge at my disposal, and I learned that Mr. Bloxam, who +had slept off the remains of his beer on the previous night at +Corcoran's, had left for his work at Poplar at five o'clock that +morning. He could not tell me where the place of work was situated, but +he had a vague idea that it was some kind of a "new-fangled ware'us"; +and with this slender clue I had to start for Poplar. It was twelve +o'clock before I got any satisfactory hint of such a building, and this +I got at a coffee-shop, where some workmen were having their dinner. One +of these suggested that there was being erected at Cross Angel Street a +new "cold storage" building; and as this suited the condition of a +"new-fangled ware'us," I at once drove to it. An interview with a surly +gatekeeper and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the +coin of the realm, put me on the track of Bloxam; he was sent for on my +suggesting that I was willing to pay his day's wages to his foreman for +the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter. He was +a smart enough fellow, though rough of speech and bearing. When I had +promised to pay for his information and given him an earnest, he told me +that he had made two journeys between Carfax and a house in Piccadilly, +and had taken from this house to the latter nine great boxes--"main +heavy ones"--with a horse and cart hired by him for this purpose. I +asked him if he could tell me the number of the house in Piccadilly, to +which he replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, I forgits the number, but it was only a few doors from a +big white church or somethink of the kind, not long built. It was a +dusty old 'ouse, too, though nothin' to the dustiness of the 'ouse we +tooked the bloomin' boxes from." + +"How did you get into the houses if they were both empty?" + +"There was the old party what engaged me a-waitin' in the 'ouse at +Purfleet. He 'elped me to lift the boxes and put them in the dray. Curse +me, but he was the strongest chap I ever struck, an' him a old feller, +with a white moustache, one that thin you would think he couldn't throw +a shadder." + +How this phrase thrilled through me! + +"Why, 'e took up 'is end o' the boxes like they was pounds of tea, and +me a-puffin' an' a-blowin' afore I could up-end mine anyhow--an' I'm no +chicken, neither." + +"How did you get into the house in Piccadilly?" I asked. + +"He was there too. He must 'a' started off and got there afore me, for +when I rung of the bell he kem an' opened the door 'isself an' 'elped me +to carry the boxes into the 'all." + +"The whole nine?" I asked. + +"Yus; there was five in the first load an' four in the second. It was +main dry work, an' I don't so well remember 'ow I got 'ome." I +interrupted him:-- + +"Were the boxes left in the hall?" + +"Yus; it was a big 'all, an' there was nothin' else in it." I made one +more attempt to further matters:-- + +"You didn't have any key?" + +"Never used no key nor nothink. The old gent, he opened the door 'isself +an' shut it again when I druv off. I don't remember the last time--but +that was the beer." + +"And you can't remember the number of the house?" + +"No, sir. But ye needn't have no difficulty about that. It's a 'igh 'un +with a stone front with a bow on it, an' 'igh steps up to the door. I +know them steps, 'avin' 'ad to carry the boxes up with three loafers +what come round to earn a copper. The old gent give them shillin's, an' +they seein' they got so much, they wanted more; but 'e took one of them +by the shoulder and was like to throw 'im down the steps, till the lot +of them went away cussin'." I thought that with this description I could +find the house, so, having paid my friend for his information, I started +off for Piccadilly. I had gained a new painful experience; the Count +could, it was evident, handle the earth-boxes himself. If so, time was +precious; for, now that he had achieved a certain amount of +distribution, he could, by choosing his own time, complete the task +unobserved. At Piccadilly Circus I discharged my cab, and walked +westward; beyond the Junior Constitutional I came across the house +described, and was satisfied that this was the next of the lairs +arranged by Dracula. The house looked as though it had been long +untenanted. The windows were encrusted with dust, and the shutters were +up. All the framework was black with time, and from the iron the paint +had mostly scaled away. It was evident that up to lately there had been +a large notice-board in front of the balcony; it had, however, been +roughly torn away, the uprights which had supported it still remaining. +Behind the rails of the balcony I saw there were some loose boards, +whose raw edges looked white. I would have given a good deal to have +been able to see the notice-board intact, as it would, perhaps, have +given some clue to the ownership of the house. I remembered my +experience of the investigation and purchase of Carfax, and I could not +but feel that if I could find the former owner there might be some means +discovered of gaining access to the house. + +There was at present nothing to be learned from the Piccadilly side, and +nothing could be done; so I went round to the back to see if anything +could be gathered from this quarter. The mews were active, the +Piccadilly houses being mostly in occupation. I asked one or two of the +grooms and helpers whom I saw around if they could tell me anything +about the empty house. One of them said that he heard it had lately been +taken, but he couldn't say from whom. He told me, however, that up to +very lately there had been a notice-board of "For Sale" up, and that +perhaps Mitchell, Sons, & Candy, the house agents, could tell me +something, as he thought he remembered seeing the name of that firm on +the board. I did not wish to seem too eager, or to let my informant know +or guess too much, so, thanking him in the usual manner, I strolled +away. It was now growing dusk, and the autumn night was closing in, so I +did not lose any time. Having learned the address of Mitchell, Sons, & +Candy from a directory at the Berkeley, I was soon at their office in +Sackville Street. + +The gentleman who saw me was particularly suave in manner, but +uncommunicative in equal proportion. Having once told me that the +Piccadilly house--which throughout our interview he called a +"mansion"--was sold, he considered my business as concluded. When I +asked who had purchased it, he opened his eyes a thought wider, and +paused a few seconds before replying:-- + +"It is sold, sir." + +"Pardon me," I said, with equal politeness, "but I have a special reason +for wishing to know who purchased it." + +Again he paused longer, and raised his eyebrows still more. "It is sold, +sir," was again his laconic reply. + +"Surely," I said, "you do not mind letting me know so much." + +"But I do mind," he answered. "The affairs of their clients are +absolutely safe in the hands of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy." This was +manifestly a prig of the first water, and there was no use arguing with +him. I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so I said:-- + +"Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian of their +confidence. I am myself a professional man." Here I handed him my card. +"In this instance I am not prompted by curiosity; I act on the part of +Lord Godalming, who wishes to know something of the property which was, +he understood, lately for sale." These words put a different complexion +on affairs. He said:-- + +"I would like to oblige you if I could, Mr. Harker, and especially would +I like to oblige his lordship. We once carried out a small matter of +renting some chambers for him when he was the Honourable Arthur +Holmwood. If you will let me have his lordship's address I will consult +the House on the subject, and will, in any case, communicate with his +lordship by to-night's post. It will be a pleasure if we can so far +deviate from our rules as to give the required information to his +lordship." + +I wanted to secure a friend, and not to make an enemy, so I thanked him, +gave the address at Dr. Seward's and came away. It was now dark, and I +was tired and hungry. I got a cup of tea at the Aërated Bread Company +and came down to Purfleet by the next train. + +I found all the others at home. Mina was looking tired and pale, but she +made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerful, it wrung my heart to +think that I had had to keep anything from her and so caused her +inquietude. Thank God, this will be the last night of her looking on at +our conferences, and feeling the sting of our not showing our +confidence. It took all my courage to hold to the wise resolution of +keeping her out of our grim task. She seems somehow more reconciled; or +else the very subject seems to have become repugnant to her, for when +any accidental allusion is made she actually shudders. I am glad we +made our resolution in time, as with such a feeling as this, our growing +knowledge would be torture to her. + +I could not tell the others of the day's discovery till we were alone; +so after dinner--followed by a little music to save appearances even +amongst ourselves--I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bed. +The dear girl was more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me +as though she would detain me; but there was much to be talked of and I +came away. Thank God, the ceasing of telling things has made no +difference between us. + +When I came down again I found the others all gathered round the fire in +the study. In the train I had written my diary so far, and simply read +it off to them as the best means of letting them get abreast of my own +information; when I had finished Van Helsing said:-- + +"This has been a great day's work, friend Jonathan. Doubtless we are on +the track of the missing boxes. If we find them all in that house, then +our work is near the end. But if there be some missing, we must search +until we find them. Then shall we make our final _coup_, and hunt the +wretch to his real death." We all sat silent awhile and all at once Mr. +Morris spoke:-- + +"Say! how are we going to get into that house?" + +"We got into the other," answered Lord Godalming quickly. + +"But, Art, this is different. We broke house at Carfax, but we had night +and a walled park to protect us. It will be a mighty different thing to +commit burglary in Piccadilly, either by day or night. I confess I don't +see how we are going to get in unless that agency duck can find us a key +of some sort; perhaps we shall know when you get his letter in the +morning." Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked +about the room. By-and-by he stopped and said, turning from one to +another of us:-- + +"Quincey's head is level. This burglary business is getting serious; we +got off once all right; but we have now a rare job on hand--unless we +can find the Count's key basket." + +As nothing could well be done before morning, and as it would be at +least advisable to wait till Lord Godalming should hear from Mitchell's, +we decided not to take any active step before breakfast time. For a good +while we sat and smoked, discussing the matter in its various lights and +bearings; I took the opportunity of bringing this diary right up to the +moment. I am very sleepy and shall go to bed.... + +Just a line. Mina sleeps soundly and her breathing is regular. Her +forehead is puckered up into little wrinkles, as though she thinks even +in her sleep. She is still too pale, but does not look so haggard as she +did this morning. To-morrow will, I hope, mend all this; she will be +herself at home in Exeter. Oh, but I am sleepy! + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--I am puzzled afresh about Renfield. His moods change so +rapidly that I find it difficult to keep touch of them, and as they +always mean something more than his own well-being, they form a more +than interesting study. This morning, when I went to see him after his +repulse of Van Helsing, his manner was that of a man commanding destiny. +He was, in fact, commanding destiny--subjectively. He did not really +care for any of the things of mere earth; he was in the clouds and +looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor mortals. I +thought I would improve the occasion and learn something, so I asked +him:-- + +"What about the flies these times?" He smiled on me in quite a superior +sort of way--such a smile as would have become the face of Malvolio--as +he answered me:-- + +"The fly, my dear sir, has one striking feature; its wings are typical +of the aërial powers of the psychic faculties. The ancients did well +when they typified the soul as a butterfly!" + +I thought I would push his analogy to its utmost logically, so I said +quickly:-- + +"Oh, it is a soul you are after now, is it?" His madness foiled his +reason, and a puzzled look spread over his face as, shaking his head +with a decision which I had but seldom seen in him, he said:-- + +"Oh, no, oh no! I want no souls. Life is all I want." Here he brightened +up; "I am pretty indifferent about it at present. Life is all right; I +have all I want. You must get a new patient, doctor, if you wish to +study zoöphagy!" + +This puzzled me a little, so I drew him on:-- + +"Then you command life; you are a god, I suppose?" He smiled with an +ineffably benign superiority. + +"Oh no! Far be it from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the +Deity. I am not even concerned in His especially spiritual doings. If I +may state my intellectual position I am, so far as concerns things +purely terrestrial, somewhat in the position which Enoch occupied +spiritually!" This was a poser to me. I could not at the moment recall +Enoch's appositeness; so I had to ask a simple question, though I felt +that by so doing I was lowering myself in the eyes of the lunatic:-- + +"And why with Enoch?" + +"Because he walked with God." I could not see the analogy, but did not +like to admit it; so I harked back to what he had denied:-- + +"So you don't care about life and you don't want souls. Why not?" I put +my question quickly and somewhat sternly, on purpose to disconcert him. +The effort succeeded; for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into his +old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon me as +he replied:-- + +"I don't want any souls, indeed, indeed! I don't. I couldn't use them if +I had them; they would be no manner of use to me. I couldn't eat them +or----" He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his +face, like a wind-sweep on the surface of the water. "And doctor, as to +life, what is it after all? When you've got all you require, and you +know that you will never want, that is all. I have friends--good +friends--like you, Dr. Seward"; this was said with a leer of +inexpressible cunning. "I know that I shall never lack the means of +life!" + +I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some +antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as +he--a dogged silence. After a short time I saw that for the present it +was useless to speak to him. He was sulky, and so I came away. + +Later in the day he sent for me. Ordinarily I would not have come +without special reason, but just at present I am so interested in him +that I would gladly make an effort. Besides, I am glad to have anything +to help to pass the time. Harker is out, following up clues; and so are +Lord Godalming and Quincey. Van Helsing sits in my study poring over the +record prepared by the Harkers; he seems to think that by accurate +knowledge of all details he will light upon some clue. He does not wish +to be disturbed in the work, without cause. I would have taken him with +me to see the patient, only I thought that after his last repulse he +might not care to go again. There was also another reason: Renfield +might not speak so freely before a third person as when he and I were +alone. + +I found him sitting out in the middle of the floor on his stool, a pose +which is generally indicative of some mental energy on his part. When I +came in, he said at once, as though the question had been waiting on his +lips:-- + +"What about souls?" It was evident then that my surmise had been +correct. Unconscious cerebration was doing its work, even with the +lunatic. I determined to have the matter out. "What about them +yourself?" I asked. He did not reply for a moment but looked all round +him, and up and down, as though he expected to find some inspiration for +an answer. + +"I don't want any souls!" he said in a feeble, apologetic way. The +matter seemed preying on his mind, and so I determined to use it--to "be +cruel only to be kind." So I said:-- + +"You like life, and you want life?" + +"Oh yes! but that is all right; you needn't worry about that!" + +"But," I asked, "how are we to get the life without getting the soul +also?" This seemed to puzzle him, so I followed it up:-- + +"A nice time you'll have some time when you're flying out there, with +the souls of thousands of flies and spiders and birds and cats buzzing +and twittering and miauing all round you. You've got their lives, you +know, and you must put up with their souls!" Something seemed to affect +his imagination, for he put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes, +screwing them up tightly just as a small boy does when his face is being +soaped. There was something pathetic in it that touched me; it also gave +me a lesson, for it seemed that before me was a child--only a child, +though the features were worn, and the stubble on the jaws was white. It +was evident that he was undergoing some process of mental disturbance, +and, knowing how his past moods had interpreted things seemingly foreign +to himself, I thought I would enter into his mind as well as I could and +go with him. The first step was to restore confidence, so I asked him, +speaking pretty loud so that he would hear me through his closed ears:-- + +"Would you like some sugar to get your flies round again?" He seemed to +wake up all at once, and shook his head. With a laugh he replied:-- + +"Not much! flies are poor things, after all!" After a pause he added, +"But I don't want their souls buzzing round me, all the same." + +"Or spiders?" I went on. + +"Blow spiders! What's the use of spiders? There isn't anything in them +to eat or"--he stopped suddenly, as though reminded of a forbidden +topic. + +"So, so!" I thought to myself, "this is the second time he has suddenly +stopped at the word 'drink'; what does it mean?" Renfield seemed himself +aware of having made a lapse, for he hurried on, as though to distract +my attention from it:-- + +"I don't take any stock at all in such matters. 'Rats and mice and such +small deer,' as Shakespeare has it, 'chicken-feed of the larder' they +might be called. I'm past all that sort of nonsense. You might as well +ask a man to eat molecules with a pair of chop-sticks, as to try to +interest me about the lesser carnivora, when I know of what is before +me." + +"I see," I said. "You want big things that you can make your teeth meet +in? How would you like to breakfast on elephant?" + +"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!" He was getting too wide +awake, so I thought I would press him hard. "I wonder," I said +reflectively, "what an elephant's soul is like!" + +The effect I desired was obtained, for he at once fell from his +high-horse and became a child again. + +"I don't want an elephant's soul, or any soul at all!" he said. For a +few moments he sat despondently. Suddenly he jumped to his feet, with +his eyes blazing and all the signs of intense cerebral excitement. "To +hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about +souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, +without thinking of souls!" He looked so hostile that I thought he was +in for another homicidal fit, so I blew my whistle. The instant, +however, that I did so he became calm, and said apologetically:-- + +"Forgive me, Doctor; I forgot myself. You do not need any help. I am so +worried in my mind that I am apt to be irritable. If you only knew the +problem I have to face, and that I am working out, you would pity, and +tolerate, and pardon me. Pray do not put me in a strait-waistcoat. I +want to think and I cannot think freely when my body is confined. I am +sure you will understand!" He had evidently self-control; so when the +attendants came I told them not to mind, and they withdrew. Renfield +watched them go; when the door was closed he said, with considerable +dignity and sweetness:-- + +"Dr. Seward, you have been very considerate towards me. Believe me that +I am very, very grateful to you!" I thought it well to leave him in this +mood, and so I came away. There is certainly something to ponder over in +this man's state. Several points seem to make what the American +interviewer calls "a story," if one could only get them in proper order. +Here they are:-- + +Will not mention "drinking." + +Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything. + +Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future. + +Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being +haunted by their souls. + +Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind +that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence--the +burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to! + +And the assurance--? + +Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of +terror afoot! + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I went after my round to Van Helsing and told him my +suspicion. He grew very grave; and, after thinking the matter over for a +while asked me to take him to Renfield. I did so. As we came to the door +we heard the lunatic within singing gaily, as he used to do in the time +which now seems so long ago. When we entered we saw with amazement that +he had spread out his sugar as of old; the flies, lethargic with the +autumn, were beginning to buzz into the room. We tried to make him talk +of the subject of our previous conversation, but he would not attend. He +went on with his singing, just as though we had not been present. He had +got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book. We had to come +away as ignorant as we went in. + +His is a curious case indeed; we must watch him to-night. + + +_Letter, Mitchell, Sons and Candy to Lord Godalming._ + +_"1 October._ + +"My Lord, + +"We are at all times only too happy to meet your wishes. We beg, with +regard to the desire of your Lordship, expressed by Mr. Harker on your +behalf, to supply the following information concerning the sale and +purchase of No. 347, Piccadilly. The original vendors are the executors +of the late Mr. Archibald Winter-Suffield. The purchaser is a foreign +nobleman, Count de Ville, who effected the purchase himself paying the +purchase money in notes 'over the counter,' if your Lordship will pardon +us using so vulgar an expression. Beyond this we know nothing whatever +of him. + +"We are, my Lord, + +"Your Lordship's humble servants, + +"MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 October._--I placed a man in the corridor last night, and told him to +make an accurate note of any sound he might hear from Renfield's room, +and gave him instructions that if there should be anything strange he +was to call me. After dinner, when we had all gathered round the fire +in the study--Mrs. Harker having gone to bed--we discussed the attempts +and discoveries of the day. Harker was the only one who had any result, +and we are in great hopes that his clue may be an important one. + +Before going to bed I went round to the patient's room and looked in +through the observation trap. He was sleeping soundly, and his heart +rose and fell with regular respiration. + +This morning the man on duty reported to me that a little after midnight +he was restless and kept saying his prayers somewhat loudly. I asked him +if that was all; he replied that it was all he heard. There was +something about his manner so suspicious that I asked him point blank if +he had been asleep. He denied sleep, but admitted to having "dozed" for +a while. It is too bad that men cannot be trusted unless they are +watched. + +To-day Harker is out following up his clue, and Art and Quincey are +looking after horses. Godalming thinks that it will be well to have +horses always in readiness, for when we get the information which we +seek there will be no time to lose. We must sterilise all the imported +earth between sunrise and sunset; we shall thus catch the Count at his +weakest, and without a refuge to fly to. Van Helsing is off to the +British Museum looking up some authorities on ancient medicine. The old +physicians took account of things which their followers do not accept, +and the Professor is searching for witch and demon cures which may be +useful to us later. + +I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity in +strait-waistcoats. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--We have met again. We seem at last to be on the track, and our +work of to-morrow may be the beginning of the end. I wonder if +Renfield's quiet has anything to do with this. His moods have so +followed the doings of the Count, that the coming destruction of the +monster may be carried to him in some subtle way. If we could only get +some hint as to what passed in his mind, between the time of my argument +with him to-day and his resumption of fly-catching, it might afford us a +valuable clue. He is now seemingly quiet for a spell.... Is he?---- That +wild yell seemed to come from his room.... + + * * * * * + +The attendant came bursting into my room and told me that Renfield had +somehow met with some accident. He had heard him yell; and when he went +to him found him lying on his face on the floor, all covered with blood. +I must go at once.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well +as I can remember it, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that I +can recall must be forgotten; in all calmness I must proceed. + +When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his +left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it +became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries; +there seemed none of that unity of purpose between the parts of the body +which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see +that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the +floor--indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood +originated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as +we turned him over:-- + +"I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and +the whole side of his face are paralysed." How such a thing could have +happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure. He seemed quite +bewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said:-- + +"I can't understand the two things. He could mark his face like that by +beating his own head on the floor. I saw a young woman do it once at the +Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her. And I suppose he +might have broke his neck by falling out of bed, if he got in an awkward +kink. But for the life of me I can't imagine how the two things +occurred. If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his head; and if his +face was like that before the fall out of bed, there would be marks of +it." I said to him:-- + +"Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here at once. I want +him without an instant's delay." The man ran off, and within a few +minutes the Professor, in his dressing gown and slippers, appeared. When +he saw Renfield on the ground, he looked keenly at him a moment, and +then turned to me. I think he recognised my thought in my eyes, for he +said very quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant:-- + +"Ah, a sad accident! He will need very careful watching, and much +attention. I shall stay with you myself; but I shall first dress myself. +If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you." + +The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that +he had suffered some terrible injury. Van Helsing returned with +extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He had +evidently been thinking and had his mind made up; for, almost before he +looked at the patient, he whispered to me:-- + +"Send the attendant away. We must be alone with him when he becomes +conscious, after the operation." So I said:-- + +"I think that will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can at +present. You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing will operate. +Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere." + +The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient. +The wounds of the face was superficial; the real injury was a depressed +fracture of the skull, extending right up through the motor area. The +Professor thought a moment and said:-- + +"We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as far +as can be; the rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of +his injury. The whole motor area seems affected. The suffusion of the +brain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be +too late." As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door. I +went over and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur and +Quincey in pajamas and slippers: the former spoke:-- + +"I heard your man call up Dr. Van Helsing and tell him of an accident. +So I woke Quincey or rather called for him as he was not asleep. Things +are moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us +these times. I've been thinking that to-morrow night will not see things +as they have been. We'll have to look back--and forward a little more +than we have done. May we come in?" I nodded, and held the door open +till they had entered; then I closed it again. When Quincey saw the +attitude and state of the patient, and noted the horrible pool on the +floor, he said softly:-- + +"My God! what has happened to him? Poor, poor devil!" I told him +briefly, and added that we expected he would recover consciousness after +the operation--for a short time, at all events. He went at once and sat +down on the edge of the bed, with Godalming beside him; we all watched +in patience. + +"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best +spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove +the blood clot; for it is evident that the hæmorrhage is increasing." + +The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness. I had a +horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I gathered +that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. I dreaded +the words that Renfield might speak. I was positively afraid to think; +but the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have read of men +who have heard the death-watch. The poor man's breathing came in +uncertain gasps. Each instant he seemed as though he would open his eyes +and speak; but then would follow a prolonged stertorous breath, and he +would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I was to sick +beds and death, this suspense grew, and grew upon me. I could almost +hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging through my +temples sounded like blows from a hammer. The silence finally became +agonising. I looked at my companions, one after another, and saw from +their flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equal +torture. There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overhead +some dread bell would peal out powerfully when we should least expect +it. + +At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was +sinking fast; he might die at any moment. I looked up at the Professor +and caught his eyes fixed on mine. His face was sternly set as he +spoke:-- + +"There is no time to lose. His words may be worth many lives; I have +been thinking so, as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake! +We shall operate just above the ear." + +Without another word he made the operation. For a few moments the +breathing continued to be stertorous. Then there came a breath so +prolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest. +Suddenly his eyes opened, and became fixed in a wild, helpless stare. +This was continued for a few moments; then it softened into a glad +surprise, and from the lips came a sigh of relief. He moved +convulsively, and as he did so, said:-- + +"I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait-waistcoat. I +have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot +move. What's wrong with my face? it feels all swollen, and it smarts +dreadfully." He tried to turn his head; but even with the effort his +eyes seemed to grow glassy again so I gently put it back. Then Van +Helsing said in a quiet grave tone:-- + +"Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield." As he heard the voice his face +brightened, through its mutilation, and he said:-- + +"That is Dr. Van Helsing. How good it is of you to be here. Give me some +water, my lips are dry; and I shall try to tell you. I dreamed"--he +stopped and seemed fainting, I called quietly to Quincey--"The +brandy--it is in my study--quick!" He flew and returned with a glass, +the decanter of brandy and a carafe of water. We moistened the parched +lips, and the patient quickly revived. It seemed, however, that his poor +injured brain had been working in the interval, for, when he was quite +conscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonised confusion which I +shall never forget, and said:-- + +"I must not deceive myself; it was no dream, but all a grim reality." +Then his eyes roved round the room; as they caught sight of the two +figures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed he went on:-- + +"If I were not sure already, I would know from them." For an instant his +eyes closed--not with pain or sleep but voluntarily, as though he were +bringing all his faculties to bear; when he opened them he said, +hurriedly, and with more energy than he had yet displayed:-- + +"Quick, Doctor, quick. I am dying! I feel that I have but a few minutes; +and then I must go back to death--or worse! Wet my lips with brandy +again. I have something that I must say before I die; or before my poor +crushed brain dies anyhow. Thank you! It was that night after you left +me, when I implored you to let me go away. I couldn't speak then, for I +felt my tongue was tied; but I was as sane then, except in that way, as +I am now. I was in an agony of despair for a long time after you left +me; it seemed hours. Then there came a sudden peace to me. My brain +seemed to become cool again, and I realised where I was. I heard the +dogs bark behind our house, but not where He was!" As he spoke, Van +Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out and met mine and +gripped it hard. He did not, however, betray himself; he nodded slightly +and said: "Go on," in a low voice. Renfield proceeded:-- + +"He came up to the window in the mist, as I had seen him often before; +but he was solid then--not a ghost, and his eyes were fierce like a +man's when angry. He was laughing with his red mouth; the sharp white +teeth glinted in the moonlight when he turned to look back over the belt +of trees, to where the dogs were barking. I wouldn't ask him to come in +at first, though I knew he wanted to--just as he had wanted all along. +Then he began promising me things--not in words but by doing them." He +was interrupted by a word from the Professor:-- + +"How?" + +"By making them happen; just as he used to send in the flies when the +sun was shining. Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their +wings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on their +backs." Van Helsing nodded to him as he whispered to me unconsciously:-- + +"The _Acherontia Aitetropos of the Sphinges_--what you call the +'Death's-head Moth'?" The patient went on without stopping. + +"Then he began to whisper: 'Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, +millions of them, and every one a life; and dogs to eat them, and cats +too. All lives! all red blood, with years of life in it; and not merely +buzzing flies!' I laughed at him, for I wanted to see what he could do. +Then the dogs howled, away beyond the dark trees in His house. He +beckoned me to the window. I got up and looked out, and He raised his +hands, and seemed to call out without using any words. A dark mass +spread over the grass, coming on like the shape of a flame of fire; and +then He moved the mist to the right and left, and I could see that there +were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red--like His, only +smaller. He held up his hand, and they all stopped; and I thought he +seemed to be saying: 'All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more +and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship +me!' And then a red cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close +over my eyes; and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening +the sash and saying to Him: 'Come in, Lord and Master!' The rats were +all gone, but He slid into the room through the sash, though it was only +open an inch wide--just as the Moon herself has often come in through +the tiniest crack and has stood before me in all her size and +splendour." + +His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again, and +he continued; but it seemed as though his memory had gone on working in +the interval for his story was further advanced. I was about to call him +back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me: "Let him go on. Do +not interrupt him; he cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all +if once he lost the thread of his thought." He proceeded:-- + +"All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, not +even a blow-fly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him. +When he slid in through the window, though it was shut, and did not even +knock, I got mad with him. He sneered at me, and his white face looked +out of the mist with his red eyes gleaming, and he went on as though he +owned the whole place, and I was no one. He didn't even smell the same +as he went by me. I couldn't hold him. I thought that, somehow, Mrs. +Harker had come into the room." + +The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behind +him so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better. +They were both silent, but the Professor started and quivered; his face, +however, grew grimmer and sterner still. Renfield went on without +noticing:-- + +"When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon she wasn't the same; +it was like tea after the teapot had been watered." Here we all moved, +but no one said a word; he went on:-- + +"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look the +same. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood +in them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of it +at the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad +to know that He had been taking the life out of her." I could feel that +the rest quivered, as I did, but we remained otherwise still. "So when +He came to-night I was ready for Him. I saw the mist stealing in, and I +grabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength; and +as I knew I was a madman--at times anyhow--I resolved to use my power. +Ay, and He felt it too, for He had to come out of the mist to struggle +with me. I held tight; and I thought I was going to win, for I didn't +mean Him to take any more of her life, till I saw His eyes. They burned +into me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, and +when I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down. There +was a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed +to steal away under the door." His voice was becoming fainter and his +breath more stertorous. Van Helsing stood up instinctively. + +"We know the worst now," he said. "He is here, and we know his purpose. +It may not be too late. Let us be armed--the same as we were the other +night, but lose no time; there is not an instant to spare." There was no +need to put our fear, nay our conviction, into words--we shared them in +common. We all hurried and took from our rooms the same things that we +had when we entered the Count's house. The Professor had his ready, and +as we met in the corridor he pointed to them significantly as he said:-- + +"They never leave me; and they shall not till this unhappy business is +over. Be wise also, my friends. It is no common enemy that we deal with. +Alas! alas! that that dear Madam Mina should suffer!" He stopped; his +voice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated in +my own heart. + +Outside the Harkers' door we paused. Art and Quincey held back, and the +latter said:-- + +"Should we disturb her?" + +"We must," said Van Helsing grimly. "If the door be locked, I shall +break it in." + +"May it not frighten her terribly? It is unusual to break into a lady's +room!" + +Van Helsing said solemnly, "You are always right; but this is life and +death. All chambers are alike to the doctor; and even were they not they +are all as one to me to-night. Friend John, when I turn the handle, if +the door does not open, do you put your shoulder down and shove; and you +too, my friends. Now!" + +He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threw +ourselves against it; with a crash it burst open, and we almost fell +headlong into the room. The Professor did actually fall, and I saw +across him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I saw +appalled me. I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my neck, +and my heart seemed to stand still. + +The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind the room +was light enough to see. On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan +Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor. +Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad +figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. +His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw we all recognised +the Count--in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left +hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms +at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, +forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared +with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which +was shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible +resemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to +compel it to drink. As we burst into the room, the Count turned his +face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap +into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils +of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the +white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, +champed together like those of a wild beast. With a wrench, which threw +his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned +and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, +and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred +Wafer. The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside +the tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, +lifting our crucifixes, advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a +great black cloud sailed across the sky; and when the gaslight sprang up +under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as we +looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its bursting +open, had swung back to its old position. Van Helsing, Art, and I moved +forward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time had drawn her breath and with +it had given a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so despairing that it +seems to me now that it will ring in my ears till my dying day. For a +few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and disarray. Her face was +ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which smeared +her lips and cheeks and chin; from her throat trickled a thin stream of +blood; her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her +poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the +Count's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate wail +which made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression of an +endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and drew the coverlet gently +over her body, whilst Art, after looking at her face for an instant +despairingly, ran out of the room. Van Helsing whispered to me:-- + +"Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce. We can +do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a few moments till she recovers +herself; I must wake him!" He dipped the end of a towel in cold water +and with it began to flick him on the face, his wife all the while +holding her face between her hands and sobbing in a way that was +heart-breaking to hear. I raised the blind, and looked out of the +window. There was much moonshine; and as I looked I could see Quincey +Morris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great +yew-tree. It puzzled me to think why he was doing this; but at the +instant I heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial +consciousness, and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might well +be, was a look of wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and +then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he +started up. His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to +him with her arms stretched out, as though to embrace him; instantly, +however, she drew them in again, and putting her elbows together, held +her hands before her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook. + +"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out. "Dr. Seward, Dr. +Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is wrong? Mina, dear, +what is it? What does that blood mean? My God, my God! has it come to +this!" and, raising himself to his knees, he beat his hands wildly +together. "Good God help us! help her! oh, help her!" With a quick +movement he jumped from bed, and began to pull on his clothes,--all the +man in him awake at the need for instant exertion. "What has happened? +Tell me all about it!" he cried without pausing. "Dr. Van Helsing, you +love Mina, I know. Oh, do something to save her. It cannot have gone too +far yet. Guard her while I look for _him_!" His wife, through her terror +and horror and distress, saw some sure danger to him: instantly +forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of him and cried out:-- + +"No! no! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enough +to-night, God knows, without the dread of his harming you. You must stay +with me. Stay with these friends who will watch over you!" Her +expression became frantic as she spoke; and, he yielding to her, she +pulled him down sitting on the bed side, and clung to him fiercely. + +Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both. The Professor held up his +little golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness:-- + +"Do not fear, my dear. We are here; and whilst this is close to you no +foul thing can approach. You are safe for to-night; and we must be calm +and take counsel together." She shuddered and was silent, holding down +her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his white +night-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where +the thin open wound in her neck had sent forth drops. The instant she +saw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking +sobs:-- + +"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it +should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have +most cause to fear." To this he spoke out resolutely:-- + +"Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not +hear it of you; and I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my +deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, +if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out +his arms and folded her to his breast; and for a while she lay there +sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked +damply above his quivering nostrils; his mouth was set as steel. After a +while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then he said to +me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his nervous +power to the utmost:-- + +"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it. Too well I know the broad +fact; tell me all that has been." I told him exactly what had happened, +and he listened with seeming impassiveness; but his nostrils twitched +and his eyes blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had +held his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to +the open wound in his breast. It interested me, even at that moment, to +see, that, whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over +the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled +hair. Just as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at the door. +They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing looked at me +questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of +their coming to divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappy husband +and wife from each other and from themselves; so on nodding acquiescence +to him he asked them what they had seen or done. To which Lord Godalming +answered:-- + +"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our rooms. I +looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had gone. He had, +however----" He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping figure on +the bed. Van Helsing said gravely:-- + +"Go on, friend Arthur. We want here no more concealments. Our hope now +is in knowing all. Tell freely!" So Art went on:-- + +"He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few +seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the manuscript had been +burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes; the +cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax +had helped the flames." Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is the +other copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he +went on: "I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I looked +into Renfield's room; but there was no trace there except----!" Again he +paused. "Go on," said Harker hoarsely; so he bowed his head and +moistening his lips with his tongue, added: "except that the poor fellow +is dead." Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of +us she said solemnly:-- + +"God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping back +something; but, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing. +Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked:-- + +"And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?" + +"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at present I +can't say. I thought it well to know if possible where the Count would +go when he left the house. I did not see him; but I saw a bat rise from +Renfield's window, and flap westward. I expected to see him in some +shape go back to Carfax; but he evidently sought some other lair. He +will not be back to-night; for the sky is reddening in the east, and the +dawn is close. We must work to-morrow!" + +He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of perhaps +a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that I could +hear the sound of our hearts beating; then Van Helsing said, placing his +hand very tenderly on Mrs. Harker's head:-- + +"And now, Madam Mina--poor, dear, dear Madam Mina--tell us exactly what +happened. God knows that I do not want that you be pained; but it is +need that we know all. For now more than ever has all work to be done +quick and sharp, and in deadly earnest. The day is close to us that must +end all, if it may be so; and now is the chance that we may live and +learn." + +The poor, dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves +as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and +lower still on his breast. Then she raised her head proudly, and held +out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his, and, after stooping and +kissing it reverently, held it fast. The other hand was locked in that +of her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her protectingly. +After a pause in which she was evidently ordering her thoughts, she +began:-- + +"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, but for a +long time it did not act. I seemed to become more wakeful, and myriads +of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mind--all of them +connected with death, and vampires; with blood, and pain, and trouble." +Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and said +lovingly: "Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me +through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me +to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I +need your help. Well, I saw I must try to help the medicine to its work +with my will, if it was to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to +sleep. Sure enough sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no +more. Jonathan coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when +next I remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I +had before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this; you will find +it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague +terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some presence. +I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so soundly that it +seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping draught, and not I. I +tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I +looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me: beside +the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist--or rather as if the mist +had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared--stood a +tall, thin man, all in black. I knew him at once from the description of +the others. The waxen face; the high aquiline nose, on which the light +fell in a thin white line; the parted red lips, with the sharp white +teeth showing between; and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the +sunset on the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby. I knew, too, the +red scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant +my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was +paralysed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper, +pointing as he spoke to Jonathan:-- + +"'Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out +before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or +say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulder +and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did +so, 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well +be quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have +appeased my thirst!' I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not +want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that +such is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity +me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned +again. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as if +he were the injured one, and went on:-- + +"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How long +this horrible thing lasted I know not; but it seemed that a long time +must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away. I +saw it drip with the fresh blood!" The remembrance seemed for a while to +overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her +husband's sustaining arm. With a great effort she recovered herself and +went on:-- + +"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would play +your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and +frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in part already, +and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path. They +should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they +played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, and intrigued +for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were +born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now +to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin; my bountiful +wine-press for a while; and shall be later on my companion and my +helper. You shall be avenged in turn; for not one of them but shall +minister to your needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what you +have done. You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to my +call. When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or sea to +do my bidding; and to that end this!' With that he pulled open his +shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When +the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding +them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to +the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the---- Oh +my God! my God! what have I done? What have I done to deserve such a +fate, I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my +days. God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril; +and in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub her +lips as though to cleanse them from pollution. + +As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to quicken, +and everything became more and more clear. Harker was still and quiet; +but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look +which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first +red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out +against the whitening hair. + +We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappy +pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action. + +Of this I am sure: the sun rises to-day on no more miserable house in +all the great round of its daily course. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_3 October._--As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary. It +is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and +take something to eat; for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed +that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best will be, God +knows, required to-day. I must keep writing at every chance, for I dare +not stop to think. All, big and little, must go down; perhaps at the end +the little things may teach us most. The teaching, big or little, could +not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we are to-day. However, +we must trust and hope. Poor Mina told me just now, with the tears +running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and trial that our +faith is tested--that we must keep on trusting; and that God will aid us +up to the end. The end! oh my God! what end?... To work! To work! + +When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor +Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr. Seward +told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room below +they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a heap. His face was +all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the neck were broken. + +Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if he had +heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down--he confessed to +half dozing--when he heard loud voices in the room, and then Renfield +had called out loudly several times, "God! God! God!" after that there +was a sound of falling, and when he entered the room he found him lying +on the floor, face down, just as the doctors had seen him. Van Helsing +asked if he had heard "voices" or "a voice," and he said he could not +say; that at first it had seemed to him as if there were two, but as +there was no one in the room it could have been only one. He could swear +to it, if required, that the word "God" was spoken by the patient. Dr. +Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish to go into +the matter; the question of an inquest had to be considered, and it +would never do to put forward the truth, as no one would believe it. As +it was, he thought that on the attendant's evidence he could give a +certificate of death by misadventure in falling from bed. In case the +coroner should demand it, there would be a formal inquest, necessarily +to the same result. + +When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our next +step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full +confidence; that nothing of any sort--no matter how painful--should be +kept from her. She herself agreed as to its wisdom, and it was pitiful +to see her so brave and yet so sorrowful, and in such a depth of +despair. "There must be no concealment," she said, "Alas! we have had +too much already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that can +give me more pain than I have already endured--than I suffer now! +Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!" +Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said, suddenly +but quietly:-- + +"But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid; not for yourself, but for +others from yourself, after what has happened?" Her face grew set in its +lines, but her eyes shone with the devotion of a martyr as she +answered:-- + +"Ah no! for my mind is made up!" + +"To what?" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still; for each in +our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she meant. Her answer +came with direct simplicity, as though she were simply stating a fact:-- + +"Because if I find in myself--and I shall watch keenly for it--a sign of +harm to any that I love, I shall die!" + +"You would not kill yourself?" he asked, hoarsely. + +"I would; if there were no friend who loved me, who would save me such a +pain, and so desperate an effort!" She looked at him meaningly as she +spoke. He was sitting down; but now he rose and came close to her and +put his hand on her head as he said solemnly: + +"My child, there is such an one if it were for your good. For myself I +could hold it in my account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, +even at this moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my +child----" For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his +throat; he gulped it down and went on:-- + +"There are here some who would stand between you and death. You must not +die. You must not die by any hand; but least of all by your own. Until +the other, who has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not +die; for if he is still with the quick Un-Dead, your death would make +you even as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to +live, though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death +himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy; by the day, or the +night; in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you that you +do not die--nay, nor think of death--till this great evil be past." The +poor dear grew white as death, and shock and shivered, as I have seen a +quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide. We were all +silent; we could do nothing. At length she grew more calm and turning to +him said, sweetly, but oh! so sorrowfully, as she held out her hand:-- + +"I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will let me live, I shall +strive to do so; till, if it may be in His good time, this horror may +have passed away from me." She was so good and brave that we all felt +that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her, and we +began to discuss what we were to do. I told her that she was to have all +the papers in the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we +might hereafter use; and was to keep the record as she had done before. +She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do--if "pleased" could +be used in connection with so grim an interest. + +As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was +prepared with an exact ordering of our work. + +"It is perhaps well," he said, "that at our meeting after our visit to +Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth-boxes that lay +there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our purpose, and +would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such an +effort with regard to the others; but now he does not know our +intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such a +power exists to us as can sterilise his lairs, so that he cannot use +them as of old. We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as +to their disposition that, when we have examined the house in +Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them. To-day, then, is ours; +and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning +guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must +retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations +of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear +through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he +must open the door like a mortal. And so we have this day to hunt out +all his lairs and sterilise them. So we shall, if we have not yet catch +him and destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching +and the destroying shall be, in time, sure." Here I started up for I +could not contain myself at the thought that the minutes and seconds so +preciously laden with Mina's life and happiness were flying from us, +since whilst we talked action was impossible. But Van Helsing held up +his hand warningly. "Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the +quickest way home is the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all +act and act with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in +all probable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly. +The Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will have +deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper that he +write on; he will have his book of cheques. There are many belongings +that he must have somewhere; why not in this place so central, so quiet, +where he come and go by the front or the back at all hour, when in the +very vast of the traffic there is none to notice. We shall go there and +search that house; and when we learn what it holds, then we do what our +friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt 'stop the earths' and so we +run down our old fox--so? is it not?" + +"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious, +precious time!" The Professor did not move, but simply said:-- + +"And how are we to get into that house in Piccadilly?" + +"Any way!" I cried. "We shall break in if need be." + +"And your police; where will they be, and what will they say?" + +I was staggered; but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a good +reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could:-- + +"Don't wait more than need be; you know, I am sure, what torture I am +in." + +"Ah, my child, that I do; and indeed there is no wish of me to add to +your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the world be at +movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and thought, and it +seems to me that the simplest way is the best of all. Now we wish to get +into the house, but we have no key; is it not so?" I nodded. + +"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and could +not still get it; and think there was to you no conscience of the +housebreaker, what would you do?" + +"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the +lock for me." + +"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?" + +"Oh, no! not if they knew the man was properly employed." + +"Then," he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, "all that is in doubt is +the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your policemen as to +whether or no that employer has a good conscience or a bad one. Your +police must indeed be zealous men and clever--oh, so clever!--in reading +the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter. No, no, my +friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty house in this +your London, or of any city in the world; and if you do it as such +things are rightly done, and at the time such things are rightly done, +no one will interfere. I have read of a gentleman who owned a so fine +house in London, and when he went for months of summer to Switzerland +and lock up his house, some burglar came and broke window at back and +got in. Then he went and made open the shutters in front and walk out +and in through the door, before the very eyes of the police. Then he +have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice; +and when the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of +that other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell him +that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take all away +within a certain time. And your police and other authority help him all +they can. And when that owner come back from his holiday in Switzerland +he find only an empty hole where his house had been. This was all done +_en règle_; and in our work we shall be _en règle_ too. We shall not go +so early that the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem +it strange; but we shall go after ten o'clock, when there are many +about, and such things would be done were we indeed owners of the +house." + +I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Mina's +face became relaxed a thought; there was hope in such good counsel. Van +Helsing went on:-- + +"When once within that house we may find more clues; at any rate some of +us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places where there be +more earth-boxes--at Bermondsey and Mile End." + +Lord Godalming stood up. "I can be of some use here," he said. "I shall +wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most +convenient." + +"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to have all +ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don't you think that one +of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byway of +Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes? +It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south or east; and +even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are going to." + +"Friend Quincey is right!" said the Professor. "His head is what you +call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we go to +do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may." + +Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to see +that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the +terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale--almost +ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in +somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last, lest it should give +her needless pain; but it made my blood run cold in my veins to think of +what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood. As +yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper; but the time as yet +was short, and there was time for fear. + +When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of the +disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt. It was +finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should destroy the +Count's lair close at hand. In case he should find it out too soon, we +should thus be still ahead of him in our work of destruction; and his +presence in his purely material shape, and at his weakest, might give us +some new clue. + +As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that, +after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in Piccadilly; +that the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming +and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed them. +It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the Count +might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we might be +able to cope with him then and there. At any rate, we might be able to +follow him in force. To this plan I strenuously objected, and so far as +my going was concerned, for I said that I intended to stay and protect +Mina, I thought that my mind was made up on the subject; but Mina would +not listen to my objection. She said that there might be some law matter +in which I could be useful; that amongst the Count's papers might be +some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania; +and that, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to +cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for Mina's +resolution was fixed; she said that it was the last hope for _her_ that +we should all work together. "As for me," she said, "I have no fear. +Things have been as bad as they can be; and whatever may happen must +have in it some element of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if +He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any one present." So I +started up crying out: "Then in God's name let us come at once, for we +are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier than we +think." + +"Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand. + +"But why?" I asked. + +"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last night he +banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?" + +Did I forget! shall I ever--can I ever! Can any of us ever forget that +terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance; but +the pain overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and +shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had not intended to recall her +frightful experience. He had simply lost sight of her and her part in +the affair in his intellectual effort. When it struck him what he said, +he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her. "Oh, +Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I of all who so +reverence you should have said anything so forgetful. These stupid old +lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so; but you will +forget it, will you not?" He bent low beside her as he spoke; she took +his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely:-- + +"No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember; and with it I +have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all +together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is ready, and we +must all eat that we may be strong." + +Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful and +encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of +us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:-- + +"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we +all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's +lair; armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured +him. "Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case _quite_ safe +here until the sunset; and before then we shall return--if---- We shall +return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attack. I +have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing +of things of which we know, so that He may not enter. Now let me guard +yourself. On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the +name of the Father, the Son, and----" + +There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear. As he +had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it--had burned +into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. My poor +darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as +her nerves received the pain of it; and the two so overwhelmed her that +her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream. But the +words to her thought came quickly; the echo of the scream had not ceased +to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her +knees on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair +over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out:-- + +"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must +bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day." They +all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless +grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our +sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away +their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said +gravely; so gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some +way inspired, and was stating things outside himself:-- + +"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, +as He most surely shall, on the Judgment Day, to redress all wrongs of +the earth and of His children that He has placed thereon. And oh, Madam +Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that +red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, +and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as +we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the +burden that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did +in obedience to His Will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of +His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other +through stripes and shame; through tears and blood; through doubts and +fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man." + +There was hope in his words, and comfort; and they made for resignation. +Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old +man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then without a word we all +knelt down together, and, all holding hands, swore to be true to each +other. We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the +head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved; and we prayed for help +and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us. + +It was then time to start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which +neither of us shall forget to our dying day; and we set out. + +To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a +vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible +land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant +many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so +the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks. + +We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on +the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic +surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such +fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been made up, and had there +not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded +with our task. We found no papers, or any sign of use in the house; and +in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them last. +Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before them:-- + +"And now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilise this +earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far +distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has +been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more +holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to +God." As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and +very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth smelled +musty and close; but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention +was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his box a piece of the +Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down +the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked. + +One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left +them as we had found them to all appearance; but in each was a portion +of the Host. + +When we closed the door behind us, the Professor said solemnly:-- + +"So much is already done. If it may be that with all the others we can +be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may shine on Madam +Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!" + +As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our +train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly, and in the +window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her, and nodded to +tell that our work there was successfully accomplished. She nodded in +reply to show that she understood. The last I saw, she was waving her +hand in farewell. It was with a heavy heart that we sought the station +and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the +platform. + +I have written this in the train. + + * * * * * + +_Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock._--Just before we reached Fenchurch Street +Lord Godalming said to me:-- + +"Quincey and I will find a locksmith. You had better not come with us in +case there should be any difficulty; for under the circumstances it +wouldn't seem so bad for us to break into an empty house. But you are a +solicitor and the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you +should have known better." I demurred as to my not sharing any danger +even of odium, but he went on: "Besides, it will attract less attention +if there are not too many of us. My title will make it all right with +the locksmith, and with any policeman that may come along. You had +better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park, +somewhere in sight of the house; and when you see the door opened and +the smith has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the +lookout for you, and shall let you in." + +"The advice is good!" said Van Helsing, so we said no more. Godalming +and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another. At the corner +of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into the Green +Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was +centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst +its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours. We sat down on a bench +within good view, and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little +attention as possible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we +waited for the coming of the others. + +At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in leisurely +fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris; and down from the box descended +a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of tools. Morris paid +the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away. Together the two +ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he wanted done. +The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it on one of the spikes +of the rail, saying something to a policeman who just then sauntered +along. The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the man kneeling down +placed his bag beside him. After searching through it, he took out a +selection of tools which he produced to lay beside him in orderly +fashion. Then he stood up, looked into the keyhole, blew into it, and +turning to his employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and +the man lifted a good-sized bunch of keys; selecting one of them, he +began to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling +about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once the +door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two others +entered the hall. We sat still; my own cigar burnt furiously, but Van +Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited patiently as we saw the +workman come out and bring in his bag. Then he held the door partly +open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he fitted a key to the lock. +This he finally handed to Lord Godalming, who took out his purse and +gave him something. The man touched his hat, took his bag, put on his +coat and departed; not a soul took the slightest notice of the whole +transaction. + +When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and knocked at +the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom stood +Lord Godalming lighting a cigar. + +"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in. It did +indeed smell vilely--like the old chapel at Carfax--and with our +previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using the +place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all keeping together +in case of attack; for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy to deal +with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be in the +house. In the dining-room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found +eight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine, which we sought! +Our work was not over, and would never be until we should have found the +missing box. First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out +across a narrow stone-flagged yard at the blank face of a stable, +pointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no +windows in it, so we were not afraid of being over-looked. We did not +lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we had +brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as we had +treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us that the +Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to search for +any of his effects. + +After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement to attic, +we came to the conclusion that the dining-room contained any effects +which might belong to the Count; and so we proceeded to minutely examine +them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the great dining-room +table. There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great bundle; +deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and Bermondsey; +note-paper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were covered up in thin +wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There were also a clothes +brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin--the latter containing +dirty water which was reddened as if with blood. Last of all was a +little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes, probably those belonging to +the other houses. When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming +and Quincey Morris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the +houses in the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great +bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest of us +are, with what patience we can, waiting their return--or the coming of +the Count. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--The time seemed terrible long whilst we were waiting for +the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep +our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent +purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. +The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. +Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful +face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. To-day he is a drawn, +haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning +eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in +fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for, if +all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period; he will then, +in a kind of way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I +thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his----! The Professor knows +this well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind active. What he +has been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interest. So +well as I can remember, here it is:-- + +"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands, all +the papers relating to this monster; and the more I have studied, the +greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out. All through there +are signs of his advance; not only of his power, but of his knowledge of +it. As I learned from the researches of my friend Arminus of Buda-Pesth, +he was in life a most wonderful man. Soldier, statesman, and +alchemist--which latter was the highest development of the +science-knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond +compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse. He dared even to +attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time +that he did not essay. Well, in him the brain powers survived the +physical death; though it would seem that memory was not all complete. +In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is +growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of +man's stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well; and if it had not +been that we have crossed his path he would be yet--he may be yet if we +fail--the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must +lead through Death, not Life." + +Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my darling! +But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him!" + +"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but +surely; that big child-brain of his is working. Well for us, it is, as +yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain +things he would long ago have been beyond our power. However, he means +to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait +and to go slow. _Festina lente_ may well be his motto." + +"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "Oh, do be more plain to +me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain." + +The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke:-- + +"Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late, this +monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How he has been +making use of the zoöphagous patient to effect his entry into friend +John's home; for your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when +and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto by +an inmate. But these are not his most important experiments. Do we not +see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others. He +knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great +child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he +might not himself move the box. So he began to help; and then, when he +found that this be all-right, he try to move them all alone. And so he +progress, and he scatter these graves of him; and none but he know where +they are hidden. He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So +that he only use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his +form, they do him equal well; and none may know these are his +hiding-place! But, my child, do not despair; this knowledge come to him +just too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilise as for him; +and before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no place where he +can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we might be sure. Is +there not more at stake for us than for him? Then why we not be even +more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be +well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us. To-day is our +day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance. See! there are +five of us when those absent ones return." + +Whilst he was speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door, the +double postman's knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved out to the +hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us to +keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The boy handed in a +despatch. The Professor closed the door again, and, after looking at the +direction, opened it and read aloud. + +"Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and +hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the round and may want +to see you: Mina." + +There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice:-- + +"Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!" Van Helsing turned to him +quickly and said:-- + +"God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice +as yet; for what we wish for at the moment may be our undoings." + +"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this +brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!" + +"Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing. "God does not purchase +souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep +faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your +devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her pain would be +doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not fear any of us, we are +all devoted to this cause, and to-day shall see the end. The time is +coming for action; to-day this Vampire is limit to the powers of man, +and till sunset he may not change. It will take him time to arrive +here--see, it is twenty minutes past one--and there are yet some times +before he can hither come, be he never so quick. What we must hope for +is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first." + +About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram, there +came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an ordinary +knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made +the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. We looked at each other, and +together moved out into the hall; we each held ready to use our various +armaments--the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right. Van +Helsing pulled back the latch, and, holding the door half open, stood +back, having both hands ready for action. The gladness of our hearts +must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we +saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed +the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the +hall:-- + +"It is all right. We found both places; six boxes in each and we +destroyed them all!" + +"Destroyed?" asked the Professor. + +"For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said:-- + +"There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn't turn up +by five o'clock, we must start off; for it won't do to leave Mrs. Harker +alone after sunset." + +"He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been +consulting his pocket-book. "_Nota bene_, in Madam's telegram he went +south from Carfax, that means he went to cross the river, and he could +only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one +o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is as yet only +suspicious; and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would +suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a +short time before him. That he is not here already shows that he went to +Mile End next. This took him some time; for he would then have to be +carried over the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not +have long to wait now. We should have ready some plan of attack, so that +we may throw away no chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your +arms! Be ready!" He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could +hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door. + +I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a +dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and +adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always +been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been +accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be +renewed instinctively. With a swift glance around the room, he at once +laid out our plan of attack, and, without speaking a word, with a +gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing, Harker, and I were +just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could +guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door. +Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to +move in front of the window. We waited in a suspense that made the +seconds pass with nightmare slowness. The slow, careful steps came along +the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise--at least +he feared it. + +Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room, winning a way past +us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There was something +so panther-like in the movement--something so unhuman, that it seemed +to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was +Harker, who, with a quick movement, threw himself before the door +leading into the room in the front of the house. As the Count saw us, a +horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth long +and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of +lion-like disdain. His expression again changed as, with a single +impulse, we all advanced upon him. It was a pity that we had not some +better organised plan of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what +we were to do. I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would +avail us anything. Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had +ready his great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The +blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's +leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had shorne +through his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat, +making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of gold +fell out. The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that for a +moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife +aloft again for another stroke. Instinctively I moved forward with a +protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I +felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise that I +saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously +by each one of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of +hate and baffled malignity--of anger and hellish rage--which came over +the Count's face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast +of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the +pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next instant, with a sinuous +dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere his blow could fall, and, grasping +a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room, threw +himself at the window. Amid the crash and glitter of the falling glass, +he tumbled into the flagged area below. Through the sound of the +shivering glass I could hear the "ting" of the gold, as some of the +sovereigns fell on the flagging. + +We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up +the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door. +There he turned and spoke to us:-- + +"You think to baffle me, you--with your pale faces all in a row, like +sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You think +you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is +just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your +girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and +others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my +jackals when I want to feed. Bah!" With a contemptuous sneer, he passed +quickly through the door, and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he +fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut. The first of us +to speak was the Professor, as, realising the difficulty of following +him through the stable, we moved toward the hall. + +"We have learnt something--much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he +fears us; he fear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His +very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take that money? You +follow quick. You are hunters of wild beast, and understand it so. For +me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use to him, if so that he +return." As he spoke he put the money remaining into his pocket; took +the title-deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the +remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with +a match. + +Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker had +lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had, however, +bolted the stable door; and by the time they had forced it open there +was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back +of the house; but the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart. + +It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We had to +recognise that our game was up; with heavy hearts we agreed with the +Professor when he said:-- + +"Let us go back to Madam Mina--poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do +just now is done; and we can there, at least, protect her. But we need +not despair. There is but one more earth-box, and we must try to find +it; when that is done all may yet be well." I could see that he spoke as +bravely as he could to comfort Harker. The poor fellow was quite broken +down; now and again he gave a low groan which he could not suppress--he +was thinking of his wife. + +With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker +waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her +bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her own became as +pale as death: for a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were +in secret prayer; and then she said cheerfully:-- + +"I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling!" As she spoke, +she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed it--"Lay your +poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well, dear! God will protect +us if He so will it in His good intent." The poor fellow groaned. There +was no place for words in his sublime misery. + +We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered us +all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to hungry +people--for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast--or the sense +of companionship may have helped us; but anyhow we were all less +miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope. True to +our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed; and +although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to +threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion to her was +manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness. When we came to the +part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly, she clung to +her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could +protect him from any harm that might come. She said nothing, however, +till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought right up +to the present time. Then without letting go her husband's hand she +stood up amongst us and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the +scene; of that sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty +of her youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which +she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our +teeth--remembering whence and how it came; her loving kindness against +our grim hate; her tender faith against all our fears and doubting; and +we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and +purity and faith, was outcast from God. + +"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips it was +so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you all my true, +true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all this +dreadful time. I know that you must fight--that you must destroy even as +you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter; +but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this +misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when +he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have +spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too, though it may +not hold your hands from his destruction." + +As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together, as +though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core. +Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer, till his +knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain which I knew she +must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes that were more appealing +than ever. As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing +his hand from hers as he spoke:-- + +"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that +earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send +his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!" + +"Oh, hush! oh, hush! in the name of the good God. Don't say such things, +Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just +think, my dear--I have been thinking all this long, long day of it--that +... perhaps ... some day ... I, too, may need such pity; and that some +other like you--and with equal cause for anger--may deny it to me! Oh, +my husband! my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought +had there been another way; but I pray that God may not have treasured +your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a very loving and +sorely stricken man. Oh, God, let these poor white hairs go in evidence +of what he has suffered, who all his life has done no wrong, and on whom +so many sorrows have come." + +We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and we wept +openly. She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed. +Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and putting his arms +round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress. Van Helsing beckoned +to us and we stole out of the room, leaving the two loving hearts alone +with their God. + +Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming +of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace. +She tried to school herself to the belief, and, manifestly for her +husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle; and was, +I think and believe, not without its reward. Van Helsing had placed at +hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency. +When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should +sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the +poor stricken lady. The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us +shall be off to bed as soon as we can. Godalming has already turned in, +for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done I, too, shall go +to bed. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_3-4 October, close to midnight._--I thought yesterday would never end. +There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind belief +that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any change must +now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed what our next step +was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All we knew was that one +earth-box remained, and that the Count alone knew where it was. If he +chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years; and in the +meantime!--the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of it even now. +This I know: that if ever there was a woman who was all perfection, that +one is my poor wronged darling. I love her a thousand times more for her +sweet pity of last night, a pity that made my own hate of the monster +seem despicable. Surely God will not permit the world to be the poorer +by the loss of such a creature. This is hope to me. We are all drifting +reefwards now, and faith is our only anchor. Thank God! Mina is +sleeping, and sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be +like, with such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so +calm, within my seeing, since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came +over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of March. +I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red sunset on her +face, but somehow now I think it has a deeper meaning. I am not sleepy +myself, though I am weary--weary to death. However, I must try to sleep; +for there is to-morrow to think of, and there is no rest for me +until.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awaked by Mina, who was +sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could see easily, +for we did not leave the room in darkness; she had placed a warning hand +over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear:-- + +"Hush! there is someone in the corridor!" I got up softly, and crossing +the room, gently opened the door. + +Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake. He +raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me:-- + +"Hush! go back to bed; it is all right. One of us will be here all +night. We don't mean to take any chances!" + +His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina. +She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor, pale +face as she put her arms round me and said softly:-- + +"Oh, thank God for good brave men!" With a sigh she sank back again to +sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again. + + * * * * * + +_4 October, morning._--Once again during the night I was wakened by +Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming +dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas flame was +like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:-- + +"Go, call the Professor. I want to see him at once." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured +without my knowing it. He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I +shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest; the time is getting close." I +went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing +me, he sprang to his feet. + +"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm. + +"No," I replied; "but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once." + +"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room. + +In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his +dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at +the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a smile--a +positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as he +said:-- + +"Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See! friend Jonathan, +we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day!" Then +turning to her, he said, cheerfully: "And what am I do for you? For at +this hour you do not want me for nothings." + +"I want you to hypnotise me!" she said. "Do it before the dawn, for I +feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is +short!" Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed. + +Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her, +from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn. Mina +gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat +like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually +her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of +her bosom could one know that she was alive. The Professor made a few +more passes and then stopped, and I could see that his forehead was +covered with great beads of perspiration. Mina opened her eyes; but she +did not seem the same woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and +her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to +impose silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. +They came on tip-toe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the +foot of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The +stillness was broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone +which would not break the current of her thoughts:-- + +"Where are you?" The answer came in a neutral way:-- + +"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own." For several +minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood +staring at her fixedly; the rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room +was growing lighter; without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van +Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed +just upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse +itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke again:-- + +"Where are you now?" The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it +were as though she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the +same tone when reading her shorthand notes. + +"I do not know. It is all strange to me!" + +"What do you see?" + +"I can see nothing; it is all dark." + +"What do you hear?" I could detect the strain in the Professor's patient +voice. + +"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can +hear them on the outside." + +"Then you are on a ship?" We all looked at each other, trying to glean +something each from the other. We were afraid to think. The answer came +quick:-- + +"Oh, yes!" + +"What else do you hear?" + +"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the +creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan +falls into the rachet." + +"What are you doing?" + +"I am still--oh, so still. It is like death!" The voice faded away into +a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again. + +By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of +day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid her +head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a sleeping child for a few +moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder to see +us all around her. "Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said. +She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling, though she +was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the +conversation, and she said:-- + +"Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late!" Mr. +Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor's calm +voice called them back:-- + +"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor +whilst she spoke. There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in +your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek? God be +thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead us we +know not. We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of men, +since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking +forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen! Alas, but +that sentence is a puddle; is it not? We can know now what was in the +Count's mind, when he seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce +knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear +me, ESCAPE! He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men +following like dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He +have take his last earth-box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He +think to escape, but no! we follow him. Tally Ho! as friend Arthur would +say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily; oh! so wily, and +we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a +little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters +between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he +would--unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or +slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to +us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need, +and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with +us." Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:-- + +"But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?" He +took her hand and patted it as he replied:-- + +"Ask me nothings as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all +questions." He would say no more, and we separated to dress. + +After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her gravely for +a minute and then said sorrowfully:-- + +"Because my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him +even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!" She grew paler as +she asked faintly:-- + +"Why?" + +"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you are +but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark +upon your throat." + +I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY, SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING + + +This to Jonathan Harker. + +You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our +search--if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we +seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her to-day. +This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him +here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, +for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away; he have gone back +to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of +fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and +that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the +money; for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun +go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that +he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him. +But there was not of time. When that fail he make straight for his last +resource--his last earth-work I might say did I wish _double entente_. +He is clever, oh, so clever! he know that his game here was finish; and +so he decide he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came, +and he go in it. We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound; +when we have discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will +comfort you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope +when you think it over: that all is not lost. This very creature that we +pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London; and yet in +one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is +finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. +But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong +together. Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is +but begun, and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high +to watch over His children. Therefore be of much comfort till we return. + +VAN HELSING. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 October._--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the +phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the +certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort; +and comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that his horrible +danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to +believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem +like a long-forgotten dream. Here in the crisp autumn air in the bright +sunlight---- + +Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on +the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst that lasts, +there can be no disbelief. And afterwards the very memory of it will +keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle, so we have been +over all the diaries again and again. Somehow, although the reality +seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less. There is +something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting. +Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may +be! I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other +yet of the future. It is better to wait till we see the Professor and +the others after their investigations. + +The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run +for me again. It is now three o'clock. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, 5 p. m._--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van +Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan +Harker, Mina Harker. + +Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to +discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape:-- + +"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure that +he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea, since +by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne +ignotum pro magnifico_; and so with heavy hearts we start to find what +ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He was in sailing ship, since +Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in +your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go, by suggestion of +Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail, +however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound ship go +out with the tide. She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail from +Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence on to other parts and up the +Danube. 'Soh!' said I, 'this is the ship whereon is the Count.' So off +we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office of wood +so small that the man look bigger than the office. From him we inquire +of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much, and he red face +and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same; and when Quincey +give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up, and +put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing, he +still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us, and ask +many men who are rough and hot; these be better fellows too when they +have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom, and of +others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but +nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know. + +"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five +o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with high nose +and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning. That he be all in +black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the +time. That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what ship +sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some took him to the office and +then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at shore end of +gang-plank, and ask that the captain come to him. The captain come, when +told that he will be pay well; and though he swear much at the first he +agree to term. Then the thin man go and some one tell him where horse +and cart can be hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself +driving cart on which a great box; this he himself lift down, though it +take several to put it on truck for the ship. He give much talk to +captain as to how and where his box is to be place; but the captain like +it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him that if he like he +can come and see where it shall be. But he say 'no'; that he come not +yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the captain tell him that he +had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will leave the +place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then the thin +man smile and say that of course he must go when he think fit; but he +will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear again, +polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he +will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the +sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues tell +him that he doesn't want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and also +with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after asking +where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase ship +forms, he departed. + +"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared,' as they said, for +they had something else to think of--well with blood again; for it soon +became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as +was expected. A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it grew, +and grew; till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around her. +The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and +blood; but he could do nothing. The water rose and rose; and he began to +fear that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly mood, +when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank again and +asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain replied +that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and +blood--were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and went down +with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and stood awhile +on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him. +Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away, and +all was clear again. My friends of the thirst and the language that was +of bloom and blood laughed, as they told how the captain's swears +exceeded even his usual polyglot, and was more than ever full of +picturesque, when on questioning other mariners who were on movement up +and down on the river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any +of fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However, the ship +went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the +river mouth. She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea. + +"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for +our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way to the +Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she never so quick; and when +we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there. Our best hope +is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset; for then +he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There +are days for us, in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about +where he go; for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us +invoices and all papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in +Varna, and to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present +his credentials; and so our merchant friend will have done his part. +When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and +have inquiry made at Varna, we say 'no'; for what is to be done is not +for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone and in our own +way." + +When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain +that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied: "We have the +best proof of that: your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance this +morning." I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should +pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that +he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing passion, +at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more +forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some +of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst +men:-- + +"Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary! For your sake in the first, +and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done much harm +already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short +time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in +darkness and not knowing. All this have I told these others; you, my +dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or +in that of your husband. I have told them how the measure of leaving his +own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life +of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the +work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do +what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have +been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of +nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in +some wondrous way. The very place, where he have been alive, Un-Dead for +all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical +world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither. +There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters +of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless, +there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of +occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in +himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike +time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain, +more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in +strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and +thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which +is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from, +and are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have +infect you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for +good of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do +no more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and +so in time, death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction, +shall make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together +that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the +world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, +whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one +soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem +more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if +we fall, we fall in good cause." He paused and I said:-- + +"But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely? Since he has been driven +from England, will he not avoid it, as a tiger does the village from +which he has been hunted?" + +"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall +adopt him. Your man-eater, as they of India call the tiger who has once +tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other prey, but prowl +unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from our village is a +tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay, in himself he +is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life, he go +over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be +beaten back, but did he stay? No! He come again, and again, and again. +Look at his persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was to +him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What +does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise for +him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task. He +find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers. He +study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old +ways, the politic, the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a new +land and a new people who have come to be since he was. His glimpse that +he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it help +him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he was at +the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone! from a +ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater +world of thought is open to him. He that can smile at death, as we know +him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole +peoples. Oh, if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil, +what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours. But we +are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence, and our +efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believe not +even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest +strength. It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons +to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even our own souls +for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind, and for the +honour and glory of God." + +After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing +be definitely settled; that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to +think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow, at breakfast, we are to +meet again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another, we +shall decide on some definite cause of action. + + * * * * * + +I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting +presence were removed from me. Perhaps ... + +My surmise was not finished, could not be; for I caught sight in the +mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still +unclean. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 October._--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for +each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was more +general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience +again. + +It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let +any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way--even by +death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment. More +than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder whether +the whole of the past days had not been a dream. It was only when I +caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that I was +brought back to reality. Even now, when I am gravely revolving the +matter, it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all our +trouble is still existent. Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her +trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again, when something +recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar. We are to +meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of +action. I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct +rather than reason: we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear +that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I _know_ +that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can +guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not, or +cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing, and +he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is some of +that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work. The +Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called "the +Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be a poison that distils +itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is +a mystery we should not wonder at anything! One thing I know: that if my +instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a +terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us. The same +power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think +further; for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman! + +Van Helsing is coming to my study a little before the others. I shall +try to open the subject with him. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of +things. I could see that he had something on his mind which he wanted to +say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject. After beating +about the bush a little, he said suddenly:-- + +"Friend John, there is something that you and I must talk of alone, just +at the first at any rate. Later, we may have to take the others into our +confidence"; then he stopped, so I waited; he went on:-- + +"Madam Mina, our poor, dear Madam Mina is changing." A cold shiver ran +through me to find my worst fears thus endorsed. Van Helsing +continued:-- + +"With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be warned +before things go too far. Our task is now in reality more difficult than +ever, and this new trouble makes every hour of the direst importance. I +can see the characteristics of the vampire coming in her face. It is now +but very, very slight; but it is to be seen if we have eyes to notice +without to prejudge. Her teeth are some sharper, and at times her eyes +are more hard. But these are not all, there is to her the silence now +often; as so it was with Miss Lucy. She did not speak, even when she +wrote that which she wished to be known later. Now my fear is this. If +it be that she can, by our hypnotic trance, tell what the Count see and +hear, is it not more true that he who have hypnotise her first, and who +have drink of her very blood and make her drink of his, should, if he +will, compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?" I nodded +acquiescence; he went on:-- + +"Then, what we must do is to prevent this; we must keep her ignorant of +our intent, and so she cannot tell what she know not. This is a painful +task! Oh, so painful that it heart-break me to think of; but it must be. +When to-day we meet, I must tell her that for reason which we will not +to speak she must not more be of our council, but be simply guarded by +us." He wiped his forehead, which had broken out in profuse perspiration +at the thought of the pain which he might have to inflict upon the poor +soul already so tortured. I knew that it would be some sort of comfort +to him if I told him that I also had come to the same conclusion; for at +any rate it would take away the pain of doubt. I told him, and the +effect was as I expected. + +It is now close to the time of our general gathering. Van Helsing has +gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful part of it. I +really believe his purpose is to be able to pray alone. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was +experienced by both Van Helsing and myself. Mrs. Harker had sent a +message by her husband to say that she would not join us at present, as +she thought it better that we should be free to discuss our movements +without her presence to embarrass us. The Professor and I looked at each +other for an instant, and somehow we both seemed relieved. For my own +part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker realised the danger herself, it was +much pain as well as much danger averted. Under the circumstances we +agreed, by a questioning look and answer, with finger on lip, to +preserve silence in our suspicions, until we should have been able to +confer alone again. We went at once into our Plan of Campaign. Van +Helsing roughly put the facts before us first:-- + +"The _Czarina Catherine_ left the Thames yesterday morning. It will take +her at the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to +reach Varna; but we can travel overland to the same place in three days. +Now, if we allow for two days less for the ship's voyage, owing to such +weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to bear; and if +we allow a whole day and night for any delays which may occur to us, +then we have a margin of nearly two weeks. Thus, in order to be quite +safe, we must leave here on 17th at latest. Then we shall at any rate +be in Varna a day before the ship arrives, and able to make such +preparations as may be necessary. Of course we shall all go armed--armed +against evil things, spiritual as well as physical." Here Quincey Morris +added:-- + +"I understand that the Count comes from a wolf country, and it may be +that he shall get there before us. I propose that we add Winchesters to +our armament. I have a kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any +trouble of that sort around. Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack +after us at Tobolsk? What wouldn't we have given then for a repeater +apiece!" + +"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be. Quincey's head is +level at all times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more +dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man. In the meantime we +can do nothing here; and as I think that Varna is not familiar to any of +us, why not go there more soon? It is as long to wait here as there. +To-night and to-morrow we can get ready, and then, if all be well, we +four can set out on our journey." + +"We four?" said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to another of +us. + +"Of course!" answered the Professor quickly, "you must remain to take +care of your so sweet wife!" Harker was silent for awhile and then said +in a hollow voice:-- + +"Let us talk of that part of it in the morning. I want to consult with +Mina." I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not +to disclose our plans to her; but he took no notice. I looked at him +significantly and coughed. For answer he put his finger on his lips and +turned away. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, afternoon._--For some time after our meeting this morning I +could not think. The new phases of things leave my mind in a state of +wonder which allows no room for active thought. Mina's determination not +to take any part in the discussion set me thinking; and as I could not +argue the matter with her, I could only guess. I am as far as ever from +a solution now. The way the others received it, too, puzzled me; the +last time we talked of the subject we agreed that there was to be no +more concealment of anything amongst us. Mina is sleeping now, calmly +and sweetly like a little child. Her lips are curved and her face beams +with happiness. Thank God, there are such moments still for her. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--How strange it all is. I sat watching Mina's happy sleep, and +came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be. As the +evening drew on, and the earth took its shadows from the sun sinking +lower, the silence of the room grew more and more solemn to me. All at +once Mina opened her eyes, and looking at me tenderly, said:-- + +"Jonathan, I want you to promise me something on your word of honour. A +promise made to me, but made holily in God's hearing, and not to be +broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter +tears. Quick, you must make it to me at once." + +"Mina," I said, "a promise like that, I cannot make at once. I may have +no right to make it." + +"But, dear one," she said, with such spiritual intensity that her eyes +were like pole stars, "it is I who wish it; and it is not for myself. +You can ask Dr. Van Helsing if I am not right; if he disagrees you may +do as you will. Nay, more, if you all agree, later, you are absolved +from the promise." + +"I promise!" I said, and for a moment she looked supremely happy; though +to me all happiness for her was denied by the red scar on her forehead. +She said:-- + +"Promise me that you will not tell me anything of the plans formed for +the campaign against the Count. Not by word, or inference, or +implication; not at any time whilst this remains to me!" and she +solemnly pointed to the scar. I saw that she was in earnest, and said +solemnly:-- + +"I promise!" and as I said it I felt that from that instant a door had +been shut between us. + + * * * * * + +_Later, midnight._--Mina has been bright and cheerful all the evening. +So much so that all the rest seemed to take courage, as if infected +somewhat with her gaiety; as a result even I myself felt as if the pall +of gloom which weighs us down were somewhat lifted. We all retired +early. Mina is now sleeping like a little child; it is a wonderful thing +that her faculty of sleep remains to her in the midst of her terrible +trouble. Thank God for it, for then at least she can forget her care. +Perhaps her example may affect me as her gaiety did to-night. I shall +try it. Oh! for a dreamless sleep. + + * * * * * + +_6 October, morning._--Another surprise. Mina woke me early, about the +same time as yesterday, and asked me to bring Dr. Van Helsing. I thought +that it was another occasion for hypnotism, and without question went +for the Professor. He had evidently expected some such call, for I found +him dressed in his room. His door was ajar, so that he could hear the +opening of the door of our room. He came at once; as he passed into the +room, he asked Mina if the others might come, too. + +"No," she said quite simply, "it will not be necessary. You can tell +them just as well. I must go with you on your journey." + +Dr. Van Helsing was as startled as I was. After a moment's pause he +asked:-- + +"But why?" + +"You must take me with you. I am safer with you, and you shall be safer, +too." + +"But why, dear Madam Mina? You know that your safety is our solemnest +duty. We go into danger, to which you are, or may be, more liable than +any of us from--from circumstances--things that have been." He paused, +embarrassed. + +As she replied, she raised her finger and pointed to her forehead:-- + +"I know. That is why I must go. I can tell you now, whilst the sun is +coming up; I may not be able again. I know that when the Count wills me +I must go. I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by +wile; by any device to hoodwink--even Jonathan." God saw the look that +she turned on me as she spoke, and if there be indeed a Recording Angel +that look is noted to her everlasting honour. I could only clasp her +hand. I could not speak; my emotion was too great for even the relief of +tears. She went on:-- + +"You men are brave and strong. You are strong in your numbers, for you +can defy that which would break down the human endurance of one who had +to guard alone. Besides, I may be of service, since you can hypnotise me +and so learn that which even I myself do not know." Dr. Van Helsing said +very gravely:-- + +"Madam Mina, you are, as always, most wise. You shall with us come; and +together we shall do that which we go forth to achieve." When he had +spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her. She had fallen +back on her pillow asleep; she did not even wake when I had pulled up +the blind and let in the sunlight which flooded the room. Van Helsing +motioned to me to come with him quietly. We went to his room, and within +a minute Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris were with us also. +He told them what Mina had said, and went on:-- + +"In the morning we shall leave for Varna. We have now to deal with a +new factor: Madam Mina. Oh, but her soul is true. It is to her an agony +to tell us so much as she has done; but it is most right, and we are +warned in time. There must be no chance lost, and in Varna we must be +ready to act the instant when that ship arrives." + +"What shall we do exactly?" asked Mr. Morris laconically. The Professor +paused before replying:-- + +"We shall at the first board that ship; then, when we have identified +the box, we shall place a branch of the wild rose on it. This we shall +fasten, for when it is there none can emerge; so at least says the +superstition. And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was +man's faith in the early, and it have its root in faith still. Then, +when we get the opportunity that we seek, when none are near to see, we +shall open the box, and--and all will be well." + +"I shall not wait for any opportunity," said Morris. "When I see the box +I shall open it and destroy the monster, though there were a thousand +men looking on, and if I am to be wiped out for it the next moment!" I +grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a piece of steel. +I think he understood my look; I hope he did. + +"Good boy," said Dr. Van Helsing. "Brave boy. Quincey is all man. God +bless him for it. My child, believe me none of us shall lag behind or +pause from any fear. I do but say what we may do--what we must do. But, +indeed, indeed we cannot say what we shall do. There are so many things +which may happen, and their ways and their ends are so various that +until the moment we may not say. We shall all be armed, in all ways; and +when the time for the end has come, our effort shall not be lack. Now +let us to-day put all our affairs in order. Let all things which touch +on others dear to us, and who on us depend, be complete; for none of us +can tell what, or when, or how, the end may be. As for me, my own +affairs are regulate; and as I have nothing else to do, I shall go make +arrangements for the travel. I shall have all tickets and so forth for +our journey." + +There was nothing further to be said, and we parted. I shall now settle +up all my affairs of earth, and be ready for whatever may come.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It is all done; my will is made, and all complete. Mina if she +survive is my sole heir. If it should not be so, then the others who +have been so good to us shall have remainder. + +It is now drawing towards the sunset; Mina's uneasiness calls my +attention to it. I am sure that there is something on her mind which the +time of exact sunset will reveal. These occasions are becoming harrowing +times for us all, for each sunrise and sunset opens up some new +danger--some new pain, which, however, may in God's will be means to a +good end. I write all these things in the diary since my darling must +not hear them now; but if it may be that she can see them again, they +shall be ready. + +She is calling to me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_11 October, Evening._--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this, as he +says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record kept. + +I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs. +Harker a little before the time of sunset. We have of late come to +understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar freedom; +when her old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing +or restraining her, or inciting her to action. This mood or condition +begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise or sunset, and lasts +till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds are still aglow with +the rays streaming above the horizon. At first there is a sort of +negative condition, as if some tie were loosened, and then the absolute +freedom quickly follows; when, however, the freedom ceases the +change-back or relapse comes quickly, preceded only by a spell of +warning silence. + +To-night, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the +signs of an internal struggle. I put it down myself to her making a +violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so. A very few +minutes, however, gave her complete control of herself; then, motioning +her husband to sit beside her on the sofa where she was half reclining, +she made the rest of us bring chairs up close. Taking her husband's hand +in hers began:-- + +"We are all here together in freedom, for perhaps the last time! I know, +dear; I know that you will always be with me to the end." This was to +her husband whose hand had, as we could see, tightened upon hers. "In +the morning we go out upon our task, and God alone knows what may be in +store for any of us. You are going to be so good to me as to take me +with you. I know that all that brave earnest men can do for a poor weak +woman, whose soul perhaps is lost--no, no, not yet, but is at any rate +at stake--you will do. But you must remember that I am not as you are. +There is a poison in my blood, in my soul, which may destroy me; which +must destroy me, unless some relief comes to us. Oh, my friends, you +know as well as I do, that my soul is at stake; and though I know there +is one way out for me, you must not and I must not take it!" She looked +appealingly to us all in turn, beginning and ending with her husband. + +"What is that way?" asked Van Helsing in a hoarse voice. "What is that +way, which we must not--may not--take?" + +"That I may die now, either by my own hand or that of another, before +the greater evil is entirely wrought. I know, and you know, that were I +once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit, even as you +did my poor Lucy's. Were death, or the fear of death, the only thing +that stood in the way I would not shrink to die here, now, amidst the +friends who love me. But death is not all. I cannot believe that to die +in such a case, when there is hope before us and a bitter task to be +done, is God's will. Therefore, I, on my part, give up here the +certainty of eternal rest, and go out into the dark where may be the +blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" We were all +silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a prelude. The +faces of the others were set and Harker's grew ashen grey; perhaps he +guessed better than any of us what was coming. She continued:-- + +"This is what I can give into the hotch-pot." I could not but note the +quaint legal phrase which she used in such a place, and with all +seriousness. "What will each of you give? Your lives I know," she went +on quickly, "that is easy for brave men. Your lives are God's, and you +can give them back to Him; but what will you give to me?" She looked +again questioningly, but this time avoided her husband's face. Quincey +seemed to understand; he nodded, and her face lit up. "Then I shall tell +you plainly what I want, for there must be no doubtful matter in this +connection between us now. You must promise me, one and all--even you, +my beloved husband--that, should the time come, you will kill me." + +"What is that time?" The voice was Quincey's, but it was low and +strained. + +"When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better that +I die that I may live. When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, +without a moment's delay, drive a stake through me and cut off my head; +or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!" + +Quincey was the first to rise after the pause. He knelt down before her +and taking her hand in his said solemnly:-- + +"I'm only a rough fellow, who hasn't, perhaps, lived as a man should to +win such a distinction, but I swear to you by all that I hold sacred and +dear that, should the time ever come, I shall not flinch from the duty +that you have set us. And I promise you, too, that I shall make all +certain, for if I am only doubtful I shall take it that the time has +come!" + +"My true friend!" was all she could say amid her fast-falling tears, as, +bending over, she kissed his hand. + +"I swear the same, my dear Madam Mina!" said Van Helsing. + +"And I!" said Lord Godalming, each of them in turn kneeling to her to +take the oath. I followed, myself. Then her husband turned to her +wan-eyed and with a greenish pallor which subdued the snowy whiteness of +his hair, and asked:-- + +"And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?" + +"You too, my dearest," she said, with infinite yearning of pity in her +voice and eyes. "You must not shrink. You are nearest and dearest and +all the world to me; our souls are knit into one, for all life and all +time. Think, dear, that there have been times when brave men have killed +their wives and their womenkind, to keep them from falling into the +hands of the enemy. Their hands did not falter any the more because +those that they loved implored them to slay them. It is men's duty +towards those whom they love, in such times of sore trial! And oh, my +dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it be at +the hand of him that loves me best. Dr. Van Helsing, I have not +forgotten your mercy in poor Lucy's case to him who loved"--she stopped +with a flying blush, and changed her phrase--"to him who had best right +to give her peace. If that time shall come again, I look to you to make +it a happy memory of my husband's life that it was his loving hand which +set me free from the awful thrall upon me." + +"Again I swear!" came the Professor's resonant voice. Mrs. Harker +smiled, positively smiled, as with a sigh of relief she leaned back and +said:-- + +"And now one word of warning, a warning which you must never forget: +this time, if it ever come, may come quickly and unexpectedly, and in +such case you must lose no time in using your opportunity. At such a +time I myself might be--nay! if the time ever comes, _shall be_--leagued +with your enemy against you." + +"One more request;" she became very solemn as she said this, "it is not +vital and necessary like the other, but I want you to do one thing for +me, if you will." We all acquiesced, but no one spoke; there was no need +to speak:-- + +"I want you to read the Burial Service." She was interrupted by a deep +groan from her husband; taking his hand in hers, she held it over her +heart, and continued: "You must read it over me some day. Whatever may +be the issue of all this fearful state of things, it will be a sweet +thought to all or some of us. You, my dearest, will I hope read it, for +then it will be in your voice in my memory for ever--come what may!" + +"But oh, my dear one," he pleaded, "death is afar off from you." + +"Nay," she said, holding up a warning hand. "I am deeper in death at +this moment than if the weight of an earthly grave lay heavy upon me!" + +"Oh, my wife, must I read it?" he said, before he began. + +"It would comfort me, my husband!" was all she said; and he began to +read when she had got the book ready. + +"How can I--how could any one--tell of that strange scene, its +solemnity, its gloom, its sadness, its horror; and, withal, its +sweetness. Even a sceptic, who can see nothing but a travesty of bitter +truth in anything holy or emotional, would have been melted to the heart +had he seen that little group of loving and devoted friends kneeling +round that stricken and sorrowing lady; or heard the tender passion of +her husband's voice, as in tones so broken with emotion that often he +had to pause, he read the simple and beautiful service from the Burial +of the Dead. I--I cannot go on--words--and--v-voice--f-fail m-me!" + + * * * * * + +She was right in her instinct. Strange as it all was, bizarre as it may +hereafter seem even to us who felt its potent influence at the time, it +comforted us much; and the silence, which showed Mrs. Harker's coming +relapse from her freedom of soul, did not seem so full of despair to any +of us as we had dreaded. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_15 October, Varna._--We left Charing Cross on the morning of the 12th, +got to Paris the same night, and took the places secured for us in the +Orient Express. We travelled night and day, arriving here at about five +o'clock. Lord Godalming went to the Consulate to see if any telegram had +arrived for him, whilst the rest of us came on to this hotel--"the +Odessus." The journey may have had incidents; I was, however, too eager +to get on, to care for them. Until the _Czarina Catherine_ comes into +port there will be no interest for me in anything in the wide world. +Thank God! Mina is well, and looks to be getting stronger; her colour is +coming back. She sleeps a great deal; throughout the journey she slept +nearly all the time. Before sunrise and sunset, however, she is very +wakeful and alert; and it has become a habit for Van Helsing to +hypnotise her at such times. At first, some effort was needed, and he +had to make many passes; but now, she seems to yield at once, as if by +habit, and scarcely any action is needed. He seems to have power at +these particular moments to simply will, and her thoughts obey him. He +always asks her what she can see and hear. She answers to the first:-- + +"Nothing; all is dark." And to the second:-- + +"I can hear the waves lapping against the ship, and the water rushing +by. Canvas and cordage strain and masts and yards creak. The wind is +high--I can hear it in the shrouds, and the bow throws back the foam." +It is evident that the _Czarina Catherine_ is still at sea, hastening on +her way to Varna. Lord Godalming has just returned. He had four +telegrams, one each day since we started, and all to the same effect: +that the _Czarina Catherine_ had not been reported to Lloyd's from +anywhere. He had arranged before leaving London that his agent should +send him every day a telegram saying if the ship had been reported. He +was to have a message even if she were not reported, so that he might be +sure that there was a watch being kept at the other end of the wire. + +We had dinner and went to bed early. To-morrow we are to see the +Vice-Consul, and to arrange, if we can, about getting on board the ship +as soon as she arrives. Van Helsing says that our chance will be to get +on the boat between sunrise and sunset. The Count, even if he takes the +form of a bat, cannot cross the running water of his own volition, and +so cannot leave the ship. As he dare not change to man's form without +suspicion--which he evidently wishes to avoid--he must remain in the +box. If, then, we can come on board after sunrise, he is at our mercy; +for we can open the box and make sure of him, as we did of poor Lucy, +before he wakes. What mercy he shall get from us will not count for +much. We think that we shall not have much trouble with officials or the +seamen. Thank God! this is the country where bribery can do anything, +and we are well supplied with money. We have only to make sure that the +ship cannot come into port between sunset and sunrise without our being +warned, and we shall be safe. Judge Moneybag will settle this case, I +think! + + * * * * * + +_16 October._--Mina's report still the same: lapping waves and rushing +water, darkness and favouring winds. We are evidently in good time, and +when we hear of the _Czarina Catherine_ we shall be ready. As she must +pass the Dardanelles we are sure to have some report. + + * * * * * + +_17 October._--Everything is pretty well fixed now, I think, to welcome +the Count on his return from his tour. Godalming told the shippers that +he fancied that the box sent aboard might contain something stolen from +a friend of his, and got a half consent that he might open it at his own +risk. The owner gave him a paper telling the Captain to give him every +facility in doing whatever he chose on board the ship, and also a +similar authorisation to his agent at Varna. We have seen the agent, who +was much impressed with Godalming's kindly manner to him, and we are all +satisfied that whatever he can do to aid our wishes will be done. We +have already arranged what to do in case we get the box open. If the +Count is there, Van Helsing and Seward will cut off his head at once and +drive a stake through his heart. Morris and Godalming and I shall +prevent interference, even if we have to use the arms which we shall +have ready. The Professor says that if we can so treat the Count's body, +it will soon after fall into dust. In such case there would be no +evidence against us, in case any suspicion of murder were aroused. But +even if it were not, we should stand or fall by our act, and perhaps +some day this very script may be evidence to come between some of us and +a rope. For myself, I should take the chance only too thankfully if it +were to come. We mean to leave no stone unturned to carry out our +intent. We have arranged with certain officials that the instant the +_Czarina Catherine_ is seen, we are to be informed by a special +messenger. + + * * * * * + +_24 October._--A whole week of waiting. Daily telegrams to Godalming, +but only the same story: "Not yet reported." Mina's morning and evening +hypnotic answer is unvaried: lapping waves, rushing water, and creaking +masts. + +_Telegram, October 24th._ + +_Rufus Smith, Lloyd's, London, to Lord Godalming, care of H. B. M. +Vice-Consul, Varna._ + +"_Czarina Catherine_ reported this morning from Dardanelles." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_25 October._--How I miss my phonograph! To write diary with a pen is +irksome to me; but Van Helsing says I must. We were all wild with +excitement yesterday when Godalming got his telegram from Lloyd's. I +know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heard. Mrs. +Harker, alone of our party, did not show any signs of emotion. After +all, it is not strange that she did not; for we took special care not to +let her know anything about it, and we all tried not to show any +excitement when we were in her presence. In old days she would, I am +sure, have noticed, no matter how we might have tried to conceal it; but +in this way she is greatly changed during the past three weeks. The +lethargy grows upon her, and though she seems strong and well, and is +getting back some of her colour, Van Helsing and I are not satisfied. We +talk of her often; we have not, however, said a word to the others. It +would break poor Harker's heart--certainly his nerve--if he knew that we +had even a suspicion on the subject. Van Helsing examines, he tells me, +her teeth very carefully, whilst she is in the hypnotic condition, for +he says that so long as they do not begin to sharpen there is no active +danger of a change in her. If this change should come, it would be +necessary to take steps!... We both know what those steps would have to +be, though we do not mention our thoughts to each other. We should +neither of us shrink from the task--awful though it be to contemplate. +"Euthanasia" is an excellent and a comforting word! I am grateful to +whoever invented it. + +It is only about 24 hours' sail from the Dardanelles to here, at the +rate the _Czarina Catherine_ has come from London. She should therefore +arrive some time in the morning; but as she cannot possibly get in +before then, we are all about to retire early. We shall get up at one +o'clock, so as to be ready. + + * * * * * + +_25 October, Noon_.--No news yet of the ship's arrival. Mrs. Harker's +hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible +that we may get news at any moment. We men are all in a fever of +excitement, except Harker, who is calm; his hands are cold as ice, and +an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife +which he now always carries with him. It will be a bad lookout for the +Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat, driven by +that stern, ice-cold hand! + +Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about Mrs. Harker to-day. About +noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not like; although we +kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy about it. She +had been restless all the morning, so that we were at first glad to know +that she was sleeping. When, however, her husband mentioned casually +that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not wake her, we went to +her room to see for ourselves. She was breathing naturally and looked so +well and peaceful that we agreed that the sleep was better for her than +anything else. Poor girl, she has so much to forget that it is no wonder +that sleep, if it brings oblivion to her, does her good. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep +of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had +been for days. At sunset she made the usual hypnotic report. Wherever he +may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his destination. To +his doom, I trust! + + * * * * * + +_26 October._--Another day and no tidings of the _Czarina Catherine_. +She ought to be here by now. That she is still journeying _somewhere_ is +apparent, for Mrs. Harker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the +same. It is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for fog; +some of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches of fog +both to north and south of the port. We must continue our watching, as +the ship may now be signalled any moment. + + * * * * * + +_27 October, Noon._--Most strange; no news yet of the ship we wait for. +Mrs. Harker reported last night and this morning as usual: "lapping +waves and rushing water," though she added that "the waves were very +faint." The telegrams from London have been the same: "no further +report." Van Helsing is terribly anxious, and told me just now that he +fears the Count is escaping us. He added significantly:-- + +"I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina's. Souls and memories can do +strange things during trance." I was about to ask him more, but Harker +just then came in, and he held up a warning hand. We must try to-night +at sunset to make her speak more fully when in her hypnotic state. + + * * * * * + + _28 October._--Telegram. _Rufus Smith, London, to Lord Godalming, + care H. B. M. Vice Consul, Varna._ + + "_Czarina Catherine_ reported entering Galatz at one o'clock + to-day." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 October._--When the telegram came announcing the arrival in Galatz I +do not think it was such a shock to any of us as might have been +expected. True, we did not know whence, or how, or when, the bolt would +come; but I think we all expected that something strange would happen. +The delay of arrival at Varna made us individually satisfied that things +would not be just as we had expected; we only waited to learn where the +change would occur. None the less, however, was it a surprise. I suppose +that nature works on such a hopeful basis that we believe against +ourselves that things will be as they ought to be, not as we should know +that they will be. Transcendentalism is a beacon to the angels, even if +it be a will-o'-the-wisp to man. It was an odd experience and we all +took it differently. Van Helsing raised his hand over his head for a +moment, as though in remonstrance with the Almighty; but he said not a +word, and in a few seconds stood up with his face sternly set. Lord +Godalming grew very pale, and sat breathing heavily. I was myself half +stunned and looked in wonder at one after another. Quincey Morris +tightened his belt with that quick movement which I knew so well; in our +old wandering days it meant "action." Mrs. Harker grew ghastly white, so +that the scar on her forehead seemed to burn, but she folded her hands +meekly and looked up in prayer. Harker smiled--actually smiled--the +dark, bitter smile of one who is without hope; but at the same time his +action belied his words, for his hands instinctively sought the hilt of +the great Kukri knife and rested there. "When does the next train start +for Galatz?" said Van Helsing to us generally. + +"At 6:30 to-morrow morning!" We all started, for the answer came from +Mrs. Harker. + +"How on earth do you know?" said Art. + +"You forget--or perhaps you do not know, though Jonathan does and so +does Dr. Van Helsing--that I am the train fiend. At home in Exeter I +always used to make up the time-tables, so as to be helpful to my +husband. I found it so useful sometimes, that I always make a study of +the time-tables now. I knew that if anything were to take us to Castle +Dracula we should go by Galatz, or at any rate through Bucharest, so I +learned the times very carefully. Unhappily there are not many to learn, +as the only train to-morrow leaves as I say." + +"Wonderful woman!" murmured the Professor. + +"Can't we get a special?" asked Lord Godalming. Van Helsing shook his +head: "I fear not. This land is very different from yours or mine; even +if we did have a special, it would probably not arrive as soon as our +regular train. Moreover, we have something to prepare. We must think. +Now let us organize. You, friend Arthur, go to the train and get the +tickets and arrange that all be ready for us to go in the morning. Do +you, friend Jonathan, go to the agent of the ship and get from him +letters to the agent in Galatz, with authority to make search the ship +just as it was here. Morris Quincey, you see the Vice-Consul, and get +his aid with his fellow in Galatz and all he can do to make our way +smooth, so that no times be lost when over the Danube. John will stay +with Madam Mina and me, and we shall consult. For so if time be long you +may be delayed; and it will not matter when the sun set, since I am here +with Madam to make report." + +"And I," said Mrs. Harker brightly, and more like her old self than she +had been for many a long day, "shall try to be of use in all ways, and +shall think and write for you as I used to do. Something is shifting +from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have been of late!" +The three younger men looked happier at the moment as they seemed to +realise the significance of her words; but Van Helsing and I, turning to +each other, met each a grave and troubled glance. We said nothing at the +time, however. + +When the three men had gone out to their tasks Van Helsing asked Mrs. +Harker to look up the copy of the diaries and find him the part of +Harker's journal at the Castle. She went away to get it; when the door +was shut upon her he said to me:-- + +"We mean the same! speak out!" + +"There is some change. It is a hope that makes me sick, for it may +deceive us." + +"Quite so. Do you know why I asked her to get the manuscript?" + +"No!" said I, "unless it was to get an opportunity of seeing me alone." + +"You are in part right, friend John, but only in part. I want to tell +you something. And oh, my friend, I am taking a great--a terrible--risk; +but I believe it is right. In the moment when Madam Mina said those +words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration came to me. In +the trance of three days ago the Count sent her his spirit to read her +mind; or more like he took her to see him in his earth-box in the ship +with water rushing, just as it go free at rise and set of sun. He learn +then that we are here; for she have more to tell in her open life with +eyes to see and ears to hear than he, shut, as he is, in his coffin-box. +Now he make his most effort to escape us. At present he want her not. + +"He is sure with his so great knowledge that she will come at his call; +but he cut her off--take her, as he can do, out of his own power, that +so she come not to him. Ah! there I have hope that our man-brains that +have been of man so long and that have not lost the grace of God, will +come higher than his child-brain that lie in his tomb for centuries, +that grow not yet to our stature, and that do only work selfish and +therefore small. Here comes Madam Mina; not a word to her of her trance! +She know it not; and it would overwhelm her and make despair just when +we want all her hope, all her courage; when most we want all her great +brain which is trained like man's brain, but is of sweet woman and have +a special power which the Count give her, and which he may not take away +altogether--though he think not so. Hush! let me speak, and you shall +learn. Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits. I fear, as I never +feared before. We can only trust the good God. Silence! here she comes!" + +I thought that the Professor was going to break down and have hysterics, +just as he had when Lucy died, but with a great effort he controlled +himself and was at perfect nervous poise when Mrs. Harker tripped into +the room, bright and happy-looking and, in the doing of work, seemingly +forgetful of her misery. As she came in, she handed a number of sheets +of typewriting to Van Helsing. He looked over them gravely, his face +brightening up as he read. Then holding the pages between his finger and +thumb he said:-- + +"Friend John, to you with so much of experience already--and you, too, +dear Madam Mina, that are young--here is a lesson: do not fear ever to +think. A half-thought has been buzzing often in my brain, but I fear to +let him loose his wings. Here now, with more knowledge, I go back to +where that half-thought come from and I find that he be no half-thought +at all; that be a whole thought, though so young that he is not yet +strong to use his little wings. Nay, like the "Ugly Duck" of my friend +Hans Andersen, he be no duck-thought at all, but a big swan-thought that +sail nobly on big wings, when the time come for him to try them. See I +read here what Jonathan have written:-- + +"That other of his race who, in a later age, again and again, brought +his forces over The Great River into Turkey Land; who, when he was +beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come +alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, +since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph." + +"What does this tell us? Not much? no! The Count's child-thought see +nothing; therefore he speak so free. Your man-thought see nothing; my +man-thought see nothing, till just now. No! But there comes another word +from some one who speak without thought because she, too, know not what +it mean--what it _might_ mean. Just as there are elements which rest, +yet when in nature's course they move on their way and they touch--then +pouf! and there comes a flash of light, heaven wide, that blind and kill +and destroy some; but that show up all earth below for leagues and +leagues. Is it not so? Well, I shall explain. To begin, have you ever +study the philosophy of crime? 'Yes' and 'No.' You, John, yes; for it is +a study of insanity. You, no, Madam Mina; for crime touch you not--not +but once. Still, your mind works true, and argues not _a particulari ad +universale_. There is this peculiarity in criminals. It is so constant, +in all countries and at all times, that even police, who know not much +from philosophy, come to know it empirically, that _it is_. That is to +be empiric. The criminal always work at one crime--that is the true +criminal who seems predestinate to crime, and who will of none other. +This criminal has not full man-brain. He is clever and cunning and +resourceful; but he be not of man-stature as to brain. He be of +child-brain in much. Now this criminal of ours is predestinate to crime +also; he, too, have child-brain, and it is of the child to do what he +have done. The little bird, the little fish, the little animal learn not +by principle, but empirically; and when he learn to do, then there is to +him the ground to start from to do more. '_Dos pou sto_,' said +Archimedes. 'Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world!' To do once, +is the fulcrum whereby child-brain become man-brain; and until he have +the purpose to do more, he continue to do the same again every time, +just as he have done before! Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes are +opened, and that to you the lightning flash show all the leagues," for +Mrs. Harker began to clap her hands and her eyes sparkled. He went on:-- + +"Now you shall speak. Tell us two dry men of science what you see with +those so bright eyes." He took her hand and held it whilst she spoke. +His finger and thumb closed on her pulse, as I thought instinctively and +unconsciously, as she spoke:-- + +"The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would +so classify him, and _quâ_ criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind. +Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit. His past is a +clue, and the one page of it that we know--and that from his own +lips--tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call a +'tight place,' he went back to his own country from the land he had +tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself +for a new effort. He came again better equipped for his work; and won. +So he came to London to invade a new land. He was beaten, and when all +hope of success was lost, and his existence in danger, he fled back over +the sea to his home; just as formerly he had fled back over the Danube +from Turkey Land." + +"Good, good! oh, you so clever lady!" said Van Helsing, +enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand. A moment later he +said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick-room +consultation:-- + +"Seventy-two only; and in all this excitement. I have hope." Turning to +her again, he said with keen expectation:-- + +"But go on. Go on! there is more to tell if you will. Be not afraid; +John and I know. I do in any case, and shall tell you if you are right. +Speak, without fear!" + +"I will try to; but you will forgive me if I seem egotistical." + +"Nay! fear not, you must be egotist, for it is of you that we think." + +"Then, as he is criminal he is selfish; and as his intellect is small +and his action is based on selfishness, he confines himself to one +purpose. That purpose is remorseless. As he fled back over the Danube, +leaving his forces to be cut to pieces, so now he is intent on being +safe, careless of all. So his own selfishness frees my soul somewhat +from the terrible power which he acquired over me on that dreadful +night. I felt it! Oh, I felt it! Thank God, for His great mercy! My soul +is freer than it has been since that awful hour; and all that haunts me +is a fear lest in some trance or dream he may have used my knowledge for +his ends." The Professor stood up:-- + +"He has so used your mind; and by it he has left us here in Varna, +whilst the ship that carried him rushed through enveloping fog up to +Galatz, where, doubtless, he had made preparation for escaping from us. +But his child-mind only saw so far; and it may be that, as ever is in +God's Providence, the very thing that the evil-doer most reckoned on for +his selfish good, turns out to be his chiefest harm. The hunter is taken +in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says. For now that he think he +is free from every trace of us all, and that he has escaped us with so +many hours to him, then his selfish child-brain will whisper him to +sleep. He think, too, that as he cut himself off from knowing your mind, +there can be no knowledge of him to you; there is where he fail! That +terrible baptism of blood which he give you makes you free to go to him +in spirit, as you have as yet done in your times of freedom, when the +sun rise and set. At such times you go by my volition and not by his; +and this power to good of you and others, as you have won from your +suffering at his hands. This is now all the more precious that he know +it not, and to guard himself have even cut himself off from his +knowledge of our where. We, however, are not selfish, and we believe +that God is with us through all this blackness, and these many dark +hours. We shall follow him; and we shall not flinch; even if we peril +ourselves that we become like him. Friend John, this has been a great +hour; and it have done much to advance us on our way. You must be scribe +and write him all down, so that when the others return from their work +you can give it to them; then they shall know as we do." + +And so I have written it whilst we wait their return, and Mrs. Harker +has written with her typewriter all since she brought the MS. to us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_29 October._--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz. Last +night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset. Each of us +had done his work as well as he could; so far as thought, and endeavour, +and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our journey, and +for our work when we get to Galatz. When the usual time came round Mrs. +Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort; and after a longer and +more serious effort on the part of Van Helsing than has been usually +necessary, she sank into the trance. Usually she speaks on a hint; but +this time the Professor had to ask her questions, and to ask them pretty +resolutely, before we could learn anything; at last her answer came:-- + +"I can see nothing; we are still; there are no waves lapping, but only a +steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser. I can hear +men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in +the rowlocks. A gun is fired somewhere; the echo of it seems far away. +There is tramping of feet overhead, and ropes and chains are dragged +along. What is this? There is a gleam of light; I can feel the air +blowing upon me." + +Here she stopped. She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she lay +on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if lifting a +weight. Van Helsing and I looked at each other with understanding. +Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her intently, whilst +Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of his Kukri. There +was a long pause. We all knew that the time when she could speak was +passing; but we felt that it was useless to say anything. Suddenly she +sat up, and, as she opened her eyes, said sweetly:-- + +"Would none of you like a cup of tea? You must all be so tired!" We +could only make her happy, and so acquiesced. She bustled off to get +tea; when she had gone Van Helsing said:-- + +"You see, my friends. _He_ is close to land: he has left his +earth-chest. But he has yet to get on shore. In the night he may lie +hidden somewhere; but if he be not carried on shore, or if the ship do +not touch it, he cannot achieve the land. In such case he can, if it be +in the night, change his form and can jump or fly on shore, as he did +at Whitby. But if the day come before he get on shore, then, unless he +be carried he cannot escape. And if he be carried, then the customs men +may discover what the box contain. Thus, in fine, if he escape not on +shore to-night, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him. +We may then arrive in time; for if he escape not at night we shall come +on him in daytime, boxed up and at our mercy; for he dare not be his +true self, awake and visible, lest he be discovered." + +There was no more to be said, so we waited in patience until the dawn; +at which time we might learn more from Mrs. Harker. + +Early this morning we listened, with breathless anxiety, for her +response in her trance. The hypnotic stage was even longer in coming +than before; and when it came the time remaining until full sunrise was +so short that we began to despair. Van Helsing seemed to throw his whole +soul into the effort; at last, in obedience to his will she made +reply:-- + +"All is dark. I hear lapping water, level with me, and some creaking as +of wood on wood." She paused, and the red sun shot up. We must wait till +to-night. + +And so it is that we are travelling towards Galatz in an agony of +expectation. We are due to arrive between two and three in the morning; +but already, at Bucharest, we are three hours late, so we cannot +possibly get in till well after sun-up. Thus we shall have two more +hypnotic messages from Mrs. Harker; either or both may possibly throw +more light on what is happening. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Sunset has come and gone. Fortunately it came at a time when +there was no distraction; for had it occurred whilst we were at a +station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation. +Mrs. Harker yielded to the hypnotic influence even less readily than +this morning. I am in fear that her power of reading the Count's +sensations may die away, just when we want it most. It seems to me that +her imagination is beginning to work. Whilst she has been in the trance +hitherto she has confined herself to the simplest of facts. If this goes +on it may ultimately mislead us. If I thought that the Count's power +over her would die away equally with her power of knowledge it would be +a happy thought; but I am afraid that it may not be so. When she did +speak, her words were enigmatical:-- + +"Something is going out; I can feel it pass me like a cold wind. I can +hear, far off, confused sounds--as of men talking in strange tongues, +fierce-falling water, and the howling of wolves." She stopped and a +shudder ran through her, increasing in intensity for a few seconds, +till, at the end, she shook as though in a palsy. She said no more, even +in answer to the Professor's imperative questioning. When she woke from +the trance, she was cold, and exhausted, and languid; but her mind was +all alert. She could not remember anything, but asked what she had said; +when she was told, she pondered over it deeply for a long time and in +silence. + + * * * * * + +_30 October, 7 a. m._--We are near Galatz now, and I may not have time +to write later. Sunrise this morning was anxiously looked for by us all. +Knowing of the increasing difficulty of procuring the hypnotic trance, +Van Helsing began his passes earlier than usual. They produced no +effect, however, until the regular time, when she yielded with a still +greater difficulty, only a minute before the sun rose. The Professor +lost no time in his questioning; her answer came with equal quickness:-- + +"All is dark. I hear water swirling by, level with my ears, and the +creaking of wood on wood. Cattle low far off. There is another sound, a +queer one like----" She stopped and grew white, and whiter still. + +"Go on; go on! Speak, I command you!" said Van Helsing in an agonised +voice. At the same time there was despair in his eyes, for the risen sun +was reddening even Mrs. Harker's pale face. She opened her eyes, and we +all started as she said, sweetly and seemingly with the utmost +unconcern:-- + +"Oh, Professor, why ask me to do what you know I can't? I don't remember +anything." Then, seeing the look of amazement on our faces, she said, +turning from one to the other with a troubled look:-- + +"What have I said? What have I done? I know nothing, only that I was +lying here, half asleep, and heard you say go on! speak, I command you!' +It seemed so funny to hear you order me about, as if I were a bad +child!" + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, sadly, "it is proof, if proof be needed, of +how I love and honour you, when a word for your good, spoken more +earnest than ever, can seem so strange because it is to order her whom I +am proud to obey!" + +The whistles are sounding; we are nearing Galatz. We are on fire with +anxiety and eagerness. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--Mr. Morris took me to the hotel where our rooms had been +ordered by telegraph, he being the one who could best be spared, since +he does not speak any foreign language. The forces were distributed +much as they had been at Varna, except that Lord Godalming went to the +Vice-Consul, as his rank might serve as an immediate guarantee of some +sort to the official, we being in extreme hurry. Jonathan and the two +doctors went to the shipping agent to learn particulars of the arrival +of the _Czarina Catherine_. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming has returned. The Consul is away, and the +Vice-Consul sick; so the routine work has been attended to by a clerk. +He was very obliging, and offered to do anything in his power. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--At nine o'clock Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and I called +on Messrs. Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm of +Hapgood. They had received a wire from London, in answer to Lord +Godalming's telegraphed request, asking us to show them any civility in +their power. They were more than kind and courteous, and took us at once +on board the _Czarina Catherine_, which lay at anchor out in the river +harbour. There we saw the Captain, Donelson by name, who told us of his +voyage. He said that in all his life he had never had so favourable a +run. + +"Man!" he said, "but it made us afeard, for we expeckit that we should +have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to keep up the +average. It's no canny to run frae London to the Black Sea wi' a wind +ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on yer sail for his +ain purpose. An' a' the time we could no speer a thing. Gin we were nigh +a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi' us, +till when after it had lifted and we looked out, the deil a thing could +we see. We ran by Gibraltar wi'oot bein' able to signal; an' till we +came to the Dardanelles and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we +never were within hail o' aught. At first I inclined to slack off sail +and beat about till the fog was lifted; but whiles, I thocht that if the +Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it +whether we would or no. If we had a quick voyage it would be no to our +miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic; an' the Old Mon who +had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no +hinderin' him." This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition +and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said:-- + +"Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some; and +he know when he meet his match!" The skipper was not displeased with the +compliment, and went on:-- + +"When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them, +the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had +been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started +frae London. I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa +fingers when they saw him, to guard against the evil eye. Man! but the +supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot +their business pretty quick; but as just after a fog closed in on us I +felt a wee bit as they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it was +agin the big box. Well, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up for +five days I joost let the wind carry us; for if the Deil wanted to get +somewheres--well, he would fetch it up a'reet. An' if he didn't, well, +we'd keep a sharp lookout anyhow. Sure eneuch, we had a fair way and +deep water all the time; and two days ago, when the mornin' sun came +through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite Galatz. +The Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take out the +box and fling it in the river. I had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a +handspike; an' when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in +his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the +property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the +river Danube. They had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to +fling in, and as it was marked Galatz _via_ Varna, I thocht I'd let it +lie till we discharged in the port an' get rid o't althegither. We +didn't do much clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor; +but in the mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sun-up, a man came +aboard wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box +marked for one Count Dracula. Sure eneuch the matter was one ready to +his hand. He had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the +dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it. If the Deil +did have any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither +than that same!" + +"What was the name of the man who took it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing with +restrained eagerness. + +"I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and, stepping down to his +cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim." Burgen-strasse +16 was the address. We found out that this was all the Captain knew; so +with thanks we came away. + +We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi +Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez. His arguments were +pointed with specie--we doing the punctuation--and with a little +bargaining he told us what he knew. This turned out to be simple but +important. He had received a letter from Mr. de Ville of London, telling +him to receive, if possible before sunrise so as to avoid customs, a box +which would arrive at Galatz in the _Czarina Catherine_. This he was to +give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks +who traded down the river to the port. He had been paid for his work by +an English bank note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube +International Bank. When Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him to +the ship and handed over the box, so as to save porterage. That was all +he knew. + +We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him. One of his +neighbours, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he had +gone away two days before, no one knew whither. This was corroborated by +his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house +together with the rent due, in English money. This had been between ten +and eleven o'clock last night. We were at a standstill again. + +Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped out that +the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the churchyard of +St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as if by some wild +animal. Those we had been speaking with ran off to see the horror, the +women crying out "This is the work of a Slovak!" We hurried away lest we +should have been in some way drawn into the affair, and so detained. + +As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion. We were all +convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to somewhere; but where +that might be we would have to discover. With heavy hearts we came home +to the hotel to Mina. + +When we met together, the first thing was to consult as to taking Mina +again into our confidence. Things are getting desperate, and it is at +least a chance, though a hazardous one. As a preliminary step, I was +released from my promise to her. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October, evening._--They were so tired and worn out and dispirited +that there was nothing to be done till they had some rest; so I asked +them all to lie down for half an hour whilst I should enter everything +up to the moment. I feel so grateful to the man who invented the +"Traveller's" typewriter, and to Mr. Morris for getting this one for +me. I should have felt quite; astray doing the work if I had to write +with a pen.... + +It is all done; poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered, +what must he be suffering now. He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to +breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse. His brows are knit; his +face is drawn with pain. Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I can +see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his thoughts. Oh! +if I could only help at all.... I shall do what I can. + +I have asked Dr. Van Helsing, and he has got me all the papers that I +have not yet seen.... Whilst they are resting, I shall go over all +carefully, and perhaps I may arrive at some conclusion. I shall try to +follow the Professor's example, and think without prejudice on the facts +before me.... + + * * * * * + +I do believe that under God's providence I have made a discovery. I +shall get the maps and look over them.... + + * * * * * + +I am more than ever sure that I am right. My new conclusion is ready, so +I shall get our party together and read it. They can judge it; it is +well to be accurate, and every minute is precious. + + +_Mina Harker's Memorandum._ + +(Entered in her Journal.) + +_Ground of inquiry._--Count Dracula's problem is to get back to his own +place. + +(_a_) He must be _brought back_ by some one. This is evident; for had he +power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or wolf, +or bat, or in some other way. He evidently fears discovery or +interference, in the state of helplessness in which he must be--confined +as he is between dawn and sunset in his wooden box. + +(_b_) _How is he to be taken?_--Here a process of exclusions may help +us. By road, by rail, by water? + +1. _By Road._--There are endless difficulties, especially in leaving the +city. + +(_x_) There are people; and people are curious, and investigate. A hint, +a surmise, a doubt as to what might be in the box, would destroy him. + +(_y_) There are, or there may be, customs and octroi officers to pass. + +(_z_) His pursuers might follow. This is his highest fear; and in order +to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled, so far as he can, even +his victim--me! + +2. _By Rail._--There is no one in charge of the box. It would have to +take its chance of being delayed; and delay would be fatal, with enemies +on the track. True, he might escape at night; but what would he be, if +left in a strange place with no refuge that he could fly to? This is not +what he intends; and he does not mean to risk it. + +3. _By Water._--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but with most +danger in another. On the water he is powerless except at night; even +then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves. But were +he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless; and he would +indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land; but if it were +unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would +still be desperate. + +We know from the record that he was on the water; so what we have to do +is to ascertain _what_ water. + +The first thing is to realise exactly what he has done as yet; we may, +then, get a light on what his later task is to be. + +_Firstly._--We must differentiate between what he did in London as part +of his general plan of action, when he was pressed for moments and had +to arrange as best he could. + +_Secondly_ we must see, as well as we can surmise it from the facts we +know of, what he has done here. + +As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent +invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of +exit from England; his immediate and sole purpose then was to escape. +The proof of this, is the letter of instructions sent to Immanuel +Hildesheim to clear and take away the box _before sunrise_. There is +also the instruction to Petrof Skinsky. These we must only guess at; but +there must have been some letter or message, since Skinsky came to +Hildesheim. + +That, so far, his plans were successful we know. The _Czarina Catherine_ +made a phenomenally quick journey--so much so that Captain Donelson's +suspicions were aroused; but his superstition united with his canniness +played the Count's game for him, and he ran with his favouring wind +through fogs and all till he brought up blindfold at Galatz. That the +Count's arrangements were well made, has been proved. Hildesheim cleared +the box, took it off, and gave it to Skinsky. Skinsky took it--and here +we lose the trail. We only know that the box is somewhere on the water, +moving along. The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have been +avoided. + +Now we come to what the Count must have done after his arrival--_on +land_, at Galatz. + +The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise. At sunrise the Count could +appear in his own form. Here, we ask why Skinsky was chosen at all to +aid in the work? In my husband's diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing +with the Slovaks who trade down the river to the port; and the man's +remark, that the murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general +feeling against his class. The Count wanted isolation. + +My surmise is, this: that in London the Count decided to get back to his +castle by water, as the most safe and secret way. He was brought from +the castle by Szgany, and probably they delivered their cargo to Slovaks +who took the boxes to Varna, for there they were shipped for London. +Thus the Count had knowledge of the persons who could arrange this +service. When the box was on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he +came out from his box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to +arranging the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and +he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he thought, +by murdering his agent. + +I have examined the map and find that the river most suitable for the +Slovaks to have ascended is either the Pruth or the Sereth. I read in +the typescript that in my trance I heard cows low and water swirling +level with my ears and the creaking of wood. The Count in his box, then, +was on a river in an open boat--propelled probably either by oars or +poles, for the banks are near and it is working against stream. There +would be no such sound if floating down stream. + +Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but we may +possibly investigate further. Now of these two, the Pruth is the more +easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at Fundu, joined by the Bistritza +which runs up round the Borgo Pass. The loop it makes is manifestly as +close to Dracula's castle as can be got by water. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal--continued._ + +When I had done reading, Jonathan took me in his arms and kissed me. The +others kept shaking me by both hands, and Dr. Van Helsing said:-- + +"Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have been where +we were blinded. Now we are on the track once again, and this time we +may succeed. Our enemy is at his most helpless; and if we can come on +him by day, on the water, our task will be over. He has a start, but he +is powerless to hasten, as he may not leave his box lest those who carry +him may suspect; for them to suspect would be to prompt them to throw +him in the stream where he perish. This he knows, and will not. Now men, +to our Council of War; for, here and now, we must plan what each and all +shall do." + +"I shall get a steam launch and follow him," said Lord Godalming. + +"And I, horses to follow on the bank lest by chance he land," said Mr. +Morris. + +"Good!" said the Professor, "both good. But neither must go alone. There +must be force to overcome force if need be; the Slovak is strong and +rough, and he carries rude arms." All the men smiled, for amongst them +they carried a small arsenal. Said Mr. Morris:-- + +"I have brought some Winchesters; they are pretty handy in a crowd, and +there may be wolves. The Count, if you remember, took some other +precautions; he made some requisitions on others that Mrs. Harker could +not quite hear or understand. We must be ready at all points." Dr. +Seward said:-- + +"I think I had better go with Quincey. We have been accustomed to hunt +together, and we two, well armed, will be a match for whatever may come +along. You must not be alone, Art. It may be necessary to fight the +Slovaks, and a chance thrust--for I don't suppose these fellows carry +guns--would undo all our plans. There must be no chances, this time; we +shall, not rest until the Count's head and body have been separated, and +we are sure that he cannot re-incarnate." He looked at Jonathan as he +spoke, and Jonathan looked at me. I could see that the poor dear was +torn about in his mind. Of course he wanted to be with me; but then the +boat service would, most likely, be the one which would destroy the ... +the ... the ... Vampire. (Why did I hesitate to write the word?) He was +silent awhile, and during his silence Dr. Van Helsing spoke:-- + +"Friend Jonathan, this is to you for twice reasons. First, because you +are young and brave and can fight, and all energies may be needed at the +last; and again that it is your right to destroy him--that--which has +wrought such woe to you and yours. Be not afraid for Madam Mina; she +will be my care, if I may. I am old. My legs are not so quick to run as +once; and I am not used to ride so long or to pursue as need be, or to +fight with lethal weapons. But I can be of other service; I can fight in +other way. And I can die, if need be, as well as younger men. Now let +me say that what I would is this: while you, my Lord Godalming and +friend Jonathan go in your so swift little steamboat up the river, and +whilst John and Quincey guard the bank where perchance he might be +landed, I will take Madam Mina right into the heart of the enemy's +country. Whilst the old fox is tied in his box, floating on the running +stream whence he cannot escape to land--where he dares not raise the lid +of his coffin-box lest his Slovak carriers should in fear leave him to +perish--we shall go in the track where Jonathan went,--from Bistritz +over the Borgo, and find our way to the Castle of Dracula. Here, Madam +Mina's hypnotic power will surely help, and we shall find our way--all +dark and unknown otherwise--after the first sunrise when we are near +that fateful place. There is much to be done, and other places to be +made sanctify, so that that nest of vipers be obliterated." Here +Jonathan interrupted him hotly:-- + +"Do you mean to say, Professor Van Helsing, that you would bring Mina, +in her sad case and tainted as she is with that devil's illness, right +into the jaws of his death-trap? Not for the world! Not for Heaven or +Hell!" He became almost speechless for a minute, and then went on:-- + +"Do you know what the place is? Have you seen that awful den of hellish +infamy--with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every +speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo? +Have you felt the Vampire's lips upon your throat?" Here he turned to +me, and as his eyes lit on my forehead he threw up his arms with a cry: +"Oh, my God, what have we done to have this terror upon us!" and he sank +down on the sofa in a collapse of misery. The Professor's voice, as he +spoke in clear, sweet tones, which seemed to vibrate in the air, calmed +us all:-- + +"Oh, my friend, it is because I would save Madam Mina from that awful +place that I would go. God forbid that I should take her into that +place. There is work--wild work--to be done there, that her eyes may not +see. We men here, all save Jonathan, have seen with their own eyes what +is to be done before that place can be purify. Remember that we are in +terrible straits. If the Count escape us this time--and he is strong and +subtle and cunning--he may choose to sleep him for a century, and then +in time our dear one"--he took my hand--"would come to him to keep him +company, and would be as those others that you, Jonathan, saw. You have +told us of their gloating lips; you heard their ribald laugh as they +clutched the moving bag that the Count threw to them. You shudder; and +well may it be. Forgive me that I make you so much pain, but it is +necessary. My friend, is it not a dire need for the which I am giving, +possibly my life? If it were that any one went into that place to stay, +it is I who would have to go to keep them company." + +"Do as you will," said Jonathan, with a sob that shook him all over, "we +are in the hands of God!" + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked. +How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true, and +so brave! And, too, it made me think of the wonderful power of money! +What can it not do when it is properly applied; and what might it do +when basely used. I felt so thankful that Lord Godalming is rich, and +that both he and Mr. Morris, who also has plenty of money, are willing +to spend it so freely. For if they did not, our little expedition could +not start, either so promptly or so well equipped, as it will within +another hour. It is not three hours since it was arranged what part each +of us was to do; and now Lord Godalming and Jonathan have a lovely steam +launch, with steam up ready to start at a moment's notice. Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris have half a dozen good horses, well appointed. We have +all the maps and appliances of various kinds that can be had. Professor +Van Helsing and I are to leave by the 11:40 train to-night for Veresti, +where we are to get a carriage to drive to the Borgo Pass. We are +bringing a good deal of ready money, as we are to buy a carriage and +horses. We shall drive ourselves, for we have no one whom we can trust +in the matter. The Professor knows something of a great many languages, +so we shall get on all right. We have all got arms, even for me a +large-bore revolver; Jonathan would not be happy unless I was armed like +the rest. Alas! I cannot carry one arm that the rest do; the scar on my +forehead forbids that. Dear Dr. Van Helsing comforts me by telling me +that I am fully armed as there may be wolves; the weather is getting +colder every hour, and there are snow-flurries which come and go as +warnings. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It took all my courage to say good-bye to my darling. We may +never meet again. Courage, Mina! the Professor is looking at you keenly; +his look is a warning. There must be no tears now--unless it may be that +God will let them fall in gladness. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_October 30. Night._--I am writing this in the light from the furnace +door of the steam launch: Lord Godalming is firing up. He is an +experienced hand at the work, as he has had for years a launch of his +own on the Thames, and another on the Norfolk Broads. Regarding our +plans, we finally decided that Mina's guess was correct, and that if any +waterway was chosen for the Count's escape back to his Castle, the +Sereth and then the Bistritza at its junction, would be the one. We took +it, that somewhere about the 47th degree, north latitude, would be the +place chosen for the crossing the country between the river and the +Carpathians. We have no fear in running at good speed up the river at +night; there is plenty of water, and the banks are wide enough apart to +make steaming, even in the dark, easy enough. Lord Godalming tells me to +sleep for a while, as it is enough for the present for one to be on +watch. But I cannot sleep--how can I with the terrible danger hanging +over my darling, and her going out into that awful place.... My only +comfort is that we are in the hands of God. Only for that faith it would +be easier to die than to live, and so be quit of all the trouble. Mr. +Morris and Dr. Seward were off on their long ride before we started; +they are to keep up the right bank, far enough off to get on higher +lands where they can see a good stretch of river and avoid the following +of its curves. They have, for the first stages, two men to ride and lead +their spare horses--four in all, so as not to excite curiosity. When +they dismiss the men, which shall be shortly, they shall themselves look +after the horses. It may be necessary for us to join forces; if so they +can mount our whole party. One of the saddles has a movable horn, and +can be easily adapted for Mina, if required. + +It is a wild adventure we are on. Here, as we are rushing along through +the darkness, with the cold from the river seeming to rise up and strike +us; with all the mysterious voices of the night around us, it all comes +home. We seem to be drifting into unknown places and unknown ways; into +a whole world of dark and dreadful things. Godalming is shutting the +furnace door.... + + * * * * * + +_31 October._--Still hurrying along. The day has come, and Godalming is +sleeping. I am on watch. The morning is bitterly cold; the furnace heat +is grateful, though we have heavy fur coats. As yet we have passed only +a few open boats, but none of them had on board any box or package of +anything like the size of the one we seek. The men were scared every +time we turned our electric lamp on them, and fell on their knees and +prayed. + + * * * * * + +_1 November, evening._--No news all day; we have found nothing of the +kind we seek. We have now passed into the Bistritza; and if we are wrong +in our surmise our chance is gone. We have over-hauled every boat, big +and little. Early this morning, one crew took us for a Government boat, +and treated us accordingly. We saw in this a way of smoothing matters, +so at Fundu, where the Bistritza runs into the Sereth, we got a +Roumanian flag which we now fly conspicuously. With every boat which we +have over-hauled since then this trick has succeeded; we have had every +deference shown to us, and not once any objection to whatever we chose +to ask or do. Some of the Slovaks tell us that a big boat passed them, +going at more than usual speed as she had a double crew on board. This +was before they came to Fundu, so they could not tell us whether the +boat turned into the Bistritza or continued on up the Sereth. At Fundu +we could not hear of any such boat, so she must have passed there in the +night. I am feeling very sleepy; the cold is perhaps beginning to tell +upon me, and nature must have rest some time. Godalming insists that he +shall keep the first watch. God bless him for all his goodness to poor +dear Mina and me. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--It is broad daylight. That good fellow would not +wake me. He says it would have been a sin to, for I slept peacefully and +was forgetting my trouble. It seems brutally selfish to me to have slept +so long, and let him watch all night; but he was quite right. I am a new +man this morning; and, as I sit here and watch him sleeping, I can do +all that is necessary both as to minding the engine, steering, and +keeping watch. I can feel that my strength and energy are coming back to +me. I wonder where Mina is now, and Van Helsing. They should have got to +Veresti about noon on Wednesday. It would take them some time to get the +carriage and horses; so if they had started and travelled hard, they +would be about now at the Borgo Pass. God guide and help them! I am +afraid to think what may happen. If we could only go faster! but we +cannot; the engines are throbbing and doing their utmost. I wonder how +Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris are getting on. There seem to be endless +streams running down the mountains into this river, but as none of them +are very large--at present, at all events, though they are terrible +doubtless in winter and when the snow melts--the horsemen may not have +met much obstruction. I hope that before we get to Strasba we may see +them; for if by that time we have not overtaken the Count, it may be +necessary to take counsel together what to do next. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 November._--Three days on the road. No news, and no time to write it +if there had been, for every moment is precious. We have had only the +rest needful for the horses; but we are both bearing it wonderfully. +Those adventurous days of ours are turning up useful. We must push on; +we shall never feel happy till we get the launch in sight again. + + * * * * * + +_3 November._--We heard at Fundu that the launch had gone up the +Bistritza. I wish it wasn't so cold. There are signs of snow coming; and +if it falls heavy it will stop us. In such case we must get a sledge and +go on, Russian fashion. + + * * * * * + +_4 November._--To-day we heard of the launch having been detained by an +accident when trying to force a way up the rapids. The Slovak boats get +up all right, by aid of a rope and steering with knowledge. Some went up +only a few hours before. Godalming is an amateur fitter himself, and +evidently it was he who put the launch in trim again. Finally, they got +up the rapids all right, with local help, and are off on the chase +afresh. I fear that the boat is not any better for the accident; the +peasantry tell us that after she got upon smooth water again, she kept +stopping every now and again so long as she was in sight. We must push +on harder than ever; our help may be wanted soon. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_31 October._--Arrived at Veresti at noon. The Professor tells me that +this morning at dawn he could hardly hypnotise me at all, and that all I +could say was: "dark and quiet." He is off now buying a carriage and +horses. He says that he will later on try to buy additional horses, so +that we may be able to change them on the way. We have something more +than 70 miles before us. The country is lovely, and most interesting; if +only we were under different conditions, how delightful it would be to +see it all. If Jonathan and I were driving through it alone what a +pleasure it would be. To stop and see people, and learn something of +their life, and to fill our minds and memories with all the colour and +picturesqueness of the whole wild, beautiful country and the quaint +people! But, alas!-- + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Dr. Van Helsing has returned. He has got the carriage and +horses; we are to have some dinner, and to start in an hour. The +landlady is putting us up a huge basket of provisions; it seems enough +for a company of soldiers. The Professor encourages her, and whispers to +me that it may be a week before we can get any good food again. He has +been shopping too, and has sent home such a wonderful lot of fur coats +and wraps, and all sorts of warm things. There will not be any chance of +our being cold. + + * * * * * + +We shall soon be off. I am afraid to think what may happen to us. We are +truly in the hands of God. He alone knows what may be, and I pray Him, +with all the strength of my sad and humble soul, that He will watch over +my beloved husband; that whatever may happen, Jonathan may know that I +loved him and honoured him more than I can say, and that my latest and +truest thought will be always for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 November._--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The +horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go +willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many +changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to +think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic; +he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well +to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea; and +off we go. It is a lovely country; full of beauties of all imaginable +kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full +of nice qualities. They are _very, very_ superstitious. In the first +house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my +forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to +keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an +extra amount of garlic into our food; and I can't abide garlic. Ever +since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have +escaped their suspicions. We are travelling fast, and as we have no +driver with us to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal; but I daresay +that fear of the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the way. The +Professor seems tireless; all day he would not take any rest, though he +made me sleep for a long spell. At sunset time he hypnotised me, and he +says that I answered as usual "darkness, lapping water and creaking +wood"; so our enemy is still on the river. I am afraid to think of +Jonathan, but somehow I have now no fear for him, or for myself. I write +this whilst we wait in a farmhouse for the horses to be got ready. Dr. +Van Helsing is sleeping, Poor dear, he looks very tired and old and +grey, but his mouth is set as firmly as a conqueror's; even in his sleep +he is instinct with resolution. When we have well started I must make +him rest whilst I drive. I shall tell him that we have days before us, +and we must not break down when most of all his strength will be +needed.... All is ready; we are off shortly. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--I was successful, and we took turns driving all +night; now the day is on us, bright though cold. There is a strange +heaviness in the air--I say heaviness for want of a better word; I mean +that it oppresses us both. It is very cold, and only our warm furs keep +us comfortable. At dawn Van Helsing hypnotised me; he says I answered +"darkness, creaking wood and roaring water," so the river is changing as +they ascend. I do hope that my darling will not run any chance of +danger--more than need be; but we are in God's hands. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, night._--All day long driving. The country gets wilder as +we go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at Veresti seemed +so far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to gather round us +and tower in front. We both seem in good spirits; I think we make an +effort each to cheer the other; in the doing so we cheer ourselves. Dr. +Van Helsing says that by morning we shall reach the Borgo Pass. The +houses are very few here now, and the Professor says that the last horse +we got will have to go on with us, as we may not be able to change. He +got two in addition to the two we changed, so that now we have a rude +four-in-hand. The dear horses are patient and good, and they give us no +trouble. We are not worried with other travellers, and so even I can +drive. We shall get to the Pass in daylight; we do not want to arrive +before. So we take it easy, and have each a long rest in turn. Oh, what +will to-morrow bring to us? We go to seek the place where my poor +darling suffered so much. God grant that we may be guided aright, and +that He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both, +and who are in such deadly peril. As for me, I am not worthy in His +sight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deign +to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred +His wrath. + + +_Memorandum by Abraham Van Helsing._ + +_4 November._--This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D., of +Purfleet, London, in case I may not see him. It may explain. It is +morning, and I write by a fire which all the night I have kept +alive--Madam Mina aiding me. It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey +heavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all +winter as the ground is hardening to receive it. It seems to have +affected Madam Mina; she has been so heavy of head all day that she was +not like herself. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps! She who is usual +so alert, have done literally nothing all the day; she even have lost +her appetite. She make no entry into her little diary, she who write so +faithful at every pause. Something whisper to me that all is not well. +However, to-night she is more _vif_. Her long sleep all day have refresh +and restore her, for now she is all sweet and bright as ever. At sunset +I try to hypnotise her, but alas! with no effect; the power has grown +less and less with each day, and to-night it fail me altogether. Well, +God's will be done--whatever it may be, and whithersoever it may lead! + +Now to the historical, for as Madam Mina write not in her stenography, I +must, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so each day of us may not go +unrecorded. + +We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday morning. When I +saw the signs of the dawn I got ready for the hypnotism. We stopped our +carriage, and got down so that there might be no disturbance. I made a +couch with furs, and Madam Mina, lying down, yield herself as usual, but +more slow and more short time than ever, to the hypnotic sleep. As +before, came the answer: "darkness and the swirling of water." Then she +woke, bright and radiant and we go on our way and soon reach the Pass. +At this time and place, she become all on fire with zeal; some new +guiding power be in her manifested, for she point to a road and say:-- + +"This is the way." + +"How know you it?" I ask. + +"Of course I know it," she answer, and with a pause, add: "Have not my +Jonathan travelled it and wrote of his travel?" + +At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be only one +such by-road. It is used but little, and very different from the coach +road from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more wide and hard, and +more of use. + +So we came down this road; when we meet other ways--not always were we +sure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect and light snow +have fallen--the horses know and they only. I give rein to them, and +they go on so patient. By-and-by we find all the things which Jonathan +have note in that wonderful diary of him. Then we go on for long, long +hours and hours. At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep; she try, and +she succeed. She sleep all the time; till at the last, I feel myself to +suspicious grow, and attempt to wake her. But she sleep on, and I may +not wake her though I try. I do not wish to try too hard lest I harm +her; for I know that she have suffer much, and sleep at times be +all-in-all to her. I think I drowse myself, for all of sudden I feel +guilt, as though I have done something; I find myself bolt up, with the +reins in my hand, and the good horses go along jog, jog, just as ever. I +look down and find Madam Mina still sleep. It is now not far off sunset +time, and over the snow the light of the sun flow in big yellow flood, +so that we throw great long shadow on where the mountain rise so steep. +For we are going up, and up; and all is oh! so wild and rocky, as though +it were the end of the world. + +Then I arouse Madam Mina. This time she wake with not much trouble, and +then I try to put her to hypnotic sleep. But she sleep not, being as +though I were not. Still I try and try, till all at once I find her and +myself in dark; so I look round, and find that the sun have gone down. +Madam Mina laugh, and I turn and look at her. She is now quite awake, +and look so well as I never saw her since that night at Carfax when we +first enter the Count's house. I am amaze, and not at ease then; but she +is so bright and tender and thoughtful for me that I forget all fear. I +light a fire, for we have brought supply of wood with us, and she +prepare food while I undo the horses and set them, tethered in shelter, +to feed. Then when I return to the fire she have my supper ready. I go +to help her; but she smile, and tell me that she have eat already--that +she was so hungry that she would not wait. I like it not, and I have +grave doubts; but I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of it. She +help me and I eat alone; and then we wrap in fur and lie beside the +fire, and I tell her to sleep while I watch. But presently I forget all +of watching; and when I sudden remember that I watch, I find her lying +quiet, but awake, and looking at me with so bright eyes. Once, twice +more the same occur, and I get much sleep till before morning. When I +wake I try to hypnotise her; but alas! though she shut her eyes +obedient, she may not sleep. The sun rise up, and up, and up; and then +sleep come to her too late, but so heavy that she will not wake. I have +to lift her up, and place her sleeping in the carriage when I have +harnessed the horses and made all ready. Madam still sleep, and she look +in her sleep more healthy and more redder than before. And I like it +not. And I am afraid, afraid, afraid!--I am afraid of all things--even +to think but I must go on my way. The stake we play for is life and +death, or more than these, and we must not flinch. + + * * * * * + +_5 November, morning._--Let me be accurate in everything, for though you +and I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first think +that I, Van Helsing, am mad--that the many horrors and the so long +strain on nerves has at the last turn my brain. + +All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains, and +moving into a more and more wild and desert land. There are great, +frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have held +sometime her carnival. Madam Mina still sleep and sleep; and though I +did have hunger and appeased it, I could not waken her--even for food. I +began to fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon her, tainted as +she is with that Vampire baptism. "Well," said I to myself, "if it be +that she sleep all the day, it shall also be that I do not sleep at +night." As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient and +imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept. Again I waked +with a sense of guilt and of time passed, and found Madam Mina still +sleeping, and the sun low down. But all was indeed changed; the frowning +mountains seemed further away, and we were near the top of a +steep-rising hill, on summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell +of in his diary. At once I exulted and feared; for now, for good or ill, +the end was near. + +I woke Madam Mina, and again tried to hypnotise her; but alas! +unavailing till too late. Then, ere the great dark came upon us--for +even after down-sun the heavens reflected the gone sun on the snow, and +all was for a time in a great twilight--I took out the horses and fed +them in what shelter I could. Then I make a fire; and near it I make +Madam Mina, now awake and more charming than ever, sit comfortable amid +her rugs. I got ready food: but she would not eat, simply saying that +she had not hunger. I did not press her, knowing her unavailingness. But +I myself eat, for I must needs now be strong for all. Then, with the +fear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so big for her comfort, round +where Madam Mina sat; and over the ring I passed some of the wafer, and +I broke it fine so that all was well guarded. She sat still all the +time--so still as one dead; and she grew whiter and ever whiter till the +snow was not more pale; and no word she said. But when I drew near, she +clung to me, and I could know that the poor soul shook her from head to +feet with a tremor that was pain to feel. I said to her presently, when +she had grown more quiet:-- + +"Will you not come over to the fire?" for I wished to make a test of +what she could. She rose obedient, but when she have made a step she +stopped, and stood as one stricken. + +"Why not go on?" I asked. She shook her head, and, coming back, sat +down in her place. Then, looking at me with open eyes, as of one waked +from sleep, she said simply:-- + +"I cannot!" and remained silent. I rejoiced, for I knew that what she +could not, none of those that we dreaded could. Though there might be +danger to her body, yet her soul was safe! + +Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their tethers till I +came to them and quieted them. When they did feel my hands on them, they +whinnied low as in joy, and licked at my hands and were quiet for a +time. Many times through the night did I come to them, till it arrive to +the cold hour when all nature is at lowest; and every time my coming was +with quiet of them. In the cold hour the fire began to die, and I was +about stepping forth to replenish it, for now the snow came in flying +sweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the dark there was a light of +some kind, as there ever is over snow; and it seemed as though the +snow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of women with +trailing garments. All was in dead, grim silence only that the horses +whinnied and cowered, as if in terror of the worst. I began to +fear--horrible fears; but then came to me the sense of safety in that +ring wherein I stood. I began, too, to think that my imaginings were of +the night, and the gloom, and the unrest that I have gone through, and +all the terrible anxiety. It was as though my memories of all Jonathan's +horrid experience were befooling me; for the snow flakes and the mist +began to wheel and circle round, till I could get as though a shadowy +glimpse of those women that would have kissed him. And then the horses +cowered lower and lower, and moaned in terror as men do in pain. Even +the madness of fright was not to them, so that they could break away. I +feared for my dear Madam Mina when these weird figures drew near and +circled round. I looked at her, but she sat calm, and smiled at me; when +I would have stepped to the fire to replenish it, she caught me and held +me back, and whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so low +it was:-- + +"No! No! Do not go without. Here you are safe!" I turned to her, and +looking in her eyes, said:-- + +"But you? It is for you that I fear!" whereat she laughed--a laugh, low +and unreal, and said:-- + +"Fear for _me_! Why fear for me? None safer in all the world from them +than I am," and as I wondered at the meaning of her words, a puff of +wind made the flame leap up, and I see the red scar on her forehead. +Then, alas! I knew. Did I not, I would soon have learned, for the +wheeling figures of mist and snow came closer, but keeping ever without +the Holy circle. Then they began to materialise till--if God have not +take away my reason, for I saw it through my eyes--there were before me +in actual flesh the same three women that Jonathan saw in the room, when +they would have kissed his throat. I knew the swaying round forms, the +bright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous +lips. They smiled ever at poor dear Madam Mina; and as their laugh came +through the silence of the night, they twined their arms and pointed to +her, and said in those so sweet tingling tones that Jonathan said were +of the intolerable sweetness of the water-glasses:-- + +"Come, sister. Come to us. Come! Come!" In fear I turned to my poor +Madam Mina, and my heart with gladness leapt like flame; for oh! the +terror in her sweet eyes, the repulsion, the horror, told a story to my +heart that was all of hope. God be thanked she was not, yet, of them. I +seized some of the firewood which was by me, and holding out some of the +Wafer, advanced on them towards the fire. They drew back before me, and +laughed their low horrid laugh. I fed the fire, and feared them not; for +I knew that we were safe within our protections. They could not +approach, me, whilst so armed, nor Madam Mina whilst she remained within +the ring, which she could not leave no more than they could enter. The +horses had ceased to moan, and lay still on the ground; the snow fell on +them softly, and they grew whiter. I knew that there was for the poor +beasts no more of terror. + +And so we remained till the red of the dawn to fall through the +snow-gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror; but +when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again. +At the first coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in the +whirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom moved away +towards the castle, and were lost. + +Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina, intending +to hypnotise her; but she lay in a deep and sudden sleep, from which I +could not wake her. I tried to hypnotise through her sleep, but she made +no response, none at all; and the day broke. I fear yet to stir. I have +made my fire and have seen the horses, they are all dead. To-day I have +much to do here, and I keep waiting till the sun is up high; for there +may be places where I must go, where that sunlight, though snow and mist +obscure it, will be to me a safety. + +I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my terrible +work. Madam Mina still sleeps; and, God be thanked! she is calm in her +sleep.... + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 November, evening._--The accident to the launch has been a terrible +thing for us. Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago; +and by now my dear Mina would have been free. I fear to think of her, +off on the wolds near that horrid place. We have got horses, and we +follow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready. We +have our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean fight. Oh, if only +Morris and Seward were with us. We must only hope! If I write no more +Good-bye, Mina! God bless and keep you. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 November._--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashing +away from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded it in a +cluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is falling lightly +and there is a strange excitement in the air. It may be our own +feelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the howling of +wolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and there are +dangers to all of us, and from all sides. The horses are nearly ready, +and we are soon off. We ride to death of some one. God alone knows who, +or where, or what, or when, or how it may be.... + + +_Dr. Van Helsing's Memorandum._ + +_5 November, afternoon._--I am at least sane. Thank God for that mercy +at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I left +Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the castle. +The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from Veresti was +useful; though the doors were all open I broke them off the rusty +hinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close them, so that +being entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter experience served +me here. By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel, for I +knew that here my work lay. The air was oppressive; it seemed as if +there was some sulphurous fume, which at times made me dizzy. Either +there was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar off the howl of wolves. +Then I bethought me of my dear Madam Mina, and I was in terrible plight. +The dilemma had me between his horns. + +Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe from the +Vampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf! I +resolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we must +submit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death and +freedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself the +choice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in than +the grave of the Vampire! So I make my choice to go on with my work. + +I knew that there were at least three graves to find--graves that are +inhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She lay in her +Vampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I shudder as +though I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in old time, when +such things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as mine, +found at the last his heart fail him, and then his nerve. So he delay, +and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of the +wanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain on and on, till sunset +come, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the beautiful eyes of the fair +woman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a +kiss--and man is weak. And there remain one more victim in the Vampire +fold; one more to swell the grim and grisly ranks of the Un-Dead!... + +There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presence +of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age and +heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour such +as the lairs of the Count have had. Yes, I was moved--I, Van Helsing, +with all my purpose and with my motive for hate--I was moved to a +yearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties and to clog my +very soul. It may have been that the need of natural sleep, and the +strange oppression of the air were beginning to overcome me. Certain it +was that I was lapsing into sleep, the open-eyed sleep of one who yields +to a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled air a +long, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me like the sound +of a clarion. For it was the voice of my dear Madam Mina that I heard. + +Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by wrenching +away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one. I dared not +pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should +begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find in +a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sister +which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of +the mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so +exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls +some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl +with new emotion. But God be thanked, that soul-wail of my dear Madam +Mina had not died out of my ears; and, before the spell could be wrought +further upon me, I had nerved myself to my wild work. By this time I had +searched all the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell; and as +there had been only three of these Un-Dead phantoms around us in the +night, I took it that there were no more of active Un-Dead existent. +There was one great tomb more lordly than all the rest; huge it was, and +nobly proportioned. On it was but one word + + DRACULA. + +This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so many more +were due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what I knew. +Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through my +awful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished +him from it, Un-Dead, for ever. + +Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it. Had it been but one, it +had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I had +been through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweet +Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survived +through centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of the +years; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives.... + +Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work; had I not been nerved by +thoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung such a pall of +fear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble even yet, though +till all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand. Had I not seen +the repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole over it just +ere the final dissolution came, as realisation that the soul had been +won, I could not have gone further with my butchery. I could not have +endured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging of +writhing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled in terror and +left my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls, I can pity them +now and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of death +for a short moment ere fading. For, friend John, hardly had my knife +severed the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away and +crumble in to its native dust, as though the death that should have come +centuries agone had at last assert himself and say at once and loud "I +am here!" + +Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never more can +the Count enter there Un-Dead. + +When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke from her +sleep, and, seeing, me, cried out in pain that I had endured too much. + +"Come!" she said, "come away from this awful place! Let us go to meet my +husband who is, I know, coming towards us." She was looking thin and +pale and weak; but her eyes were pure and glowed with fervour. I was +glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the +fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep. + +And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go eastward to meet +our friends--and _him_--whom Madam Mina tell me that she _know_ are +coming to meet us. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_6 November._--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I +took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming. We did +not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to take +heavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility of being +left without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take some of our +provisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as we +could see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign of +habitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavy +walking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw where the +clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so deep under +the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective of the +Carpathian mountains was far below it. We saw it in all its grandeur, +perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice, and with +seemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the adjacent mountain +on any side. There was something wild and uncanny about the place. We +could hear the distant howling of wolves. They were far off, but the +sound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was +full of terror. I knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching about +that he was trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be less +exposed in case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; we +could trace it through the drifted snow. + +In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and joined +him. He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow in a rock, +with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders. He took me by the +hand and drew me in: "See!" he said, "here you will be in shelter; and +if the wolves do come I can meet them one by one." He brought in our +furs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some provisions and +forced them upon me. But I could not eat; to even try to do so was +repulsive to me, and, much as I would have liked to please him, I could +not bring myself to the attempt. He looked very sad, but did not +reproach me. Taking his field-glasses from the case, he stood on the top +of the rock, and began to search the horizon. Suddenly he called out:-- + +"Look! Madam Mina, look! look!" I sprang up and stood beside him on the +rock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow was now falling +more heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginning +to blow. However, there were times when there were pauses between the +snow flurries and I could see a long way round. From the height where we +were it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond the +white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon in +kinks and curls as it wound its way. Straight in front of us and not far +off--in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before--came a +group of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a +long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail +wagging, with each stern inequality of the road. Outlined against the +snow as they were, I could see from the men's clothes that they were +peasants or gypsies of some kind. + +On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw it, for I +felt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing close, and +well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then imprisoned +there, would take new freedom and could in any of many forms elude all +pursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor; to my consternation, +however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him below me. Round +the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found shelter in last +night. When he had completed it he stood beside me again, saying:-- + +"At least you shall be safe here from _him_!" He took the glasses from +me, and at the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us. +"See," he said, "they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, and +galloping as hard as they can." He paused and went on in a hollow +voice:-- + +"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will be +done!" Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole +landscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and once more his +glasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden cry:-- + +"Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming up from the +south. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look before the snow +blots it all out!" I took it and looked. The two men might be Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan. +At the same time I _knew_ that Jonathan was not far off; looking around +I saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding at +break-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took, +of course, to be Lord Godalming. They, too, were pursuing the party with +the cart. When I told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy, +and, after looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, he +laid his Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at the +opening of our shelter. "They are all converging," he said. "When the +time comes we shall have gypsies on all sides." I got out my revolver +ready to hand, for whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came +louder and closer. When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again. +It was strange to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us, +and beyond, the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank down +towards the far mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I could +see here and there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger +numbers--the wolves were gathering for their prey. + +Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now in +fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us in +circling eddies. At times we could not see an arm's length before us; +but at others, as the hollow-sounding wind swept by us, it seemed to +clear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off. We had of +late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that we knew +with fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that before long the +sun would set. It was hard to believe that by our watches it was less +than an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the various +bodies began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercer +and more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seemingly +had driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts, +the snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each +party, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did +not seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they +seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower +and lower on the mountain tops. + +Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behind +our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determined +that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of our +presence. + +All at once two voices shouted out to: "Halt!" One was my Jonathan's, +raised in a high key of passion; the other Mr. Morris' strong resolute +tone of quiet command. The gypsies may not have known the language, but +there was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the words were +spoken. Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant Lord Godalming +and Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris on the +other. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid-looking fellow who sat his +horse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a fierce voice gave to his +companions some word to proceed. They lashed the horses which sprang +forward; but the four men raised their Winchester rifles, and in an +unmistakable way commanded them to stop. At the same moment Dr. Van +Helsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them. +Seeing that they were surrounded the men tightened their reins and drew +up. The leader turned to them and gave a word at which every man of the +gypsy party drew what weapon he carried, knife or pistol, and held +himself in readiness to attack. Issue was joined in an instant. + +The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out in +front, and pointing first to the sun--now close down on the hill +tops--and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand. +For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their horses +and dashed towards the cart. I should have felt terrible fear at seeing +Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have been +upon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild, +surging desire to do something. Seeing the quick movement of our +parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command; his men instantly +formed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined endeavour, each one +shouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness to carry out the +order. + +In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring +of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it was +evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun +should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither the +levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, nor +the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their +attention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his +purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they +cowered, aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon the +cart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great +box, and flung it over the wheel to the ground. In the meantime, Mr. +Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring of +Szgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had, +with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and had +seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them, and +they cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at first +I thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he sprang +beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could see that +with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the blood was +spurting through his fingers. He did not delay notwithstanding this, for +as Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked one end of the chest, +attempting to prize off the lid with his great Kukri knife, he attacked +the other frantically with his bowie. Under the efforts of both men the +lid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, and +the top of the box was thrown back. + +By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters, +and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and made +no resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the +shadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow. I saw the Count +lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from +the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen +image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I +knew too well. + +As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them +turned to triumph. + +But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. +I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same +moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart. + +It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in the +drawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed from +our sight. + +I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final +dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never +could have imagined might have rested there. + +The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone +of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the +setting sun. + +The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinary +disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away as +if for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped upon the +leiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them. The wolves, +which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their wake, leaving +us alone. + +Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his +hand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through his fingers. I +flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the +two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his +head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand +in that of his own which was unstained. He must have seen the anguish of +my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said:-- + +"I am only too happy to have been of any service! Oh, God!" he cried +suddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and pointing to me, "It was +worth for this to die! Look! look!" + +The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams +fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse +the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all +as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger. The dying man +spoke:-- + +"Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not +more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!" + +And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a +gallant gentleman. + + + + + NOTE + + +Seven years ago we all went through the flames; and the happiness of +some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured. It +is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same +day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the +secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into +him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together; but +we call him Quincey. + +In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania, and went +over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid and +terrible memories. It was almost impossible to believe that the things +which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears were +living truths. Every trace of all that had been was blotted out. The +castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation. + +When we got home we were talking of the old time--which we could all +look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are both happily +married. I took the papers from the safe where they had been ever since +our return so long ago. We were struck with the fact, that in all the +mass of material of which the record is composed, there is hardly one +authentic document; nothing but a mass of typewriting, except the later +note-books of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van Helsing's memorandum. +We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as +proofs of so wild a story. Van Helsing summed it all up as he said, with +our boy on his knee:-- + +"We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy will some day +know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is. Already he knows her +sweetness and loving care; later on he will understand how some men so +loved her, that they did dare much for her sake." + +JONATHAN HARKER. + + THE END + + * * * * * + + _There's More to Follow!_ + + More stories of the sort you like; more, probably, by the author of + this one; more than 500 titles all told by writers of world-wide + reputation, in the Authors' Alphabetical List which you will find + on the _reverse side_ of the wrapper of this book. Look it over + before you lay it aside. There are books here you are sure to + want--some, possibly, that you have _always_ wanted. + + It is a _selected_ list; every book in it has achieved a certain + measure of _success_. + + The Grosset & Dunlap list is not only the greatest Index of Good + Fiction available, it represents in addition a generally accepted + Standard of Value. It will pay you to + + _Look on the Other Side of the Wrapper!_ + + _In case the wrapper is lost write to the publishers for a complete + catalog_ + + * * * * * + +DETECTIVE STORIES BY J. S. FLETCHER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +THE SECRET OF THE BARBICAN + +THE ANNEXATION SOCIETY + +THE WOLVES AND THE LAMB + +GREEN INK + +THE KING versus WARGRAVE + +THE LOST MR. LINTHWAITE + +THE MILL OF MANY WINDOWS + +THE HEAVEN-KISSED HILL + +THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER + +RAVENSDENE COURT + +THE RAYNER-SLADE AMALGAMATION + +THE SAFETY PIN + +THE SECRET WAY + +THE VALLEY OF HEADSTRONG MEN + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +in a very simply way=> in a very simple way {pg 68} + +"The Westminister Gazette," 25 September.=> "The Westminster Gazette," +25 September. {pg 165} + +It have told him=> She must have told him {pg 169} + +from md sight=> from my sight {pg}184 + +Goldaming=> Godalming {pg 226} + +I I did not want to hinder him=> I did not want to hinder him {pg 267} + +They lay in a sort of or-orderly=> They lay in a sort of orderly {pg +279} + +Translyvania=> Transylvania {pg 294} + +this mrrning from Dardanelles=> this morning from Dardanelles {pg 313} + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + +***** This file should be named 345-8.txt or 345-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/345/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20bdbdb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt @@ -0,0 +1,887 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven +Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition + Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes + +Author: Edgar Allan Poe + +Release Date: May 19, 2008 [EBook #25525] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Contents and Index of Five Volumes + + +THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE + +TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX OF THE FIVE VOLUMES + +The Raven Edition + + +Project Gutenberg Volumes: +#2147, #2148, #2149, #2150, #2151 + + + +CONTENTS + +INDEX + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME 1 + +EDGAR ALLAN POE + +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE + +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL + +THE GOLD-BUG + +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD + +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE + +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET + +THE BALLOON-HOAX + +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE + +THE OVAL PORTRAIT + +VOLUME 2 + +THE PURLOINED LETTER + +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE + +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM. + +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY + +MESMERIC REVELATION + +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR + +THE BLACK CAT. + +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER + +SILENCE—A FABLE + +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. + +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. + +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE + +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY + +THE ASSIGNATION + +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM + +THE PREMATURE BURIAL + +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM + +LANDOR'S COTTAGE + +WILLIAM WILSON + +THE TELL-TALE HEART. + +BERENICE + +ELEONORA + +VOLUME 3 +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM + +CHAPTER 1 + +CHAPTER 2 + +CHAPTER 3 + +CHAPTER 4 + +CHAPTER 5 + +CHAPTER 6 + +CHAPTER 7 + +CHAPTER 8 + +CHAPTER 9 + +CHAPTER 10 + +CHAPTER 11 + +CHAPTER 12 + +CHAPTER 13 + +CHAPTER 14 + +CHAPTER 15 + +CHAPTER 16 + +CHAPTER 17 + +CHAPTER 18 + +CHAPTER 19 + +CHAPTER 20 + +CHAPTER 21 + +CHAPTER 22 + +CHAPTER 23 + +CHAPTER 24 + +CHAPTER 25 + +Notes + +LIGEIA + +MORELLA + +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS + +THE SPECTACLES + +KING PEST. + +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK + +VOLUME 4 + +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY + +LIONIZING + +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +METZENGERSTEIN + +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER + +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. + +A PREDICAMENT + +MYSTIFICATION + +DIDDLING + +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD + +MELLONTA TAUTA + +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. + +THE OBLONG BOX. + +LOSS OF BREATH + +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. + +THE BUSINESS MAN + +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN + +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER + +THE POWER OF WORDS + +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA + +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION + +SHADOW—A PARABLE + +VOLUME 5 + +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. + +A TALE OF JERUSALEM + +THE SPHINX + +HOP-FROG + +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. + +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD + +THOU ART THE MAN + +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING + +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. + +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE + +OLD ENGLISH POETRY + +POEMS + +PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE + +THE RAVEN. + +THE BELLS. + +ULALUME + +TO HELEN + +ANNABEL LEE. + +A VALENTINE. + +AN ENIGMA + +FOR ANNIE + +TO F——. + +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD + +ELDORADO. + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + +THE SLEEPER. + +NOTES + +POEMS OF MANHOOD + +LENORE + +TO ONE IN PARADISE. + +THE COLISEUM. + +THE HAUNTED PALACE. + +THE CONQUEROR WORM. + +SILENCE + +DREAM-LAND + +HYMN + +TO ZANTE + +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" + +POEMS OF YOUTH + +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 + +LETTER TO MR. B—. + +SONNET—TO SCIENCE + +AL AARAAF + +TAMERLANE + +TO HELEN + +THE VALLEY OF UNREST + +ISRAFEL + +TO —— + +TO —— + +TO THE RIVER—— + +SONG + +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD + +A DREAM + +ROMANCE + +FAIRY-LAND + +THE LAKE —— TO—— + +EVENING STAR + +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." + +IMITATION + +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS + +DREAMS + +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +NOTES + +DOUBTFUL POEMS + +ALONE + +TO ISADORE + +THE VILLAGE STREET + +THE FOREST REVERIE + +NOTES + + + +INDEX + +PROSE +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD +THE ASSIGNATION +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. +THE BUSINESS MAN +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE +EDGAR ALLAN POE +THE BALLOON-HOAX +THE BLACK CAT. +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD +BERENICE +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY +DIDDLING +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. +ELEONORA +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING +THE GOLD-BUG +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM +HOP-FROG +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY +A TALE OF JERUSALEM +KING PEST. +LANDOR'S COTTAGE +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN +LIGEIA +LIONIZING +LOSS OF BREATH +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. +MELLONTA TAUTA +MESMERIC REVELATION +METZENGERSTEIN +MORELLA +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET +MYSTIFICATION +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD +THE OBLONG BOX. +THE OVAL PORTRAIT +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM +THE POWER OF WORDS +A PREDICAMENT +THE PREMATURE BURIAL +THE PURLOINED LETTER +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS +SHADOW—A PARABLE +SILENCE—A FABLE +THE SPECTACLES +THE SPHINX +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER +THE TELL-TALE HEART. +THOU ART THE MAN +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY +WILLIAM WILSON +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +POETRY +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE +OLD ENGLISH POETRY PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE +ANNABEL LEE. +FOR ANNIE +THE BELLS. +THE CITY IN THE SEA. +ELDORADO. +AN ENIGMA +TO F——. +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD +TO HELEN +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +THE RAVEN. +THE SLEEPER. +ULALUME +A VALENTINE. + +POEMS OF MANHOOD +THE COLISEUM. +THE CONQUEROR WORM. +DREAM-LAND +THE HAUNTED PALACE. +HYMN +LENORE +TO ONE IN PARADISE. +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" +SILENCE +TO ZANTE + +POEMS OF YOUTH +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 +LETTER TO MR. B—. +AL AARAAF +A DREAM +DREAMS +EVENING STAR +FAIRY-LAND +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." +TO HELEN +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS +IMITATION +ISRAFEL +THE LAKE —— TO—— +SONG +SONNET—TO SCIENCE +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD +TAMERLANE +TO —— +TO —— +TO THE RIVER—— +ROMANCE +THE VALLEY OF UNREST +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +DOUBTFUL POEMS +ALONE +THE FOREST REVERIE +TO ISADORE +THE VILLAGE STREET + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The +Raven Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + +***** This file should be named 25525-8.txt or 25525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/2/25525/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53d4f23 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example", + "head": "v1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "md5", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/inventory.json.md5 b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/inventory.json.md5 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6ab863 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E025_wrong_digest_algorithm/v1/inventory.json.md5 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2289fef5dcc8f81d5c1fc67931a83be1 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..acf0827 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b57efc6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3c7dd11e95498a9492fde773a0532dcaec3f494736021d42451da170dcfb988b6e5df66453aa3816fd891b7917c842f2a495e706ffd37c3d779790bef1ffb88b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51ee313 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15973 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Dracula + +Author: Bram Stoker + +Release Date: August 16, 2013 [EBook #345] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + DRACULA + + + + + + DRACULA + + _by_ + + Bram Stoker + + [Illustration: colophon] + + NEW YORK + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + _Publishers_ + + Copyright, 1897, in the United States of America, according + to Act of Congress, by Bram Stoker + + [_All rights reserved._] + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES + AT + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + + + TO + + MY DEAR FRIEND + + HOMMY-BEG + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + Page + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 1 + +CHAPTER II + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 14 + +CHAPTER III + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 26 + +CHAPTER IV + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 38 + +CHAPTER V + +Letters--Lucy and Mina 51 + +CHAPTER VI + +Mina Murray's Journal 59 + +CHAPTER VII + +Cutting from "The Dailygraph," 8 August 71 + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mina Murray's Journal 84 + +CHAPTER IX + +Mina Murray's Journal 98 + +CHAPTER X + +Mina Murray's Journal 111 + +CHAPTER XI + +Lucy Westenra's Diary 124 + +CHAPTER XII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 136 + +CHAPTER XIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 152 + +CHAPTER XIV + +Mina Harker's Journal 167 + +CHAPTER XV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 181 + +CHAPTER XVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 194 + +CHAPTER XVII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 204 + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 216 + +CHAPTER XIX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 231 + +CHAPTER XX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 243 + +CHAPTER XXI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 256 + +CHAPTER XXII + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 269 + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 281 + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Dr. Seward's Phonograph Diary, spoken by Van Helsing 294 + +CHAPTER XXV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 308 + +CHAPTER XXVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 322 + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Mina Harker's Journal 338 + + + + +DRACULA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + +(_Kept in shorthand._) + + +_3 May. Bistritz._--Left Munich at 8:35 P. M., on 1st May, arriving at +Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an +hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I +got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the +streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived +late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The +impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the +East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is +here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish +rule. + +We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. +Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or +rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was +very good but thirsty. (_Mem._, get recipe for Mina.) I asked the +waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and that, as it was a +national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the +Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I +don't know how I should be able to get on without it. + +Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the +British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library +regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the +country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a +nobleman of that country. I find that the district he named is in the +extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, +Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian +mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe. I was +not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the +Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare +with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post +town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter +here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my +travels with Mina. + +In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: +Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the +descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the +East and North. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended +from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered +the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. I +read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the +horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of +imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (_Mem._, I +must ask the Count all about them.) + +I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had +all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my +window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been +the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was +still thirsty. Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous +knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. +I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour +which they said was "mamaliga," and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a +very excellent dish, which they call "impletata." (_Mem._, get recipe +for this also.) I had to hurry breakfast, for the train started a little +before eight, or rather it ought to have done so, for after rushing to +the station at 7:30 I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour +before we began to move. It seems to me that the further east you go the +more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China? + +All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of +beauty of every kind. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the +top of steep hills such as we see in old missals; sometimes we ran by +rivers and streams which seemed from the wide stony margin on each side +of them to be subject to great floods. It takes a lot of water, and +running strong, to sweep the outside edge of a river clear. At every +station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts +of attire. Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I +saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets and round hats +and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque. The women +looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy +about the waist. They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, +and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something +fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of course there +were petticoats under them. The strangest figures we saw were the +Slovaks, who were more barbarian than the rest, with their big cow-boy +hats, great baggy dirty-white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous +heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass +nails. They wore high boots, with their trousers tucked into them, and +had long black hair and heavy black moustaches. They are very +picturesque, but do not look prepossessing. On the stage they would be +set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands. They are, +however, I am told, very harmless and rather wanting in natural +self-assertion. + +It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a +very interesting old place. Being practically on the frontier--for the +Borgo Pass leads from it into Bukovina--it has had a very stormy +existence, and it certainly shows marks of it. Fifty years ago a series +of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate +occasions. At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent +a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war +proper being assisted by famine and disease. + +Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I +found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of +course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. I was +evidently expected, for when I got near the door I faced a +cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress--white +undergarment with long double apron, front, and back, of coloured stuff +fitting almost too tight for modesty. When I came close she bowed and +said, "The Herr Englishman?" "Yes," I said, "Jonathan Harker." She +smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirt-sleeves, +who had followed her to the door. He went, but immediately returned with +a letter:-- + + "My Friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting + you. Sleep well to-night. At three to-morrow the diligence will + start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo + Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust + that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you + will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. + +"Your friend, + +"DRACULA." + + +_4 May._--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, +directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on +making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and +pretended that he could not understand my German. This could not be +true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he +answered my questions exactly as if he did. He and his wife, the old +lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of +way. He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that +was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could +tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, +and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak +further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask +any one else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means +comforting. + +Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a +very hysterical way: + +"Must you go? Oh! young Herr, must you go?" She was in such an excited +state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and +mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all. I +was just able to follow her by asking many questions. When I told her +that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, +she asked again: + +"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. +She shook her head as she said again: + +"Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?" On +my saying that I did not understand, she went on: + +"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when +the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have +full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" +She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but +without effect. Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not +to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very +ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business +to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it. I therefore +tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked +her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go. She then rose and +dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me. I +did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been +taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it +seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a +state of mind. She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the +rosary round my neck, and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out +of the room. I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting +for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still +round my neck. Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly +traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I +am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual. If this book should +ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. Here comes the +coach! + + * * * * * + +_5 May. The Castle._--The grey of the morning has passed, and the sun is +high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or +hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are +mixed. I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, +naturally I write till sleep comes. There are many odd things to put +down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I +left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they +called "robber steak"--bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red +pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple +style of the London cat's meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which +produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not +disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else. + +When I got on the coach the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him +talking with the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every +now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting +on the bench outside the door--which they call by a name meaning +"word-bearer"--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them +pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for +there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my polyglot +dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not +cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"--Satan, "pokol"--hell, +"stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both of which mean the same +thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is +either were-wolf or vampire. (_Mem._, I must ask the Count about these +superstitions) + +When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time +swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and +pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a +fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he would not answer at +first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a +charm or guard against the evil eye. This was not very pleasant for me, +just starting for an unknown place to meet an unknown man; but every one +seemed so kind-hearted, and so sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I +could not but be touched. I shall never forget the last glimpse which I +had of the inn-yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing +themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of +rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the +centre of the yard. Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered +the whole front of the box-seat--"gotza" they call them--cracked his big +whip over his four small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on +our journey. + +I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty of the +scene as we drove along, although had I known the language, or rather +languages, which my fellow-passengers were speaking, I might not have +been able to throw them off so easily. Before us lay a green sloping +land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned +with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the +road. There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom--apple, +plum, pear, cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under +the trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out amongst these +green hills of what they call here the "Mittel Land" ran the road, +losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut out by the +straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the +hillsides like tongues of flame. The road was rugged, but still we +seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste. I could not understand then +what the haste meant, but the driver was evidently bent on losing no +time in reaching Borgo Prund. I was told that this road is in summertime +excellent, but that it had not yet been put in order after the winter +snows. In this respect it is different from the general run of roads in +the Carpathians, for it is an old tradition that they are not to be kept +in too good order. Of old the Hospadars would not repair them, lest the +Turk should think that they were preparing to bring in foreign troops, +and so hasten the war which was always really at loading point. + +Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes +of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves. Right +and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon +them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, +deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where +grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and +pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where +the snowy peaks rose grandly. Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the +mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again +the white gleam of falling water. One of my companions touched my arm as +we swept round the base of a hill and opened up the lofty, snow-covered +peak of a mountain, which seemed, as we wound on our serpentine way, to +be right before us:-- + +"Look! Isten szek!"--"God's seat!"--and he crossed himself reverently. + +As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind +us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us. This was +emphasised by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the +sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink. Here and there +we passed Cszeks and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but I noticed +that goitre was painfully prevalent. By the roadside were many crosses, +and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves. Here and there +was a peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine, who did not even +turn round as we approached, but seemed in the self-surrender of +devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the outer world. There were +many things new to me: for instance, hay-ricks in the trees, and here +and there very beautiful masses of weeping birch, their white stems +shining like silver through the delicate green of the leaves. Now and +again we passed a leiter-wagon--the ordinary peasant's cart--with its +long, snake-like vertebra, calculated to suit the inequalities of the +road. On this were sure to be seated quite a group of home-coming +peasants, the Cszeks with their white, and the Slovaks with their +coloured, sheepskins, the latter carrying lance-fashion their long +staves, with axe at end. As the evening fell it began to get very cold, +and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the +gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which +ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the +Pass, the dark firs stood out here and there against the background of +late-lying snow. Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods +that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of +greyness, which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a +peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and +grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset +threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the +Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes the +hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could +only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, +but the driver would not hear of it. "No, no," he said; "you must not +walk here; the dogs are too fierce"; and then he added, with what he +evidently meant for grim pleasantry--for he looked round to catch the +approving smile of the rest--"and you may have enough of such matters +before you go to sleep." The only stop he would make was a moment's +pause to light his lamps. + +When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the +passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as +though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses unmercifully +with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on +to further exertions. Then through the darkness I could see a sort of +patch of grey light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the +hills. The excitement of the passengers grew greater; the crazy coach +rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a +stormy sea. I had to hold on. The road grew more level, and we appeared +to fly along. Then the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each +side and to frown down upon us; we were entering on the Borgo Pass. One +by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed +upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial; these were +certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good +faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that strange mixture of +fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at +Bistritz--the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye. +Then, as we flew along, the driver leaned forward, and on each side the +passengers, craning over the edge of the coach, peered eagerly into the +darkness. It was evident that something very exciting was either +happening or expected, but though I asked each passenger, no one would +give me the slightest explanation. This state of excitement kept on for +some little time; and at last we saw before us the Pass opening out on +the eastern side. There were dark, rolling clouds overhead, and in the +air the heavy, oppressive sense of thunder. It seemed as though the +mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got +into the thunderous one. I was now myself looking out for the conveyance +which was to take me to the Count. Each moment I expected to see the +glare of lamps through the blackness; but all was dark. The only light +was the flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our +hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud. We could see now the sandy +road lying white before us, but there was on it no sign of a vehicle. +The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock +my own disappointment. I was already thinking what I had best do, when +the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something which I +could hardly hear, it was spoken so quietly and in so low a tone; I +thought it was "An hour less than the time." Then turning to me, he said +in German worse than my own:-- + +"There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He will +now come on to Bukovina, and return to-morrow or the next day; better +the next day." Whilst he was speaking the horses began to neigh and +snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up. Then, +amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a universal crossing +of themselves, a calèche, with four horses, drove up behind us, overtook +us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see from the flash of our +lamps, as the rays fell on them, that the horses were coal-black and +splendid animals. They were driven by a tall man, with a long brown +beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide his face from us. I +could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red +in the lamplight, as he turned to us. He said to the driver:-- + +"You are early to-night, my friend." The man stammered in reply:-- + +"The English Herr was in a hurry," to which the stranger replied:-- + +"That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot +deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift." As he +spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with +very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my +companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore":-- + + "Denn die Todten reiten schnell"-- + ("For the dead travel fast.") + +The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a +gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time +putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. "Give me the Herr's +luggage," said the driver; and with exceeding alacrity my bags were +handed out and put in the calèche. Then I descended from the side of the +coach, as the calèche was close alongside, the driver helping me with a +hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel; his strength must have been +prodigious. Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we +swept into the darkness of the Pass. As I looked back I saw the steam +from the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected +against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves. Then +the driver cracked his whip and called to his horses, and off they swept +on their way to Bukovina. As they sank into the darkness I felt a +strange chill, and a lonely feeling came over me; but a cloak was thrown +over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the driver said in +excellent German:-- + +"The night is chill, mein Herr, and my master the Count bade me take all +care of you. There is a flask of slivovitz (the plum brandy of the +country) underneath the seat, if you should require it." I did not take +any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the same. I felt a +little strangely, and not a little frightened. I think had there been +any alternative I should have taken it, instead of prosecuting that +unknown night journey. The carriage went at a hard pace straight along, +then we made a complete turn and went along another straight road. It +seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground +again; and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was +so. I would have liked to have asked the driver what this all meant, but +I really feared to do so, for I thought that, placed as I was, any +protest would have had no effect in case there had been an intention to +delay. By-and-by, however, as I was curious to know how time was +passing, I struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch; it was +within a few minutes of midnight. This gave me a sort of shock, for I +suppose the general superstition about midnight was increased by my +recent experiences. I waited with a sick feeling of suspense. + +Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road--a +long, agonised wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by +another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which +now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed +to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp +it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to +strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly, and they +quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from +sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each +side of us began a louder and a sharper howling--that of wolves--which +affected both the horses and myself in the same way--for I was minded to +jump from the calèche and run, whilst they reared again and plunged +madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them +from bolting. In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to +the sound, and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able +to descend and to stand before them. He petted and soothed them, and +whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse-tamers +doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became +quite manageable again, though they still trembled. The driver again +took his seat, and shaking his reins, started off at a great pace. This +time, after going to the far side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a +narrow roadway which ran sharply to the right. + +Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the +roadway till we passed as through a tunnel; and again great frowning +rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in shelter, we +could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled through the +rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. +It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall, +so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket. The +keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew +fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer +and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. I +grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, +however, was not in the least disturbed; he kept turning his head to +left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. + +Suddenly, away on our left, I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The +driver saw it at the same moment; he at once checked the horses, and, +jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness. I did not know +what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer; but while +I wondered the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a word took +his seat, and we resumed our journey. I think I must have fallen asleep +and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be repeated +endlessly, and now looking back, it is like a sort of awful nightmare. +Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the darkness +around us I could watch the driver's motions. He went rapidly to where +the blue flame arose--it must have been very faint, for it did not seem +to illumine the place around it at all--and gathering a few stones, +formed them into some device. Once there appeared a strange optical +effect: when he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, +for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. This startled me, but +as the effect was only momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me +straining through the darkness. Then for a time there were no blue +flames, and we sped onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the +wolves around us, as though they were following in a moving circle. + +At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he +had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble worse +than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause +for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether; but just +then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the +jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw +around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, +with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more +terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled. +For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man +feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand +their true import. + +All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had +some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared, and +looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see; +but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side; and they +had perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for +it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the +ring and to aid his approach. I shouted and beat the side of the +calèche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from that side, so as +to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came there, I know +not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and +looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway. As he swept his +long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves +fell back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across +the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness. + +When I could see again the driver was climbing into the calèche, and the +wolves had disappeared. This was all so strange and uncanny that a +dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time +seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost complete +darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. We kept on +ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main +always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the +driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a +vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, +and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit +sky. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +_5 May._--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully +awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In +the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark +ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than +it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight. + +When the calèche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand +to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious +strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have +crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps, and placed +them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and +studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of +massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was +massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and +weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the +reins; the horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one +of the dark openings. + +I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell +or knocker there was no sign; through these frowning walls and dark +window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The +time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon +me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? +What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a +customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to +explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor's +clerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor--for just before leaving +London I got word that my examination was successful; and I am now a +full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if +I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I +expected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with +the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and again felt +in the morning after a day of overwork. But my flesh answered the +pinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awake +and among the Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and to +wait the coming of the morning. + +Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching +behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming +light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of +massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise +of long disuse, and the great door swung back. + +Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white +moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck +of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver +lamp, in which the flame burned without chimney or globe of any kind, +throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the +open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with a courtly +gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange intonation:-- + +"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!" He made no +motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his +gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that +I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and +holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, +an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed as cold as +ice--more like the hand of a dead than a living man. Again he said:-- + +"Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the +happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so much akin to +that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that +for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was +speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:-- + +"Count Dracula?" He bowed in a courtly way as he replied:-- + +"I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in; +the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest." As he was +speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, +took my luggage; he had carried it in before I could forestall him. I +protested but he insisted:-- + +"Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not +available. Let me see to your comfort myself." He insisted on carrying +my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and +along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang +heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced +to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper, +and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, +flamed and flared. + +The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing +the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit +by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing +through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a +welcome sight; for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with +another log fire,--also added to but lately, for the top logs were +fresh--which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The Count himself +left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he closed the +door:-- + +"You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your +toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come +into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared." + +The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have +dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal state, +I discovered that I was half famished with hunger; so making a hasty +toilet, I went into the other room. + +I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of the +great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of +his hand to the table, and said:-- + +"I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse +me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup." + +I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me. +He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile, he handed +it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of +pleasure. + +"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant +sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to +come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in +whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy +and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is +discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall +be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take +your instructions in all matters." + +The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I +fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese +and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was +my supper. During the time I was eating it the Count asked me many +questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had +experienced. + +By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn +up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, +at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an +opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked +physiognomy. + +His face was a strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bridge of the +thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and +hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His +eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy +hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I +could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather +cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over +the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a +man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops +extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm +though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. + +Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees +in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeing +them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather +coarse--broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in +the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp +point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not +repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a +horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could +not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a +grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his +protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the +fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the +window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a +strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from +down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes +gleamed, and he said:-- + +"Listen to them--the children of the night. What music they make!" +Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he +added:-- + +"Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the +hunter." Then he rose and said:-- + +"But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow you +shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon; +so sleep well and dream well!" With a courteous bow, he opened for me +himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom.... + +I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, +which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the +sake of those dear to me! + + * * * * * + +_7 May._--It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the +last twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my +own accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had +supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the +pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the table, on which +was written:-- + +"I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.--D." I set to and +enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, so that I +might let the servants know I had finished; but I could not find one. +There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, considering the +extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The table service +is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it must be of immense value. +The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and sofas and the hangings of +my bed are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have +been of fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, +though in excellent order. I saw something like them in Hampton Court, +but there they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of +the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my +table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I +could either shave or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant +anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. +Some time after I had finished my meal--I do not know whether to call it +breakfast or dinner, for it was between five and six o'clock when I had +it--I looked about for something to read, for I did not like to go about +the castle until I had asked the Count's permission. There was +absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing +materials; so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of +library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found it locked. + +In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English +books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and +newspapers. A table in the centre was littered with English magazines +and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The books +were of the most varied kind--history, geography, politics, political +economy, botany, geology, law--all relating to England and English life +and customs and manners. There were even such books of reference as the +London Directory, the "Red" and "Blue" books, Whitaker's Almanac, the +Army and Navy Lists, and--it somehow gladdened my heart to see it--the +Law List. + +Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Count +entered. He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a good +night's rest. Then he went on:-- + +"I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much that +will interest you. These companions"--and he laid his hand on some of +the books--"have been good friends to me, and for some years past, ever +since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many, many hours +of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your great England; and to +know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of +your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of +humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes +it what it is. But alas! as yet I only know your tongue through books. +To you, my friend, I look that I know it to speak." + +"But, Count," I said, "you know and speak English thoroughly!" He bowed +gravely. + +"I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet I +fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I know +the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them." + +"Indeed," I said, "you speak excellently." + +"Not so," he answered. "Well, I know that, did I move and speak in your +London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is not +enough for me. Here I am noble; I am _boyar_; the common people know me, +and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one; men +know him not--and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am +like the rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or pause in his +speaking if he hear my words, 'Ha, ha! a stranger!' I have been so long +master that I would be master still--or at least that none other should +be master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of my friend Peter +Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in London. You +shall, I trust, rest here with me awhile, so that by our talking I may +learn the English intonation; and I would that you tell me when I make +error, even of the smallest, in my speaking. I am sorry that I had to be +away so long to-day; but you will, I know, forgive one who has so many +important affairs in hand." + +Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might +come into that room when I chose. He answered: "Yes, certainly," and +added:-- + +"You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are +locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is reason that +all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with +my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand." I said I was sure of +this, and then he went on:-- + +"We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are +not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from +what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of +what strange things there may be." + +This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he wanted to +talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding +things that had already happened to me or come within my notice. +Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by +pretending not to understand; but generally he answered all I asked most +frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked +him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as, for +instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue +flames. He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a +certain night of the year--last night, in fact, when all evil spirits +are supposed to have unchecked sway--a blue flame is seen over any place +where treasure has been concealed. "That treasure has been hidden," he +went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be +but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by the +Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil +in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, +patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the +Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out +to meet them--men and women, the aged and the children too--and waited +their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep +destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader +was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been +sheltered in the friendly soil." + +"But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when +there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?" +The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, +sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:-- + +"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only +appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he +can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he +would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of who +marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight +even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to +find these places again?" + +"There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where even +to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters. + +"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you +have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went into my +own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in +order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as I +passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp +lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit +in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa, +reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's Guide. When I +came in he cleared the books and papers from the table; and with him I +went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested in +everything, and asked me a myriad questions about the place and its +surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the +subject of the neighbourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much +more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered:-- + +"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there +I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan--nay, pardon me, I +fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first--my friend +Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He will be +in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law with my +other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!" + +We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at +Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the +necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to +Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a +place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which I +inscribe here:-- + +"At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as seemed to +be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place +was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of ancient structure, +built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of +years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with +rust. + +"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old _Quatre +Face_, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of +the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded by +the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which +make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or +small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear and +flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large and of all +periods back, I should say, to mediæval times, for one part is of stone +immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily barred with +iron. It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an old chapel or +church. I could not enter it, as I had not the key of the door leading +to it from the house, but I have taken with my kodak views of it from +various points. The house has been added to, but in a very straggling +way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must +be very great. There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very +large house only recently added to and formed into a private lunatic +asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds." + +When I had finished, he said:-- + +"I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and to +live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable in a +day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice +also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles love +not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. I seek not +gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and +sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I am no longer young; +and my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead, is not +attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken; the +shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken +battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow, and would +be alone with my thoughts when I may." Somehow his words and his look +did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his +smile look malignant and saturnine. + +Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my papers +together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of +the books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally at +England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at it I found in +certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I noticed +that one was near London on the east side, manifestly where his new +estate was situated; the other two were Exeter, and Whitby on the +Yorkshire coast. + +It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned. "Aha!" he +said; "still at your books? Good! But you must not work always. Come; I +am informed that your supper is ready." He took my arm, and we went into +the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on the table. The +Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on his being away from +home. But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted whilst I ate. +After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the Count stayed with +me, chatting and asking questions on every conceivable subject, hour +after hour. I felt that it was getting very late indeed, but I did not +say anything, for I felt under obligation to meet my host's wishes in +every way. I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified +me; but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes over one at +the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. +They say that people who are near death die generally at the change to +the dawn or at the turn of the tide; any one who has when tired, and +tied as it were to his post, experienced this change in the atmosphere +can well believe it. All at once we heard the crow of a cock coming up +with preternatural shrillness through the clear morning air; Count +Dracula, jumping to his feet, said:-- + +"Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so +long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of +England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by +us," and, with a courtly bow, he quickly left me. + +I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little to +notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the +warm grey of quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again, and have +written of this day. + + * * * * * + +_8 May._--I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too +diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for +there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I +cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had +never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling on +me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk to I +could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak with, +and he!--I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. Let +me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me to bear up, and +imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am lost. Let me say +at once how I stand--or seem to. + +I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could +not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window, +and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, +and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good-morning." I started, for +it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass +covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, +but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count's +salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. +This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I +could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in +the mirror! The whole room behind me was displayed; but there was no +sign of a man in it, except myself. This was startling, and, coming on +the top of so many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague +feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at +the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was +trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half +round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my face, his +eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at +my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which +held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed +so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there. + +"Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself. It is more +dangerous than you think in this country." Then seizing the shaving +glass, he went on: "And this is the wretched thing that has done the +mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it!" and +opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung +out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones +of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very +annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or +the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal. + +When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could +not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is strange that +as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very +peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle. I +went out on the stairs, and found a room looking towards the South. The +view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every opportunity +of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A +stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without +touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree +tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and +there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through +the forests. + +But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I +explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and +bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there +an available exit. + +The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me. +I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of +every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my +helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I look back after a +few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much +as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me +that I was helpless I sat down quietly--as quietly as I have ever done +anything in my life--and began to think over what was best to be done. I +am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of +one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making my ideas known to +the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it +himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive +me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only +plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes +open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, +or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and +shall need, all my brains to get through. + +I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below +shut, and knew that the Count had returned. He did not come at once into +the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making +the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along +thought--that there were no servants in the house. When later I saw him +through the chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in the +dining-room, I was assured of it; for if he does himself all these +menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. +This gave me a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it +must have been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that +brought me here. This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it +mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his +hand in silence. How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the +coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the +crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless +that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! for it is a +comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing +which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous +should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there +is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, +a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Some +time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my +mind about it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count +Dracula, as it may help me to understand. To-night he may talk of +himself, if I turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, +however, not to awake his suspicion. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few +questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject +wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of +battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he +afterwards explained by saying that to a _boyar_ the pride of his house +and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their +fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said "we," +and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could put +down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most +fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He +grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his great +white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands as +though he would crush it by main strength. One thing he said which I +shall put down as nearly as I can; for it tells in its way the story of +his race:-- + +"We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood +of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, +in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from +Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their +Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, +and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the +were-wolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found +the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, +till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those +old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the devils in the +desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as +Attila, whose blood is in these veins?" He held up his arms. "Is it a +wonder that we were a conquering race; that we were proud; that when the +Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his +thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when +Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he found us +here when he reached the frontier; that the Honfoglalas was completed +there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were +claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries +was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkey-land; ay, and more +than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for, as the Turks say, +'water sleeps, and enemy is sleepless.' Who more gladly than we +throughout the Four Nations received the 'bloody sword,' or at its +warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was +redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the +flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who +was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat +the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that +his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the +Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, +indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and +again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, +when he was beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had +to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being +slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They +said that he thought only of himself. Bah! what good are peasants +without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart to +conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohács, we threw off the +Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for +our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the +Szekelys--and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains, and +their swords--can boast a record that mushroom growths like the +Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over. +Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace; and +the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told." + +It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. (_Mem._, this +diary seems horribly like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," for +everything has to break off at cockcrow--or like the ghost of Hamlet's +father.) + + * * * * * + +_12 May._--Let me begin with facts--bare, meagre facts, verified by +books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not +confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own +observation, or my memory of them. Last evening when the Count came from +his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the +doing of certain kinds of business. I had spent the day wearily over +books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the +matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn. There was a certain +method in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put them down in +sequence; the knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to me. + +First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more. I +told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not be +wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as only +one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to militate +against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to +ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one man to +attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case +local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking +solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not by any +chance mislead him, so he said:-- + +"I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from under +the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far from +London, buys for me through your good self my place at London. Good! Now +here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange that I have +sought the services of one so far off from London instead of some one +resident there, that my motive was that no local interest might be +served save my wish only; and as one of London residence might, perhaps, +have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus afield to +seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest. Now, suppose +I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to Newcastle, or +Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it not be that it could with more +ease be done by consigning to one in these ports?" I answered that +certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of +agency one for the other, so that local work could be done locally on +instruction from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing +himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by +him without further trouble. + +"But," said he, "I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it not so?" + +"Of course," I replied; and "such is often done by men of business, who +do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person." + +"Good!" he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making +consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of +difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded +against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability, +and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made a +wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of or +foresee. For a man who was never in the country, and who did not +evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were +wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had +spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books +available, he suddenly stood up and said:-- + +"Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter +Hawkins, or to any other?" It was with some bitterness in my heart that +I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of +sending letters to anybody. + +"Then write now, my young friend," he said, laying a heavy hand on my +shoulder: "write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will +please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now." + +"Do you wish me to stay so long?" I asked, for my heart grew cold at the +thought. + +"I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, +employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, +it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not +stinted. Is it not so?" + +What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins's interest, not +mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, while Count +Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing +which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I +could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his +mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but +in his own smooth, resistless way:-- + +"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things +other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please your +friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to getting +home to them. Is it not so?" As he spoke he handed me three sheets of +note-paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest foreign +post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, +with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood +as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for +he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only formal notes +now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for +to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle the Count, if he +did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a +book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to +some books on his table. Then he took up my two and placed them with his +own, and put by his writing materials, after which, the instant the door +had closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which +were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so, for +under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way +I could. + +One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The +Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the third was to +Coutts & Co., London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth, +bankers, Buda-Pesth. The second and fourth were unsealed. I was just +about to look at them when I saw the door-handle move. I sank back in my +seat, having just had time to replace the letters as they had been and +to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter in his +hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped +them carefully, and then turning to me, said:-- + +"I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this +evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish." At the door he +turned, and after a moment's pause said:-- + +"Let me advise you, my dear young friend--nay, let me warn you with all +seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any +chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has +many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be +warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then +haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be +safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then"--He finished his +speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were +washing them. I quite understood; my only doubt was as to whether any +dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom +and mystery which seemed closing around me. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no +doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is +not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed--I imagine that +my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain. + +When he left me I went to my room. After a little while, not hearing any +sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could look out +towards the South. There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, +inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow darkness +of the courtyard. Looking out on this, I felt that I was indeed in +prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air, though it were of +the night. I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. +It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and am full of all +sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is ground for my +terrible fear in this accursed place! I looked out over the beautiful +expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was almost as light as +day. In the soft light the distant hills became melted, and the shadows +in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness. The mere beauty seemed +to cheer me; there was peace and comfort in every breath I drew. As I +leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a storey +below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of +the rooms, that the windows of the Count's own room would look out. The +window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though +weatherworn, was still complete; but it was evidently many a day since +the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework, and looked +carefully out. + +What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not +see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his +back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had +so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and +somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest +and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to +repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the +window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, +_face down_ with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At +first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the +moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept looking, and it could +be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the +stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus +using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable +speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall. + +What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the +semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering +me; I am in fear--in awful fear--and there is no escape for me; I am +encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of.... + + * * * * * + +_15 May._--Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion. +He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good +deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head +had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without +avail--the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I +knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to +explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and +taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had +expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went down the +stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could +pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains; but the +door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's +room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and +escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs +and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two +small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in +them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, +however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it +seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, +and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came +from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door +rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have +again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that +I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right +than the rooms I knew and a storey lower down. From the windows I could +see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the +windows of the end room looking out both west and south. On the latter +side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle +was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was +quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or +bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, +impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the +west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged +mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with +mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and +crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle +occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of +comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the +yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to +see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over +all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My +lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was +glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place +which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better +than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the +presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I +found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak +table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much +thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my +diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is +nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my +senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own +which mere "modernity" cannot kill. + + * * * * * + +_Later: the Morning of 16 May._--God preserve my sanity, for to this I +am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. +Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not +go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it +is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this +hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I +can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his +purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way +lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which +have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant +when he made Hamlet say:-- + + "My tablets! quick, my tablets! + 'Tis meet that I put it down," etc., + +for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock +had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. +The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me. + +The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens +me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold upon +me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say! + +When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book and +pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count's warning came into my mind, +but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me, +and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The soft +moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom +which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the +gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat +and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for +their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great +couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay, I could look +at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring for +the dust, composed myself for sleep. I suppose I must have fallen +asleep; I hope so, but I fear, for all that followed was startlingly +real--so real that now sitting here in the broad, full sunlight of the +morning, I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep. + +I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I +came into it; I could see along the floor, in the brilliant moonlight, +my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of +dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by +their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming +when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they threw +no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some +time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline +noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes that seemed to be +almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was +fair, as fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes +like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it +in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the +moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like +pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something +about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some +deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would +kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some +day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth. +They whispered together, and then they all three laughed--such a +silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have +come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, +tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. +The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her +on. One said:-- + +"Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to +begin." The other added:-- + +"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all." I lay quiet, +looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. +The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement +of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent +the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter +underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood. + +I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under +the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply +gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling +and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips +like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining +on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp +teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of +my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. Then she +paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked +her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the +skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that +is to tickle it approaches nearer--nearer. I could feel the soft, +shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, +and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. +I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited--waited with beating +heart. + +But at that instant, another sensation swept through me as quick as +lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his +being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I +saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with +giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the +white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with +passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to +the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light +in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His +face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; +the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar +of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman +from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating +them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the +wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to +cut through the air and then ring round the room he said:-- + +"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when +I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware +how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me." The fair girl, +with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:-- + +"You yourself never loved; you never love!" On this the other women +joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the +room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure +of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, +and said in a soft whisper:-- + +"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it +not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall +kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work +to be done." + +"Are we to have nothing to-night?" said one of them, with a low laugh, +as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and which +moved as though there were some living thing within it. For answer he +nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my +ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a +half-smothered child. The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with +horror; but as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful +bag. There was no door near them, and they could not have passed me +without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the rays of the +moonlight and pass out through the window, for I could see outside the +dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely faded away. + +Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +I awoke in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must +have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but +could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were +certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by +in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am +rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and +many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been +evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, from some cause or +another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof. Of one +thing I am glad: if it was that the Count carried me here and undressed +me, he must have been hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I +am sure this diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not +have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look round this +room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of +sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who +were--who _are_--waiting to suck my blood. + + * * * * * + +_18 May._--I have been down to look at that room again in daylight, for +I _must_ know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the +stairs I found it closed. It had been so forcibly driven against the +jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered. I could see that the bolt +of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the inside. +I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise. + + * * * * * + +_19 May._--I am surely in the toils. Last night the Count asked me in +the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying that my work here +was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days, +another that I was starting on the next morning from the time of the +letter, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at +Bistritz. I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present state +of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I +am so absolutely in his power; and to refuse would be to excite his +suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and +that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only chance is to +prolong my opportunities. Something may occur which will give me a +chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something of that gathering wrath +which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from him. He explained +to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that my writing now would +ensure ease of mind to my friends; and he assured me with so much +impressiveness that he would countermand the later letters, which would +be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would admit of my +prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have been to create new +suspicion. I therefore pretended to fall in with his views, and asked +him what dates I should put on the letters. He calculated a minute, and +then said:-- + +"The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June +29." + +I know now the span of my life. God help me! + + * * * * * + +_28 May._--There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being able to +send word home. A band of Szgany have come to the castle, and are +encamped in the courtyard. These Szgany are gipsies; I have notes of +them in my book. They are peculiar to this part of the world, though +allied to the ordinary gipsies all the world over. There are thousands +of them in Hungary and Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. +They attach themselves as a rule to some great noble or _boyar_, and +call themselves by his name. They are fearless and without religion, +save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany +tongue. + +I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to have them +posted. I have already spoken them through my window to begin +acquaintanceship. They took their hats off and made obeisance and many +signs, which, however, I could not understand any more than I could +their spoken language.... + + * * * * * + +I have written the letters. Mina's is in shorthand, and I simply ask Mr. +Hawkins to communicate with her. To her I have explained my situation, +but without the horrors which I may only surmise. It would shock and +frighten her to death were I to expose my heart to her. Should the +letters not carry, then the Count shall not yet know my secret or the +extent of my knowledge.... + + * * * * * + +I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars of my window +with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to have them posted. The +man who took them pressed them to his heart and bowed, and then put them +in his cap. I could do no more. I stole back to the study, and began to +read. As the Count did not come in, I have written here.... + + * * * * * + +The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his smoothest +voice as he opened two letters:-- + +"The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not whence they +come, I shall, of course, take care. See!"--he must have looked at +it--"one is from you, and to my friend Peter Hawkins; the other"--here +he caught sight of the strange symbols as he opened the envelope, and +the dark look came into his face, and his eyes blazed wickedly--"the +other is a vile thing, an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is +not signed. Well! so it cannot matter to us." And he calmly held letter +and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed. Then he +went on:-- + +"The letter to Hawkins--that I shall, of course, send on, since it is +yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend, that +unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it again?" He held +out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow handed me a clean +envelope. I could only redirect it and hand it to him in silence. When +he went out of the room I could hear the key turn softly. A minute later +I went over and tried it, and the door was locked. + +When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room, his +coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the sofa. He was very +courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been +sleeping, he said:-- + +"So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. There is the surest rest. I +may not have the pleasure to talk to-night, since there are many labours +to me; but you will sleep, I pray." I passed to my room and went to bed, +and, strange to say, slept without dreaming. Despair has its own calms. + + * * * * * + +_31 May._--This morning when I woke I thought I would provide myself +with some paper and envelopes from my bag and keep them in my pocket, so +that I might write in case I should get an opportunity, but again a +surprise, again a shock! + +Every scrap of paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my memoranda, +relating to railways and travel, my letter of credit, in fact all that +might be useful to me were I once outside the castle. I sat and pondered +awhile, and then some thought occurred to me, and I made search of my +portmanteau and in the wardrobe where I had placed my clothes. + +The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and +rug; I could find no trace of them anywhere. This looked like some new +scheme of villainy.... + + * * * * * + +_17 June._--This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed +cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding +and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard. +With joy I hurried to the window, and saw drive into the yard two great +leiter-wagons, each drawn by eight sturdy horses, and at the head of +each pair a Slovak, with his wide hat, great nail-studded belt, dirty +sheepskin, and high boots. They had also their long staves in hand. I +ran to the door, intending to descend and try and join them through the +main hall, as I thought that way might be opened for them. Again a +shock: my door was fastened on the outside. + +Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me +stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, +and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they +laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised +entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away. +The leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick +rope; these were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks +handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved. When +they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one corner of the +yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the Szgany, and spitting on +it for luck, lazily went each to his horse's head. Shortly afterwards, I +heard the cracking of their whips die away in the distance. + + * * * * * + +_24 June, before morning._--Last night the Count left me early, and +locked himself into his own room. As soon as I dared I ran up the +winding stair, and looked out of the window, which opened south. I +thought I would watch for the Count, for there is something going on. +The Szgany are quartered somewhere in the castle and are doing work of +some kind. I know it, for now and then I hear a far-away muffled sound +as of mattock and spade, and, whatever it is, it must be the end of some +ruthless villainy. + +I had been at the window somewhat less than half an hour, when I saw +something coming out of the Count's window. I drew back and watched +carefully, and saw the whole man emerge. It was a new shock to me to +find that he had on the suit of clothes which I had worn whilst +travelling here, and slung over his shoulder the terrible bag which I +had seen the women take away. There could be no doubt as to his quest, +and in my garb, too! This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he will +allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may both leave +evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages posting my own +letters, and that any wickedness which he may do shall by the local +people be attributed to me. + +It makes me rage to think that this can go on, and whilst I am shut up +here, a veritable prisoner, but without that protection of the law which +is even a criminal's right and consolation. + +I thought I would watch for the Count's return, and for a long time sat +doggedly at the window. Then I began to notice that there were some +quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were +like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in +clusters in a nebulous sort of way. I watched them with a sense of +soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me. I leaned back in the +embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy more +fully the aërial gambolling. + +Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far +below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight. Louder it seemed to +ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to +the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to +awake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, +and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I +was becoming hypnotised! Quicker and quicker danced the dust; the +moonbeams seemed to quiver as they went by me into the mass of gloom +beyond. More and more they gathered till they seemed to take dim phantom +shapes. And then I started, broad awake and in full possession of my +senses, and ran screaming from the place. The phantom shapes, which were +becoming gradually materialised from the moonbeams, were those of the +three ghostly women to whom I was doomed. I fled, and felt somewhat +safer in my own room, where there was no moonlight and where the lamp +was burning brightly. + +When a couple of hours had passed I heard something stirring in the +Count's room, something like a sharp wail quickly suppressed; and then +there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me. With a +beating heart, I tried the door; but I was locked in my prison, and +could do nothing. I sat down and simply cried. + +As I sat I heard a sound in the courtyard without--the agonised cry of a +woman. I rushed to the window, and throwing it up, peered out between +the bars. There, indeed, was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her +hands over her heart as one distressed with running. She was leaning +against a corner of the gateway. When she saw my face at the window she +threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace:-- + +"Monster, give me my child!" + +She threw herself on her knees, and raising up her hands, cried the same +words in tones which wrung my heart. Then she tore her hair and beat her +breast, and abandoned herself to all the violences of extravagant +emotion. Finally, she threw herself forward, and, though I could not see +her, I could hear the beating of her naked hands against the door. + +Somewhere high overhead, probably on the tower, I heard the voice of the +Count calling in his harsh, metallic whisper. His call seemed to be +answered from far and wide by the howling of wolves. Before many minutes +had passed a pack of them poured, like a pent-up dam when liberated, +through the wide entrance into the courtyard. + +There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but +short. Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips. + +I could not pity her, for I knew now what had become of her child, and +she was better dead. + +What shall I do? what can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful +thing of night and gloom and fear? + + * * * * * + +_25 June, morning._--No man knows till he has suffered from the night +how sweet and how dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. When the +sun grew so high this morning that it struck the top of the great +gateway opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me +as if the dove from the ark had lighted there. My fear fell from me as +if it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth. I must +take action of some sort whilst the courage of the day is upon me. Last +night one of my post-dated letters went to post, the first of that fatal +series which is to blot out the very traces of my existence from the +earth. + +Let me not think of it. Action! + +It has always been at night-time that I have been molested or +threatened, or in some way in danger or in fear. I have not yet seen the +Count in the daylight. Can it be that he sleeps when others wake, that +he may be awake whilst they sleep? If I could only get into his room! +But there is no possible way. The door is always locked, no way for me. + +Yes, there is a way, if one dares to take it. Where his body has gone +why may not another body go? I have seen him myself crawl from his +window. Why should not I imitate him, and go in by his window? The +chances are desperate, but my need is more desperate still. I shall risk +it. At the worst it can only be death; and a man's death is not a +calf's, and the dreaded Hereafter may still be open to me. God help me +in my task! Good-bye, Mina, if I fail; good-bye, my faithful friend and +second father; good-bye, all, and last of all Mina! + + * * * * * + +_Same day, later._--I have made the effort, and God, helping me, have +come safely back to this room. I must put down every detail in order. I +went whilst my courage was fresh straight to the window on the south +side, and at once got outside on the narrow ledge of stone which runs +around the building on this side. The stones are big and roughly cut, +and the mortar has by process of time been washed away between them. I +took off my boots, and ventured out on the desperate way. I looked down +once, so as to make sure that a sudden glimpse of the awful depth would +not overcome me, but after that kept my eyes away from it. I knew pretty +well the direction and distance of the Count's window, and made for it +as well as I could, having regard to the opportunities available. I did +not feel dizzy--I suppose I was too excited--and the time seemed +ridiculously short till I found myself standing on the window-sill and +trying to raise up the sash. I was filled with agitation, however, when +I bent down and slid feet foremost in through the window. Then I looked +around for the Count, but, with surprise and gladness, made a discovery. +The room was empty! It was barely furnished with odd things, which +seemed to have never been used; the furniture was something the same +style as that in the south rooms, and was covered with dust. I looked +for the key, but it was not in the lock, and I could not find it +anywhere. The only thing I found was a great heap of gold in one +corner--gold of all kinds, Roman, and British, and Austrian, and +Hungarian, and Greek and Turkish money, covered with a film of dust, as +though it had lain long in the ground. None of it that I noticed was +less than three hundred years old. There were also chains and ornaments, +some jewelled, but all of them old and stained. + +At one corner of the room was a heavy door. I tried it, for, since I +could not find the key of the room or the key of the outer door, which +was the main object of my search, I must make further examination, or +all my efforts would be in vain. It was open, and led through a stone +passage to a circular stairway, which went steeply down. I descended, +minding carefully where I went, for the stairs were dark, being only lit +by loopholes in the heavy masonry. At the bottom there was a dark, +tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour, the +odour of old earth newly turned. As I went through the passage the smell +grew closer and heavier. At last I pulled open a heavy door which stood +ajar, and found myself in an old, ruined chapel, which had evidently +been used as a graveyard. The roof was broken, and in two places were +steps leading to vaults, but the ground had recently been dug over, and +the earth placed in great wooden boxes, manifestly those which had been +brought by the Slovaks. There was nobody about, and I made search for +any further outlet, but there was none. Then I went over every inch of +the ground, so as not to lose a chance. I went down even into the +vaults, where the dim light struggled, although to do so was a dread to +my very soul. Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments +of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a +discovery. + +There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a +pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep, I +could not say which--for the eyes were open and stony, but without the +glassiness of death--and the cheeks had the warmth of life through all +their pallor; the lips were as red as ever. But there was no sign of +movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart. I bent over him, +and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain. He could not have lain +there long, for the earthy smell would have passed away in a few hours. +By the side of the box was its cover, pierced with holes here and there. +I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw +the dead eyes, and in them, dead though they were, such a look of hate, +though unconscious of me or my presence, that I fled from the place, and +leaving the Count's room by the window, crawled again up the castle +wall. Regaining my room, I threw myself panting upon the bed and tried +to think.... + + * * * * * + +_29 June._--To-day is the date of my last letter, and the Count has +taken steps to prove that it was genuine, for again I saw him leave the +castle by the same window, and in my clothes. As he went down the wall, +lizard fashion, I wished I had a gun or some lethal weapon, that I might +destroy him; but I fear that no weapon wrought alone by man's hand would +have any effect on him. I dared not wait to see him return, for I feared +to see those weird sisters. I came back to the library, and read there +till I fell asleep. + +I was awakened by the Count, who looked at me as grimly as a man can +look as he said:-- + +"To-morrow, my friend, we must part. You return to your beautiful +England, I to some work which may have such an end that we may never +meet. Your letter home has been despatched; to-morrow I shall not be +here, but all shall be ready for your journey. In the morning come the +Szgany, who have some labours of their own here, and also come some +Slovaks. When they have gone, my carriage shall come for you, and shall +bear you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence from Bukovina to +Bistritz. But I am in hopes that I shall see more of you at Castle +Dracula." I suspected him, and determined to test his sincerity. +Sincerity! It seems like a profanation of the word to write it in +connection with such a monster, so asked him point-blank:-- + +"Why may I not go to-night?" + +"Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away on a mission." + +"But I would walk with pleasure. I want to get away at once." He smiled, +such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was some trick +behind his smoothness. He said:-- + +"And your baggage?" + +"I do not care about it. I can send for it some other time." + +The Count stood up, and said, with a sweet courtesy which made me rub my +eyes, it seemed so real:-- + +"You English have a saying which is close to my heart, for its spirit is +that which rules our _boyars_: 'Welcome the coming; speed the parting +guest.' Come with me, my dear young friend. Not an hour shall you wait +in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that +you so suddenly desire it. Come!" With a stately gravity, he, with the +lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he +stopped. + +"Hark!" + +Close at hand came the howling of many wolves. It was almost as if the +sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great +orchestra seems to leap under the bâton of the conductor. After a pause +of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back +the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it +open. + +To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlocked. Suspiciously, I +looked all round, but could see no key of any kind. + +As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder +and angrier; their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed +feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door. I knew then that +to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such +allies as these at his command, I could do nothing. But still the door +continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gap. +Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my +doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There +was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and +as a last chance I cried out:-- + +"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my +hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. With one sweep of his +powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and the great bolts clanged +and echoed through the hall as they shot back into their places. + +In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went +to my own room. The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand +to me; with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that +Judas in hell might be proud of. + +When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a +whispering at my door. I went to it softly and listened. Unless my ears +deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count:-- + +"Back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have +patience! To-night is mine. To-morrow night is yours!" There was a low, +sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open the door, and saw +without the three terrible women licking their lips. As I appeared they +all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away. + +I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees. It is then so near +the end? To-morrow! to-morrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am +dear! + + * * * * * + +_30 June, morning._--These may be the last words I ever write in this +diary. I slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself +on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me +ready. + +At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the morning +had come. Then came the welcome cock-crow, and I felt that I was safe. +With a glad heart, I opened my door and ran down to the hall. I had seen +that the door was unlocked, and now escape was before me. With hands +that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and drew back the +massive bolts. + +But the door would not move. Despair seized me. I pulled, and pulled, at +the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its +casement. I could see the bolt shot. It had been locked after I left the +Count. + +Then a wild desire took me to obtain that key at any risk, and I +determined then and there to scale the wall again and gain the Count's +room. He might kill me, but death now seemed the happier choice of +evils. Without a pause I rushed up to the east window, and scrambled +down the wall, as before, into the Count's room. It was empty, but that +was as I expected. I could not see a key anywhere, but the heap of gold +remained. I went through the door in the corner and down the winding +stair and along the dark passage to the old chapel. I knew now well +enough where to find the monster I sought. + +The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the lid +was laid on it, not fastened down, but with the nails ready in their +places to be hammered home. I knew I must reach the body for the key, so +I raised the lid, and laid it back against the wall; and then I saw +something which filled my very soul with horror. There lay the Count, +but looking as if his youth had been half renewed, for the white hair +and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, +and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than +ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the +corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, +burning eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches +underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were +simply gorged with blood. He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his +repletion. I shuddered as I bent over to touch him, and every sense in +me revolted at the contact; but I had to search, or I was lost. The +coming night might see my own body a banquet in a similar way to those +horrid three. I felt all over the body, but no sign could I find of the +key. Then I stopped and looked at the Count. There was a mocking smile +on the bloated face which seemed to drive me mad. This was the being I +was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come +he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and +create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the +helpless. The very thought drove me mad. A terrible desire came upon me +to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, +but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the +cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the +hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell full +upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to +paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, +merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my +hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade +caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid +thing from my sight. The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, +blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its +own in the nethermost hell. + +I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed +on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over me. As I +waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices coming +closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and the +cracking of whips; the Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count had +spoken were coming. With a last look around and at the box which +contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count's +room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be opened. +With strained ears, I listened, and heard downstairs the grinding of the +key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy door. There must +have been some other means of entry, or some one had a key for one of +the locked doors. Then there came the sound of many feet tramping and +dying away in some passage which sent up a clanging echo. I turned to +run down again towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance; +but at the moment there seemed to come a violent puff of wind, and the +door to the winding stair blew to with a shock that set the dust from +the lintels flying. When I ran to push it open, I found that it was +hopelessly fast. I was again a prisoner, and the net of doom was closing +round me more closely. + +As I write there is in the passage below a sound of many tramping feet +and the crash of weights being set down heavily, doubtless the boxes, +with their freight of earth. There is a sound of hammering; it is the +box being nailed down. Now I can hear the heavy feet tramping again +along the hall, with many other idle feet coming behind them. + +The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key +in the lock; I can hear the key withdraw: then another door opens and +shuts; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt. + +Hark! in the courtyard and down the rocky way the roll of heavy wheels, +the crack of whips, and the chorus of the Szgany as they pass into the +distance. + +I am alone in the castle with those awful women. Faugh! Mina is a woman, +and there is nought in common. They are devils of the Pit! + +I shall not remain alone with them; I shall try to scale the castle wall +farther than I have yet attempted. I shall take some of the gold with +me, lest I want it later. I may find a way from this dreadful place. + +And then away for home! away to the quickest and nearest train! away +from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his +children still walk with earthly feet! + +At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the +precipice is steep and high. At its foot a man may sleep--as a man. +Good-bye, all! Mina! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Letter from Miss Mina Murray to Miss Lucy Westenra._ + + +"_9 May._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed +with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. +I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together +freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard +lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have +been practising shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I shall +be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I +can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for +him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard. He +and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a +stenographic journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I +shall keep a diary in the same way. I don't mean one of those +two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a +sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I do not +suppose there will be much of interest to other people; but it is not +intended for them. I may show it to Jonathan some day if there is in it +anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try +to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing +descriptions and trying to remember conversations. I am told that, with +a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears +said during a day. However, we shall see. I will tell you of my little +plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan +from Transylvania. He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I +am longing to hear all his news. It must be so nice to see strange +countries. I wonder if we--I mean Jonathan and I--shall ever see them +together. There is the ten o'clock bell ringing. Good-bye. + +"Your loving + +"MINA. + +"Tell me all the news when you write. You have not told me anything for +a long time. I hear rumours, and especially of a tall, handsome, +curly-haired man???" + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_17, Chatham Street_, + +"_Wednesday_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"I must say you tax me _very_ unfairly with being a bad correspondent. I +wrote to you _twice_ since we parted, and your last letter was only your +_second_. Besides, I have nothing to tell you. There is really nothing +to interest you. Town is very pleasant just now, and we go a good deal +to picture-galleries and for walks and rides in the park. As to the +tall, curly-haired man, I suppose it was the one who was with me at the +last Pop. Some one has evidently been telling tales. That was Mr. +Holmwood. He often comes to see us, and he and mamma get on very well +together; they have so many things to talk about in common. We met some +time ago a man that would just _do for you_, if you were not already +engaged to Jonathan. He is an excellent _parti_, being handsome, well +off, and of good birth. He is a doctor and really clever. Just fancy! He +is only nine-and-twenty, and he has an immense lunatic asylum all under +his own care. Mr. Holmwood introduced him to me, and he called here to +see us, and often comes now. I think he is one of the most resolute men +I ever saw, and yet the most calm. He seems absolutely imperturbable. I +can fancy what a wonderful power he must have over his patients. He has +a curious habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to +read one's thoughts. He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter +myself he has got a tough nut to crack. I know that from my glass. Do +you ever try to read your own face? _I do_, and I can tell you it is not +a bad study, and gives you more trouble than you can well fancy if you +have never tried it. He says that I afford him a curious psychological +study, and I humbly think I do. I do not, as you know, take sufficient +interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions. Dress is a +bore. That is slang again, but never mind; Arthur says that every day. +There, it is all out. Mina, we have told all our secrets to each other +since we were _children_; we have slept together and eaten together, and +laughed and cried together; and now, though I have spoken, I would like +to speak more. Oh, Mina, couldn't you guess? I love him. I am blushing +as I write, for although I _think_ he loves me, he has not told me so in +words. But oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him! There, that +does me good. I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire +undressing, as we used to sit; and I would try to tell you what I feel. +I do not know how I am writing this even to you. I am afraid to stop, +or I should tear up the letter, and I don't want to stop, for I _do_ so +want to tell you all. Let me hear from you _at once_, and tell me all +that you think about it. Mina, I must stop. Good-night. Bless me in your +prayers; and, Mina, pray for my happiness. + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--I need not tell you this is a secret. Good-night again. + +"L." + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_24 May_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter. It was so +nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy. + +"My dear, it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. +Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a +proposal till to-day, not a real proposal, and to-day I have had three. +Just fancy! THREE proposals in one day! Isn't it awful! I feel sorry, +really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Mina, I am so +happy that I don't know what to do with myself. And three proposals! +But, for goodness' sake, don't tell any of the girls, or they would be +getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured +and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at +least. Some girls are so vain! You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and +are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can +despise vanity. Well, I must tell you about the three, but you must keep +it a secret, dear, from _every one_, except, of course, Jonathan. You +will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell +Arthur. A woman ought to tell her husband everything--don't you think +so, dear?--and I must be fair. Men like women, certainly their wives, to +be quite as fair as they are; and women, I am afraid, are not always +quite as fair as they should be. Well, my dear, number One came just +before lunch. I told you of him, Dr. John Seward, the lunatic-asylum +man, with the strong jaw and the good forehead. He was very cool +outwardly, but was nervous all the same. He had evidently been schooling +himself as to all sorts of little things, and remembered them; but he +almost managed to sit down on his silk hat, which men don't generally do +when they are cool, and then when he wanted to appear at ease he kept +playing with a lancet in a way that made me nearly scream. He spoke to +me, Mina, very straightforwardly. He told me how dear I was to him, +though he had known me so little, and what his life would be with me to +help and cheer him. He was going to tell me how unhappy he would be if I +did not care for him, but when he saw me cry he said that he was a brute +and would not add to my present trouble. Then he broke off and asked if +I could love him in time; and when I shook my head his hands trembled, +and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared already for any one +else. He put it very nicely, saying that he did not want to wring my +confidence from me, but only to know, because if a woman's heart was +free a man might have hope. And then, Mina, I felt a sort of duty to +tell him that there was some one. I only told him that much, and then he +stood up, and he looked very strong and very grave as he took both my +hands in his and said he hoped I would be happy, and that if I ever +wanted a friend I must count him one of my best. Oh, Mina dear, I can't +help crying: and you must excuse this letter being all blotted. Being +proposed to is all very nice and all that sort of thing, but it isn't at +all a happy thing when you have to see a poor fellow, whom you know +loves you honestly, going away and looking all broken-hearted, and to +know that, no matter what he may say at the moment, you are passing +quite out of his life. My dear, I must stop here at present, I feel so +miserable, though I am so happy. + +"_Evening._ + +"Arthur has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I left +off, so I can go on telling you about the day. Well, my dear, number Two +came after lunch. He is such a nice fellow, an American from Texas, and +he looks so young and so fresh that it seems almost impossible that he +has been to so many places and has had such adventures. I sympathise +with poor Desdemona when she had such a dangerous stream poured in her +ear, even by a black man. I suppose that we women are such cowards that +we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him. I know now +what I would do if I were a man and wanted to make a girl love me. No, I +don't, for there was Mr. Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never +told any, and yet---- My dear, I am somewhat previous. Mr. Quincey P. +Morris found me alone. It seems that a man always does find a girl +alone. No, he doesn't, for Arthur tried twice to _make_ a chance, and I +helping him all I could; I am not ashamed to say it now. I must tell you +beforehand that Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang--that is to say, +he never does so to strangers or before them, for he is really well +educated and has exquisite manners--but he found out that it amused me +to hear him talk American slang, and whenever I was present, and there +was no one to be shocked, he said such funny things. I am afraid, my +dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits exactly into whatever else he +has to say. But this is a way slang has. I do not know myself if I shall +ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it, as I have never +heard him use any as yet. Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked +as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see all the same that he was +very nervous. He took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly:-- + +"'Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your +little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you +will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won't +you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road +together, driving in double harness?' + +"Well, he did look so good-humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem +half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward; so I said, as +lightly as I could, that I did not know anything of hitching, and that I +wasn't broken to harness at all yet. Then he said that he had spoken in +a light manner, and he hoped that if he had made a mistake in doing so +on so grave, so momentous, an occasion for him, I would forgive him. He +really did look serious when he was saying it, and I couldn't help +feeling a bit serious too--I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid +flirt--though I couldn't help feeling a sort of exultation that he was +number two in one day. And then, my dear, before I could say a word he +began pouring out a perfect torrent of love-making, laying his very +heart and soul at my feet. He looked so earnest over it that I shall +never again think that a man must be playful always, and never earnest, +because he is merry at times. I suppose he saw something in my face +which checked him, for he suddenly stopped, and said with a sort of +manly fervour that I could have loved him for if I had been free:-- + +"'Lucy, you are an honest-hearted girl, I know. I should not be here +speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit, right +through to the very depths of your soul. Tell me, like one good fellow +to another, is there any one else that you care for? And if there is +I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again, but will be, if you will +let me, a very faithful friend.' + +"My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy +of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great-hearted, true +gentleman. I burst into tears--I am afraid, my dear, you will think +this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one--and I really felt very +badly. Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want +her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say +it. I am glad to say that, though I was crying, I was able to look into +Mr. Morris's brave eyes, and I told him out straight:-- + +"'Yes, there is some one I love, though he has not told me yet that he +even loves me.' I was right to speak to him so frankly, for quite a +light came into his face, and he put out both his hands and took mine--I +think I put them into his--and said in a hearty way:-- + +"'That's my brave girl. It's better worth being late for a chance of +winning you than being in time for any other girl in the world. Don't +cry, my dear. If it's for me, I'm a hard nut to crack; and I take it +standing up. If that other fellow doesn't know his happiness, well, he'd +better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal with me. Little girl, +your honesty and pluck have made me a friend, and that's rarer than a +lover; it's more unselfish anyhow. My dear, I'm going to have a pretty +lonely walk between this and Kingdom Come. Won't you give me one kiss? +It'll be something to keep off the darkness now and then. You can, you +know, if you like, for that other good fellow--he must be a good fellow, +my dear, and a fine fellow, or you could not love him--hasn't spoken +yet.' That quite won me, Mina, for it _was_ brave and sweet of him, and +noble, too, to a rival--wasn't it?--and he so sad; so I leant over and +kissed him. He stood up with my two hands in his, and as he looked down +into my face--I am afraid I was blushing very much--he said:-- + +"'Little girl, I hold your hand, and you've kissed me, and if these +things don't make us friends nothing ever will. Thank you for your sweet +honesty to me, and good-bye.' He wrung my hand, and taking up his hat, +went straight out of the room without looking back, without a tear or a +quiver or a pause; and I am crying like a baby. Oh, why must a man like +that be made unhappy when there are lots of girls about who would +worship the very ground he trod on? I know I would if I were free--only +I don't want to be free. My dear, this quite upset me, and I feel I +cannot write of happiness just at once, after telling you of it; and I +don't wish to tell of the number three until it can be all happy. + +"Ever your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--Oh, about number Three--I needn't tell you of number Three, need +I? Besides, it was all so confused; it seemed only a moment from his +coming into the room till both his arms were round me, and he was +kissing me. I am very, very happy, and I don't know what I have done to +deserve it. I must only try in the future to show that I am not +ungrateful to God for all His goodness to me in sending to me such a +lover, such a husband, and such a friend. + +"Good-bye." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +(Kept in phonograph) + +_25 May._--Ebb tide in appetite to-day. Cannot eat, cannot rest, so +diary instead. Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty +feeling; nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be worth +the doing.... As I knew that the only cure for this sort of thing was +work, I went down amongst the patients. I picked out one who has +afforded me a study of much interest. He is so quaint that I am +determined to understand him as well as I can. To-day I seemed to get +nearer than ever before to the heart of his mystery. + +I questioned him more fully than I had ever done, with a view to making +myself master of the facts of his hallucination. In my manner of doing +it there was, I now see, something of cruelty. I seemed to wish to keep +him to the point of his madness--a thing which I avoid with the patients +as I would the mouth of hell. + +(_Mem._, under what circumstances would I _not_ avoid the pit of hell?) +_Omnia Romæ venalia sunt._ Hell has its price! _verb. sap._ If there be +anything behind this instinct it will be valuable to trace it afterwards +_accurately_, so I had better commence to do so, therefore-- + +R. M. Renfield, ætat 59.--Sanguine temperament; great physical strength; +morbidly excitable; periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I +cannot make out. I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the +disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish; a possibly +dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men caution +is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of +on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is +balanced with the centrifugal; when duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed +point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of +accidents can balance it. + + +_Letter, Quincey P. Morris to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_25 May._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"We've told yarns by the camp-fire in the prairies; and dressed one +another's wounds after trying a landing at the Marquesas; and drunk +healths on the shore of Titicaca. There are more yarns to be told, and +other wounds to be healed, and another health to be drunk. Won't you let +this be at my camp-fire to-morrow night? I have no hesitation in asking +you, as I know a certain lady is engaged to a certain dinner-party, and +that you are free. There will only be one other, our old pal at the +Korea, Jack Seward. He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our +weeps over the wine-cup, and to drink a health with all our hearts to +the happiest man in all the wide world, who has won the noblest heart +that God has made and the best worth winning. We promise you a hearty +welcome, and a loving greeting, and a health as true as your own right +hand. We shall both swear to leave you at home if you drink too deep to +a certain pair of eyes. Come! + +"Yours, as ever and always, + +"QUINCEY P. MORRIS." + + +_Telegram from Arthur Holmwood to Quincey P. Morris._ + +"_26 May._ + +"Count me in every time. I bear messages which will make both your ears +tingle. + +"ART." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_24 July. Whitby._--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and +lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in +which they have rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the +Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the +harbour. A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through which the +view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is +beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land +on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to +see down. The houses of the old town--the side away from us--are all +red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the +pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby +Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of +"Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble +ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is +a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. Between it and +the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big +graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in +Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the +harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness +stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that +part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been +destroyed. In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches +out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside +them, through the churchyard; and people go and sit there all day long +looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze. I shall come and +sit here very often myself and work. Indeed, I am writing now, with my +book on my knee, and listening to the talk of three old men who are +sitting beside me. They seem to do nothing all day but sit up here and +talk. + +The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite wall +stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of it, in +the middle of which is a lighthouse. A heavy sea-wall runs along outside +of it. On the near side, the sea-wall makes an elbow crooked inversely, +and its end too has a lighthouse. Between the two piers there is a +narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly widens. + +It is nice at high water; but when the tide is out it shoals away to +nothing, and there is merely the stream of the Esk, running between +banks of sand, with rocks here and there. Outside the harbour on this +side there rises for about half a mile a great reef, the sharp edge of +which runs straight out from behind the south lighthouse. At the end of +it is a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in a +mournful sound on the wind. They have a legend here that when a ship is +lost bells are heard out at sea. I must ask the old man about this; he +is coming this way.... + +He is a funny old man. He must be awfully old, for his face is all +gnarled and twisted like the bark of a tree. He tells me that he is +nearly a hundred, and that he was a sailor in the Greenland fishing +fleet when Waterloo was fought. He is, I am afraid, a very sceptical +person, for when I asked him about the bells at sea and the White Lady +at the abbey he said very brusquely:-- + +"I wouldn't fash masel' about them, miss. Them things be all wore out. +Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say that they wasn't in +my time. They be all very well for comers and trippers, an' the like, +but not for a nice young lady like you. Them feet-folks from York and +Leeds that be always eatin' cured herrin's an' drinkin' tea an' lookin' +out to buy cheap jet would creed aught. I wonder masel' who'd be +bothered tellin' lies to them--even the newspapers, which is full of +fool-talk." I thought he would be a good person to learn interesting +things from, so I asked him if he would mind telling me something about +the whale-fishing in the old days. He was just settling himself to begin +when the clock struck six, whereupon he laboured to get up, and said:-- + +"I must gang ageeanwards home now, miss. My grand-daughter doesn't like +to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to +crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em; an', miss, I lack +belly-timber sairly by the clock." + +He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could, down +the steps. The steps are a great feature on the place. They lead from +the town up to the church, there are hundreds of them--I do not know how +many--and they wind up in a delicate curve; the slope is so gentle that +a horse could easily walk up and down them. I think they must originally +have had something to do with the abbey. I shall go home too. Lucy went +out visiting with her mother, and as they were only duty calls, I did +not go. They will be home by this. + + * * * * * + +_1 August._--I came up here an hour ago with Lucy, and we had a most +interesting talk with my old friend and the two others who always come +and join him. He is evidently the Sir Oracle of them, and I should think +must have been in his time a most dictatorial person. He will not admit +anything, and downfaces everybody. If he can't out-argue them he bullies +them, and then takes their silence for agreement with his views. Lucy +was looking sweetly pretty in her white lawn frock; she has got a +beautiful colour since she has been here. I noticed that the old men did +not lose any time in coming up and sitting near her when we sat down. +She is so sweet with old people; I think they all fell in love with her +on the spot. Even my old man succumbed and did not contradict her, but +gave me double share instead. I got him on the subject of the legends, +and he went off at once into a sort of sermon. I must try to remember it +and put it down:-- + +"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that's what it be, an' +nowt else. These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' barguests an' bogles +an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women +a-belderin'. They be nowt but air-blebs. They, an' all grims an' signs +an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome beuk-bodies an' +railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do +somethin' that they don't other incline to. It makes me ireful to think +o' them. Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on paper +an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them on the +tombstones. Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them +steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, +is acant--simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on +them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of +them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' +the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less +sacred. Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or another! My +gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they +come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an' tryin' to +drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them +trimmlin' and ditherin', with their hands that dozzened an' slippy from +lyin' in the sea that they can't even keep their grup o' them." + +I could see from the old fellow's self-satisfied air and the way in +which he looked round for the approval of his cronies that he was +"showing off," so I put in a word to keep him going:-- + +"Oh, Mr. Swales, you can't be serious. Surely these tombstones are not +all wrong?" + +"Yabblins! There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin' where they make +out the people too good; for there be folk that do think a balm-bowl be +like the sea, if only it be their own. The whole thing be only lies. Now +look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth." I +nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite +understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church. +He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be +happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again. "Then that be just where +the lie comes in. Why, there be scores of these lay-beds that be toom as +old Dun's 'bacca-box on Friday night." He nudged one of his companions, +and they all laughed. "And my gog! how could they be otherwise? Look at +that one, the aftest abaft the bier-bank: read it!" I went over and +read:-- + +"Edward Spencelagh, master mariner, murdered by pirates off the coast of +Andres, April, 1854, æt. 30." When I came back Mr. Swales went on:-- + +"Who brought him home, I wonder, to hap him here? Murdered off the coast +of Andres! an' you consated his body lay under! Why, I could name ye a +dozen whose bones lie in the Greenland seas above"--he pointed +northwards--"or where the currents may have drifted them. There be the +steans around ye. Ye can, with your young eyes, read the small-print of +the lies from here. This Braithwaite Lowrey--I knew his father, lost in +the _Lively_ off Greenland in '20; or Andrew Woodhouse, drowned in the +same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year +later; or old John Rawlings, whose grandfather sailed with me, drowned +in the Gulf of Finland in '50. Do ye think that all these men will have +to make a rush to Whitby when the trumpet sounds? I have me antherums +aboot it! I tell ye that when they got here they'd be jommlin' an' +jostlin' one another that way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice +in the old days, when we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' +tryin' to tie up our cuts by the light of the aurora borealis." This was +evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his +cronies joined in with gusto. + +"But," I said, "surely you are not quite correct, for you start on the +assumption that all the poor people, or their spirits, will have to +take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment. Do you think +that will be really necessary?" + +"Well, what else be they tombstones for? Answer me that, miss!" + +"To please their relatives, I suppose." + +"To please their relatives, you suppose!" This he said with intense +scorn. "How will it pleasure their relatives to know that lies is wrote +over them, and that everybody in the place knows that they be lies?" He +pointed to a stone at our feet which had been laid down as a slab, on +which the seat was rested, close to the edge of the cliff. "Read the +lies on that thruff-stean," he said. The letters were upside down to me +from where I sat, but Lucy was more opposite to them, so she leant over +and read:-- + +"Sacred to the memory of George Canon, who died, in the hope of a +glorious resurrection, on July, 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at +Kettleness. This tomb was erected by his sorrowing mother to her dearly +beloved son. 'He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.' +Really, Mr. Swales, I don't see anything very funny in that!" She spoke +her comment very gravely and somewhat severely. + +"Ye don't see aught funny! Ha! ha! But that's because ye don't gawm the +sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was +acrewk'd--a regular lamiter he was--an' he hated her so that he +committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put on +his life. He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that +they had for scarin' the crows with. 'Twarn't for crows then, for it +brought the clegs and the dowps to him. That's the way he fell off the +rocks. And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often heard him +say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was so pious +that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to addle where +she was. Now isn't that stean at any rate"--he hammered it with his +stick as he spoke--"a pack of lies? and won't it make Gabriel keckle +when Geordie comes pantin' up the grees with the tombstean balanced on +his hump, and asks it to be took as evidence!" + +I did not know what to say, but Lucy turned the conversation as she +said, rising up:-- + +"Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favourite seat, and I cannot +leave it; and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a +suicide." + +"That won't harm ye, my pretty; an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome to +have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap. That won't hurt ye. Why, I've +sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't done me +no harm. Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie +there either! It'll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the +tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field. +There's the clock, an' I must gang. My service to ye, ladies!" And off +he hobbled. + +Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we +took hands as we sat; and she told me all over again about Arthur and +their coming marriage. That made me just a little heart-sick, for I +haven't heard from Jonathan for a whole month. + + * * * * * + +_The same day._ I came up here alone, for I am very sad. There was no +letter for me. I hope there cannot be anything the matter with Jonathan. +The clock has just struck nine. I see the lights scattered all over the +town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and sometimes singly; +they run right up the Esk and die away in the curve of the valley. To my +left the view is cut off by a black line of roof of the old house next +the abbey. The sheep and lambs are bleating in the fields away behind +me, and there is a clatter of a donkey's hoofs up the paved road below. +The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further +along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street. +Neither of the bands hears the other, but up here I hear and see them +both. I wonder where Jonathan is and if he is thinking of me! I wish he +were here. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 June._--The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to +understand the man. He has certain qualities very largely developed; +selfishness, secrecy, and purpose. I wish I could get at what is the +object of the latter. He seems to have some settled scheme of his own, +but what it is I do not yet know. His redeeming quality is a love of +animals, though, indeed, he has such curious turns in it that I +sometimes imagine he is only abnormally cruel. His pets are of odd +sorts. Just now his hobby is catching flies. He has at present such a +quantity that I have had myself to expostulate. To my astonishment, he +did not break out into a fury, as I expected, but took the matter in +simple seriousness. He thought for a moment, and then said: "May I have +three days? I shall clear them away." Of course, I said that would do. I +must watch him. + + * * * * * + +_18 June._--He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several +very big fellows in a box. He keeps feeding them with his flies, and +the number of the latter is becoming sensibly diminished, although he +has used half his food in attracting more flies from outside to his +room. + + * * * * * + +_1 July._--His spiders are now becoming as great a nuisance as his +flies, and to-day I told him that he must get rid of them. He looked +very sad at this, so I said that he must clear out some of them, at all +events. He cheerfully acquiesced in this, and I gave him the same time +as before for reduction. He disgusted me much while with him, for when a +horrid blow-fly, bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, +he caught it, held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger +and thumb, and, before I knew what he was going to do, put it in his +mouth and ate it. I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it +was very good and very wholesome; that it was life, strong life, and +gave life to him. This gave me an idea, or the rudiment of one. I must +watch how he gets rid of his spiders. He has evidently some deep problem +in his mind, for he keeps a little note-book in which he is always +jotting down something. Whole pages of it are filled with masses of +figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the +totals added in batches again, as though he were "focussing" some +account, as the auditors put it. + + * * * * * + +_8 July._--There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in +my mind is growing. It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, +unconscious cerebration! you will have to give the wall to your +conscious brother. I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I +might notice if there were any change. Things remain as they were except +that he has parted with some of his pets and got a new one. He has +managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed it. His means +of taming is simple, for already the spiders have diminished. Those that +do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by +tempting them with his food. + + * * * * * + +_19 July._--We are progressing. My friend has now a whole colony of +sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated. When I came +in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour--a very, +very great favour; and as he spoke he fawned on me like a dog. I asked +him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his voice and +bearing:-- + +"A kitten, a nice little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, +and teach, and feed--and feed--and feed!" I was not unprepared for this +request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and +vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows +should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and the spiders; so +I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a +cat than a kitten. His eagerness betrayed him as he answered:-- + +"Oh, yes, I would like a cat! I only asked for a kitten lest you should +refuse me a cat. No one would refuse me a kitten, would they?" I shook +my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but +that I would see about it. His face fell, and I could see a warning of +danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong look which meant +killing. The man is an undeveloped homicidal maniac. I shall test him +with his present craving and see how it will work out; then I shall know +more. + + * * * * * + +_10 p. m._--I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner +brooding. When I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and +implored me to let him have a cat; that his salvation depended upon it. +I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon +he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the corner +where I had found him. I shall see him in the morning early. + + * * * * * + +_20 July._--Visited Renfield very early, before the attendant went his +rounds. Found him up and humming a tune. He was spreading out his sugar, +which he had saved, in the window, and was manifestly beginning his +fly-catching again; and beginning it cheerfully and with a good grace. I +looked around for his birds, and not seeing them, asked him where they +were. He replied, without turning round, that they had all flown away. +There were a few feathers about the room and on his pillow a drop of +blood. I said nothing, but went and told the keeper to report to me if +there were anything odd about him during the day. + + * * * * * + +_11 a. m._--The attendant has just been to me to say that Renfield has +been very sick and has disgorged a whole lot of feathers. "My belief is, +doctor," he said, "that he has eaten his birds, and that he just took +and ate them raw!" + + * * * * * + +_11 p. m._--I gave Renfield a strong opiate to-night, enough to make +even him sleep, and took away his pocket-book to look at it. The thought +that has been buzzing about my brain lately is complete, and the theory +proved. My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I shall have to +invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoöphagous +(life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he +can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way. He +gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then +wanted a cat to eat the many birds. What would have been his later +steps? It would almost be worth while to complete the experiment. It +might be done if there were only a sufficient cause. Men sneered at +vivisection, and yet look at its results to-day! Why not advance science +in its most difficult and vital aspect--the knowledge of the brain? Had +I even the secret of one such mind--did I hold the key to the fancy of +even one lunatic--I might advance my own branch of science to a pitch +compared with which Burdon-Sanderson's physiology or Ferrier's +brain-knowledge would be as nothing. If only there were a sufficient +cause! I must not think too much of this, or I may be tempted; a good +cause might turn the scale with me, for may not I too be of an +exceptional brain, congenitally? + +How well the man reasoned; lunatics always do within their own scope. I +wonder at how many lives he values a man, or if at only one. He has +closed the account most accurately, and to-day begun a new record. How +many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives? + +To me it seems only yesterday that my whole life ended with my new hope, +and that truly I began a new record. So it will be until the Great +Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a balance to +profit or loss. Oh, Lucy, Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be +angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on +hopeless and work. Work! work! + +If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there--a +good, unselfish cause to make me work--that would be indeed happiness. + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_26 July._--I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here; it +is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time. And +there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it +different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I +had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned; but +yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from +him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said the enclosed +had just been received. It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, +and says that he is just starting for home. That is not like Jonathan; +I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy. Then, too, Lucy, +although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in +her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided +that I am to lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra has +got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and +along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over +with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place. Poor dear, she is +naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy's +father, had the same habit; that he would get up in the night and dress +himself and go out, if he were not stopped. Lucy is to be married in the +autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is +to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan +and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to +make both ends meet. Mr. Holmwood--he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only +son of Lord Godalming--is coming up here very shortly--as soon as he can +leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is +counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up to the seat +on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it +is the waiting which disturbs her; she will be all right when he +arrives. + + * * * * * + +_27 July._--No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him, +though why I should I do not know; but I do wish that he would write, if +it were only a single line. Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I +am awakened by her moving about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so +hot that she cannot get cold; but still the anxiety and the perpetually +being wakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and +wakeful myself. Thank God, Lucy's health keeps up. Mr. Holmwood has been +suddenly called to Ring to see his father, who has been taken seriously +ill. Lucy frets at the postponement of seeing him, but it does not touch +her looks; she is a trifle stouter, and her cheeks are a lovely +rose-pink. She has lost that anæmic look which she had. I pray it will +all last. + + * * * * * + +_3 August._--Another week gone, and no news from Jonathan, not even to +Mr. Hawkins, from whom I have heard. Oh, I do hope he is not ill. He +surely would have written. I look at that last letter of his, but +somehow it does not satisfy me. It does not read like him, and yet it is +his writing. There is no mistake of that. Lucy has not walked much in +her sleep the last week, but there is an odd concentration about her +which I do not understand; even in her sleep she seems to be watching +me. She tries the door, and finding it locked, goes about the room +searching for the key. + +_6 August._--Another three days, and no news. This suspense is getting +dreadful. If I only knew where to write to or where to go to, I should +feel easier; but no one has heard a word of Jonathan since that last +letter. I must only pray to God for patience. Lucy is more excitable +than ever, but is otherwise well. Last night was very threatening, and +the fishermen say that we are in for a storm. I must try to watch it and +learn the weather signs. To-day is a grey day, and the sun as I write is +hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey--except +the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it; grey earthy rock; +grey clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the +grey sea, into which the sand-points stretch like grey fingers. The sea +is tumbling in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, +muffled in the sea-mists drifting inland. The horizon is lost in a grey +mist. All is vastness; the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and +there is a "brool" over the sea that sounds like some presage of doom. +Dark figures are on the beach here and there, sometimes half shrouded in +the mist, and seem "men like trees walking." The fishing-boats are +racing for home, and rise and dip in the ground swell as they sweep into +the harbour, bending to the scuppers. Here comes old Mr. Swales. He is +making straight for me, and I can see, by the way he lifts his hat, that +he wants to talk.... + +I have been quite touched by the change in the poor old man. When he sat +down beside me, he said in a very gentle way:-- + +"I want to say something to you, miss." I could see he was not at ease, +so I took his poor old wrinkled hand in mine and asked him to speak +fully; so he said, leaving his hand in mine:-- + +"I'm afraid, my deary, that I must have shocked you by all the wicked +things I've been sayin' about the dead, and such like, for weeks past; +but I didn't mean them, and I want ye to remember that when I'm gone. We +aud folks that be daffled, and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't +altogether like to think of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it; +an' that's why I've took to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my +own heart a bit. But, Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a +bit; only I don't want to die if I can help it. My time must be nigh at +hand now, for I be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to +expect; and I'm so nigh it that the Aud Man is already whettin' his +scythe. Ye see, I can't get out o' the habit of caffin' about it all at +once; the chafts will wag as they be used to. Some day soon the Angel of +Death will sound his trumpet for me. But don't ye dooal an' greet, my +deary!"--for he saw that I was crying--"if he should come this very +night I'd not refuse to answer his call. For life be, after all, only a +waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin'; and death be all that +we can rightly depend on. But I'm content, for it's comin' to me, my +deary, and comin' quick. It may be comin' while we be lookin' and +wonderin'. Maybe it's in that wind out over the sea that's bringin' with +it loss and wreck, and sore distress, and sad hearts. Look! look!" he +cried suddenly. "There's something in that wind and in the hoast beyont +that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It's in the +air; I feel it comin'. Lord, make me answer cheerful when my call +comes!" He held up his arms devoutly, and raised his hat. His mouth +moved as though he were praying. After a few minutes' silence, he got +up, shook hands with me, and blessed me, and said good-bye, and hobbled +off. It all touched me, and upset me very much. + +I was glad when the coastguard came along, with his spy-glass under his +arm. He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time +kept looking at a strange ship. + +"I can't make her out," he said; "she's a Russian, by the look of her; +but she's knocking about in the queerest way. She doesn't know her mind +a bit; she seems to see the storm coming, but can't decide whether to +run up north in the open, or to put in here. Look there again! She is +steered mighty strangely, for she doesn't mind the hand on the wheel; +changes about with every puff of wind. We'll hear more of her before +this time to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CUTTING FROM "THE DAILYGRAPH," 8 AUGUST + + +(_Pasted in Mina Murray's Journal._) + +From a Correspondent. + +_Whitby_. + +One of the greatest and suddenest storms on record has just been +experienced here, with results both strange and unique. The weather had +been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the month of +August. Saturday evening was as fine as was ever known, and the great +body of holiday-makers laid out yesterday for visits to Mulgrave Woods, +Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes, and the various trips in +the neighbourhood of Whitby. The steamers _Emma_ and _Scarborough_ made +trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of +"tripping" both to and from Whitby. The day was unusually fine till the +afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff +churchyard, and from that commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of +sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of +"mares'-tails" high in the sky to the north-west. The wind was then +blowing from the south-west in the mild degree which in barometrical +language is ranked "No. 2: light breeze." The coastguard on duty at once +made report, and one old fisherman, who for more than half a century has +kept watch on weather signs from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic +manner the coming of a sudden storm. The approach of sunset was so very +beautiful, so grand in its masses of splendidly-coloured clouds, that +there was quite an assemblage on the walk along the cliff in the old +churchyard to enjoy the beauty. Before the sun dipped below the black +mass of Kettleness, standing boldly athwart the western sky, its +downward way was marked by myriad clouds of every sunset-colour--flame, +purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold; with here and +there masses not large, but of seemingly absolute blackness, in all +sorts of shapes, as well outlined as colossal silhouettes. The +experience was not lost on the painters, and doubtless some of the +sketches of the "Prelude to the Great Storm" will grace the R. A. and R. +I. walls in May next. More than one captain made up his mind then and +there that his "cobble" or his "mule," as they term the different +classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed. +The wind fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there +was a dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity which, on +the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive nature. There +were but few lights in sight at sea, for even the coasting steamers, +which usually "hug" the shore so closely, kept well to seaward, and but +few fishing-boats were in sight. The only sail noticeable was a foreign +schooner with all sails set, which was seemingly going westwards. The +foolhardiness or ignorance of her officers was a prolific theme for +comment whilst she remained in sight, and efforts were made to signal +her to reduce sail in face of her danger. Before the night shut down she +was seen with sails idly flapping as she gently rolled on the undulating +swell of the sea, + + "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." + +Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite +oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a sheep +inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly heard, and the +band on the pier, with its lively French air, was like a discord in the +great harmony of nature's silence. A little after midnight came a +strange sound from over the sea, and high overhead the air began to +carry a strange, faint, hollow booming. + +Then without warning the tempest broke. With a rapidity which, at the +time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible to realize, +the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed. The waves rose in +growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till in a very few minutes +the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and devouring monster. +White-crested waves beat madly on the level sands and rushed up the +shelving cliffs; others broke over the piers, and with their spume swept +the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise from the end of either pier +of Whitby Harbour. The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such +force that it was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, +or clung with grim clasp to the iron stanchions. It was found necessary +to clear the entire piers from the mass of onlookers, or else the +fatalities of the night would have been increased manifold. To add to +the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came +drifting inland--white, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, +so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of +imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were +touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and many +a one shuddered as the wreaths of sea-mist swept by. At times the mist +cleared, and the sea for some distance could be seen in the glare of the +lightning, which now came thick and fast, followed by such sudden peals +of thunder that the whole sky overhead seemed trembling under the shock +of the footsteps of the storm. + +Some of the scenes thus revealed were of immeasurable grandeur and of +absorbing interest--the sea, running mountains high, threw skywards with +each wave mighty masses of white foam, which the tempest seemed to +snatch at and whirl away into space; here and there a fishing-boat, with +a rag of sail, running madly for shelter before the blast; now and again +the white wings of a storm-tossed sea-bird. On the summit of the East +Cliff the new searchlight was ready for experiment, but had not yet been +tried. The officers in charge of it got it into working order, and in +the pauses of the inrushing mist swept with it the surface of the sea. +Once or twice its service was most effective, as when a fishing-boat, +with gunwale under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance +of the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the +piers. As each boat achieved the safety of the port there was a shout of +joy from the mass of people on shore, a shout which for a moment seemed +to cleave the gale and was then swept away in its rush. + +Before long the searchlight discovered some distance away a schooner +with all sails set, apparently the same vessel which had been noticed +earlier in the evening. The wind had by this time backed to the east, +and there was a shudder amongst the watchers on the cliff as they +realized the terrible danger in which she now was. Between her and the +port lay the great flat reef on which so many good ships have from time +to time suffered, and, with the wind blowing from its present quarter, +it would be quite impossible that she should fetch the entrance of the +harbour. It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so +great that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost +visible, and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with such +speed that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up somewhere, +if it was only in hell." Then came another rush of sea-fog, greater than +any hitherto--a mass of dank mist, which seemed to close on all things +like a grey pall, and left available to men only the organ of hearing, +for the roar of the tempest, and the crash of the thunder, and the +booming of the mighty billows came through the damp oblivion even louder +than before. The rays of the searchlight were kept fixed on the harbour +mouth across the East Pier, where the shock was expected, and men waited +breathless. The wind suddenly shifted to the north-east, and the remnant +of the sea-fog melted in the blast; and then, _mirabile dictu_, between +the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, +swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and +gained the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed her, and a +shudder ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a +corpse, with drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each +motion of the ship. No other form could be seen on deck at all. A great +awe came on all as they realised that the ship, as if by a miracle, had +found the harbour, unsteered save by the hand of a dead man! However, +all took place more quickly than it takes to write these words. The +schooner paused not, but rushing across the harbour, pitched herself on +that accumulation of sand and gravel washed by many tides and many +storms into the south-east corner of the pier jutting under the East +Cliff, known locally as Tate Hill Pier. + +There was of course a considerable concussion as the vessel drove up on +the sand heap. Every spar, rope, and stay was strained, and some of the +"top-hammer" came crashing down. But, strangest of all, the very instant +the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as +if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow +on the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard +hangs over the laneway to the East Pier so steeply that some of the flat +tombstones--"thruff-steans" or "through-stones," as they call them in +the Whitby vernacular--actually project over where the sustaining cliff +has fallen away, it disappeared in the darkness, which seemed +intensified just beyond the focus of the searchlight. + +It so happened that there was no one at the moment on Tate Hill Pier, as +all those whose houses are in close proximity were either in bed or were +out on the heights above. Thus the coastguard on duty on the eastern +side of the harbour, who at once ran down to the little pier, was the +first to climb on board. The men working the searchlight, after scouring +the entrance of the harbour without seeing anything, then turned the +light on the derelict and kept it there. The coastguard ran aft, and +when he came beside the wheel, bent over to examine it, and recoiled at +once as though under some sudden emotion. This seemed to pique general +curiosity, and quite a number of people began to run. It is a good way +round from the West Cliff by the Drawbridge to Tate Hill Pier, but your +correspondent is a fairly good runner, and came well ahead of the crowd. +When I arrived, however, I found already assembled on the pier a crowd, +whom the coastguard and police refused to allow to come on board. By the +courtesy of the chief boatman, I was, as your correspondent, permitted +to climb on deck, and was one of a small group who saw the dead seaman +whilst actually lashed to the wheel. + +It was no wonder that the coastguard was surprised, or even awed, for +not often can such a sight have been seen. The man was simply fastened +by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between +the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix, the set of beads on which it +was fastened being around both wrists and wheel, and all kept fast by +the binding cords. The poor fellow may have been seated at one time, but +the flapping and buffeting of the sails had worked through the rudder of +the wheel and dragged him to and fro, so that the cords with which he +was tied had cut the flesh to the bone. Accurate note was made of the +state of things, and a doctor--Surgeon J. M. Caffyn, of 33, East Elliot +Place--who came immediately after me, declared, after making +examination, that the man must have been dead for quite two days. In his +pocket was a bottle, carefully corked, empty save for a little roll of +paper, which proved to be the addendum to the log. The coastguard said +the man must have tied up his own hands, fastening the knots with his +teeth. The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some +complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot +claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a +derelict. Already, however, the legal tongues are wagging, and one young +law student is loudly asserting that the rights of the owner are already +completely sacrificed, his property being held in contravention of the +statutes of mortmain, since the tiller, as emblemship, if not proof, of +delegated possession, is held in a _dead hand_. It is needless to say +that the dead steersman has been reverently removed from the place where +he held his honourable watch and ward till death--a steadfastness as +noble as that of the young Casabianca--and placed in the mortuary to +await inquest. + +Already the sudden storm is passing, and its fierceness is abating; +crowds are scattering homeward, and the sky is beginning to redden over +the Yorkshire wolds. I shall send, in time for your next issue, further +details of the derelict ship which found her way so miraculously into +harbour in the storm. + +_Whitby_ + +_9 August._--The sequel to the strange arrival of the derelict in the +storm last night is almost more startling than the thing itself. It +turns out that the schooner is a Russian from Varna, and is called the +_Demeter_. She is almost entirely in ballast of silver sand, with only a +small amount of cargo--a number of great wooden boxes filled with mould. +This cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor, Mr. S. F. Billington, of +7, The Crescent, who this morning went aboard and formally took +possession of the goods consigned to him. The Russian consul, too, +acting for the charter-party, took formal possession of the ship, and +paid all harbour dues, etc. Nothing is talked about here to-day except +the strange coincidence; the officials of the Board of Trade have been +most exacting in seeing that every compliance has been made with +existing regulations. As the matter is to be a "nine days' wonder," they +are evidently determined that there shall be no cause of after +complaint. A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which +landed when the ship struck, and more than a few of the members of the +S. P. C. A., which is very strong in Whitby, have tried to befriend the +animal. To the general disappointment, however, it was not to be found; +it seems to have disappeared entirely from the town. It may be that it +was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it is still +hiding in terror. There are some who look with dread on such a +possibility, lest later on it should in itself become a danger, for it +is evidently a fierce brute. Early this morning a large dog, a half-bred +mastiff belonging to a coal merchant close to Tate Hill Pier, was found +dead in the roadway opposite to its master's yard. It had been fighting, +and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn away, +and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--By the kindness of the Board of Trade inspector, I have been +permitted to look over the log-book of the _Demeter_, which was in order +up to within three days, but contained nothing of special interest +except as to facts of missing men. The greatest interest, however, is +with regard to the paper found in the bottle, which was to-day produced +at the inquest; and a more strange narrative than the two between them +unfold it has not been my lot to come across. As there is no motive for +concealment, I am permitted to use them, and accordingly send you a +rescript, simply omitting technical details of seamanship and +supercargo. It almost seems as though the captain had been seized with +some kind of mania before he had got well into blue water, and that +this had developed persistently throughout the voyage. Of course my +statement must be taken _cum grano_, since I am writing from the +dictation of a clerk of the Russian consul, who kindly translated for +me, time being short. + + LOG OF THE "DEMETER." + + +_Varna to Whitby._ + +_Written 18 July, things so strange happening, that I shall keep +accurate note henceforth till we land._ + + * * * * * + +On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes of earth. +At noon set sail. East wind, fresh. Crew, five hands ... two mates, +cook, and myself (captain). + + * * * * * + +On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus. Boarded by Turkish Customs +officers. Backsheesh. All correct. Under way at 4 p. m. + + * * * * * + +On 12 July through Dardanelles. More Customs officers and flagboat of +guarding squadron. Backsheesh again. Work of officers thorough, but +quick. Want us off soon. At dark passed into Archipelago. + + * * * * * + +On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. +Seemed scared, but would not speak out. + + * * * * * + +On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew. Men all steady fellows, who +sailed with me before. Mate could not make out what was wrong; they only +told him there was _something_, and crossed themselves. Mate lost temper +with one of them that day and struck him. Expected fierce quarrel, but +all was quiet. + + * * * * * + +On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of crew, Petrofsky, was +missing. Could not account for it. Took larboard watch eight bells last +night; was relieved by Abramoff, but did not go to bunk. Men more +downcast than ever. All said they expected something of the kind, but +would not say more than there was _something_ aboard. Mate getting very +impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead. + + * * * * * + +On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin, and in +an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a strange man +aboard the ship. He said that in his watch he had been sheltering +behind the deck-house, as there was a rain-storm, when he saw a tall, +thin man, who was not like any of the crew, come up the companion-way, +and go along the deck forward, and disappear. He followed cautiously, +but when he got to bows found no one, and the hatchways were all closed. +He was in a panic of superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may +spread. To allay it, I shall to-day search entire ship carefully from +stem to stern. + + * * * * * + +Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as they +evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would search from +stem to stern. First mate angry; said it was folly, and to yield to such +foolish ideas would demoralise the men; said he would engage to keep +them out of trouble with a handspike. I let him take the helm, while the +rest began thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns: we left +no corner unsearched. As there were only the big wooden boxes, there +were no odd corners where a man could hide. Men much relieved when +search over, and went back to work cheerfully. First mate scowled, but +said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_22 July_.--Rough weather last three days, and all hands busy with +sails--no time to be frightened. Men seem to have forgotten their dread. +Mate cheerful again, and all on good terms. Praised men for work in bad +weather. Passed Gibralter and out through Straits. All well. + + * * * * * + +_24 July_.--There seems some doom over this ship. Already a hand short, +and entering on the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and yet last +night another man lost--disappeared. Like the first, he came off his +watch and was not seen again. Men all in a panic of fear; sent a round +robin, asking to have double watch, as they fear to be alone. Mate +angry. Fear there will be some trouble, as either he or the men will do +some violence. + + * * * * * + +_28 July_.--Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of maelstrom, +and the wind a tempest. No sleep for any one. Men all worn out. Hardly +know how to set a watch, since no one fit to go on. Second mate +volunteered to steer and watch, and let men snatch a few hours' sleep. +Wind abating; seas still terrific, but feel them less, as ship is +steadier. + + * * * * * + +_29 July_.--Another tragedy. Had single watch to-night, as crew too +tired to double. When morning watch came on deck could find no one +except steersman. Raised outcry, and all came on deck. Thorough search, +but no one found. Are now without second mate, and crew in a panic. Mate +and I agreed to go armed henceforth and wait for any sign of cause. + + * * * * * + +_30 July_.--Last night. Rejoiced we are nearing England. Weather fine, +all sails set. Retired worn out; slept soundly; awaked by mate telling +me that both man of watch and steersman missing. Only self and mate and +two hands left to work ship. + + * * * * * + +_1 August_.--Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted. Had hoped when in +the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get in somewhere. +Not having power to work sails, have to run before wind. Dare not lower, +as could not raise them again. We seem to be drifting to some terrible +doom. Mate now more demoralised than either of men. His stronger nature +seems to have worked inwardly against himself. Men are beyond fear, +working stolidly and patiently, with minds made up to worst. They are +Russian, he Roumanian. + + * * * * * + +_2 August, midnight_.--Woke up from few minutes' sleep by hearing a cry, +seemingly outside my port. Could see nothing in fog. Rushed on deck, and +ran against mate. Tells me heard cry and ran, but no sign of man on +watch. One more gone. Lord, help us! Mate says we must be past Straits +of Dover, as in a moment of fog lifting he saw North Foreland, just as +he heard the man cry out. If so we are now off in the North Sea, and +only God can guide us in the fog, which seems to move with us; and God +seems to have deserted us. + + * * * * * + +_3 August_.--At midnight I went to relieve the man at the wheel, and +when I got to it found no one there. The wind was steady, and as we ran +before it there was no yawing. I dared not leave it, so shouted for the +mate. After a few seconds he rushed up on deck in his flannels. He +looked wild-eyed and haggard, and I greatly fear his reason has given +way. He came close to me and whispered hoarsely, with his mouth to my +ear, as though fearing the very air might hear: "_It_ is here; I know +it, now. On the watch last night I saw It, like a man, tall and thin, +and ghastly pale. It was in the bows, and looking out. I crept behind +It, and gave It my knife; but the knife went through It, empty as the +air." And as he spoke he took his knife and drove it savagely into +space. Then he went on: "But It is here, and I'll find It. It is in the +hold, perhaps in one of those boxes. I'll unscrew them one by one and +see. You work the helm." And, with a warning look and his finger on his +lip, he went below. There was springing up a choppy wind, and I could +not leave the helm. I saw him come out on deck again with a tool-chest +and a lantern, and go down the forward hatchway. He is mad, stark, +raving mad, and it's no use my trying to stop him. He can't hurt those +big boxes: they are invoiced as "clay," and to pull them about is as +harmless a thing as he can do. So here I stay, and mind the helm, and +write these notes. I can only trust in God and wait till the fog clears. +Then, if I can't steer to any harbour with the wind that is, I shall cut +down sails and lie by, and signal for help.... + + * * * * * + +It is nearly all over now. Just as I was beginning to hope that the mate +would come out calmer--for I heard him knocking away at something in the +hold, and work is good for him--there came up the hatchway a sudden, +startled scream, which made my blood run cold, and up on the deck he +came as if shot from a gun--a raging madman, with his eyes rolling and +his face convulsed with fear. "Save me! save me!" he cried, and then +looked round on the blanket of fog. His horror turned to despair, and in +a steady voice he said: "You had better come too, captain, before it is +too late. _He_ is there. I know the secret now. The sea will save me +from Him, and it is all that is left!" Before I could say a word, or +move forward to seize him, he sprang on the bulwark and deliberately +threw himself into the sea. I suppose I know the secret too, now. It was +this madman who had got rid of the men one by one, and now he has +followed them himself. God help me! How am I to account for all these +horrors when I get to port? _When_ I get to port! Will that ever be? + + * * * * * + +_4 August._--Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce. I know there is +sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not. I dared not go +below, I dared not leave the helm; so here all night I stayed, and in +the dimness of the night I saw It--Him! God forgive me, but the mate was +right to jump overboard. It was better to die like a man; to die like a +sailor in blue water no man can object. But I am captain, and I must not +leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie +my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with +them I shall tie that which He--It!--dare not touch; and then, come good +wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my honour as a captain. I am +growing weaker, and the night is coming on. If He can look me in the +face again, I may not have time to act.... If we are wrecked, mayhap +this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand; if not, +... well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trust. God +and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying +to do his duty.... + + * * * * * + +Of course the verdict was an open one. There is no evidence to adduce; +and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now +none to say. The folk here hold almost universally that the captain is +simply a hero, and he is to be given a public funeral. Already it is +arranged that his body is to be taken with a train of boats up the Esk +for a piece and then brought back to Tate Hill Pier and up the abbey +steps; for he is to be buried in the churchyard on the cliff. The owners +of more than a hundred boats have already given in their names as +wishing to follow him to the grave. + +No trace has ever been found of the great dog; at which there is much +mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he would, I +believe, be adopted by the town. To-morrow will see the funeral; and so +will end this one more "mystery of the sea." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_8 August._--Lucy was very restless all night, and I, too, could not +sleep. The storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the +chimney-pots, it made me shudder. When a sharp puff came it seemed to be +like a distant gun. Strangely enough, Lucy did not wake; but she got up +twice and dressed herself. Fortunately, each time I awoke in time and +managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bed. It +is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is +thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, +disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her +life. + +Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see +if anything had happened in the night. There were very few people about, +and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, +grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that +topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth +of the harbour--like a bullying man going through a crowd. Somehow I +felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on land. But, +oh, is he on land or sea? Where is he, and how? I am getting fearfully +anxious about him. If I only knew what to do, and could do anything! + + * * * * * + +_10 August._--The funeral of the poor sea-captain to-day was most +touching. Every boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin +was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the +churchyard. Lucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat, whilst +the cortège of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came down +again. We had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the way. +The poor fellow was laid to rest quite near our seat so that we stood on +it when the time came and saw everything. Poor Lucy seemed much upset. +She was restless and uneasy all the time, and I cannot but think that +her dreaming at night is telling on her. She is quite odd in one thing: +she will not admit to me that there is any cause for restlessness; or if +there be, she does not understand it herself. There is an additional +cause in that poor old Mr. Swales was found dead this morning on our +seat, his neck being broken. He had evidently, as the doctor said, +fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of +fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudder. Poor +dear old man! Perhaps he had seen Death with his dying eyes! Lucy is so +sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other +people do. Just now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did +not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals. One of the men +who came up here often to look for the boats was followed by his dog. +The dog is always with him. They are both quiet persons, and I never saw +the man angry, nor heard the dog bark. During the service the dog would +not come to its master, who was on the seat with us, but kept a few +yards off, barking and howling. Its master spoke to it gently, and then +harshly, and then angrily; but it would neither come nor cease to make a +noise. It was in a sort of fury, with its eyes savage, and all its hairs +bristling out like a cat's tail when puss is on the war-path. Finally +the man, too, got angry, and jumped down and kicked the dog, and then +took it by the scruff of the neck and half dragged and half threw it on +the tombstone on which the seat is fixed. The moment it touched the +stone the poor thing became quiet and fell all into a tremble. It did +not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was +in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, +to comfort it. Lucy was full of pity, too, but she did not attempt to +touch the dog, but looked at it in an agonised sort of way. I greatly +fear that she is of too super-sensitive a nature to go through the world +without trouble. She will be dreaming of this to-night, I am sure. The +whole agglomeration of things--the ship steered into port by a dead +man; his attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads; the +touching funeral; the dog, now furious and now in terror--will all +afford material for her dreams. + +I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I +shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and +back. She ought not to have much inclination for sleep-walking then. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_Same day, 11 o'clock p. m._--Oh, but I am tired! If it were not that I +had made my diary a duty I should not open it to-night. We had a lovely +walk. Lucy, after a while, was in gay spirits, owing, I think, to some +dear cows who came nosing towards us in a field close to the lighthouse, +and frightened the wits out of us. I believe we forgot everything +except, of course, personal fear, and it seemed to wipe the slate clean +and give us a fresh start. We had a capital "severe tea" at Robin Hood's +Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow-window right over +the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand. I believe we should have +shocked the "New Woman" with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless +them! Then we walked home with some, or rather many, stoppages to rest, +and with our hearts full of a constant dread of wild bulls. Lucy was +really tired, and we intended to creep off to bed as soon as we could. +The young curate came in, however, and Mrs. Westenra asked him to stay +for supper. Lucy and I had both a fight for it with the dusty miller; I +know it was a hard fight on my part, and I am quite heroic. I think that +some day the bishops must get together and see about breeding up a new +class of curates, who don't take supper, no matter how they may be +pressed to, and who will know when girls are tired. Lucy is asleep and +breathing softly. She has more colour in her cheeks than usual, and +looks, oh, so sweet. If Mr. Holmwood fell in love with her seeing her +only in the drawing-room, I wonder what he would say if he saw her now. +Some of the "New Women" writers will some day start an idea that men and +women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or +accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to +accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make +of it, too! There's some consolation in that. I am so happy to-night, +because dear Lucy seems better. I really believe she has turned the +corner, and that we are over her troubles with dreaming. I should be +quite happy if I only knew if Jonathan.... God bless and keep him. + + * * * * * + +_11 August, 3 a. m._--Diary again. No sleep now, so I may as well write. +I am too agitated to sleep. We have had such an adventure, such an +agonising experience. I fell asleep as soon as I had closed my diary.... +Suddenly I became broad awake, and sat up, with a horrible sense of fear +upon me, and of some feeling of emptiness around me. The room was dark, +so I could not see Lucy's bed; I stole across and felt for her. The bed +was empty. I lit a match and found that she was not in the room. The +door was shut, but not locked, as I had left it. I feared to wake her +mother, who has been more than usually ill lately, so threw on some +clothes and got ready to look for her. As I was leaving the room it +struck me that the clothes she wore might give me some clue to her +dreaming intention. Dressing-gown would mean house; dress, outside. +Dressing-gown and dress were both in their places. "Thank God," I said +to myself, "she cannot be far, as she is only in her nightdress." I ran +downstairs and looked in the sitting-room. Not there! Then I looked in +all the other open rooms of the house, with an ever-growing fear +chilling my heart. Finally I came to the hall door and found it open. It +was not wide open, but the catch of the lock had not caught. The people +of the house are careful to lock the door every night, so I feared that +Lucy must have gone out as she was. There was no time to think of what +might happen; a vague, overmastering fear obscured all details. I took a +big, heavy shawl and ran out. The clock was striking one as I was in the +Crescent, and there was not a soul in sight. I ran along the North +Terrace, but could see no sign of the white figure which I expected. At +the edge of the West Cliff above the pier I looked across the harbour to +the East Cliff, in the hope or fear--I don't know which--of seeing Lucy +in our favourite seat. There was a bright full moon, with heavy black, +driving clouds, which threw the whole scene into a fleeting diorama of +light and shade as they sailed across. For a moment or two I could see +nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church and all +around it. Then as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the abbey +coming into view; and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as +a sword-cut moved along, the church and the churchyard became gradually +visible. Whatever my expectation was, it was not disappointed, for +there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a +half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too +quick for me to see much, for shadow shut down on light almost +immediately; but it seemed to me as though something dark stood behind +the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, +whether man or beast, I could not tell; I did not wait to catch another +glance, but flew down the steep steps to the pier and along by the +fish-market to the bridge, which was the only way to reach the East +Cliff. The town seemed as dead, for not a soul did I see; I rejoiced +that it was so, for I wanted no witness of poor Lucy's condition. The +time and distance seemed endless, and my knees trembled and my breath +came laboured as I toiled up the endless steps to the abbey. I must have +gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as if my feet were weighted with +lead, and as though every joint in my body were rusty. When I got almost +to the top I could see the seat and the white figure, for I was now +close enough to distinguish it even through the spells of shadow. There +was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the +half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, "Lucy! Lucy!" and +something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face +and red, gleaming eyes. Lucy did not answer, and I ran on to the +entrance of the churchyard. As I entered, the church was between me and +the seat, and for a minute or so I lost sight of her. When I came in +view again the cloud had passed, and the moonlight struck so brilliantly +that I could see Lucy half reclining with her head lying over the back +of the seat. She was quite alone, and there was not a sign of any living +thing about. + +When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips +were parted, and she was breathing--not softly as usual with her, but in +long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every +breath. As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled the +collar of her nightdress close around her throat. Whilst she did so +there came a little shudder through her, as though she felt the cold. I +flung the warm shawl over her, and drew the edges tight round her neck, +for I dreaded lest she should get some deadly chill from the night air, +unclad as she was. I feared to wake her all at once, so, in order to +have my hands free that I might help her, I fastened the shawl at her +throat with a big safety-pin; but I must have been clumsy in my anxiety +and pinched or pricked her with it, for by-and-by, when her breathing +became quieter, she put her hand to her throat again and moaned. When I +had her carefully wrapped up I put my shoes on her feet and then began +very gently to wake her. At first she did not respond; but gradually she +became more and more uneasy in her sleep, moaning and sighing +occasionally. At last, as time was passing fast, and, for many other +reasons, I wished to get her home at once, I shook her more forcibly, +till finally she opened her eyes and awoke. She did not seem surprised +to see me, as, of course, she did not realise all at once where she was. +Lucy always wakes prettily, and even at such a time, when her body must +have been chilled with cold, and her mind somewhat appalled at waking +unclad in a churchyard at night, she did not lose her grace. She +trembled a little, and clung to me; when I told her to come at once with +me home she rose without a word, with the obedience of a child. As we +passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince. She +stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes; but I would not. +However, when we got to the pathway outside the churchyard, where there +was a puddle of water, remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet with +mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home, no +one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare feet. + +Fortune favoured us, and we got home without meeting a soul. Once we saw +a man, who seemed not quite sober, passing along a street in front of +us; but we hid in a door till he had disappeared up an opening such as +there are here, steep little closes, or "wynds," as they call them in +Scotland. My heart beat so loud all the time that sometimes I thought I +should faint. I was filled with anxiety about Lucy, not only for her +health, lest she should suffer from the exposure, but for her reputation +in case the story should get wind. When we got in, and had washed our +feet, and had said a prayer of thankfulness together, I tucked her into +bed. Before falling asleep she asked--even implored--me not to say a +word to any one, even her mother, about her sleep-walking adventure. I +hesitated at first to promise; but on thinking of the state of her +mother's health, and how the knowledge of such a thing would fret her, +and thinking, too, of how such a story might become distorted--nay, +infallibly would--in case it should leak out, I thought it wiser to do +so. I hope I did right. I have locked the door, and the key is tied to +my wrist, so perhaps I shall not be again disturbed. Lucy is sleeping +soundly; the reflex of the dawn is high and far over the sea.... + + * * * * * + +_Same day, noon._--All goes well. Lucy slept till I woke her and seemed +not to have even changed her side. The adventure of the night does not +seem to have harmed her; on the contrary, it has benefited her, for she +looks better this morning than she has done for weeks. I was sorry to +notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her. Indeed, it might +have been serious, for the skin of her throat was pierced. I must have +pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are +two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her nightdress +was a drop of blood. When I apologised and was concerned about it, she +laughed and petted me, and said she did not even feel it. Fortunately it +cannot leave a scar, as it is so tiny. + + * * * * * + +_Same day, night._--We passed a happy day. The air was clear, and the +sun bright, and there was a cool breeze. We took our lunch to Mulgrave +Woods, Mrs. Westenra driving by the road and Lucy and I walking by the +cliff-path and joining her at the gate. I felt a little sad myself, for +I could not but feel how _absolutely_ happy it would have been had +Jonathan been with me. But there! I must only be patient. In the evening +we strolled in the Casino Terrace, and heard some good music by Spohr +and Mackenzie, and went to bed early. Lucy seems more restful than she +has been for some time, and fell asleep at once. I shall lock the door +and secure the key the same as before, though I do not expect any +trouble to-night. + + * * * * * + +_12 August._--My expectations were wrong, for twice during the night I +was wakened by Lucy trying to get out. She seemed, even in her sleep, to +be a little impatient at finding the door shut, and went back to bed +under a sort of protest. I woke with the dawn, and heard the birds +chirping outside of the window. Lucy woke, too, and, I was glad to see, +was even better than on the previous morning. All her old gaiety of +manner seemed to have come back, and she came and snuggled in beside me +and told me all about Arthur. I told her how anxious I was about +Jonathan, and then she tried to comfort me. Well, she succeeded +somewhat, for, though sympathy can't alter facts, it can help to make +them more bearable. + + * * * * * + +_13 August._--Another quiet day, and to bed with the key on my wrist as +before. Again I awoke in the night, and found Lucy sitting up in bed, +still asleep, pointing to the window. I got up quietly, and pulling +aside the blind, looked out. It was brilliant moonlight, and the soft +effect of the light over the sea and sky--merged together in one great, +silent mystery--was beautiful beyond words. Between me and the moonlight +flitted a great bat, coming and going in great whirling circles. Once or +twice it came quite close, but was, I suppose, frightened at seeing me, +and flitted away across the harbour towards the abbey. When I came back +from the window Lucy had lain down again, and was sleeping peacefully. +She did not stir again all night. + + * * * * * + +_14 August._--On the East Cliff, reading and writing all day. Lucy seems +to have become as much in love with the spot as I am, and it is hard to +get her away from it when it is time to come home for lunch or tea or +dinner. This afternoon she made a funny remark. We were coming home for +dinner, and had come to the top of the steps up from the West Pier and +stopped to look at the view, as we generally do. The setting sun, low +down in the sky, was just dropping behind Kettleness; the red light was +thrown over on the East Cliff and the old abbey, and seemed to bathe +everything in a beautiful rosy glow. We were silent for a while, and +suddenly Lucy murmured as if to herself:-- + +"His red eyes again! They are just the same." It was such an odd +expression, coming _apropos_ of nothing, that it quite startled me. I +slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare +at her, and saw that she was in a half-dreamy state, with an odd look on +her face that I could not quite make out; so I said nothing, but +followed her eyes. She appeared to be looking over at our own seat, +whereon was a dark figure seated alone. I was a little startled myself, +for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes like +burning flames; but a second look dispelled the illusion. The red +sunlight was shining on the windows of St. Mary's Church behind our +seat, and as the sun dipped there was just sufficient change in the +refraction and reflection to make it appear as if the light moved. I +called Lucy's attention to the peculiar effect, and she became herself +with a start, but she looked sad all the same; it may have been that she +was thinking of that terrible night up there. We never refer to it; so I +said nothing, and we went home to dinner. Lucy had a headache and went +early to bed. I saw her asleep, and went out for a little stroll myself; +I walked along the cliffs to the westward, and was full of sweet +sadness, for I was thinking of Jonathan. When coming home--it was then +bright moonlight, so bright that, though the front of our part of the +Crescent was in shadow, everything could be well seen--I threw a glance +up at our window, and saw Lucy's head leaning out. I thought that +perhaps she was looking out for me, so I opened my handkerchief and +waved it. She did not notice or make any movement whatever. Just then, +the moonlight crept round an angle of the building, and the light fell +on the window. There distinctly was Lucy with her head lying up against +the side of the window-sill and her eyes shut. She was fast asleep, and +by her, seated on the window-sill, was something that looked like a +good-sized bird. I was afraid she might get a chill, so I ran upstairs, +but as I came into the room she was moving back to her bed, fast +asleep, and breathing heavily; she was holding her hand to her throat, +as though to protect it from cold. + +I did not wake her, but tucked her up warmly; I have taken care that the +door is locked and the window securely fastened. + +She looks so sweet as she sleeps; but she is paler than is her wont, and +there is a drawn, haggard look under her eyes which I do not like. I +fear she is fretting about something. I wish I could find out what it +is. + + * * * * * + +_15 August._--Rose later than usual. Lucy was languid and tired, and +slept on after we had been called. We had a happy surprise at breakfast. +Arthur's father is better, and wants the marriage to come off soon. Lucy +is full of quiet joy, and her mother is glad and sorry at once. Later on +in the day she told me the cause. She is grieved to lose Lucy as her +very own, but she is rejoiced that she is soon to have some one to +protect her. Poor dear, sweet lady! She confided to me that she has got +her death-warrant. She has not told Lucy, and made me promise secrecy; +her doctor told her that within a few months, at most, she must die, for +her heart is weakening. At any time, even now, a sudden shock would be +almost sure to kill her. Ah, we were wise to keep from her the affair of +the dreadful night of Lucy's sleep-walking. + + * * * * * + +_17 August._--No diary for two whole days. I have not had the heart to +write. Some sort of shadowy pall seems to be coming over our happiness. +No news from Jonathan, and Lucy seems to be growing weaker, whilst her +mother's hours are numbering to a close. I do not understand Lucy's +fading away as she is doing. She eats well and sleeps well, and enjoys +the fresh air; but all the time the roses in her cheeks are fading, and +she gets weaker and more languid day by day; at night I hear her gasping +as if for air. I keep the key of our door always fastened to my wrist at +night, but she gets up and walks about the room, and sits at the open +window. Last night I found her leaning out when I woke up, and when I +tried to wake her I could not; she was in a faint. When I managed to +restore her she was as weak as water, and cried silently between long, +painful struggles for breath. When I asked her how she came to be at the +window she shook her head and turned away. I trust her feeling ill may +not be from that unlucky prick of the safety-pin. I looked at her throat +just now as she lay asleep, and the tiny wounds seem not to have healed. +They are still open, and, if anything, larger than before, and the +edges of them are faintly white. They are like little white dots with +red centres. Unless they heal within a day or two, I shall insist on the +doctor seeing about them. + + +_Letter, Samuel F. Billington & Son, Solicitors, Whitby, to Messrs. +Carter, Paterson & Co., London._ + +"_17 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"Herewith please receive invoice of goods sent by Great Northern +Railway. Same are to be delivered at Carfax, near Purfleet, immediately +on receipt at goods station King's Cross. The house is at present empty, +but enclosed please find keys, all of which are labelled. + +"You will please deposit the boxes, fifty in number, which form the +consignment, in the partially ruined building forming part of the house +and marked 'A' on rough diagram enclosed. Your agent will easily +recognise the locality, as it is the ancient chapel of the mansion. The +goods leave by the train at 9:30 to-night, and will be due at King's +Cross at 4:30 to-morrow afternoon. As our client wishes the delivery +made as soon as possible, we shall be obliged by your having teams ready +at King's Cross at the time named and forthwith conveying the goods to +destination. In order to obviate any delays possible through any routine +requirements as to payment in your departments, we enclose cheque +herewith for ten pounds (£10), receipt of which please acknowledge. +Should the charge be less than this amount, you can return balance; if +greater, we shall at once send cheque for difference on hearing from +you. You are to leave the keys on coming away in the main hall of the +house, where the proprietor may get them on his entering the house by +means of his duplicate key. + +"Pray do not take us as exceeding the bounds of business courtesy in +pressing you in all ways to use the utmost expedition. + +_"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON."_ + + +_Letter, Messrs. Carter, Paterson & Co., London, to Messrs. Billington & +Son, Whitby._ + +"_21 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"We beg to acknowledge £10 received and to return cheque £1 17s. 9d, +amount of overplus, as shown in receipted account herewith. Goods are +delivered in exact accordance with instructions, and keys left in parcel +in main hall, as directed. + +"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Yours respectfully. + +"_Pro_ CARTER, PATERSON & CO." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_18 August._--I am happy to-day, and write sitting on the seat in the +churchyard. Lucy is ever so much better. Last night she slept well all +night, and did not disturb me once. The roses seem coming back already +to her cheeks, though she is still sadly pale and wan-looking. If she +were in any way anæmic I could understand it, but she is not. She is in +gay spirits and full of life and cheerfulness. All the morbid reticence +seems to have passed from her, and she has just reminded me, as if I +needed any reminding, of _that_ night, and that it was here, on this +very seat, I found her asleep. As she told me she tapped playfully with +the heel of her boot on the stone slab and said:-- + +"My poor little feet didn't make much noise then! I daresay poor old Mr. +Swales would have told me that it was because I didn't want to wake up +Geordie." As she was in such a communicative humour, I asked her if she +had dreamed at all that night. Before she answered, that sweet, puckered +look came into her forehead, which Arthur--I call him Arthur from her +habit--says he loves; and, indeed, I don't wonder that he does. Then she +went on in a half-dreaming kind of way, as if trying to recall it to +herself:-- + +"I didn't quite dream; but it all seemed to be real. I only wanted to be +here in this spot--I don't know why, for I was afraid of something--I +don't know what. I remember, though I suppose I was asleep, passing +through the streets and over the bridge. A fish leaped as I went by, and +I leaned over to look at it, and I heard a lot of dogs howling--the +whole town seemed as if it must be full of dogs all howling at once--as +I went up the steps. Then I had a vague memory of something long and +dark with red eyes, just as we saw in the sunset, and something very +sweet and very bitter all around me at once; and then I seemed sinking +into deep green water, and there was a singing in my ears, as I have +heard there is to drowning men; and then everything seemed passing away +from me; my soul seemed to go out from my body and float about the air. +I seem to remember that once the West Lighthouse was right under me, +and then there was a sort of agonising feeling, as if I were in an +earthquake, and I came back and found you shaking my body. I saw you do +it before I felt you." + +Then she began to laugh. It seemed a little uncanny to me, and I +listened to her breathlessly. I did not quite like it, and thought it +better not to keep her mind on the subject, so we drifted on to other +subjects, and Lucy was like her old self again. When we got home the +fresh breeze had braced her up, and her pale cheeks were really more +rosy. Her mother rejoiced when she saw her, and we all spent a very +happy evening together. + + * * * * * + +_19 August._--Joy, joy, joy! although not all joy. At last, news of +Jonathan. The dear fellow has been ill; that is why he did not write. I +am not afraid to think it or say it, now that I know. Mr. Hawkins sent +me on the letter, and wrote himself, oh, so kindly. I am to leave in the +morning and go over to Jonathan, and to help to nurse him if necessary, +and to bring him home. Mr. Hawkins says it would not be a bad thing if +we were to be married out there. I have cried over the good Sister's +letter till I can feel it wet against my bosom, where it lies. It is of +Jonathan, and must be next my heart, for he is _in_ my heart. My journey +is all mapped out, and my luggage ready. I am only taking one change of +dress; Lucy will bring my trunk to London and keep it till I send for +it, for it may be that ... I must write no more; I must keep it to say +to Jonathan, my husband. The letter that he has seen and touched must +comfort me till we meet. + + +_Letter, Sister Agatha, Hospital of St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, +Buda-Pesth, to Miss Wilhelmina Murray._ + +"_12 August._ + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not strong +enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St. Joseph +and Ste. Mary. He has been under our care for nearly six weeks, +suffering from a violent brain fever. He wishes me to convey his love, +and to say that by this post I write for him to Mr. Peter Hawkins, +Exeter, to say, with his dutiful respects, that he is sorry for his +delay, and that all of his work is completed. He will require some few +weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but will then return. He +wishes me to say that he has not sufficient money with him, and that he +would like to pay for his staying here, so that others who need shall +not be wanting for help. + +"Believe me, + +"Yours, with sympathy and all blessings, + +"SISTER AGATHA. + +"P. S.--My patient being asleep, I open this to let you know something +more. He has told me all about you, and that you are shortly to be his +wife. All blessings to you both! He has had some fearful shock--so says +our doctor--and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful; of +wolves and poison and blood; of ghosts and demons; and I fear to say of +what. Be careful with him always that there may be nothing to excite him +of this kind for a long time to come; the traces of such an illness as +his do not lightly die away. We should have written long ago, but we +knew nothing of his friends, and there was on him nothing that any one +could understand. He came in the train from Klausenburg, and the guard +was told by the station-master there that he rushed into the station +shouting for a ticket for home. Seeing from his violent demeanour that +he was English, they gave him a ticket for the furthest station on the +way thither that the train reached. + +"Be assured that he is well cared for. He has won all hearts by his +sweetness and gentleness. He is truly getting on well, and I have no +doubt will in a few weeks be all himself. But be careful of him for +safety's sake. There are, I pray God and St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, many, +many, happy years for you both." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_19 August._--Strange and sudden change in Renfield last night. About +eight o'clock he began to get excited and sniff about as a dog does when +setting. The attendant was struck by his manner, and knowing my interest +in him, encouraged him to talk. He is usually respectful to the +attendant and at times servile; but to-night, the man tells me, he was +quite haughty. Would not condescend to talk with him at all. All he +would say was:-- + + "I don't want to talk to you: you don't count now; the Master is at + hand." + +The attendant thinks it is some sudden form of religious mania which has +seized him. If so, we must look out for squalls, for a strong man with +homicidal and religious mania at once might be dangerous. The +combination is a dreadful one. At nine o'clock I visited him myself. His +attitude to me was the same as that to the attendant; in his sublime +self-feeling the difference between myself and attendant seemed to him +as nothing. It looks like religious mania, and he will soon think that +he himself is God. These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man +are too paltry for an Omnipotent Being. How these madmen give themselves +away! The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created +from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow. Oh, +if men only knew! + +For half an hour or more Renfield kept getting excited in greater and +greater degree. I did not pretend to be watching him, but I kept strict +observation all the same. All at once that shifty look came into his +eyes which we always see when a madman has seized an idea, and with it +the shifty movement of the head and back which asylum attendants come to +know so well. He became quite quiet, and went and sat on the edge of his +bed resignedly, and looked into space with lack-lustre eyes. I thought I +would find out if his apathy were real or only assumed, and tried to +lead him to talk of his pets, a theme which had never failed to excite +his attention. At first he made no reply, but at length said testily:-- + +"Bother them all! I don't care a pin about them." + +"What?" I said. "You don't mean to tell me you don't care about +spiders?" (Spiders at present are his hobby and the note-book is filling +up with columns of small figures.) To this he answered enigmatically:-- + +"The bride-maidens rejoice the eyes that wait the coming of the bride; +but when the bride draweth nigh, then the maidens shine not to the eyes +that are filled." + +He would not explain himself, but remained obstinately seated on his bed +all the time I remained with him. + +I am weary to-night and low in spirits. I cannot but think of Lucy, and +how different things might have been. If I don't sleep at once, chloral, +the modern Morpheus--C_{2}HCl_{3}O. H_{2}O! I must be careful not to let +it grow into a habit. No, I shall take none to-night! I have thought of +Lucy, and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two. If need be, +to-night shall be sleepless.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Glad I made the resolution; gladder that I kept to it. I had +lain tossing about, and had heard the clock strike only twice, when the +night-watchman came to me, sent up from the ward, to say that Renfield +had escaped. I threw on my clothes and ran down at once; my patient is +too dangerous a person to be roaming about. Those ideas of his might +work out dangerously with strangers. The attendant was waiting for me. +He said he had seen him not ten minutes before, seemingly asleep in his +bed, when he had looked through the observation-trap in the door. His +attention was called by the sound of the window being wrenched out. He +ran back and saw his feet disappear through the window, and had at once +sent up for me. He was only in his night-gear, and cannot be far off. +The attendant thought it would be more useful to watch where he should +go than to follow him, as he might lose sight of him whilst getting out +of the building by the door. He is a bulky man, and couldn't get through +the window. I am thin, so, with his aid, I got out, but feet foremost, +and, as we were only a few feet above ground, landed unhurt. The +attendant told me the patient had gone to the left, and had taken a +straight line, so I ran as quickly as I could. As I got through the belt +of trees I saw a white figure scale the high wall which separates our +grounds from those of the deserted house. + +I ran back at once, told the watchman to get three or four men +immediately and follow me into the grounds of Carfax, in case our friend +might be dangerous. I got a ladder myself, and crossing the wall, +dropped down on the other side. I could see Renfield's figure just +disappearing behind the angle of the house, so I ran after him. On the +far side of the house I found him pressed close against the old +ironbound oak door of the chapel. He was talking, apparently to some +one, but I was afraid to go near enough to hear what he was saying, lest +I might frighten him, and he should run off. Chasing an errant swarm of +bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic, when the fit of escaping +is upon him! After a few minutes, however, I could see that he did not +take note of anything around him, and so ventured to draw nearer to +him--the more so as my men had now crossed the wall and were closing him +in. I heard him say:-- + +"I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will +reward me, for I shall be faithful. I have worshipped You long and afar +off. Now that You are near, I await Your commands, and You will not pass +me by, will You, dear Master, in Your distribution of good things?" + +He _is_ a selfish old beggar anyhow. He thinks of the loaves and fishes +even when he believes he is in a Real Presence. His manias make a +startling combination. When we closed in on him he fought like a tiger. +He is immensely strong, for he was more like a wild beast than a man. I +never saw a lunatic in such a paroxysm of rage before; and I hope I +shall not again. It is a mercy that we have found out his strength and +his danger in good time. With strength and determination like his, he +might have done wild work before he was caged. He is safe now at any +rate. Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat +that keeps him restrained, and he's chained to the wall in the padded +room. His cries are at times awful, but the silences that follow are +more deadly still, for he means murder in every turn and movement. + +Just now he spoke coherent words for the first time:-- + +"I shall be patient, Master. It is coming--coming--coming!" + +So I took the hint, and came too. I was too excited to sleep, but this +diary has quieted me, and I feel I shall get some sleep to-night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +"_Buda-Pesth, 24 August._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"I know you will be anxious to hear all that has happened since we +parted at the railway station at Whitby. Well, my dear, I got to Hull +all right, and caught the boat to Hamburg, and then the train on here. I +feel that I can hardly recall anything of the journey, except that I +knew I was coming to Jonathan, and, that as I should have to do some +nursing, I had better get all the sleep I could.... I found my dear one, +oh, so thin and pale and weak-looking. All the resolution has gone out +of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his +face has vanished. He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not +remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At +least, he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask. He has had some +terrible shock, and I fear it might tax his poor brain if he were to try +to recall it. Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and a born nurse, +tells me that he raved of dreadful things whilst he was off his head. I +wanted her to tell me what they were; but she would only cross herself, +and say she would never tell; that the ravings of the sick were the +secrets of God, and that if a nurse through her vocation should hear +them, she should respect her trust. She is a sweet, good soul, and the +next day, when she saw I was troubled, she opened up the subject again, +and after saying that she could never mention what my poor dear raved +about, added: 'I can tell you this much, my dear: that it was not about +anything which he has done wrong himself; and you, as his wife to be, +have no cause to be concerned. He has not forgotten you or what he owes +to you. His fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can +treat of.' I do believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my +poor dear should have fallen in love with any other girl. The idea of +_my_ being jealous about Jonathan! And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I +felt a thrill of joy through me when I _knew_ that no other woman was a +cause of trouble. I am now sitting by his bedside, where I can see his +face while he sleeps. He is waking!... + +"When he woke he asked me for his coat, as he wanted to get something +from the pocket; I asked Sister Agatha, and she brought all his things. +I saw that amongst them was his note-book, and was going to ask him to +let me look at it--for I knew then that I might find some clue to his +trouble--but I suppose he must have seen my wish in my eyes, for he sent +me over to the window, saying he wanted to be quite alone for a moment. +Then he called me back, and when I came he had his hand over the +note-book, and he said to me very solemnly:-- + +"'Wilhelmina'--I knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has +never called me by that name since he asked me to marry him--'you know, +dear, my ideas of the trust between husband and wife: there should be no +secret, no concealment. I have had a great shock, and when I try to +think of what it is I feel my head spin round, and I do not know if it +was all real or the dreaming of a madman. You know I have had brain +fever, and that is to be mad. The secret is here, and I do not want to +know it. I want to take up my life here, with our marriage.' For, my +dear, we had decided to be married as soon as the formalities are +complete. 'Are you willing, Wilhelmina, to share my ignorance? Here is +the book. Take it and keep it, read it if you will, but never let me +know; unless, indeed, some solemn duty should come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, sane or mad, recorded here.' He fell +back exhausted, and I put the book under his pillow, and kissed him. I +have asked Sister Agatha to beg the Superior to let our wedding be this +afternoon, and am waiting her reply.... + + * * * * * + +"She has come and told me that the chaplain of the English mission +church has been sent for. We are to be married in an hour, or as soon +after as Jonathan awakes.... + + * * * * * + +"Lucy, the time has come and gone. I feel very solemn, but very, very +happy. Jonathan woke a little after the hour, and all was ready, and he +sat up in bed, propped up with pillows. He answered his 'I will' firmly +and strongly. I could hardly speak; my heart was so full that even those +words seemed to choke me. The dear sisters were so kind. Please God, I +shall never, never forget them, nor the grave and sweet responsibilities +I have taken upon me. I must tell you of my wedding present. When the +chaplain and the sisters had left me alone with my husband--oh, Lucy, it +is the first time I have written the words 'my husband'--left me alone +with my husband, I took the book from under his pillow, and wrapped it +up in white paper, and tied it with a little bit of pale blue ribbon +which was round my neck, and sealed it over the knot with sealing-wax, +and for my seal I used my wedding ring. Then I kissed it and showed it +to my husband, and told him that I would keep it so, and then it would +be an outward and visible sign for us all our lives that we trusted each +other; that I would never open it unless it were for his own dear sake +or for the sake of some stern duty. Then he took my hand in his, and oh, +Lucy, it was the first time he took _his wife's_ hand, and said that it +was the dearest thing in all the wide world, and that he would go +through all the past again to win it, if need be. The poor dear meant to +have said a part of the past, but he cannot think of time yet, and I +shall not wonder if at first he mixes up not only the month, but the +year. + +"Well, my dear, what could I say? I could only tell him that I was the +happiest woman in all the wide world, and that I had nothing to give him +except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these went my love +and duty for all the days of my life. And, my dear, when he kissed me, +and drew me to him with his poor weak hands, it was like a very solemn +pledge between us.... + +"Lucy dear, do you know why I tell you all this? It is not only because +it is all sweet to me, but because you have been, and are, very dear to +me. It was my privilege to be your friend and guide when you came from +the schoolroom to prepare for the world of life. I want you to see now, +and with the eyes of a very happy wife, whither duty has led me; so that +in your own married life you too may be all happy as I am. My dear, +please Almighty God, your life may be all it promises: a long day of +sunshine, with no harsh wind, no forgetting duty, no distrust. I must +not wish you no pain, for that can never be; but I do hope you will be +_always_ as happy as I am _now_. Good-bye, my dear. I shall post this at +once, and, perhaps, write you very soon again. I must stop, for Jonathan +is waking--I must attend to my husband! + +"Your ever-loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Harker._ + +"_Whitby, 30 August._ + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Oceans of love and millions of kisses, and may you soon be in your own +home with your husband. I wish you could be coming home soon enough to +stay with us here. The strong air would soon restore Jonathan; it has +quite restored me. I have an appetite like a cormorant, am full of +life, and sleep well. You will be glad to know that I have quite given +up walking in my sleep. I think I have not stirred out of my bed for a +week, that is when I once got into it at night. Arthur says I am getting +fat. By the way, I forgot to tell you that Arthur is here. We have such +walks and drives, and rides, and rowing, and tennis, and fishing +together; and I love him more than ever. He _tells_ me that he loves me +more, but I doubt that, for at first he told me that he couldn't love me +more than he did then. But this is nonsense. There he is, calling to me. +So no more just at present from your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P. S.--Mother sends her love. She seems better, poor dear. "P. P. +S.--We are to be married on 28 September." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 August._--The case of Renfield grows even more interesting. He has +now so far quieted that there are spells of cessation from his passion. +For the first week after his attack he was perpetually violent. Then one +night, just as the moon rose, he grew quiet, and kept murmuring to +himself: "Now I can wait; now I can wait." The attendant came to tell +me, so I ran down at once to have a look at him. He was still in the +strait-waistcoat and in the padded room, but the suffused look had gone +from his face, and his eyes had something of their old pleading--I might +almost say, "cringing"--softness. I was satisfied with his present +condition, and directed him to be relieved. The attendants hesitated, +but finally carried out my wishes without protest. It was a strange +thing that the patient had humour enough to see their distrust, for, +coming close to me, he said in a whisper, all the while looking +furtively at them:-- + +"They think I could hurt you! Fancy _me_ hurting _you_! The fools!" + +It was soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself dissociated +even in the mind of this poor madman from the others; but all the same I +do not follow his thought. Am I to take it that I have anything in +common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together; or has +he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well-being is needful +to him? I must find out later on. To-night he will not speak. Even the +offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat will not tempt him. He will +only say: "I don't take any stock in cats. I have more to think of now, +and I can wait; I can wait." + +After a while I left him. The attendant tells me that he was quiet +until just before dawn, and that then he began to get uneasy, and at +length violent, until at last he fell into a paroxysm which exhausted +him so that he swooned into a sort of coma. + + * * * * * + +... Three nights has the same thing happened--violent all day then quiet +from moonrise to sunrise. I wish I could get some clue to the cause. It +would almost seem as if there was some influence which came and went. +Happy thought! We shall to-night play sane wits against mad ones. He +escaped before without our help; to-night he shall escape with it. We +shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow in case they +are required.... + + * * * * * + +_23 August._--"The unexpected always happens." How well Disraeli knew +life. Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly, so all our +subtle arrangements were for nought. At any rate, we have proved one +thing; that the spells of quietness last a reasonable time. We shall in +future be able to ease his bonds for a few hours each day. I have given +orders to the night attendant merely to shut him in the padded room, +when once he is quiet, until an hour before sunrise. The poor soul's +body will enjoy the relief even if his mind cannot appreciate it. Hark! +The unexpected again! I am called; the patient has once more escaped. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another night adventure. Renfield artfully waited until the +attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past him +and flew down the passage. I sent word for the attendants to follow. +Again he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we found him +in the same place, pressed against the old chapel door. When he saw me +he became furious, and had not the attendants seized him in time, he +would have tried to kill me. As we were holding him a strange thing +happened. He suddenly redoubled his efforts, and then as suddenly grew +calm. I looked round instinctively, but could see nothing. Then I caught +the patient's eye and followed it, but could trace nothing as it looked +into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was flapping its silent and +ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit about, but this one +seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound for or had +some intention of its own. The patient grew calmer every instant, and +presently said:-- + +"You needn't tie me; I shall go quietly!" Without trouble we came back +to the house. I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall +not forget this night.... + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary_ + +_Hillingham, 24 August._--I must imitate Mina, and keep writing things +down. Then we can have long talks when we do meet. I wonder when it will +be. I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy. Last night I +seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby. Perhaps it is the +change of air, or getting home again. It is all dark and horrid to me, +for I can remember nothing; but I am full of vague fear, and I feel so +weak and worn out. When Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved +when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to be cheerful. I wonder +if I could sleep in mother's room to-night. I shall make an excuse and +try. + + * * * * * + +_25 August._--Another bad night. Mother did not seem to take to my +proposal. She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to +worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but when the +clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been falling +asleep. There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I +did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have +fallen asleep. More bad dreams. I wish I could remember them. This +morning I am horribly weak. My face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains +me. It must be something wrong with my lungs, for I don't seem ever to +get air enough. I shall try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I +know he will be miserable to see me so. + + +_Letter, Arthur Holmwood to Dr. Seward._ + +"_Albemarle Hotel, 31 August._ + +"My dear Jack,-- + +"I want you to do me a favour. Lucy is ill; that is, she has no special +disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every day. I have +asked her if there is any cause; I do not dare to ask her mother, for to +disturb the poor lady's mind about her daughter in her present state of +health would be fatal. Mrs. Westenra has confided to me that her doom is +spoken--disease of the heart--though poor Lucy does not know it yet. I +am sure that there is something preying on my dear girl's mind. I am +almost distracted when I think of her; to look at her gives me a pang. I +told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at +first--I know why, old fellow--she finally consented. It will be a +painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it is for _her_ sake, and +I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act. You are to come to lunch at +Hillingham to-morrow, two o'clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in +Mrs. Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being +alone with you. I shall come in for tea, and we can go away together; I +am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I +can after you have seen her. Do not fail! + +"ARTHUR." + + +_Telegram, Arthur Holmwood to Seward._ + +"_1 September._ + +"Am summoned to see my father, who is worse. Am writing. Write me fully +by to-night's post to Ring. Wire me if necessary." + + +_Letter from Dr. Seward to Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My dear old fellow,-- + +"With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at once +that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady +that I know of. At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with +her appearance; she is woefully different from what she was when I saw +her last. Of course you must bear in mind that I did not have full +opportunity of examination such as I should wish; our very friendship +makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can +bridge over. I had better tell you exactly what happened, leaving you to +draw, in a measure, your own conclusions. I shall then say what I have +done and propose doing. + +"I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, +and in a few seconds I made up my mind that she was trying all she knew +to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious. I have no +doubt she guesses, if she does not know, what need of caution there is. +We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we +got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real cheerfulness +amongst us. Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and Lucy was left with +me. We went into her boudoir, and till we got there her gaiety remained, +for the servants were coming and going. As soon as the door was closed, +however, the mask fell from her face, and she sank down into a chair +with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her hand. When I saw that her +high spirits had failed, I at once took advantage of her reaction to +make a diagnosis. She said to me very sweetly:-- + +"'I cannot tell you how I loathe talking about myself.' I reminded her +that a doctor's confidence was sacred, but that you were grievously +anxious about her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that +matter in a word. 'Tell Arthur everything you choose. I do not care for +myself, but all for him!' So I am quite free. + +"I could easily see that she is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see +the usual anæmic signs, and by a chance I was actually able to test the +quality of her blood, for in opening a window which was stiff a cord +gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with broken glass. It was a +slight matter in itself, but it gave me an evident chance, and I secured +a few drops of the blood and have analysed them. The qualitative +analysis gives a quite normal condition, and shows, I should infer, in +itself a vigorous state of health. In other physical matters I was quite +satisfied that there is no need for anxiety; but as there must be a +cause somewhere, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something +mental. She complains of difficulty in breathing satisfactorily at +times, and of heavy, lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but +regarding which she can remember nothing. She says that as a child she +used to walk in her sleep, and that when in Whitby the habit came back, +and that once she walked out in the night and went to East Cliff, where +Miss Murray found her; but she assures me that of late the habit has not +returned. I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of; I +have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of +Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the +world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that all things +were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who you are and your +relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow, is in obedience to +your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to do anything I can for +her. Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal +reason, so, no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his +wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, but this is because he knows +what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a philosopher +and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; +and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron +nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, an indomitable resolution, +self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the +kindliest and truest heart that beats--these form his equipment for the +noble work that he is doing for mankind--work both in theory and +practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy. I +tell you these facts that you may know why I have such confidence in +him. I have asked him to come at once. I shall see Miss Westenra +to-morrow again. She is to meet me at the Stores, so that I may not +alarm her mother by too early a repetition of my call. + +"Yours always, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Letter, Abraham Van Helsing, M. D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc., to Dr. +Seward._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My good Friend,-- + +"When I have received your letter I am already coming to you. By good +fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who have +trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who have +trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those he holds +dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so +swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other +friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my +aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do. But it +is pleasure added to do for him, your friend; it is to you that I come. +Have then rooms for me at the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I may be near +to hand, and please it so arrange that we may see the young lady not too +late on to-morrow, for it is likely that I may have to return here that +night. But if need be I shall come again in three days, and stay longer +if it must. Till then good-bye, my friend John. + + "VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_3 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"Van Helsing has come and gone. He came on with me to Hillingham, and +found that, by Lucy's discretion, her mother was lunching out, so that +we were alone with her. Van Helsing made a very careful examination of +the patient. He is to report to me, and I shall advise you, for of +course I was not present all the time. He is, I fear, much concerned, +but says he must think. When I told him of our friendship and how you +trust to me in the matter, he said: 'You must tell him all you think. +Tell him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will. Nay, I am not +jesting. This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.' I asked +what he meant by that, for he was very serious. This was when we had +come back to town, and he was having a cup of tea before starting on his +return to Amsterdam. He would not give me any further clue. You must not +be angry with me, Art, because his very reticence means that all his +brains are working for her good. He will speak plainly enough when the +time comes, be sure. So I told him I would simply write an account of +our visit, just as if I were doing a descriptive special article for +_The Daily Telegraph_. He seemed not to notice, but remarked that the +smuts in London were not quite so bad as they used to be when he was a +student here. I am to get his report to-morrow if he can possibly make +it. In any case I am to have a letter. + +"Well, as to the visit. Lucy was more cheerful than on the day I first +saw her, and certainly looked better. She had lost something of the +ghastly look that so upset you, and her breathing was normal. She was +very sweet to the professor (as she always is), and tried to make him +feel at ease; though I could see that the poor girl was making a hard +struggle for it. I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw the quick +look under his bushy brows that I knew of old. Then he began to chat of +all things except ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite +geniality that I could see poor Lucy's pretense of animation merge into +reality. Then, without any seeming change, he brought the conversation +gently round to his visit, and suavely said:-- + +"'My dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you are so +much beloved. That is much, my dear, ever were there that which I do not +see. They told me you were down in the spirit, and that you were of a +ghastly pale. To them I say: "Pouf!"' And he snapped his fingers at me +and went on: 'But you and I shall show them how wrong they are. How can +he'--and he pointed at me with the same look and gesture as that with +which once he pointed me out to his class, on, or rather after, a +particular occasion which he never fails to remind me of--'know anything +of a young ladies? He has his madams to play with, and to bring them +back to happiness, and to those that love them. It is much to do, and, +oh, but there are rewards, in that we can bestow such happiness. But the +young ladies! He has no wife nor daughter, and the young do not tell +themselves to the young, but to the old, like me, who have known so many +sorrows and the causes of them. So, my dear, we will send him away to +smoke the cigarette in the garden, whiles you and I have little talk all +to ourselves.' I took the hint, and strolled about, and presently the +professor came to the window and called me in. He looked grave, but +said: 'I have made careful examination, but there is no functional +cause. With you I agree that there has been much blood lost; it has +been, but is not. But the conditions of her are in no way anæmic. I have +asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or two question, +that so I may not chance to miss nothing. I know well what she will say. +And yet there is cause; there is always cause for everything. I must go +back home and think. You must send to me the telegram every day; and if +there be cause I shall come again. The disease--for not to be all well +is a disease--interest me, and the sweet young dear, she interest me +too. She charm me, and for her, if not for you or disease, I come.' + +"As I tell you, he would not say a word more, even when we were alone. +And so now, Art, you know all I know. I shall keep stern watch. I trust +your poor father is rallying. It must be a terrible thing to you, my +dear old fellow, to be placed in such a position between two people who +are both so dear to you. I know your idea of duty to your father, and +you are right to stick to it; but, if need be, I shall send you word to +come at once to Lucy; so do not be over-anxious unless you hear from +me." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_4 September._--Zoöphagous patient still keeps up our interest in him. +He had only one outburst and that was yesterday at an unusual time. Just +before the stroke of noon he began to grow restless. The attendant knew +the symptoms, and at once summoned aid. Fortunately the men came at a +run, and were just in time, for at the stroke of noon he became so +violent that it took all their strength to hold him. In about five +minutes, however, he began to get more and more quiet, and finally sank +into a sort of melancholy, in which state he has remained up to now. The +attendant tells me that his screams whilst in the paroxysm were really +appalling; I found my hands full when I got in, attending to some of the +other patients who were frightened by him. Indeed, I can quite +understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed even me, though I was +some distance away. It is now after the dinner-hour of the asylum, and +as yet my patient sits in a corner brooding, with a dull, sullen, +woe-begone look in his face, which seems rather to indicate than to show +something directly. I cannot quite understand it. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another change in my patient. At five o'clock I looked in on +him, and found him seemingly as happy and contented as he used to be. He +was catching flies and eating them, and was keeping note of his capture +by making nail-marks on the edge of the door between the ridges of +padding. When he saw me, he came over and apologised for his bad +conduct, and asked me in a very humble, cringing way to be led back to +his own room and to have his note-book again. I thought it well to +humour him: so he is back in his room with the window open. He has the +sugar of his tea spread out on the window-sill, and is reaping quite a +harvest of flies. He is not now eating them, but putting them into a +box, as of old, and is already examining the corners of his room to find +a spider. I tried to get him to talk about the past few days, for any +clue to his thoughts would be of immense help to me; but he would not +rise. For a moment or two he looked very sad, and said in a sort of +far-away voice, as though saying it rather to himself than to me:-- + +"All over! all over! He has deserted me. No hope for me now unless I do +it for myself!" Then suddenly turning to me in a resolute way, he said: +"Doctor, won't you be very good to me and let me have a little more +sugar? I think it would be good for me." + +"And the flies?" I said. + +"Yes! The flies like it, too, and I like the flies; therefore I like +it." And there are people who know so little as to think that madmen do +not argue. I procured him a double supply, and left him as happy a man +as, I suppose, any in the world. I wish I could fathom his mind. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--Another change in him. I had been to see Miss Westenra, +whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at our +own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him yelling. As +his room is on this side of the house, I could hear it better than in +the morning. It was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky +beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights and inky shadows +and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds even as on foul +water, and to realise all the grim sternness of my own cold stone +building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own desolate heart +to endure it all. I reached him just as the sun was going down, and from +his window saw the red disc sink. As it sank he became less and less +frenzied; and just as it dipped he slid from the hands that held him, an +inert mass, on the floor. It is wonderful, however, what intellectual +recuperative power lunatics have, for within a few minutes he stood up +quite calmly and looked around him. I signalled to the attendants not to +hold him, for I was anxious to see what he would do. He went straight +over to the window and brushed out the crumbs of sugar; then he took his +fly-box, and emptied it outside, and threw away the box; then he shut +the window, and crossing over, sat down on his bed. All this surprised +me, so I asked him: "Are you not going to keep flies any more?" + +"No," said he; "I am sick of all that rubbish!" He certainly is a +wonderfully interesting study. I wish I could get some glimpse of his +mind or of the cause of his sudden passion. Stop; there may be a clue +after all, if we can find why to-day his paroxysms came on at high noon +and at sunset. Can it be that there is a malign influence of the sun at +periods which affects certain natures--as at times the moon does others? +We shall see. + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_4 September._--Patient still better to-day." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_5 September._--Patient greatly improved. Good appetite; sleeps +naturally; good spirits; colour coming back." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_6 September._--Terrible change for the worse. Come at once; do not +lose an hour. I hold over telegram to Holmwood till have seen you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_6 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a bit. +There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it; Mrs. +Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me +professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told +her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to +stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with +myself; so now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a +shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak +condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with +difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall +come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if you +do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for +news. In haste + +Yours ever, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_7 September._--The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at +Liverpool Street was:-- + +"Have you said anything to our young friend the lover of her?" + +"No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my telegram. I +wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were coming, as Miss +Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him know if need be." + +"Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as yet; +perhaps he shall never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then he +shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You deal +with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch +as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's madmen, +too--the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what you do nor why +you do it; you tell them not what you think. So you shall keep knowledge +in its place, where it may rest--where it may gather its kind around it +and breed. You and I shall keep as yet what we know here, and here." He +touched me on the heart and on the forehead, and then touched himself +the same way. "I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall +unfold to you." + +"Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at some +decision." He stopped and looked at me, and said:-- + +"My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has +ripened--while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshine +has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the +ear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, +and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the +time comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For reply +he reached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully, as +he used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The good husbandman tell +you so then because he knows, but not till then. But you do not find the +good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is for +the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as of +the work of their life. See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn, +and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, +there's some promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He broke +off, for he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and very +gravely:-- + +"You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever more +full than the rest. You were only student then; now you are master, and +I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, that +knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker. +Even if you have not kept the good practise, let me tell you that this +case of our dear miss is one that may be--mind, I say _may be_--of such +interest to us and others that all the rest may not make him kick the +beam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is too +small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. +Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We +learn from failure, not from success!" + +When I described Lucy's symptoms--the same as before, but infinitely +more marked--he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with him a +bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly paraphernalia +of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of his lectures, the +equipment of a professor of the healing craft. When we were shown in, +Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as I +expected to find her. Nature in one of her beneficent moods has ordained +that even death has some antidote to its own terrors. Here, in a case +where any shock may prove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some +cause or other, the things not personal--even the terrible change in her +daughter to whom she is so attached--do not seem to reach her. It is +something like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an +envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that +which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an ordered +selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one for the vice +of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes than we have +knowledge of. + +I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid down +a rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think of her illness +more than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so readily that +I saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life. Van Helsing and I were +shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, I +was horrified when I saw her to-day. She was ghastly, chalkily pale; the +red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gums, and the bones of +her face stood out prominently; her breathing was painful to see or +hear. Van Helsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged +till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not +seem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. Then +Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the room. The +instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along the passage to +the next door, which was open. Then he pulled me quickly in with him and +closed the door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no time +to be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's +action as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at once. Is +it you or me?" + +"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me." + +"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am prepared." + +I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock at +the hall-door. When we reached the hall the maid had just opened the +door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me, saying in +an eager whisper:-- + +"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter, and +have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran down here to see for +myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so thankful to you, +sir, for coming." When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he had +been angry at his interruption at such a time; but now, as he took in +his stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood which +seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause he said to +him gravely as he held out his hand:-- + +"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss. She is +bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For he +suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are to +help her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is your +best help." + +"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it. My +life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for +her." The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old +knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer:-- + +"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that--not the last!" + +"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostril +quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder. "Come!" +he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want. You are better than +me, better than my friend John." Arthur looked bewildered, and the +Professor went on by explaining in a kindly way:-- + +"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must have +or die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about to perform +what we call transfusion of blood--to transfer from full veins of one to +the empty veins which pine for him. John was to give his blood, as he is +the more young and strong than me"--here Arthur took my hand and wrung +it hard in silence--"but, now you are here, you are more good than us, +old or young, who toil much in the world of thought. Our nerves are not +so calm and our blood not so bright than yours!" Arthur turned to him +and said:-- + +"If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you would +understand----" + +He stopped, with a sort of choke in his voice. + +"Good boy!" said Van Helsing. "In the not-so-far-off you will be happy +that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be silent. You +shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must go; and you +must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame; you know how it is with +her! There must be no shock; any knowledge of this would be one. Come!" + +We all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained outside. +Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing. She was not +asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort. Her eyes spoke +to us; that was all. Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laid +them on a little table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, and +coming over to the bed, said cheerily:-- + +"Now, little miss, here is your medicine. Drink it off, like a good +child. See, I lift you so that to swallow is easy. Yes." She had made +the effort with success. + +It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact, marked +the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until sleep began to +flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the narcotic began to manifest +its potency; and she fell into a deep sleep. When the Professor was +satisfied he called Arthur into the room, and bade him strip off his +coat. Then he added: "You may take that one little kiss whiles I bring +over the table. Friend John, help to me!" So neither of us looked whilst +he bent over her. + +Van Helsing turning to me, said: + +"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not +defibrinate it." + +Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed the +operation. As the transfusion went on something like life seemed to come +back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing pallor the joy +of his face seemed absolutely to shine. After a bit I began to grow +anxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur, strong man as he +was. It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain Lucy's system must +have undergone that what weakened Arthur only partially restored her. +But the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand and with +his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I could hear my own +heart beat. Presently he said in a soft voice: "Do not stir an instant. +It is enough. You attend him; I will look to her." When all was over I +could see how much Arthur was weakened. I dressed the wound and took his +arm to bring him away, when Van Helsing spoke without turning round--the +man seems to have eyes in the back of his head:-- + +"The brave lover, I think, deserve another kiss, which he shall have +presently." And as he had now finished his operation, he adjusted the +pillow to the patient's head. As he did so the narrow black velvet band +which she seems always to wear round her throat, buckled with an old +diamond buckle which her lover had given her, was dragged a little up, +and showed a red mark on her throat. Arthur did not notice it, but I +could hear the deep hiss of indrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing's +ways of betraying emotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned to +me, saying: "Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port +wine, and let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleep +much and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given to +his love. He must not stay here. Hold! a moment. I may take it, sir, +that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you that in all ways +the operation is successful. You have saved her life this time, and you +can go home and rest easy in mind that all that can be is. I shall tell +her all when she is well; she shall love you none the less for what you +have done. Good-bye." + +When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping gently, +but her breathing was stronger; I could see the counterpane move as her +breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking at her intently. +The velvet band again covered the red mark. I asked the Professor in a +whisper:-- + +"What do you make of that mark on her throat?" + +"What do you make of it?" + +"I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there proceeded +to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein there were two +punctures, not large, but not wholesome-looking. There was no sign of +disease, but the edges were white and worn-looking, as if by some +trituration. It at once occurred to me that this wound, or whatever it +was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood; but I abandoned +the idea as soon as formed, for such a thing could not be. The whole bed +would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must +have lost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion. + +"Well?" said Van Helsing. + +"Well," said I, "I can make nothing of it." The Professor stood up. "I +must go back to Amsterdam to-night," he said. "There are books and +things there which I want. You must remain here all the night, and you +must not let your sight pass from her." + +"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked. + +"We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night; see that +she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must not sleep all +the night. Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall be back as soon as +possible. And then we may begin." + +"May begin?" I said. "What on earth do you mean?" + +"We shall see!" he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a moment +later and put his head inside the door and said with warning finger held +up:-- + +"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave her, and harm befall, you +shall not sleep easy hereafter!" + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary--continued._ + +_8 September._--I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked itself +off towards dusk, and she waked naturally; she looked a different being +from what she had been before the operation. Her spirits even were good, +and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see evidences of the +absolute prostration which she had undergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra +that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should sit up with her she +almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her daughter's renewed +strength and excellent spirits. I was firm, however, and made +preparations for my long vigil. When her maid had prepared her for the +night I came in, having in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by +the bedside. She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me +gratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed +sinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together +and shook it off. This was repeated several times, with greater effort +and with shorter pauses as the time moved on. It was apparent that she +did not want to sleep, so I tackled the subject at once:-- + +"You do not want to go to sleep?" + +"No; I am afraid." + +"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave for." + +"Ah, not if you were like me--if sleep was to you a presage of horror!" + +"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?" + +"I don't know; oh, I don't know. And that is what is so terrible. All +this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very thought." + +"But, my dear girl, you may sleep to-night. I am here watching you, and +I can promise that nothing will happen." + +"Ah, I can trust you!" I seized the opportunity, and said: "I promise +you that if I see any evidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once." + +"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I will +sleep!" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief, and sank +back, asleep. + +All night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on and on +in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep. Her lips were +slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity of a +pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was evident that no bad +dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind. + +In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and took +myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I sent a short +wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent result +of the operation. My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all +day to clear off; it was dark when I was able to inquire about my +zoöphagous patient. The report was good; he had been quite quiet for the +past day and night. A telegram came from Van Helsing at Amsterdam whilst +I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at Hillingham to-night, as +it might be well to be at hand, and stating that he was leaving by the +night mail and would join me early in the morning. + + * * * * * + +_9 September_.--I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to +Hillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my +brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral +exhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook hands +with me she looked sharply in my face and said:-- + +"No sitting up to-night for you. You are worn out. I am quite well +again; indeed, I am; and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I who +will sit up with you." I would not argue the point, but went and had my +supper. Lucy came with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I +made an excellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than +excellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room next +her own, where a cozy fire was burning. "Now," she said, "you must stay +here. I shall leave this door open and my door too. You can lie on the +sofa for I know that nothing would induce any of you doctors to go to +bed whilst there is a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I +shall call out, and you can come to me at once." I could not but +acquiesce, for I was "dog-tired," and could not have sat up had I tried. +So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she should want anything, +I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about everything. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_9 September._--I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably weak, +that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after +a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky. Somehow Arthur feels very, +very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about me. I suppose +it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things and turn our inner +eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and strength give Love +rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know +where my thoughts are. If Arthur only knew! My dear, my dear, your ears +must tingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of +last night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching me. +And to-night I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at hand and +within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me! Thank God! +Good-night, Arthur. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_10 September._--I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head, and +started awake all in a second. That is one of the things that we learn +in an asylum, at any rate. + +"And how is our patient?" + +"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered. + +"Come, let us see," he said. And together we went into the room. + +The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van +Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed. + +As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I +heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity, a +deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over he moved back, and +his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no enforcement from +his agonised face. He raised his hand and pointed to the bed, and his +iron face was drawn and ashen white. I felt my knees begin to tremble. + +There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly +white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white, and the gums +seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes see in a +corpse after a prolonged illness. Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp +in anger, but the instinct of his life and all the long years of habit +stood to him, and he put it down again softly. "Quick!" he said. "Bring +the brandy." I flew to the dining-room, and returned with the decanter. +He wetted the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and +wrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonising +suspense said:-- + +"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work is +undone; we must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now; I have +to call on you yourself this time, friend John." As he spoke, he was +dipping into his bag and producing the instruments for transfusion; I +had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt-sleeve. There was no +possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of one; and so, +without a moment's delay, we began the operation. After a time--it did +not seem a short time either, for the draining away of one's blood, no +matter how willingly it be given, is a terrible feeling--Van Helsing +held up a warning finger. "Do not stir," he said, "but I fear that with +growing strength she may wake; and that would make danger, oh, so much +danger. But I shall precaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection +of morphia." He proceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his +intent. The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge +subtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal pride +that I could see a faint tinge of colour steal back into the pallid +cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to +feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves. + +The Professor watched me critically. "That will do," he said. "Already?" +I remonstrated. "You took a great deal more from Art." To which he +smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied:-- + +"He is her lover, her _fiancé_. You have work, much work, to do for her +and for others; and the present will suffice." + +When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied +digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, whilst I waited his +leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sick. By-and-by +he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for +myself. As I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half +whispered:-- + +"Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should turn up +unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once frighten him and +enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!" + +When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said:-- + +"You are not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and +rest awhile; then have much breakfast, and come here to me." + +I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they were. I +had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strength. I +felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at +what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over +and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how +she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign anywhere to +show for it. I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, +sleeping and waking, my thoughts always came back to the little +punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their +edges--tiny though they were. + +Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well and +strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before. When Van Helsing +had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge, with strict +injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment. I could hear his +voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest telegraph office. + +Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that anything +had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested. When her mother +came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change whatever, but +said to me gratefully:-- + +"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you really +must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking pale +yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit; that you +do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only momentarily, +for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long such an unwonted +drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned +imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my +lips; with a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows. + +Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me: +"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself strong. I +stay here to-night, and I shall sit up with little miss myself. You and +I must watch the case, and we must have none other to know. I have grave +reasons. No, do not ask them; think what you will. Do not fear to think +even the most not-probable. Good-night." + +In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either of +them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to let them; and +when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either he or I should sit +up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the "foreign +gentleman." I was much touched by their kindness. Perhaps it is because +I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on Lucy's account, that +their devotion was manifested; for over and over again have I seen +similar instances of woman's kindness. I got back here in time for a +late dinner; went my rounds--all well; and set this down whilst waiting +for sleep. It is coming. + + * * * * * + +_11 September._--This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found Van +Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly after I had +arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor. He opened it +with much impressment--assumed, of course--and showed a great bundle of +white flowers. + +"These are for you, Miss Lucy," he said. + +"For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!" + +"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are medicines." Here +Lucy made a wry face. "Nay, but they are not to take in a decoction or +in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming nose, or I shall +point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have to endure in seeing +so much beauty that he so loves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, +that bring the so nice nose all straight again. This is medicinal, but +you do not know how. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and +hang him round your neck, so that you sleep well. Oh yes! they, like the +lotus flower, make your trouble forgotten. It smell so like the waters +of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought +for in the Floridas, and find him all too late." + +Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and smelling +them. Now she threw them down, saying, with half-laughter, and +half-disgust:-- + +"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why, +these flowers are only common garlic." + +To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his +iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:-- + +"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do; +and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of +others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she might +well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my dear, do not fear +me. I only do for your good; but there is much virtue to you in those so +common flowers. See, I place them myself in your room. I make myself the +wreath that you are to wear. But hush! no telling to others that make so +inquisitive questions. We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience; +and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait +for you. Now sit still awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall +help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, +where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year. +I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here." + +We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's +actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia +that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them +securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over +the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get +in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed +all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round +the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and +presently I said:-- + +"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but +this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he +would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit." + +"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which +Lucy was to wear round her neck. + +We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she +was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her +neck. The last words he said to her were:-- + +"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close, do +not to-night open the window or the door." + +"I promise," said Lucy, "and thank you both a thousand times for all +your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such +friends?" + +As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said:-- + +"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want--two nights of travel, +much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow, +and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the morning early +you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much +more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho! ho!" + +He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights +before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror. It must +have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but +I felt it all the more, like unshed tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + + +_12 September._--How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. +Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He +positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been +right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread +being alone to-night, and I can go to sleep without fear. I shall not +mind any flapping outside the window. Oh, the terrible struggle that I +have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, +or the pain of the fear of sleep, with such unknown horrors as it has +for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no +dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings +nothing but sweet dreams. Well, here I am to-night, hoping for sleep, +and lying like Ophelia in the play, with "virgin crants and maiden +strewments." I never liked garlic before, but to-night it is delightful! +There is peace in its smell; I feel sleep coming already. Good-night, +everybody. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_13 September._--Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual, +up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting. The +Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now. + +Let all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at +eight o'clock. It was a lovely morning; the bright sunshine and all the +fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of nature's +annual work. The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, +but had not yet begun to drop from the trees. When we entered we met +Mrs. Westenra coming out of the morning room. She is always an early +riser. She greeted us warmly and said:-- + +"You will be glad to know that Lucy is better. The dear child is still +asleep. I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go in, lest I +should disturb her." The Professor smiled, and looked quite jubilant. He +rubbed his hands together, and said:-- + +"Aha! I thought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working," to +which she answered:-- + +"You must not take all the credit to yourself, doctor. Lucy's state this +morning is due in part to me." + +"How you do mean, ma'am?" asked the Professor. + +"Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went into +her room. She was sleeping soundly--so soundly that even my coming did +not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There were a lot of those +horrible, strong-smelling flowers about everywhere, and she had actually +a bunch of them round her neck. I feared that the heavy odour would be +too much for the dear child in her weak state, so I took them all away +and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh air. You will be +pleased with her, I am sure." + +She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted early. As +she had spoken, I watched the Professor's face, and saw it turn ashen +grey. He had been able to retain his self-command whilst the poor lady +was present, for he knew her state and how mischievous a shock would be; +he actually smiled on her as he held open the door for her to pass into +her room. But the instant she had disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and +forcibly, into the dining-room and closed the door. + +Then, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break down. He +raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then beat +his palms together in a helpless way; finally he sat down on a chair, +and putting his hands before his face, began to sob, with loud, dry sobs +that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart. Then he raised +his arms again, as though appealing to the whole universe. "God! God! +God!" he said. "What have we done, what has this poor thing done, that +we are so sore beset? Is there fate amongst us still, sent down from the +pagan world of old, that such things must be, and in such way? This poor +mother, all unknowing, and all for the best as she think, does such +thing as lose her daughter body and soul; and we must not tell her, we +must not even warn her, or she die, and then both die. Oh, how we are +beset! How are all the powers of the devils against us!" Suddenly he +jumped to his feet. "Come," he said, "come, we must see and act. Devils +or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him +all the same." He went to the hall-door for his bag; and together we +went up to Lucy's room. + +Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards the bed. +This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face with the same +awful, waxen pallor as before. He wore a look of stern sadness and +infinite pity. + +"As I expected," he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of his which +meant so much. Without a word he went and locked the door, and then +began to set out on the little table the instruments for yet another +operation of transfusion of blood. I had long ago recognised the +necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he stopped me with a +warning hand. "No!" he said. "To-day you must operate. I shall provide. +You are weakened already." As he spoke he took off his coat and rolled +up his shirt-sleeve. + +Again the operation; again the narcotic; again some return of colour to +the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep. This time I +watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and rested. + +Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she must +not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him; that the +flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of their odour +was a part of the system of cure. Then he took over the care of the case +himself, saying that he would watch this night and the next and would +send me word when to come. + +After another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright and +seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal. + +What does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of life +amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_17 September._--Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so strong +again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed through some +long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and +feel the fresh air of the morning around me. I have a dim +half-remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing; darkness +in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present distress +more poignant: and then long spells of oblivion, and the rising back to +life as a diver coming up through a great press of water. Since, +however, Dr. Van Helsing has been with me, all this bad dreaming seems +to have passed away; the noises that used to frighten me out of my +wits--the flapping against the windows, the distant voices which seemed +so close to me, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and +commanded me to do I know not what--have all ceased. I go to bed now +without any fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown +quite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day from +Haarlem. To-night Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to be for a +day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched; I am well enough to be left +alone. Thank God for mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our +friends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change, for +last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time. I found +him asleep twice when I awoke; but I did not fear to go to sleep again, +although the boughs or bats or something napped almost angrily against +the window-panes. + + +_"The Pall Mall Gazette," 18 September._ + + THE ESCAPED WOLF. + + PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER. + + _Interview with the Keeper in the Zoölogical Gardens._ + +After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and perpetually using +the words "Pall Mall Gazette" as a sort of talisman, I managed to find +the keeper of the section of the Zoölogical Gardens in which the wolf +department is included. Thomas Bilder lives in one of the cottages in +the enclosure behind the elephant-house, and was just sitting down to +his tea when I found him. Thomas and his wife are hospitable folk, +elderly, and without children, and if the specimen I enjoyed of their +hospitality be of the average kind, their lives must be pretty +comfortable. The keeper would not enter on what he called "business" +until the supper was over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the +table was cleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said:-- + +"Now, sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want. You'll excoose me +refoosin' to talk of perfeshunal subjects afore meals. I gives the +wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section their tea afore +I begins to arsk them questions." + +"How do you mean, ask them questions?" I queried, wishful to get him +into a talkative humour. + +"'Ittin' of them over the 'ead with a pole is one way; scratchin' of +their hears is another, when gents as is flush wants a bit of a show-orf +to their gals. I don't so much mind the fust--the 'ittin' with a pole +afore I chucks in their dinner; but I waits till they've 'ad their +sherry and kawffee, so to speak, afore I tries on with the +ear-scratchin'. Mind you," he added philosophically, "there's a deal of +the same nature in us as in them theer animiles. Here's you a-comin' and +arskin' of me questions about my business, and I that grumpy-like that +only for your bloomin' 'arf-quid I'd 'a' seen you blowed fust 'fore I'd +answer. Not even when you arsked me sarcastic-like if I'd like you to +arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me questions. Without offence +did I tell yer to go to 'ell?" + +"You did." + +"An' when you said you'd report me for usin' of obscene language that +was 'ittin' me over the 'ead; but the 'arf-quid made that all right. I +weren't a-goin' to fight, so I waited for the food, and did with my 'owl +as the wolves, and lions, and tigers does. But, Lor' love yer 'art, now +that the old 'ooman has stuck a chunk of her tea-cake in me, an' rinsed +me out with her bloomin' old teapot, and I've lit hup, you may scratch +my ears for all you're worth, and won't git even a growl out of me. +Drive along with your questions. I know what yer a-comin' at, that 'ere +escaped wolf." + +"Exactly. I want you to give me your view of it. Just tell me how it +happened; and when I know the facts I'll get you to say what you +consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole affair will +end." + +"All right, guv'nor. This 'ere is about the 'ole story. That 'ere wolf +what we called Bersicker was one of three grey ones that came from +Norway to Jamrach's, which we bought off him four years ago. He was a +nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk of. I'm more +surprised at 'im for wantin' to get out nor any other animile in the +place. But, there, you can't trust wolves no more nor women." + +"Don't you mind him, sir!" broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery laugh. "'E's +got mindin' the animiles so long that blest if he ain't like a old wolf +'isself! But there ain't no 'arm in 'im." + +"Well, sir, it was about two hours after feedin' yesterday when I first +hear my disturbance. I was makin' up a litter in the monkey-house for a +young puma which is ill; but when I heard the yelpin' and 'owlin' I kem +away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin' like a mad thing at the +bars as if he wanted to get out. There wasn't much people about that +day, and close at hand was only one man, a tall, thin chap, with a 'ook +nose and a pointed beard, with a few white hairs runnin' through it. He +had a 'ard, cold look and red eyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, +for it seemed as if it was 'im as they was hirritated at. He 'ad white +kid gloves on 'is 'ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says: +'Keeper, these wolves seem upset at something.' + +"'Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he give +'isself. He didn't git angry, as I 'oped he would, but he smiled a kind +of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. 'Oh no, they +wouldn't like me,' 'e says. + +"'Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin' of him. 'They always likes a +bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea-time, which you 'as a +bagful.' + +"Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us a-talkin' they +lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let me stroke his ears +same as ever. That there man kem over, and blessed but if he didn't put +in his hand and stroke the old wolf's ears too! + +"'Tyke care,' says I. 'Bersicker is quick.' + +"'Never mind,' he says. 'I'm used to 'em!' + +"'Are you in the business yourself?' I says, tyking off my 'at, for a +man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to keepers. + +"'No' says he, 'not exactly in the business, but I 'ave made pets of +several.' And with that he lifts his 'at as perlite as a lord, and walks +away. Old Bersicker kep' a-lookin' arter 'im till 'e was out of sight, +and then went and lay down in a corner and wouldn't come hout the 'ole +hevening. Well, larst night, so soon as the moon was hup, the wolves +here all began a-'owling. There warn't nothing for them to 'owl at. +There warn't no one near, except some one that was evidently a-callin' a +dog somewheres out back of the gardings in the Park road. Once or twice +I went out to see that all was right, and it was, and then the 'owling +stopped. Just before twelve o'clock I just took a look round afore +turnin' in, an', bust me, but when I kem opposite to old Bersicker's +cage I see the rails broken and twisted about and the cage empty. And +that's all I know for certing." + +"Did any one else see anything?" + +"One of our gard'ners was a-comin' 'ome about that time from a 'armony, +when he sees a big grey dog comin' out through the garding 'edges. At +least, so he says, but I don't give much for it myself, for if he did 'e +never said a word about it to his missis when 'e got 'ome, and it was +only after the escape of the wolf was made known, and we had been up all +night-a-huntin' of the Park for Bersicker, that he remembered seein' +anything. My own belief was that the 'armony 'ad got into his 'ead." + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape of the +wolf?" + +"Well, sir," he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, "I think I can; +but I don't know as 'ow you'd be satisfied with the theory." + +"Certainly I shall. If a man like you, who knows the animals from +experience, can't hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even to try?" + +"Well then, sir, I accounts for it this way; it seems to me that 'ere +wolf escaped--simply because he wanted to get out." + +From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the joke I +could see that it had done service before, and that the whole +explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I couldn't cope in badinage +with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way to his heart, +so I said:-- + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, we'll consider that first half-sovereign worked off, +and this brother of his is waiting to be claimed when you've told me +what you think will happen." + +"Right y'are, sir," he said briskly. "Ye'll excoose me, I know, for +a-chaffin' of ye, but the old woman here winked at me, which was as much +as telling me to go on." + +"Well, I never!" said the old lady. + +"My opinion is this: that 'ere wolf is a-'idin' of, somewheres. The +gard'ner wot didn't remember said he was a-gallopin' northward faster +than a horse could go; but I don't believe him, for, yer see, sir, +wolves don't gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein' built that +way. Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay when they gets +in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more afeared than they is +they can make a devil of a noise and chop it up, whatever it is. But, +Lor' bless you, in real life a wolf is only a low creature, not half so +clever or bold as a good dog; and not half a quarter so much fight in +'im. This one ain't been used to fightin' or even to providin' for +hisself, and more like he's somewhere round the Park a-'idin' an' +a-shiverin' of, and, if he thinks at all, wonderin' where he is to get +his breakfast from; or maybe he's got down some area and is in a +coal-cellar. My eye, won't some cook get a rum start when she sees his +green eyes a-shining at her out of the dark! If he can't get food he's +bound to look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher's +shop in time. If he doesn't, and some nursemaid goes a-walkin' orf with +a soldier, leavin' of the hinfant in the perambulator--well, then I +shouldn't be surprised if the census is one babby the less. That's +all." + +I was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came bobbing up +against the window, and Mr. Bilder's face doubled its natural length +with surprise. + +"God bless me!" he said. "If there ain't old Bersicker come back by +'isself!" + +He went to the door and opened it; a most unnecessary proceeding it +seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so +well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us; a +personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea. + +After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither Bilder nor +his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a dog. The animal +itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all +picture-wolves--Red Riding Hood's quondam friend, whilst moving her +confidence in masquerade. + +The whole scene was an unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos. The +wicked wolf that for half a day had paralysed London and set all the +children in the town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of +penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine +prodigal son. Old Bilder examined him all over with most tender +solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent said:-- + +"There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of trouble; +didn't I say it all along? Here's his head all cut and full of broken +glass. 'E's been a-gettin' over some bloomin' wall or other. It's a +shyme that people are allowed to top their walls with broken bottles. +This 'ere's what comes of it. Come along, Bersicker." + +He took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece of meat that +satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary conditions of the +fatted calf, and went off to report. + +I came off, too, to report the only exclusive information that is given +to-day regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_17 September._--I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up my +books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to Lucy, +had fallen sadly into arrear. Suddenly the door was burst open, and in +rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion. I was +thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord +into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown. Without an instant's +pause he made straight at me. He had a dinner-knife in his hand, and, +as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to keep the table between us. He was +too quick and too strong for me, however; for before I could get my +balance he had struck at me and cut my left wrist rather severely. +Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right and he was +sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled freely, and quite a +little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw that my friend was not +intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist, +keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time. When the +attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his employment +positively sickened me. He was lying on his belly on the floor licking +up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was +easily secured, and, to my surprise, went with the attendants quite +placidly, simply repeating over and over again: "The blood is the life! +The blood is the life!" + +I cannot afford to lose blood just at present; I have lost too much of +late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of Lucy's +illness and its horrible phases is telling on me. I am over-excited and +weary, and I need rest, rest, rest. Happily Van Helsing has not summoned +me, so I need not forego my sleep; to-night I could not well do without +it. + + +_Telegram, Van Helsing, Antwerp, to Seward, Carfax._ + +(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given; delivered late by +twenty-two hours.) + +"_17 September._--Do not fail to be at Hillingham to-night. If not +watching all the time frequently, visit and see that flowers are as +placed; very important; do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as +possible after arrival." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_18 September._--Just off for train to London. The arrival of Van +Helsing's telegram filled me with dismay. A whole night lost, and I know +by bitter experience what may happen in a night. Of course it is +possible that all may be well, but what _may_ have happened? Surely +there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every possible accident +should thwart us in all we try to do. I shall take this cylinder with +me, and then I can complete my entry on Lucy's phonograph. + + +_Memorandum left by Lucy Westenra._ + +_17 September. Night._--I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no +one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact +record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and +have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the +doing. + +I went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were placed as Dr. +Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep. + +I was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after that +sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and which now I +know so well. I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr. Seward was in +the next room--as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be--so that I might have +called him. I tried to go to sleep, but could not. Then there came to me +the old fear of sleep, and I determined to keep awake. Perversely sleep +would try to come then when I did not want it; so, as I feared to be +alone, I opened my door and called out: "Is there anybody there?" There +was no answer. I was afraid to wake mother, and so closed my door again. +Then outside in the shrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog's, but +more fierce and deeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could +see nothing, except a big bat, which had evidently been buffeting its +wings against the window. So I went back to bed again, but determined +not to go to sleep. Presently the door opened, and mother looked in; +seeing by my moving that I was not asleep, came in, and sat by me. She +said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont:-- + +"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you were all +right." + +I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to come in +and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down beside me; she did +not take off her dressing gown, for she said she would only stay a while +and then go back to her own bed. As she lay there in my arms, and I in +hers, the flapping and buffeting came to the window again. She was +startled and a little frightened, and cried out: "What is that?" I tried +to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet; but I could +hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly. After a while there was +the low howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly after there was a +crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass was hurled on the floor. +The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the +aperture of the broken panes there was the head of a great, gaunt grey +wolf. Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting +posture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her. Amongst +other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing +insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me. For a +second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was a strange +and horrible gurgling in her throat; then she fell over--as if struck +with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and made me dizzy for a +moment or two. The room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my +eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole +myriad of little specks seemed to come blowing in through the broken +window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that +travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I tried to +stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear mother's poor body, +which seemed to grow cold already--for her dear heart had ceased to +beat--weighed me down; and I remembered no more for a while. + +The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered +consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling; the +dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling; and in our shrubbery, +seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing. I was dazed and +stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the sound of the +nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort +me. The sounds seemed to have awakened the maids, too, for I could hear +their bare feet pattering outside my door. I called to them, and they +came in, and when they saw what had happened, and what it was that lay +over me on the bed, they screamed out. The wind rushed in through the +broken window, and the door slammed to. They lifted off the body of my +dear mother, and laid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I +had got up. They were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them +to go to the dining-room and have each a glass of wine. The door flew +open for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then went +in a body to the dining-room; and I laid what flowers I had on my dear +mother's breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr. Van Helsing +had told me, but I didn't like to remove them, and, besides, I would +have some of the servants to sit up with me now. I was surprised that +the maids did not come back. I called them, but got no answer, so I went +to the dining-room to look for them. + +My heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay helpless +on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry was on the table +half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about. I was suspicious, +and examined the decanter. It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the +sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for +her--oh! did use--was empty. What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back +in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for +the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I +dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the +broken window. + +The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from +the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God +shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, +where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother +gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not +survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_18 September._--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early. +Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently +and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy or her +mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door. After a while, +finding no response, I knocked and rang again; still no answer. I cursed +the laziness of the servants that they should lie abed at such an +hour--for it was now ten o'clock--and so rang and knocked again, but +more impatiently, but still without response. Hitherto I had blamed only +the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me. Was this +desolation but another link in the chain of doom which seemed drawing +tight around us? Was it indeed a house of death to which I had come, too +late? I knew that minutes, even seconds of delay, might mean hours of +danger to Lucy, if she had had again one of those frightful relapses; +and I went round the house to try if I could find by chance an entry +anywhere. + +I could find no means of ingress. Every window and door was fastened and +locked, and I returned baffled to the porch. As I did so, I heard the +rapid pit-pat of a swiftly driven horse's feet. They stopped at the +gate, and a few seconds later I met Van Helsing running up the avenue. +When he saw me, he gasped out:-- + +"Then it was you, and just arrived. How is she? Are we too late? Did you +not get my telegram?" + +I answered as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got his +telegram early in the morning, and had not lost a minute in coming here, +and that I could not make any one in the house hear me. He paused and +raised his hat as he said solemnly:-- + +"Then I fear we are too late. God's will be done!" With his usual +recuperative energy, he went on: "Come. If there be no way open to get +in, we must make one. Time is all in all to us now." + +We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen +window. The Professor took a small surgical saw from his case, and +handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window. I +attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them. Then +with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the sashes and +opened the window. I helped the Professor in, and followed him. There +was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which were close at +hand. We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in the dining-room, +dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters, found four +servant-women lying on the floor. There was no need to think them dead, +for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the +room left no doubt as to their condition. Van Helsing and I looked at +each other, and as we moved away he said: "We can attend to them later." +Then we ascended to Lucy's room. For an instant or two we paused at the +door to listen, but there was no sound that we could hear. With white +faces and trembling hands, we opened the door gently, and entered the +room. + +How shall I describe what we saw? On the bed lay two women, Lucy and her +mother. The latter lay farthest in, and she was covered with a white +sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the draught through the +broken window, showing the drawn, white face, with a look of terror +fixed upon it. By her side lay Lucy, with face white and still more +drawn. The flowers which had been round her neck we found upon her +mother's bosom, and her throat was bare, showing the two little wounds +which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white and mangled. +Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head almost touching +poor Lucy's breast; then he gave a quick turn of his head, as of one who +listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to me:-- + +"It is not yet too late! Quick! quick! Bring the brandy!" + +I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste +it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I found +on the table. The maids were still breathing, but more restlessly, and I +fancied that the narcotic was wearing off. I did not stay to make sure, +but returned to Van Helsing. He rubbed the brandy, as on another +occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists and the palms of her +hands. He said to me:-- + +"I can do this, all that can be at the present. You go wake those maids. +Flick them in the face with a wet towel, and flick them hard. Make them +get heat and fire and a warm bath. This poor soul is nearly as cold as +that beside her. She will need be heated before we can do anything +more." + +I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the +women. The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently +affected her more strongly, so I lifted her on the sofa and let her +sleep. The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to +them they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner. I was stern with +them, however, and would not let them talk. I told them that one life +was bad enough to lose, and that if they delayed they would sacrifice +Miss Lucy. So, sobbing and crying, they went about their way, half clad +as they were, and prepared fire and water. Fortunately, the kitchen and +boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water. We +got a bath and carried Lucy out as she was and placed her in it. Whilst +we were busy chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall door. One +of the maids ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and opened it. Then +she returned and whispered to us that there was a gentleman who had come +with a message from Mr. Holmwood. I bade her simply tell him that he +must wait, for we could see no one now. She went away with the message, +and, engrossed with our work, I clean forgot all about him. + +I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly +earnest. I knew--as he knew--that it was a stand-up fight with death, +and in a pause told him so. He answered me in a way that I did not +understand, but with the sternest look that his face could wear:-- + +"If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her fade +away into peace, for I see no light in life over her horizon." He went +on with his work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied vigour. + +Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to +be of some effect. Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the +stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement. Van Helsing's +face almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her in +a hot sheet to dry her he said to me:-- + +"The first gain is ours! Check to the King!" + +We took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and laid +her in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat. I noticed +that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round her throat. She was +still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not worse than, we had +ever seen her. + +Van Helsing called in one of the women, and told her to stay with her +and not to take her eyes off her till we returned, and then beckoned me +out of the room. + +"We must consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended the +stairs. In the hall he opened the dining-room door, and we passed in, he +closing the door carefully behind him. The shutters had been opened, but +the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the etiquette of +death which the British woman of the lower classes always rigidly +observes. The room was, therefore, dimly dark. It was, however, light +enough for our purposes. Van Helsing's sternness was somewhat relieved +by a look of perplexity. He was evidently torturing his mind about +something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke:-- + +"What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help? We must have +another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life +won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted already; I am +exhausted too. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have +courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his +veins for her?" + +"What's the matter with me, anyhow?" + +The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought +relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris. Van +Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but his face softened and a +glad look came into his eyes as I cried out: "Quincey Morris!" and +rushed towards him with outstretched hands. + +"What brought you here?" I cried as our hands met. + +"I guess Art is the cause." + +He handed me a telegram:-- + +"Have not heard from Seward for three days, and am terribly anxious. +Cannot leave. Father still in same condition. Send me word how Lucy is. +Do not delay.--HOLMWOOD." + +"I think I came just in the nick of time. You know you have only to tell +me what to do." + +Van Helsing strode forward, and took his hand, looking him straight in +the eyes as he said:-- + +"A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in +trouble. You're a man and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against +us for all he's worth, but God sends us men when we want them." + +Once again we went through that ghastly operation. I have not the heart +to go through with the details. Lucy had got a terrible shock and it +told on her more than before, for though plenty of blood went into her +veins, her body did not respond to the treatment as well as on the other +occasions. Her struggle back into life was something frightful to see +and hear. However, the action of both heart and lungs improved, and Van +Helsing made a subcutaneous injection of morphia, as before, and with +good effect. Her faint became a profound slumber. The Professor watched +whilst I went downstairs with Quincey Morris, and sent one of the maids +to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting. I left Quincey lying down +after having a glass of wine, and told the cook to get ready a good +breakfast. Then a thought struck me, and I went back to the room where +Lucy now was. When I came softly in, I found Van Helsing with a sheet or +two of note-paper in his hand. He had evidently read it, and was +thinking it over as he sat with his hand to his brow. There was a look +of grim satisfaction in his face, as of one who has had a doubt solved. +He handed me the paper saying only: "It dropped from Lucy's breast when +we carried her to the bath." + +When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause +asked him: "In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, +mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it?" I was so bewildered that I +did not know what to say more. Van Helsing put out his hand and took the +paper, saying:-- + +"Do not trouble about it now. Forget it for the present. You shall know +and understand it all in good time; but it will be later. And now what +is it that you came to me to say?" This brought me back to fact, and I +was all myself again. + +"I came to speak about the certificate of death. If we do not act +properly and wisely, there may be an inquest, and that paper would have +to be produced. I am in hopes that we need have no inquest, for if we +had it would surely kill poor Lucy, if nothing else did. I know, and you +know, and the other doctor who attended her knows, that Mrs. Westenra +had disease of the heart, and we can certify that she died of it. Let us +fill up the certificate at once, and I shall take it myself to the +registrar and go on to the undertaker." + +"Good, oh my friend John! Well thought of! Truly Miss Lucy, if she be +sad in the foes that beset her, is at least happy in the friends that +love her. One, two, three, all open their veins for her, besides one old +man. Ah yes, I know, friend John; I am not blind! I love you all the +more for it! Now go." + +In the hall I met Quincey Morris, with a telegram for Arthur telling him +that Mrs. Westenra was dead; that Lucy also had been ill, but was now +going on better; and that Van Helsing and I were with her. I told him +where I was going, and he hurried me out, but as I was going said:-- + +"When you come back, Jack, may I have two words with you all to +ourselves?" I nodded in reply and went out. I found no difficulty about +the registration, and arranged with the local undertaker to come up in +the evening to measure for the coffin and to make arrangements. + +When I got back Quincey was waiting for me. I told him I would see him +as soon as I knew about Lucy, and went up to her room. She was still +sleeping, and the Professor seemingly had not moved from his seat at her +side. From his putting his finger to his lips, I gathered that he +expected her to wake before long and was afraid of forestalling nature. +So I went down to Quincey and took him into the breakfast-room, where +the blinds were not drawn down, and which was a little more cheerful, or +rather less cheerless, than the other rooms. When we were alone, he said +to me:-- + +"Jack Seward, I don't want to shove myself in anywhere where I've no +right to be; but this is no ordinary case. You know I loved that girl +and wanted to marry her; but, although that's all past and gone, I can't +help feeling anxious about her all the same. What is it that's wrong +with her? The Dutchman--and a fine old fellow he is; I can see +that--said, that time you two came into the room, that you must have +_another_ transfusion of blood, and that both you and he were exhausted. +Now I know well that you medical men speak _in camera_, and that a man +must not expect to know what they consult about in private. But this is +no common matter, and, whatever it is, I have done my part. Is not that +so?" + +"That's so," I said, and he went on:-- + +"I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did +to-day. Is not that so?" + +"That's so." + +"And I guess Art was in it too. When I saw him four days ago down at his +own place he looked queer. I have not seen anything pulled down so quick +since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of go to grass +all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at +her in the night, and what with his gorge and the vein left open, there +wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up, and I had to put a +bullet through her as she lay. Jack, if you may tell me without +betraying confidence, Arthur was the first, is not that so?" As he spoke +the poor fellow looked terribly anxious. He was in a torture of suspense +regarding the woman he loved, and his utter ignorance of the terrible +mystery which seemed to surround her intensified his pain. His very +heart was bleeding, and it took all the manhood of him--and there was a +royal lot of it, too--to keep him from breaking down. I paused before +answering, for I felt that I must not betray anything which the +Professor wished kept secret; but already he knew so much, and guessed +so much, that there could be no reason for not answering, so I answered +in the same phrase: "That's so." + +"And how long has this been going on?" + +"About ten days." + +"Ten days! Then I guess, Jack Seward, that that poor pretty creature +that we all love has had put into her veins within that time the blood +of four strong men. Man alive, her whole body wouldn't hold it." Then, +coming close to me, he spoke in a fierce half-whisper: "What took it +out?" + +I shook my head. "That," I said, "is the crux. Van Helsing is simply +frantic about it, and I am at my wits' end. I can't even hazard a guess. +There has been a series of little circumstances which have thrown out +all our calculations as to Lucy being properly watched. But these shall +not occur again. Here we stay until all be well--or ill." Quincey held +out his hand. "Count me in," he said. "You and the Dutchman will tell me +what to do, and I'll do it." + +When she woke late in the afternoon, Lucy's first movement was to feel +in her breast, and, to my surprise, produced the paper which Van Helsing +had given me to read. The careful Professor had replaced it where it had +come from, lest on waking she should be alarmed. Her eye then lit on Van +Helsing and on me too, and gladdened. Then she looked around the room, +and seeing where she was, shuddered; she gave a loud cry, and put her +poor thin hands before her pale face. We both understood what that +meant--that she had realised to the full her mother's death; so we tried +what we could to comfort her. Doubtless sympathy eased her somewhat, but +she was very low in thought and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for +a long time. We told her that either or both of us would now remain with +her all the time, and that seemed to comfort her. Towards dusk she fell +into a doze. Here a very odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep she +took the paper from her breast and tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped +over and took the pieces from her. All the same, however, she went on +with the action of tearing, as though the material were still in her +hands; finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though scattering +the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered as +if in thought, but he said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_19 September._--All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid +to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it. The Professor and +I took it in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment +unattended. Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I knew +that all night long he patrolled round and round the house. + +When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucy's +strength. She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little +nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good. At times she +slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her, between +sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep she looked stronger, although more +haggard, and her breathing was softer; her open mouth showed the pale +gums drawn back from the teeth, which thus looked positively longer and +sharper than usual; when she woke the softness of her eyes evidently +changed the expression, for she looked her own self, although a dying +one. In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him. +Quincey went off to meet him at the station. + +When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full +and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more +colour to the pale cheeks. When he saw her, Arthur was simply choking +with emotion, and none of us could speak. In the hours that had passed, +the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had +grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible +were shortened. Arthur's presence, however, seemed to act as a +stimulant; she rallied a little, and spoke to him more brightly than she +had done since we arrived. He too pulled himself together, and spoke as +cheerily as he could, so that the best was made of everything. + +It was now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with +her. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering +this on Lucy's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I +fear that to-morrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too +great; the poor child cannot rally. God help us all. + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_17 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"It seems _an age_ since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote. You +will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when you have read all my +budget of news. Well, I got my husband back all right; when we arrived +at Exeter there was a carriage waiting for us, and in it, though he had +an attack of gout, Mr. Hawkins. He took us to his house, where there +were rooms for us all nice and comfortable, and we dined together. After +dinner Mr. Hawkins said:-- + +"'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity; and may every +blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with +love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here +with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child; all are gone, and in +my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and +the old man clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one. + +"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my +bedroom and the drawing-room I can see the great elms of the cathedral +close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow +stone of the cathedral and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and +cawing and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of +rooks--and humans. I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging things and +housekeeping. Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all day; for, now that +Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to tell him all about the +clients. + +"How is your dear mother getting on? I wish I could run up to town for a +day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not go yet, with so much on my +shoulders; and Jonathan wants looking after still. He is beginning to +put some flesh on his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the +long illness; even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in a sudden +way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him back to his usual +placidity. However, thank God, these occasions grow less frequent as the +days go on, and they will in time pass away altogether, I trust. And now +I have told you my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, +and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, +and is it to be a public or a private wedding? Tell me all about it, +dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests +you which will not be dear to me. Jonathan asks me to send his +'respectful duty,' but I do not think that is good enough from the +junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker; and so, as you +love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses +of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead. Good-bye, my dearest +Lucy, and all blessings on you. + +"Yours, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Report from Patrick Hennessey, M. D., M. R. C. S. L. K. Q. C. P. I., +etc., etc., to John Seward, M. D._ + +"_20 September._ + +"My dear Sir,-- + +"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the conditions of +everything left in my charge.... With regard to patient, Renfield, there +is more to say. He has had another outbreak, which might have had a +dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately happened, was unattended +with any unhappy results. This afternoon a carrier's cart with two men +made a call at the empty house whose grounds abut on ours--the house to +which, you will remember, the patient twice ran away. The men stopped at +our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers. I was +myself looking out of the study window, having a smoke after dinner, and +saw one of them come up to the house. As he passed the window of +Renfield's room, the patient began to rate him from within, and called +him all the foul names he could lay his tongue to. The man, who seemed a +decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling him to "shut up for a +foul-mouthed beggar," whereon our man accused him of robbing him and +wanting to murder him and said that he would hinder him if he were to +swing for it. I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, +so he contented himself after looking the place over and making up his +mind as to what kind of a place he had got to by saying: 'Lor' bless +yer, sir, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin' madhouse. I +pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the house with a wild +beast like that.' Then he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him +where the gate of the empty house was; he went away, followed by threats +and curses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I could +make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a +well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind had +ever occurred. I found him, to my astonishment, quite composed and most +genial in his manner. I tried to get him to talk of the incident, but he +blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe +that he was completely oblivious of the affair. It was, I am sorry to +say, however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an +hour I heard of him again. This time he had broken out through the +window of his room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the +attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I feared he was intent +on some mischief. My fear was justified when I saw the same cart which +had passed before coming down the road, having on it some great wooden +boxes. The men were wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the +face, as if with violent exercise. Before I could get up to him the +patient rushed at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to +knock his head against the ground. If I had not seized him just at the +moment I believe he would have killed the man there and then. The other +fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt-end of his +heavy whip. It was a terrible blow; but he did not seem to mind it, but +seized him also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and +fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no light weight, and the others +were both burly men. At first he was silent in his fighting; but as we +began to master him, and the attendants were putting a strait-waistcoat +on him, he began to shout: 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me! +they shan't murder me by inches! I'll fight for my Lord and Master!' and +all sorts of similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable +difficulty that they got him back to the house and put him in the padded +room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken. However, I set +it all right; and he is going on well. + +"The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of actions for +damages, and promised to rain all the penalties of the law on us. Their +threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for +the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman. They said that if it +had not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying and +raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made short work of +him. They gave as another reason for their defeat the extraordinary +state of drouth to which they had been reduced by the dusty nature of +their occupation and the reprehensible distance from the scene of their +labours of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their +drift, and after a stiff glass of grog, or rather more of the same, and +with each a sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore +that they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of +meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent. I took their +names and addresses, in case they might be needed. They are as +follows:--Jack Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, King George's Road, Great +Walworth, and Thomas Snelling, Peter Farley's Row, Guide Court, Bethnal +Green. They are both in the employment of Harris & Sons, Moving and +Shipment Company, Orange Master's Yard, Soho. + +"I shall report to you any matter of interest occurring here, and shall +wire you at once if there is anything of importance. + +"Believe me, dear Sir, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"PATRICK HENNESSEY." + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra_. + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_18 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly. +Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had both come to so love him +that it really seems as though we had lost a father. I never knew either +father or mother, so that the dear old man's death is a real blow to me. +Jonathan is greatly distressed. It is not only that he feels sorrow, +deep sorrow, for the dear, good man who has befriended him all his life, +and now at the end has treated him like his own son and left him a +fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is wealth beyond the +dream of avarice, but Jonathan feels it on another account. He says the +amount of responsibility which it puts upon him makes him nervous. He +begins to doubt himself. I try to cheer him up, and _my_ belief in _him_ +helps him to have a belief in himself. But it is here that the grave +shock that he experienced tells upon him the most. Oh, it is too hard +that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his--a nature which +enabled him by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to master +in a few years--should be so injured that the very essence of its +strength is gone. Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my troubles in +the midst of your own happiness; but, Lucy dear, I must tell some one, +for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan +tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in. I dread coming +up to London, as we must do the day after to-morrow; for poor Mr. +Hawkins left in his will that he was to be buried in the grave with his +father. As there are no relations at all, Jonathan will have to be chief +mourner. I shall try to run over to see you, dearest, if only for a few +minutes. Forgive me for troubling you. With all blessings, + +"Your loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 September._--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry +to-night. I am too miserable, too low-spirited, too sick of the world +and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard +this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death. And he has +been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late--Lucy's mother +and Arthur's father, and now.... Let me get on with my work. + +I duly relieved Van Helsing in his watch over Lucy. We wanted Arthur to +go to rest also, but he refused at first. It was only when I told him +that we should want him to help us during the day, and that we must not +all break down for want of rest, lest Lucy should suffer, that he agreed +to go. Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he said; +"come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much +mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You +must not be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. +Come to the drawing-room, where there is a big fire, and there are two +sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will +be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we +sleep." Arthur went off with him, casting back a longing look on Lucy's +face, which lay in her pillow, almost whiter than the lawn. She lay +quite still, and I looked round the room to see that all was as it +should be. I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, +as in the other, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the +window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk +handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of +the same odorous flowers. Lucy was breathing somewhat stertorously, and +her face was at its worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums. Her +teeth, in the dim, uncertain light, seemed longer and sharper than they +had been in the morning. In particular, by some trick of the light, the +canine teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest. I sat down by her, +and presently she moved uneasily. At the same moment there came a sort +of dull flapping or buffeting at the window. I went over to it softly, +and peeped out by the corner of the blind. There was a full moonlight, +and I could see that the noise was made by a great bat, which wheeled +round--doubtless attracted by the light, although so dim--and every now +and again struck the window with its wings. When I came back to my seat, +I found that Lucy had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic +flowers from her throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and sat +watching her. + +Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had prescribed. +She took but a little, and that languidly. There did not seem to be with +her now the unconscious struggle for life and strength that had hitherto +so marked her illness. It struck me as curious that the moment she +became conscious she pressed the garlic flowers close to her. It was +certainly odd that whenever she got into that lethargic state, with the +stertorous breathing, she put the flowers from her; but that when she +waked she clutched them close. There was no possibility of making any +mistake about this, for in the long hours that followed, she had many +spells of sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times. + +At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Arthur had then fallen +into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on. When he saw Lucy's face +I could hear the sissing indraw of his breath, and he said to me in a +sharp whisper: "Draw up the blind; I want light!" Then he bent down, +and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her carefully. He +removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat. As +he did so he started back, and I could hear his ejaculation, "Mein +Gott!" as it was smothered in his throat. I bent over and looked, too, +and as I noticed some queer chill came over me. + +The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared. + +For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with his face +at its sternest. Then he turned to me and said calmly:-- + +"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark +me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor boy, and +let him come and see the last; he trusts us, and we have promised him." + +I went to the dining-room and waked him. He was dazed for a moment, but +when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters +he thought he was late, and expressed his fear. I assured him that Lucy +was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that both Van +Helsing and I feared that the end was near. He covered his face with his +hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he remained, +perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders +shook with grief. I took him by the hand and raised him up. "Come," I +said, "my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude: it will be best +and easiest for her." + +When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with +his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making +everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed Lucy's +hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples. When we +came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered +softly:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!" He was stooping to +kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back. "No," he whispered, "not +yet! Hold her hand; it will comfort her more." + +So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best, +with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes. Then +gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a little bit her +breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired child's. + +And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in +the night. Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale +gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever. In a +sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which +were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, +such as I had never heard from her lips:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Arthur bent +eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, +had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by +the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which +I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost +across the room. + +"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" And +he stood between them like a lion at bay. + +Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to do +or say; and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realised +the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting. + +I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as +of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champed +together. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily. + +Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and +putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown +one; drawing it to her, she kissed it. "My true friend," she said, in a +faint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend, and his! Oh, +guard him, and give me peace!" + +"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his +hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and said +to him: "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the +forehead, and only once." + +Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted. + +Lucy's eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took +Arthur's arm, and drew him away. + +And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it +ceased. + +"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!" + +I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, where he +sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way that +nearly broke me down to see. + +I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy, and +his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body. +Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had +recovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost their +deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working +of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as +might be. + + "We thought her dying whilst she slept, + And sleeping when she died." + +I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:-- + +"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!" + +He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:-- + +"Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!" + +When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:-- + +"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and +her mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastly +formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff were +afflicted--or blessed--with something of his own obsequious suavity. +Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to +me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out +from the death-chamber:-- + +"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege to +attend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to our +establishment!" + +I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possible from +the disordered state of things in the household. There were no relatives +at hand; and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend at his +father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should have been +bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it upon +ourselves to examine papers, etc. He insisted upon looking over Lucy's +papers himself. I asked him why, for I feared that he, being a +foreigner, might not be quite aware of English legal requirements, and +so might in ignorance make some unnecessary trouble. He answered me:-- + +"I know; I know. You forget that I am a lawyer as well as a doctor. But +this is not altogether for the law. You knew that, when you avoided the +coroner. I have more than him to avoid. There may be papers more--such +as this." + +As he spoke he took from his pocket-book the memorandum which had been +in Lucy's breast, and which she had torn in her sleep. + +"When you find anything of the solicitor who is for the late Mrs. +Westenra, seal all her papers, and write him to-night. For me, I watch +here in the room and in Miss Lucy's old room all night, and I myself +search for what may be. It is not well that her very thoughts go into +the hands of strangers." + +I went on with my part of the work, and in another half hour had found +the name and address of Mrs. Westenra's solicitor and had written to +him. All the poor lady's papers were in order; explicit directions +regarding the place of burial were given. I had hardly sealed the +letter, when, to my surprise, Van Helsing walked into the room, +saying:-- + +"Can I help you, friend John? I am free, and if I may, my service is to +you." + +"Have you got what you looked for?" I asked, to which he replied:-- + +"I did not look for any specific thing. I only hoped to find, and find I +have, all that there was--only some letters and a few memoranda, and a +diary new begun. But I have them here, and we shall for the present say +nothing of them. I shall see that poor lad to-morrow evening, and, with +his sanction, I shall use some." + +When we had finished the work in hand, he said to me:-- + +"And now, friend John, I think we may to bed. We want sleep, both you +and I, and rest to recuperate. To-morrow we shall have much to do, but +for the to-night there is no need of us. Alas!" + +Before turning in we went to look at poor Lucy. The undertaker had +certainly done his work well, for the room was turned into a small +_chapelle ardente_. There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, +and death was made as little repulsive as might be. The end of the +winding-sheet was laid over the face; when the Professor bent over and +turned it gently back, we both started at the beauty before us, the tall +wax candles showing a sufficient light to note it well. All Lucy's +loveliness had come back to her in death, and the hours that had passed, +instead of leaving traces of "decay's effacing fingers," had but +restored the beauty of life, till positively I could not believe my eyes +that I was looking at a corpse. + +The Professor looked sternly grave. He had not loved her as I had, and +there was no need for tears in his eyes. He said to me: "Remain till I +return," and left the room. He came back with a handful of wild garlic +from the box waiting in the hall, but which had not been opened, and +placed the flowers amongst the others on and around the bed. Then he +took from his neck, inside his collar, a little gold crucifix, and +placed it over the mouth. He restored the sheet to its place, and we +came away. + +I was undressing in my own room, when, with a premonitory tap at the +door, he entered, and at once began to speak:-- + +"To-morrow I want you to bring me, before night, a set of post-mortem +knives." + +"Must we make an autopsy?" I asked. + +"Yes and no. I want to operate, but not as you think. Let me tell you +now, but not a word to another. I want to cut off her head and take out +her heart. Ah! you a surgeon, and so shocked! You, whom I have seen with +no tremble of hand or heart, do operations of life and death that make +the rest shudder. Oh, but I must not forget, my dear friend John, that +you loved her; and I have not forgotten it, for it is I that shall +operate, and you must only help. I would like to do it to-night, but for +Arthur I must not; he will be free after his father's funeral to-morrow, +and he will want to see her--to see _it_. Then, when she is coffined +ready for the next day, you and I shall come when all sleep. We shall +unscrew the coffin-lid, and shall do our operation: and then replace +all, so that none know, save we alone." + +"But why do it at all? The girl is dead. Why mutilate her poor body +without need? And if there is no necessity for a post-mortem and nothing +to gain by it--no good to her, to us, to science, to human +knowledge--why do it? Without such it is monstrous." + +For answer he put his hand on my shoulder, and said, with infinite +tenderness:-- + +"Friend John, I pity your poor bleeding heart; and I love you the more +because it does so bleed. If I could, I would take on myself the burden +that you do bear. But there are things that you know not, but that you +shall know, and bless me for knowing, though they are not pleasant +things. John, my child, you have been my friend now many years, and yet +did you ever know me to do any without good cause? I may err--I am but +man; but I believe in all I do. Was it not for these causes that you +send for me when the great trouble came? Yes! Were you not amazed, nay +horrified, when I would not let Arthur kiss his love--though she was +dying--and snatched him away by all my strength? Yes! And yet you saw +how she thanked me, with her so beautiful dying eyes, her voice, too, so +weak, and she kiss my rough old hand and bless me? Yes! And did you not +hear me swear promise to her, that so she closed her eyes grateful? Yes! + +"Well, I have good reason now for all I want to do. You have for many +years trust me; you have believe me weeks past, when there be things so +strange that you might have well doubt. Believe me yet a little, friend +John. If you trust me not, then I must tell what I think; and that is +not perhaps well. And if I work--as work I shall, no matter trust or no +trust--without my friend trust in me, I work with heavy heart and feel, +oh! so lonely when I want all help and courage that may be!" He paused a +moment and went on solemnly: "Friend John, there are strange and +terrible days before us. Let us not be two, but one, that so we work to +a good end. Will you not have faith in me?" + +I took his hand, and promised him. I held my door open as he went away, +and watched him go into his room and close the door. As I stood without +moving, I saw one of the maids pass silently along the passage--she had +her back towards me, so did not see me--and go into the room where Lucy +lay. The sight touched me. Devotion is so rare, and we are so grateful +to those who show it unasked to those we love. Here was a poor girl +putting aside the terrors which she naturally had of death to go watch +alone by the bier of the mistress whom she loved, so that the poor clay +might not be lonely till laid to eternal rest.... + + * * * * * + +I must have slept long and soundly, for it was broad daylight when Van +Helsing waked me by coming into my room. He came over to my bedside and +said:-- + +"You need not trouble about the knives; we shall not do it." + +"Why not?" I asked. For his solemnity of the night before had greatly +impressed me. + +"Because," he said sternly, "it is too late--or too early. See!" Here he +held up the little golden crucifix. "This was stolen in the night." + +"How, stolen," I asked in wonder, "since you have it now?" + +"Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from the +woman who robbed the dead and the living. Her punishment will surely +come, but not through me; she knew not altogether what she did and thus +unknowing, she only stole. Now we must wait." + +He went away on the word, leaving me with a new mystery to think of, a +new puzzle to grapple with. + +The forenoon was a dreary time, but at noon the solicitor came: Mr. +Marquand, of Wholeman, Sons, Marquand & Lidderdale. He was very genial +and very appreciative of what we had done, and took off our hands all +cares as to details. During lunch he told us that Mrs. Westenra had for +some time expected sudden death from her heart, and had put her affairs +in absolute order; he informed us that, with the exception of a certain +entailed property of Lucy's father's which now, in default of direct +issue, went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate, +real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood. When he had +told us so much he went on:-- + +"Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition, and +pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter either +penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a matrimonial +alliance. Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we almost came into +collision, for she asked us if we were or were not prepared to carry out +her wishes. Of course, we had then no alternative but to accept. We were +right in principle, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred we should +have proved, by the logic of events, the accuracy of our judgment. +Frankly, however, I must admit that in this case any other form of +disposition would have rendered impossible the carrying out of her +wishes. For by her predeceasing her daughter the latter would have come +into possession of the property, and, even had she only survived her +mother by five minutes, her property would, in case there were no +will--and a will was a practical impossibility in such a case--have been +treated at her decease as under intestacy. In which case Lord Godalming, +though so dear a friend, would have had no claim in the world; and the +inheritors, being remote, would not be likely to abandon their just +rights, for sentimental reasons regarding an entire stranger. I assure +you, my dear sirs, I am rejoiced at the result, perfectly rejoiced." + +He was a good fellow, but his rejoicing at the one little part--in which +he was officially interested--of so great a tragedy, was an +object-lesson in the limitations of sympathetic understanding. + +He did not remain long, but said he would look in later in the day and +see Lord Godalming. His coming, however, had been a certain comfort to +us, since it assured us that we should not have to dread hostile +criticism as to any of our acts. Arthur was expected at five o'clock, so +a little before that time we visited the death-chamber. It was so in +very truth, for now both mother and daughter lay in it. The undertaker, +true to his craft, had made the best display he could of his goods, and +there was a mortuary air about the place that lowered our spirits at +once. Van Helsing ordered the former arrangement to be adhered to, +explaining that, as Lord Godalming was coming very soon, it would be +less harrowing to his feelings to see all that was left of his _fiancée_ +quite alone. The undertaker seemed shocked at his own stupidity and +exerted himself to restore things to the condition in which we left them +the night before, so that when Arthur came such shocks to his feelings +as we could avoid were saved. + +Poor fellow! He looked desperately sad and broken; even his stalwart +manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his +much-tried emotions. He had, I knew, been very genuinely and devotedly +attached to his father; and to lose him, and at such a time, was a +bitter blow to him. With me he was warm as ever, and to Van Helsing he +was sweetly courteous; but I could not help seeing that there was some +constraint with him. The Professor noticed it, too, and motioned me to +bring him upstairs. I did so, and left him at the door of the room, as I +felt he would like to be quite alone with her, but he took my arm and +led me in, saying huskily:-- + +"You loved her too, old fellow; she told me all about it, and there was +no friend had a closer place in her heart than you. I don't know how to +thank you for all you have done for her. I can't think yet...." + +Here he suddenly broke down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and +laid his head on my breast, crying:-- + +"Oh, Jack! Jack! What shall I do! The whole of life seems gone from me +all at once, and there is nothing in the wide world for me to live for." + +I comforted him as well as I could. In such cases men do not need much +expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the +shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man's +heart. I stood still and silent till his sobs died away, and then I said +softly to him:-- + +"Come and look at her." + +Together we moved over to the bed, and I lifted the lawn from her face. +God! how beautiful she was. Every hour seemed to be enhancing her +loveliness. It frightened and amazed me somewhat; and as for Arthur, he +fell a-trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as with an ague. At +last, after a long pause, he said to me in a faint whisper:-- + +"Jack, is she really dead?" + +I assured him sadly that it was so, and went on to suggest--for I felt +that such a horrible doubt should not have life for a moment longer than +I could help--that it often happened that after death faces became +softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty; that this was +especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or prolonged +suffering. It seemed to quite do away with any doubt, and, after +kneeling beside the couch for a while and looking at her lovingly and +long, he turned aside. I told him that that must be good-bye, as the +coffin had to be prepared; so he went back and took her dead hand in his +and kissed it, and bent over and kissed her forehead. He came away, +fondly looking back over his shoulder at her as he came. + +I left him in the drawing-room, and told Van Helsing that he had said +good-bye; so the latter went to the kitchen to tell the undertaker's men +to proceed with the preparations and to screw up the coffin. When he +came out of the room again I told him of Arthur's question, and he +replied:-- + +"I am not surprised. Just now I doubted for a moment myself!" + +We all dined together, and I could see that poor Art was trying to make +the best of things. Van Helsing had been silent all dinner-time; but +when we had lit our cigars he said-- + +"Lord----"; but Arthur interrupted him:-- + +"No, no, not that, for God's sake! not yet at any rate. Forgive me, sir: +I did not mean to speak offensively; it is only because my loss is so +recent." + +The Professor answered very sweetly:-- + +"I only used that name because I was in doubt. I must not call you +'Mr.,' and I have grown to love you--yes, my dear boy, to love you--as +Arthur." + +Arthur held out his hand, and took the old man's warmly. + +"Call me what you will," he said. "I hope I may always have the title of +a friend. And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for +your goodness to my poor dear." He paused a moment, and went on: "I know +that she understood your goodness even better than I do; and if I was +rude or in any way wanting at that time you acted so--you remember"--the +Professor nodded--"you must forgive me." + +He answered with a grave kindness:-- + +"I know it was hard for you to quite trust me then, for to trust such +violence needs to understand; and I take it that you do not--that you +cannot--trust me now, for you do not yet understand. And there may be +more times when I shall want you to trust when you cannot--and may +not--and must not yet understand. But the time will come when your trust +shall be whole and complete in me, and when you shall understand as +though the sunlight himself shone through. Then you shall bless me from +first to last for your own sake, and for the sake of others and for her +dear sake to whom I swore to protect." + +"And, indeed, indeed, sir," said Arthur warmly, "I shall in all ways +trust you. I know and believe you have a very noble heart, and you are +Jack's friend, and you were hers. You shall do what you like." + +The Professor cleared his throat a couple of times, as though about to +speak, and finally said:-- + +"May I ask you something now?" + +"Certainly." + +"You know that Mrs. Westenra left you all her property?" + +"No, poor dear; I never thought of it." + +"And as it is all yours, you have a right to deal with it as you will. I +want you to give me permission to read all Miss Lucy's papers and +letters. Believe me, it is no idle curiosity. I have a motive of which, +be sure, she would have approved. I have them all here. I took them +before we knew that all was yours, so that no strange hand might touch +them--no strange eye look through words into her soul. I shall keep +them, if I may; even you may not see them yet, but I shall keep them +safe. No word shall be lost; and in the good time I shall give them back +to you. It's a hard thing I ask, but you will do it, will you not, for +Lucy's sake?" + +Arthur spoke out heartily, like his old self:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, you may do what you will. I feel that in saying this I +am doing what my dear one would have approved. I shall not trouble you +with questions till the time comes." + +The old Professor stood up as he said solemnly:-- + +"And you are right. There will be pain for us all; but it will not be +all pain, nor will this pain be the last. We and you too--you most of +all, my dear boy--will have to pass through the bitter water before we +reach the sweet. But we must be brave of heart and unselfish, and do our +duty, and all will be well!" + +I slept on a sofa in Arthur's room that night. Van Helsing did not go to +bed at all. He went to and fro, as if patrolling the house, and was +never out of sight of the room where Lucy lay in her coffin, strewn with +the wild garlic flowers, which sent, through the odour of lily and rose, +a heavy, overpowering smell into the night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_22 September._--In the train to Exeter. Jonathan sleeping. + +It seems only yesterday that the last entry was made, and yet how much +between then, in Whitby and all the world before me, Jonathan away and +no news of him; and now, married to Jonathan, Jonathan a solicitor, a +partner, rich, master of his business, Mr. Hawkins dead and buried, and +Jonathan with another attack that may harm him. Some day he may ask me +about it. Down it all goes. I am rusty in my shorthand--see what +unexpected prosperity does for us--so it may be as well to freshen it up +again with an exercise anyhow.... + +The service was very simple and very solemn. There were only ourselves +and the servants there, one or two old friends of his from Exeter, his +London agent, and a gentleman representing Sir John Paxton, the +President of the Incorporated Law Society. Jonathan and I stood hand in +hand, and we felt that our best and dearest friend was gone from us.... + +We came back to town quietly, taking a 'bus to Hyde Park Corner. +Jonathan thought it would interest me to go into the Row for a while, so +we sat down; but there were very few people there, and it was +sad-looking and desolate to see so many empty chairs. It made us think +of the empty chair at home; so we got up and walked down Piccadilly. +Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in old days +before I went to school. I felt it very improper, for you can't go on +for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other girls without the +pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit; but it was Jonathan, and he +was my husband, and we didn't know anybody who saw us--and we didn't +care if they did--so on we walked. I was looking at a very beautiful +girl, in a big cart-wheel hat, sitting in a victoria outside Guiliano's, +when I felt Jonathan clutch my arm so tight that he hurt me, and he said +under his breath: "My God!" I am always anxious about Jonathan, for I +fear that some nervous fit may upset him again; so I turned to him +quickly, and asked him what it was that disturbed him. + +He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and +half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and +black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the pretty +girl. He was looking at her so hard that he did not see either of us, +and so I had a good view of him. His face was not a good face; it was +hard, and cruel, and sensual, and his big white teeth, that looked all +the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like an animal's. +Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I +feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty. I asked +Jonathan why he was disturbed, and he answered, evidently thinking that +I knew as much about it as he did: "Do you see who it is?" + +"No, dear," I said; "I don't know him; who is it?" His answer seemed to +shock and thrill me, for it was said as if he did not know that it was +to me, Mina, to whom he was speaking:-- + +"It is the man himself!" + +The poor dear was evidently terrified at something--very greatly +terrified; I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to +support him he would have sunk down. He kept staring; a man came out of +the shop with a small parcel, and gave it to the lady, who then drove +off. The dark man kept his eyes fixed on her, and when the carriage +moved up Piccadilly he followed in the same direction, and hailed a +hansom. Jonathan kept looking after him, and said, as if to himself:-- + +"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God, if this be +so! Oh, my God! my God! If I only knew! if I only knew!" He was +distressing himself so much that I feared to keep his mind on the +subject by asking him any questions, so I remained silent. I drew him +away quietly, and he, holding my arm, came easily. We walked a little +further, and then went in and sat for a while in the Green Park. It was +a hot day for autumn, and there was a comfortable seat in a shady place. +After a few minutes' staring at nothing, Jonathan's eyes closed, and he +went quietly into a sleep, with his head on my shoulder. I thought it +was the best thing for him, so did not disturb him. In about twenty +minutes he woke up, and said to me quite cheerfully:-- + +"Why, Mina, have I been asleep! Oh, do forgive me for being so rude. +Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere." He had evidently forgotten +all about the dark stranger, as in his illness he had forgotten all that +this episode had reminded him of. I don't like this lapsing into +forgetfulness; it may make or continue some injury to the brain. I must +not ask him, for fear I shall do more harm than good; but I must somehow +learn the facts of his journey abroad. The time is come, I fear, when I +must open that parcel, and know what is written. Oh, Jonathan, you will, +I know, forgive me if I do wrong, but it is for your own dear sake. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--A sad home-coming in every way--the house empty of the dear +soul who was so good to us; Jonathan still pale and dizzy under a slight +relapse of his malady; and now a telegram from Van Helsing, whoever he +may be:-- + +"You will be grieved to hear that Mrs. Westenra died five days ago, and +that Lucy died the day before yesterday. They were both buried to-day." + +Oh, what a wealth of sorrow in a few words! Poor Mrs. Westenra! poor +Lucy! Gone, gone, never to return to us! And poor, poor Arthur, to have +lost such sweetness out of his life! God help us all to bear our +troubles. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_22 September._--It is all over. Arthur has gone back to Ring, and has +taken Quincey Morris with him. What a fine fellow is Quincey! I believe +in my heart of hearts that he suffered as much about Lucy's death as any +of us; but he bore himself through it like a moral Viking. If America +can go on breeding men like that, she will be a power in the world +indeed. Van Helsing is lying down, having a rest preparatory to his +journey. He goes over to Amsterdam to-night, but says he returns +to-morrow night; that he only wants to make some arrangements which can +only be made personally. He is to stop with me then, if he can; he says +he has work to do in London which may take him some time. Poor old +fellow! I fear that the strain of the past week has broken down even his +iron strength. All the time of the burial he was, I could see, putting +some terrible restraint on himself. When it was all over, we were +standing beside Arthur, who, poor fellow, was speaking of his part in +the operation where his blood had been transfused to his Lucy's veins; I +could see Van Helsing's face grow white and purple by turns. Arthur was +saying that he felt since then as if they two had been really married +and that she was his wife in the sight of God. None of us said a word of +the other operations, and none of us ever shall. Arthur and Quincey went +away together to the station, and Van Helsing and I came on here. The +moment we were alone in the carriage he gave way to a regular fit of +hysterics. He has denied to me since that it was hysterics, and insisted +that it was only his sense of humour asserting itself under very +terrible conditions. He laughed till he cried, and I had to draw down +the blinds lest any one should see us and misjudge; and then he cried, +till he laughed again; and laughed and cried together, just as a woman +does. I tried to be stern with him, as one is to a woman under the +circumstances; but it had no effect. Men and women are so different in +manifestations of nervous strength or weakness! Then when his face grew +grave and stern again I asked him why his mirth, and why at such a time. +His reply was in a way characteristic of him, for it was logical and +forceful and mysterious. He said:-- + +"Ah, you don't comprehend, friend John. Do not think that I am not sad, +though I laugh. See, I have cried even when the laugh did choke me. But +no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh he come +just the same. Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your +door and say, 'May I come in?' is not the true laughter. No! he is a +king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person; he choose no +time of suitability. He say, 'I am here.' Behold, in example I grieve my +heart out for that so sweet young girl; I give my blood for her, though +I am old and worn; I give my time, my skill, my sleep; I let my other +sufferers want that so she may have all. And yet I can laugh at her very +grave--laugh when the clay from the spade of the sexton drop upon her +coffin and say 'Thud! thud!' to my heart, till it send back the blood +from my cheek. My heart bleed for that poor boy--that dear boy, so of +the age of mine own boy had I been so blessed that he live, and with his +hair and eyes the same. There, you know now why I love him so. And yet +when he say things that touch my husband-heart to the quick, and make my +father-heart yearn to him as to no other man--not even to you, friend +John, for we are more level in experiences than father and son--yet even +at such moment King Laugh he come to me and shout and bellow in my ear, +'Here I am! here I am!' till the blood come dance back and bring some of +the sunshine that he carry with him to my cheek. Oh, friend John, it is +a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and +troubles; and yet when King Laugh come he make them all dance to the +tune he play. Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and +tears that burn as they fall--all dance together to the music that he +make with that smileless mouth of him. And believe me, friend John, that +he is good to come, and kind. Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn +tight with strain that pull us different ways. Then tears come; and, +like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain +become too great, and we break. But King Laugh he come like the +sunshine, and he ease off the strain again; and we bear to go on with +our labour, what it may be." + +I did not like to wound him by pretending not to see his idea; but, as I +did not yet understand the cause of his laughter, I asked him. As he +answered me his face grew stern, and he said in quite a different +tone:-- + +"Oh, it was the grim irony of it all--this so lovely lady garlanded with +flowers, that looked so fair as life, till one by one we wondered if she +were truly dead; she laid in that so fine marble house in that lonely +churchyard, where rest so many of her kin, laid there with the mother +who loved her, and whom she loved; and that sacred bell going 'Toll! +toll! toll!' so sad and slow; and those holy men, with the white +garments of the angel, pretending to read books, and yet all the time +their eyes never on the page; and all of us with the bowed head. And all +for what? She is dead; so! Is it not?" + +"Well, for the life of me, Professor," I said, "I can't see anything to +laugh at in all that. Why, your explanation makes it a harder puzzle +than before. But even if the burial service was comic, what about poor +Art and his trouble? Why, his heart was simply breaking." + +"Just so. Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins had +made her truly his bride?" + +"Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him." + +"Quite so. But there was a difficulty, friend John. If so that, then +what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist, +and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though +no wits, all gone--even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife, +am bigamist." + +"I don't see where the joke comes in there either!" I said; and I did +not feel particularly pleased with him for saying such things. He laid +his hand on my arm, and said:-- + +"Friend John, forgive me if I pain. I showed not my feeling to others +when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust. +If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; +if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so +now, when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him--for +he go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time--maybe you would +perhaps pity me the most of all." + +I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why. + +"Because I know!" + +And now we are all scattered; and for many a long day loneliness will +sit over our roofs with brooding wings. Lucy lies in the tomb of her +kin, a lordly death-house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming +London; where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill, +and where wild flowers grow of their own accord. + +So I can finish this diary; and God only knows if I shall ever begin +another. If I do, or if I even open this again, it will be to deal with +different people and different themes; for here at the end, where the +romance of my life is told, ere I go back to take up the thread of my +life-work, I say sadly and without hope, + + "FINIS." + + +_"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + A HAMPSTEAD MYSTERY. + + +The neighbourhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with a +series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what +was known to the writers of headlines as "The Kensington Horror," or +"The Stabbing Woman," or "The Woman in Black." During the past two or +three days several cases have occurred of young children straying from +home or neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath. In all +these cases the children were too young to give any properly +intelligible account of themselves, but the consensus of their excuses +is that they had been with a "bloofer lady." It has always been late in +the evening when they have been missed, and on two occasions the +children have not been found until early in the following morning. It is +generally supposed in the neighbourhood that, as the first child missed +gave as his reason for being away that a "bloofer lady" had asked him to +come for a walk, the others had picked up the phrase and used it as +occasion served. This is the more natural as the favourite game of the +little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles. A +correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to +be the "bloofer lady" is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists +might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the +reality and the picture. It is only in accordance with general +principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady" should be the popular +rôle at these _al fresco_ performances. Our correspondent naïvely says +that even Ellen Terry could not be so winningly attractive as some of +these grubby-faced little children pretend--and even imagine +themselves--to be. + +There is, however, possibly a serious side to the question, for some of +the children, indeed all who have been missed at night, have been +slightly torn or wounded in the throat. The wounds seem such as might be +made by a rat or a small dog, and although of not much importance +individually, would tend to show that whatever animal inflicts them has +a system or method of its own. The police of the division have been +instructed to keep a sharp look-out for straying children, especially +when very young, in and around Hampstead Heath, and for any stray dog +which may be about. + + + _"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + _Extra Special._ + + THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR. + + ANOTHER CHILD INJURED. + + _The "Bloofer Lady."_ + +We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last +night, was only discovered late in the morning under a furze bush at the +Shooter's Hill side of Hampstead Heath, which is, perhaps, less +frequented than the other parts. It has the same tiny wound in the +throat as has been noticed in other cases. It was terribly weak, and +looked quite emaciated. It too, when partially restored, had the common +story to tell of being lured away by the "bloofer lady." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_23 September_.--Jonathan is better after a bad night. I am so glad that +he has plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the terrible +things; and oh, I am rejoiced that he is not now weighed down with the +responsibility of his new position. I knew he would be true to himself, +and now how proud I am to see my Jonathan rising to the height of his +advancement and keeping pace in all ways with the duties that come upon +him. He will be away all day till late, for he said he could not lunch +at home. My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal, +and lock myself up in my room and read it.... + + +_24 September_.--I hadn't the heart to write last night; that terrible +record of Jonathan's upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, +whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth +in it at all. Did he get his brain fever, and then write all those +terrible things, or had he some cause for it all? I suppose I shall +never know, for I dare not open the subject to him.... And yet that man +we saw yesterday! He seemed quite certain of him.... Poor fellow! I +suppose it was the funeral upset him and sent his mind back on some +train of thought.... He believes it all himself. I remember how on our +wedding-day he said: "Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, mad or sane." There seems to be +through it all some thread of continuity.... That fearful Count was +coming to London.... If it should be, and he came to London, with his +teeming millions.... There may be a solemn duty; and if it come we must +not shrink from it.... I shall be prepared. I shall get my typewriter +this very hour and begin transcribing. Then we shall be ready for other +eyes if required. And if it be wanted; then, perhaps, if I am ready, +poor Jonathan may not be upset, for I can speak for him and never let +him be troubled or worried with it at all. If ever Jonathan quite gets +over the nervousness he may want to tell me of it all, and I can ask him +questions and find out things, and see how I may comfort him. + + +_Letter, Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_24 September._ + +(_Confidence_) + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I pray you to pardon my writing, in that I am so far friend as that I +sent to you sad news of Miss Lucy Westenra's death. By the kindness of +Lord Godalming, I am empowered to read her letters and papers, for I am +deeply concerned about certain matters vitally important. In them I find +some letters from you, which show how great friends you were and how you +love her. Oh, Madam Mina, by that love, I implore you, help me. It is +for others' good that I ask--to redress great wrong, and to lift much +and terrible troubles--that may be more great than you can know. May it +be that I see you? You can trust me. I am friend of Dr. John Seward and +of Lord Godalming (that was Arthur of Miss Lucy). I must keep it private +for the present from all. I should come to Exeter to see you at once if +you tell me I am privilege to come, and where and when. I implore your +pardon, madam. I have read your letters to poor Lucy, and know how good +you are and how your husband suffer; so I pray you, if it may be, +enlighten him not, lest it may harm. Again your pardon, and forgive me. + +"VAN HELSING." + + +_Telegram, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September._--Come to-day by quarter-past ten train if you can catch +it. Can see you any time you call. + +"WILHELMINA HARKER." + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL. + +_25 September._--I cannot help feeling terribly excited as the time +draws near for the visit of Dr. Van Helsing, for somehow I expect that +it will throw some light upon Jonathan's sad experience; and as he +attended poor dear Lucy in her last illness, he can tell me all about +her. That is the reason of his coming; it is concerning Lucy and her +sleep-walking, and not about Jonathan. Then I shall never know the real +truth now! How silly I am. That awful journal gets hold of my +imagination and tinges everything with something of its own colour. Of +course it is about Lucy. That habit came back to the poor dear, and that +awful night on the cliff must have made her ill. I had almost forgotten +in my own affairs how ill she was afterwards. She must have told him +of her sleep-walking adventure on the cliff, and that I knew all about +it; and now he wants me to tell him what she knows, so that he may +understand. I hope I did right in not saying anything of it to Mrs. +Westenra; I should never forgive myself if any act of mine, were it even +a negative one, brought harm on poor dear Lucy. I hope, too, Dr. Van +Helsing will not blame me; I have had so much trouble and anxiety of +late that I feel I cannot bear more just at present. + +I suppose a cry does us all good at times--clears the air as other rain +does. Perhaps it was reading the journal yesterday that upset me, and +then Jonathan went away this morning to stay away from me a whole day +and night, the first time we have been parted since our marriage. I do +hope the dear fellow will take care of himself, and that nothing will +occur to upset him. It is two o'clock, and the doctor will be here soon +now. I shall say nothing of Jonathan's journal unless he asks me. I am +so glad I have type-written out my own journal, so that, in case he asks +about Lucy, I can hand it to him; it will save much questioning. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--He has come and gone. Oh, what a strange meeting, and how it +all makes my head whirl round! I feel like one in a dream. Can it be all +possible, or even a part of it? If I had not read Jonathan's journal +first, I should never have accepted even a possibility. Poor, poor, dear +Jonathan! How he must have suffered. Please the good God, all this may +not upset him again. I shall try to save him from it; but it may be even +a consolation and a help to him--terrible though it be and awful in its +consequences--to know for certain that his eyes and ears and brain did +not deceive him, and that it is all true. It may be that it is the doubt +which haunts him; that when the doubt is removed, no matter +which--waking or dreaming--may prove the truth, he will be more +satisfied and better able to bear the shock. Dr. Van Helsing must be a +good man as well as a clever one if he is Arthur's friend and Dr. +Seward's, and if they brought him all the way from Holland to look after +Lucy. I feel from having seen him that he _is_ good and kind and of a +noble nature. When he comes to-morrow I shall ask him about Jonathan; +and then, please God, all this sorrow and anxiety may lead to a good +end. I used to think I would like to practise interviewing; Jonathan's +friend on "The Exeter News" told him that memory was everything in such +work--that you must be able to put down exactly almost every word +spoken, even if you had to refine some of it afterwards. Here was a rare +interview; I shall try to record it _verbatim_. + +It was half-past two o'clock when the knock came. I took my courage _à +deux mains_ and waited. In a few minutes Mary opened the door, and +announced "Dr. Van Helsing." + +I rose and bowed, and he came towards me; a man of medium weight, +strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and +a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise +of the head strikes one at once as indicative of thought and power; the +head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, +clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large, resolute, mobile +mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive +nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big, bushy brows come down and the +mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost +straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart; +such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, +but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set +widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods. He +said to me:-- + +"Mrs. Harker, is it not?" I bowed assent. + +"That was Miss Mina Murray?" Again I assented. + +"It is Mina Murray that I came to see that was friend of that poor dear +child Lucy Westenra. Madam Mina, it is on account of the dead I come." + +"Sir," I said, "you could have no better claim on me than that you were +a friend and helper of Lucy Westenra." And I held out my hand. He took +it and said tenderly:-- + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I knew that the friend of that poor lily girl must be +good, but I had yet to learn----" He finished his speech with a courtly +bow. I asked him what it was that he wanted to see me about, so he at +once began:-- + +"I have read your letters to Miss Lucy. Forgive me, but I had to begin +to inquire somewhere, and there was none to ask. I know that you were +with her at Whitby. She sometimes kept a diary--you need not look +surprised, Madam Mina; it was begun after you had left, and was in +imitation of you--and in that diary she traces by inference certain +things to a sleep-walking in which she puts down that you saved her. In +great perplexity then I come to you, and ask you out of your so much +kindness to tell me all of it that you can remember." + +"I can tell you, I think, Dr. Van Helsing, all about it." + +"Ah, then you have good memory for facts, for details? It is not always +so with young ladies." + +"No, doctor, but I wrote it all down at the time. I can show it to you +if you like." + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I will be grateful; you will do me much favour." I +could not resist the temptation of mystifying him a bit--I suppose it is +some of the taste of the original apple that remains still in our +mouths--so I handed him the shorthand diary. He took it with a grateful +bow, and said:-- + +"May I read it?" + +"If you wish," I answered as demurely as I could. He opened it, and for +an instant his face fell. Then he stood up and bowed. + +"Oh, you so clever woman!" he said. "I knew long that Mr. Jonathan was a +man of much thankfulness; but see, his wife have all the good things. +And will you not so much honour me and so help me as to read it for me? +Alas! I know not the shorthand." By this time my little joke was over, +and I was almost ashamed; so I took the typewritten copy from my +workbasket and handed it to him. + +"Forgive me," I said: "I could not help it; but I had been thinking that +it was of dear Lucy that you wished to ask, and so that you might not +have time to wait--not on my account, but because I know your time must +be precious--I have written it out on the typewriter for you." + +He took it and his eyes glistened. "You are so good," he said. "And may +I read it now? I may want to ask you some things when I have read." + +"By all means," I said, "read it over whilst I order lunch; and then you +can ask me questions whilst we eat." He bowed and settled himself in a +chair with his back to the light, and became absorbed in the papers, +whilst I went to see after lunch chiefly in order that he might not be +disturbed. When I came back, I found him walking hurriedly up and down +the room, his face all ablaze with excitement. He rushed up to me and +took me by both hands. + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "how can I say what I owe to you? This paper +is as sunshine. It opens the gate to me. I am daze, I am dazzle, with so +much light, and yet clouds roll in behind the light every time. But that +you do not, cannot, comprehend. Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so +clever woman. Madam"--he said this very solemnly--"if ever Abraham Van +Helsing can do anything for you or yours, I trust you will let me know. +It will be pleasure and delight if I may serve you as a friend; as a +friend, but all I have ever learned, all I can ever do, shall be for you +and those you love. There are darknesses in life, and there are lights; +you are one of the lights. You will have happy life and good life, and +your husband will be blessed in you." + +"But, doctor, you praise me too much, and--and you do not know me." + +"Not know you--I, who am old, and who have studied all my life men and +women; I, who have made my specialty the brain and all that belongs to +him and all that follow from him! And I have read your diary that you +have so goodly written for me, and which breathes out truth in every +line. I, who have read your so sweet letter to poor Lucy of your +marriage and your trust, not know you! Oh, Madam Mina, good women tell +all their lives, and by day and by hour and by minute, such things that +angels can read; and we men who wish to know have in us something of +angels' eyes. Your husband is noble nature, and you are noble too, for +you trust, and trust cannot be where there is mean nature. And your +husband--tell me of him. Is he quite well? Is all that fever gone, and +is he strong and hearty?" I saw here an opening to ask him about +Jonathan, so I said:-- + +"He was almost recovered, but he has been greatly upset by Mr. Hawkins's +death." He interrupted:-- + +"Oh, yes, I know, I know. I have read your last two letters." I went +on:-- + +"I suppose this upset him, for when we were in town on Thursday last he +had a sort of shock." + +"A shock, and after brain fever so soon! That was not good. What kind of +a shock was it?" + +"He thought he saw some one who recalled something terrible, something +which led to his brain fever." And here the whole thing seemed to +overwhelm me in a rush. The pity for Jonathan, the horror which he +experienced, the whole fearful mystery of his diary, and the fear that +has been brooding over me ever since, all came in a tumult. I suppose I +was hysterical, for I threw myself on my knees and held up my hands to +him, and implored him to make my husband well again. He took my hands +and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me; he held my +hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetness:-- + +"My life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have not +had much time for friendships; but since I have been summoned to here by +my friend John Seward I have known so many good people and seen such +nobility that I feel more than ever--and it has grown with my advancing +years--the loneliness of my life. Believe, me, then, that I come here +full of respect for you, and you have given me hope--hope, not in what I +am seeking of, but that there are good women still left to make life +happy--good women, whose lives and whose truths may make good lesson for +the children that are to be. I am glad, glad, that I may here be of some +use to you; for if your husband suffer, he suffer within the range of my +study and experience. I promise you that I will gladly do _all_ for him +that I can--all to make his life strong and manly, and your life a happy +one. Now you must eat. You are overwrought and perhaps over-anxious. +Husband Jonathan would not like to see you so pale; and what he like not +where he love, is not to his good. Therefore for his sake you must eat +and smile. You have told me all about Lucy, and so now we shall not +speak of it, lest it distress. I shall stay in Exeter to-night, for I +want to think much over what you have told me, and when I have thought I +will ask you questions, if I may. And then, too, you will tell me of +husband Jonathan's trouble so far as you can, but not yet. You must eat +now; afterwards you shall tell me all." + +After lunch, when we went back to the drawing-room, he said to me:-- + +"And now tell me all about him." When it came to speaking to this great +learned man, I began to fear that he would think me a weak fool, and +Jonathan a madman--that journal is all so strange--and I hesitated to go +on. But he was so sweet and kind, and he had promised to help, and I +trusted him, so I said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, what I have to tell you is so queer that you must not +laugh at me or at my husband. I have been since yesterday in a sort of +fever of doubt; you must be kind to me, and not think me foolish that I +have even half believed some very strange things." He reassured me by +his manner as well as his words when he said:-- + +"Oh, my dear, if you only know how strange is the matter regarding which +I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little +of any one's belief, no matter how strange it be. I have tried to keep +an open mind; and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close +it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that +make one doubt if they be mad or sane." + +"Thank you, thank you, a thousand times! You have taken a weight off my +mind. If you will let me, I shall give you a paper to read. It is long, +but I have typewritten it out. It will tell you my trouble and +Jonathan's. It is the copy of his journal when abroad, and all that +happened. I dare not say anything of it; you will read for yourself and +judge. And then when I see you, perhaps, you will be very kind and tell +me what you think." + +"I promise," he said as I gave him the papers; "I shall in the morning, +so soon as I can, come to see you and your husband, if I may." + +"Jonathan will be here at half-past eleven, and you must come to lunch +with us and see him then; you could catch the quick 3:34 train, which +will leave you at Paddington before eight." He was surprised at my +knowledge of the trains off-hand, but he does not know that I have made +up all the trains to and from Exeter, so that I may help Jonathan in +case he is in a hurry. + +So he took the papers with him and went away, and I sit here +thinking--thinking I don't know what. + + * * * * * + +_Letter (by hand), Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_25 September, 6 o'clock._ + +"Dear Madam Mina,-- + +"I have read your husband's so wonderful diary. You may sleep without +doubt. Strange and terrible as it is, it is _true_! I will pledge my +life on it. It may be worse for others; but for him and you there is no +dread. He is a noble fellow; and let me tell you from experience of men, +that one who would do as he did in going down that wall and to that +room--ay, and going a second time--is not one to be injured in +permanence by a shock. His brain and his heart are all right; this I +swear, before I have even seen him; so be at rest. I shall have much to +ask him of other things. I am blessed that to-day I come to see you, for +I have learn all at once so much that again I am dazzle--dazzle more +than ever, and I must think. + +"Yours the most faithful, + +"ABRAHAM VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September, 6:30 p. m._ + +"My dear Dr. Van Helsing,-- + +"A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which has taken a great weight +off my mind. And yet, if it be true, what terrible things there are in +the world, and what an awful thing if that man, that monster, be really +in London! I fear to think. I have this moment, whilst writing, had a +wire from Jonathan, saying that he leaves by the 6:25 to-night from +Launceston and will be here at 10:18, so that I shall have no fear +to-night. Will you, therefore, instead of lunching with us, please come +to breakfast at eight o'clock, if this be not too early for you? You can +get away, if you are in a hurry, by the 10:30 train, which will bring +you to Paddington by 2:35. Do not answer this, as I shall take it that, +if I do not hear, you will come to breakfast. + +"Believe me, + +"Your faithful and grateful friend, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_26 September._--I thought never to write in this diary again, but the +time has come. When I got home last night Mina had supper ready, and +when we had supped she told me of Van Helsing's visit, and of her having +given him the two diaries copied out, and of how anxious she has been +about me. She showed me in the doctor's letter that all I wrote down was +true. It seems to have made a new man of me. It was the doubt as to the +reality of the whole thing that knocked me over. I felt impotent, and in +the dark, and distrustful. But, now that I _know_, I am not afraid, even +of the Count. He has succeeded after all, then, in his design in getting +to London, and it was he I saw. He has got younger, and how? Van Helsing +is the man to unmask him and hunt him out, if he is anything like what +Mina says. We sat late, and talked it all over. Mina is dressing, and I +shall call at the hotel in a few minutes and bring him over.... + +He was, I think, surprised to see me. When I came into the room where he +was, and introduced myself, he took me by the shoulder, and turned my +face round to the light, and said, after a sharp scrutiny:-- + +"But Madam Mina told me you were ill, that you had had a shock." It was +so funny to hear my wife called "Madam Mina" by this kindly, +strong-faced old man. I smiled, and said:-- + +"I _was_ ill, I _have_ had a shock; but you have cured me already." + +"And how?" + +"By your letter to Mina last night. I was in doubt, and then everything +took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust, even the +evidence of my own senses. Not knowing what to trust, I did not know +what to do; and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been +the groove of my life. The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted +myself. Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt everything, even +yourself. No, you don't; you couldn't with eyebrows like yours." He +seemed pleased, and laughed as he said:-- + +"So! You are physiognomist. I learn more here with each hour. I am with +so much pleasure coming to you to breakfast; and, oh, sir, you will +pardon praise from an old man, but you are blessed in your wife." I +would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day, so I simply nodded +and stood silent. + +"She is one of God's women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and +other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its +light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an +egoist--and that, let me tell you, is much in this age, so sceptical and +selfish. And you, sir--I have read all the letters to poor Miss Lucy, +and some of them speak of you, so I know you since some days from the +knowing of others; but I have seen your true self since last night. You +will give me your hand, will you not? And let us be friends for all our +lives." + +We shook hands, and he was so earnest and so kind that it made me quite +choky. + +"And now," he said, "may I ask you for some more help? I have a great +task to do, and at the beginning it is to know. You can help me here. +Can you tell me what went before your going to Transylvania? Later on I +may ask more help, and of a different kind; but at first this will do." + +"Look here, sir," I said, "does what you have to do concern the Count?" + +"It does," he said solemnly. + +"Then I am with you heart and soul. As you go by the 10:30 train, you +will not have time to read them; but I shall get the bundle of papers. +You can take them with you and read them in the train." + +After breakfast I saw him to the station. When we were parting he +said:-- + +"Perhaps you will come to town if I send to you, and take Madam Mina +too." + +"We shall both come when you will," I said. + +I had got him the morning papers and the London papers of the previous +night, and while we were talking at the carriage window, waiting for the +train to start, he was turning them over. His eyes suddenly seemed to +catch something in one of them, "The Westminster Gazette"--I knew it by +the colour--and he grew quite white. He read something intently, +groaning to himself: "Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! so soon!" I do not +think he remembered me at the moment. Just then the whistle blew, and +the train moved off. This recalled him to himself, and he leaned out of +the window and waved his hand, calling out: "Love to Madam Mina; I shall +write so soon as ever I can." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_26 September._--Truly there is no such thing as finality. Not a week +since I said "Finis," and yet here I am starting fresh again, or rather +going on with the same record. Until this afternoon I had no cause to +think of what is done. Renfield had become, to all intents, as sane as +he ever was. He was already well ahead with his fly business; and he had +just started in the spider line also; so he had not been of any trouble +to me. I had a letter from Arthur, written on Sunday, and from it I +gather that he is bearing up wonderfully well. Quincey Morris is with +him, and that is much of a help, for he himself is a bubbling well of +good spirits. Quincey wrote me a line too, and from him I hear that +Arthur is beginning to recover something of his old buoyancy; so as to +them all my mind is at rest. As for myself, I was settling down to my +work with the enthusiasm which I used to have for it, so that I might +fairly have said that the wound which poor Lucy left on me was becoming +cicatrised. Everything is, however, now reopened; and what is to be the +end God only knows. I have an idea that Van Helsing thinks he knows, +too, but he will only let out enough at a time to whet curiosity. He +went to Exeter yesterday, and stayed there all night. To-day he came +back, and almost bounded into the room at about half-past five o'clock, +and thrust last night's "Westminster Gazette" into my hand. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked as he stood back and folded his +arms. + +I looked over the paper, for I really did not know what he meant; but he +took it from me and pointed out a paragraph about children being decoyed +away at Hampstead. It did not convey much to me, until I reached a +passage where it described small punctured wounds on their throats. An +idea struck me, and I looked up. "Well?" he said. + +"It is like poor Lucy's." + +"And what do you make of it?" + +"Simply that there is some cause in common. Whatever it was that injured +her has injured them." I did not quite understand his answer:-- + +"That is true indirectly, but not directly." + +"How do you mean, Professor?" I asked. I was a little inclined to take +his seriousness lightly--for, after all, four days of rest and freedom +from burning, harrowing anxiety does help to restore one's spirits--but +when I saw his face, it sobered me. Never, even in the midst of our +despair about poor Lucy, had he looked more stern. + +"Tell me!" I said. "I can hazard no opinion. I do not know what to +think, and I have no data on which to found a conjecture." + +"Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to +what poor Lucy died of; not after all the hints given, not only by +events, but by me?" + +"Of nervous prostration following on great loss or waste of blood." + +"And how the blood lost or waste?" I shook my head. He stepped over and +sat down beside me, and went on:-- + +"You are clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold; +but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears +hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to +you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, +and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But +there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's +eyes, because they know--or think they know--some things which other men +have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to +explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to +explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, +which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend +to be young--like the fine ladies at the opera. I suppose now you do not +believe in corporeal transference. No? Nor in materialisation. No? Nor +in astral bodies. No? Nor in the reading of thought. No? Nor in +hypnotism----" + +"Yes," I said. "Charcot has proved that pretty well." He smiled as he +went on: "Then you are satisfied as to it. Yes? And of course then you +understand how it act, and can follow the mind of the great +Charcot--alas that he is no more!--into the very soul of the patient +that he influence. No? Then, friend John, am I to take it that you +simply accept fact, and are satisfied to let from premise to conclusion +be a blank? No? Then tell me--for I am student of the brain--how you +accept the hypnotism and reject the thought reading. Let me tell you, my +friend, that there are things done to-day in electrical science which +would have been deemed unholy by the very men who discovered +electricity--who would themselves not so long before have been burned +as wizards. There are always mysteries in life. Why was it that +Methuselah lived nine hundred years, and 'Old Parr' one hundred and +sixty-nine, and yet that poor Lucy, with four men's blood in her poor +veins, could not live even one day? For, had she live one more day, we +could have save her. Do you know all the mystery of life and death? Do +you know the altogether of comparative anatomy and can say wherefore the +qualities of brutes are in some men, and not in others? Can you tell me +why, when other spiders die small and soon, that one great spider lived +for centuries in the tower of the old Spanish church and grew and grew, +till, on descending, he could drink the oil of all the church lamps? Can +you tell me why in the Pampas, ay and elsewhere, there are bats that +come at night and open the veins of cattle and horses and suck dry their +veins; how in some islands of the Western seas there are bats which hang +on the trees all day, and those who have seen describe as like giant +nuts or pods, and that when the sailors sleep on the deck, because that +it is hot, flit down on them, and then--and then in the morning are +found dead men, white as even Miss Lucy was?" + +"Good God, Professor!" I said, starting up. "Do you mean to tell me that +Lucy was bitten by such a bat; and that such a thing is here in London +in the nineteenth century?" He waved his hand for silence, and went +on:-- + +"Can you tell me why the tortoise lives more long than generations of +men; why the elephant goes on and on till he have seen dynasties; and +why the parrot never die only of bite of cat or dog or other complaint? +Can you tell me why men believe in all ages and places that there are +some few who live on always if they be permit; that there are men and +women who cannot die? We all know--because science has vouched for the +fact--that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of +years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of +the world. Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to die +and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it, and the +corn reaped and be cut and sown and reaped and cut again, and then men +come and take away the unbroken seal and that there lie the Indian +fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as before?" Here +I interrupted him. I was getting bewildered; he so crowded on my mind +his list of nature's eccentricities and possible impossibilities that my +imagination was getting fired. I had a dim idea that he was teaching me +some lesson, as long ago he used to do in his study at Amsterdam; but +he used then to tell me the thing, so that I could have the object of +thought in mind all the time. But now I was without this help, yet I +wanted to follow him, so I said:-- + +"Professor, let me be your pet student again. Tell me the thesis, so +that I may apply your knowledge as you go on. At present I am going in +my mind from point to point as a mad man, and not a sane one, follows an +idea. I feel like a novice lumbering through a bog in a mist, jumping +from one tussock to another in the mere blind effort to move on without +knowing where I am going." + +"That is good image," he said. "Well, I shall tell you. My thesis is +this: I want you to believe." + +"To believe what?" + +"To believe in things that you cannot. Let me illustrate. I heard once +of an American who so defined faith: 'that faculty which enables us to +believe things which we know to be untrue.' For one, I follow that man. +He meant that we shall have an open mind, and not let a little bit of +truth check the rush of a big truth, like a small rock does a railway +truck. We get the small truth first. Good! We keep him, and we value +him; but all the same we must not let him think himself all the truth in +the universe." + +"Then you want me not to let some previous conviction injure the +receptivity of my mind with regard to some strange matter. Do I read +your lesson aright?" + +"Ah, you are my favourite pupil still. It is worth to teach you. Now +that you are willing to understand, you have taken the first step to +understand. You think then that those so small holes in the children's +throats were made by the same that made the hole in Miss Lucy?" + +"I suppose so." He stood up and said solemnly:-- + +"Then you are wrong. Oh, would it were so! but alas! no. It is worse, +far, far worse." + +"In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what do you mean?" I cried. + +He threw himself with a despairing gesture into a chair, and placed his +elbows on the table, covering his face with his hands as he spoke:-- + +"They were made by Miss Lucy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +For a while sheer anger mastered me; it was as if he had during her life +struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to +him:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?" He raised his head and looked at me, and +somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once. "Would I were!" he +said. "Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my +friend, why, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell +you so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all +my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, +now so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a +fearful death? Ah no!" + +"Forgive me," said I. He went on:-- + +"My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the breaking to you, +for I know you have loved that so sweet lady. But even yet I do not +expect you to believe. It is so hard to accept at once any abstract +truth, that we may doubt such to be possible when we have always +believed the 'no' of it; it is more hard still to accept so sad a +concrete truth, and of such a one as Miss Lucy. To-night I go to prove +it. Dare you come with me?" + +This staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth; Byron +excepted from the category, jealousy. + + "And prove the very truth he most abhorred." + +He saw my hesitation, and spoke:-- + +"The logic is simple, no madman's logic this time, jumping from tussock +to tussock in a misty bog. If it be not true, then proof will be relief; +at worst it will not harm. If it be true! Ah, there is the dread; yet +very dread should help my cause, for in it is some need of belief. Come, +I tell you what I propose: first, that we go off now and see that child +in the hospital. Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where the papers +say the child is, is friend of mine, and I think of yours since you were +in class at Amsterdam. He will let two scientists see his case, if he +will not let two friends. We shall tell him nothing, but only that we +wish to learn. And then----" + +"And then?" He took a key from his pocket and held it up. "And then we +spend the night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is +the key that lock the tomb. I had it from the coffin-man to give to +Arthur." My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful +ordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what +heart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon was +passing.... + +We found the child awake. It had had a sleep and taken some food, and +altogether was going on well. Dr. Vincent took the bandage from its +throat, and showed us the punctures. There was no mistaking the +similarity to those which had been on Lucy's throat. They were smaller, +and the edges looked fresher; that was all. We asked Vincent to what he +attributed them, and he replied that it must have been a bite of some +animal, perhaps a rat; but, for his own part, he was inclined to think +that it was one of the bats which are so numerous on the northern +heights of London. "Out of so many harmless ones," he said, "there may +be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant species. Some +sailor may have brought one home, and it managed to escape; or even from +the Zoölogical Gardens a young one may have got loose, or one be bred +there from a vampire. These things do occur, you know. Only ten days ago +a wolf got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a +week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the +Heath and in every alley in the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare +came along, since when it has been quite a gala-time with them. Even +this poor little mite, when he woke up to-day, asked the nurse if he +might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted +to play with the 'bloofer lady.'" + +"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child home +you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it. These fancies +to stray are most dangerous; and if the child were to remain out another +night, it would probably be fatal. But in any case I suppose you will +not let it away for some days?" + +"Certainly not, not for a week at least; longer if the wound is not +healed." + +Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned on, and +the sun had dipped before we came out. When Van Helsing saw how dark it +was, he said:-- + +"There is no hurry. It is more late than I thought. Come, let us seek +somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our way." + +We dined at "Jack Straw's Castle" along with a little crowd of +bicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o'clock we +started from the inn. It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps +made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual +radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we were to go, for he +went on unhesitatingly; but, as for me, I was in quite a mixup as to +locality. As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at +last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse +police going their usual suburban round. At last we reached the wall of +the churchyard, which we climbed over. With some little difficulty--for +it was very dark, and the whole place seemed so strange to us--we found +the Westenra tomb. The Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, +and standing back, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to +precede him. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the +courtliness of giving preference on such a ghastly occasion. My +companion followed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after +carefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a spring, +one. In the latter case we should have been in a bad plight. Then he +fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece of candle, +proceeded to make a light. The tomb in the day-time, and when wreathed +with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough; but now, some +days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites +turning to rust and their greens to browns; when the spider and the +beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance; when time-discoloured +stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished +brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a +candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been +imagined. It conveyed irresistibly the idea that life--animal life--was +not the only thing which could pass away. + +Van Helsing went about his work systematically. Holding his candle so +that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm +dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he +made assurance of Lucy's coffin. Another search in his bag, and he took +out a turnscrew. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked. + +"To open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced." Straightway he began +taking out the screws, and finally lifted off the lid, showing the +casing of lead beneath. The sight was almost too much for me. It seemed +to be as much an affront to the dead as it would have been to have +stripped off her clothing in her sleep whilst living; I actually took +hold of his hand to stop him. He only said: "You shall see," and again +fumbling in his bag, took out a tiny fret-saw. Striking the turnscrew +through the lead with a swift downward stab, which made me wince, he +made a small hole, which was, however, big enough to admit the point of +the saw. I had expected a rush of gas from the week-old corpse. We +doctors, who have had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to +such things, and I drew back towards the door. But the Professor never +stopped for a moment; he sawed down a couple of feet along one side of +the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side. Taking the +edge of the loose flange, he bent it back towards the foot of the +coffin, and holding up the candle into the aperture, motioned to me to +look. + +I drew near and looked. The coffin was empty. + +It was certainly a surprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but +Van Helsing was unmoved. He was now more sure than ever of his ground, +and so emboldened to proceed in his task. "Are you satisfied now, friend +John?" he asked. + +I felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake within me as +I answered him:-- + +"I am satisfied that Lucy's body is not in that coffin; but that only +proves one thing." + +"And what is that, friend John?" + +"That it is not there." + +"That is good logic," he said, "so far as it goes. But how do you--how +can you--account for it not being there?" + +"Perhaps a body-snatcher," I suggested. "Some of the undertaker's people +may have stolen it." I felt that I was speaking folly, and yet it was +the only real cause which I could suggest. The Professor sighed. "Ah +well!" he said, "we must have more proof. Come with me." + +He put on the coffin-lid again, gathered up all his things and placed +them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle also in the +bag. We opened the door, and went out. Behind us he closed the door and +locked it. He handed me the key, saying: "Will you keep it? You had +better be assured." I laughed--it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am +bound to say--as I motioned him to keep it. "A key is nothing," I said; +"there may be duplicates; and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock +of that kind." He said nothing, but put the key in his pocket. Then he +told me to watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at +the other. I took up my place behind a yew-tree, and I saw his dark +figure move until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my +sight. + +It was a lonely vigil. Just after I had taken my place I heard a distant +clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two. I was chilled and +unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking me on such an errand +and with myself for coming. I was too cold and too sleepy to be keenly +observant, and not sleepy enough to betray my trust so altogether I had +a dreary, miserable time. + +Suddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a white +streak, moving between two dark yew-trees at the side of the churchyard +farthest from the tomb; at the same time a dark mass moved from the +Professor's side of the ground, and hurriedly went towards it. Then I +too moved; but I had to go round headstones and railed-off tombs, and I +stumbled over graves. The sky was overcast, and somewhere far off an +early cock crew. A little way off, beyond a line of scattered +juniper-trees, which marked the pathway to the church, a white, dim +figure flitted in the direction of the tomb. The tomb itself was hidden +by trees, and I could not see where the figure disappeared. I heard the +rustle of actual movement where I had first seen the white figure, and +coming over, found the Professor holding in his arms a tiny child. When +he saw me he held it out to me, and said:-- + +"Are you satisfied now?" + +"No," I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive. + +"Do you not see the child?" + +"Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here? And is it wounded?" I +asked. + +"We shall see," said the Professor, and with one impulse we took our way +out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child. + +When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump of +trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child's throat. It was +without a scratch or scar of any kind. + +"Was I right?" I asked triumphantly. + +"We were just in time," said the Professor thankfully. + +We had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so consulted +about it. If we were to take it to a police-station we should have to +give some account of our movements during the night; at least, we should +have had to make some statement as to how we had come to find the child. +So finally we decided that we would take it to the Heath, and when we +heard a policeman coming, would leave it where he could not fail to find +it; we would then seek our way home as quickly as we could. All fell out +well. At the edge of Hampstead Heath we heard a policeman's heavy +tramp, and laying the child on the pathway, we waited and watched until +he saw it as he flashed his lantern to and fro. We heard his exclamation +of astonishment, and then we went away silently. By good chance we got a +cab near the "Spaniards," and drove to town. + +I cannot sleep, so I make this entry. But I must try to get a few hours' +sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon. He insists that I shall +go with him on another expedition. + + * * * * * + +_27 September._--It was two o'clock before we found a suitable +opportunity for our attempt. The funeral held at noon was all completed, +and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken themselves lazily +away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump of alder-trees, we saw +the sexton lock the gate after him. We knew then that we were safe till +morning did we desire it; but the Professor told me that we should not +want more than an hour at most. Again I felt that horrid sense of the +reality of things, in which any effort of imagination seemed out of +place; and I realised distinctly the perils of the law which we were +incurring in our unhallowed work. Besides, I felt it was all so useless. +Outrageous as it was to open a leaden coffin, to see if a woman dead +nearly a week were really dead, it now seemed the height of folly to +open the tomb again, when we knew, from the evidence of our own +eyesight, that the coffin was empty. I shrugged my shoulders, however, +and rested silent, for Van Helsing had a way of going on his own road, +no matter who remonstrated. He took the key, opened the vault, and again +courteously motioned me to precede. The place was not so gruesome as +last night, but oh, how unutterably mean-looking when the sunshine +streamed in. Van Helsing walked over to Lucy's coffin, and I followed. +He bent over and again forced back the leaden flange; and then a shock +of surprise and dismay shot through me. + +There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her +funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever; and I +could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red, nay redder than +before; and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom. + +"Is this a juggle?" I said to him. + +"Are you convinced now?" said the Professor in response, and as he spoke +he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder, pulled back the +dead lips and showed the white teeth. + +"See," he went on, "see, they are even sharper than before. With this +and this"--and he touched one of the canine teeth and that below +it--"the little children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend +John?" Once more, argumentative hostility woke within me. I _could_ not +accept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested; so, with an attempt to +argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said:-- + +"She may have been placed here since last night." + +"Indeed? That is so, and by whom?" + +"I do not know. Some one has done it." + +"And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time would not +look so." I had no answer for this, so was silent. Van Helsing did not +seem to notice my silence; at any rate, he showed neither chagrin nor +triumph. He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman, raising +the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening the lips and +examining the teeth. Then he turned to me and said:-- + +"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded; here is +some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by the vampire +when she was in a trance, sleep-walking--oh, you start; you do not know +that, friend John, but you shall know it all later--and in trance could +he best come to take more blood. In trance she died, and in trance she +is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ from all other. Usually when +the Un-Dead sleep at home"--as he spoke he made a comprehensive sweep of +his arm to designate what to a vampire was "home"--"their face show what +they are, but this so sweet that was when she not Un-Dead she go back to +the nothings of the common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so +it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep." This turned my blood +cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I was accepting Van Helsing's +theories; but if she were really dead, what was there of terror in the +idea of killing her? He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in +my face, for he said almost joyously:-- + +"Ah, you believe now?" + +I answered: "Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing to +accept. How will you do this bloody work?" + +"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall +drive a stake through her body." It made me shudder to think of so +mutilating the body of the woman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling +was not so strong as I had expected. I was, in fact, beginning to +shudder at the presence of this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing +called it, and to loathe it. Is it possible that love is all subjective, +or all objective? + +I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he stood as +if wrapped in thought. Presently he closed the catch of his bag with a +snap, and said:-- + +"I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is best. If I +did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment, what is +to be done; but there are other things to follow, and things that are +thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know. This is +simple. She have yet no life taken, though that is of time; and to act +now would be to take danger from her for ever. But then we may have to +want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this? If you, who saw the +wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child's at +the hospital; if you, who saw the coffin empty last night and full +to-day with a woman who have not change only to be more rose and more +beautiful in a whole week, after she die--if you know of this and know +of the white figure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, +and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how, then, can I expect +Arthur, who know none of those things, to believe? He doubted me when I +took him from her kiss when she was dying. I know he has forgiven me +because in some mistaken idea I have done things that prevent him say +good-bye as he ought; and he may think that in some more mistaken idea +this woman was buried alive; and that in most mistake of all we have +killed her. He will then argue back that it is we, mistaken ones, that +have killed her by our ideas; and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet +he never can be sure; and that is the worst of all. And he will +sometimes think that she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint +his dreams with horrors of what she must have suffered; and again, he +will think that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all, +an Un-Dead. No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now, since +I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I know that he +must pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweet. He, poor fellow, +must have one hour that will make the very face of heaven grow black to +him; then we can act for good all round and send him peace. My mind is +made up. Let us go. You return home for to-night to your asylum, and see +that all be well. As for me, I shall spend the night here in this +churchyard in my own way. To-morrow night you will come to me to the +Berkeley Hotel at ten of the clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, +and also that so fine young man of America that gave his blood. Later we +shall all have work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and +there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set." + +So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of the +churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to Piccadilly. + + +_Note left by Van Helsing in his portmanteau, Berkeley Hotel directed to +John Seward, M. D._ + +(Not delivered.) + +"_27 September._ + +"Friend John,-- + +"I write this in case anything should happen. I go alone to watch in +that churchyard. It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss Lucy, shall not +leave to-night, that so on the morrow night she may be more eager. +Therefore I shall fix some things she like not--garlic and a +crucifix--and so seal up the door of the tomb. She is young as Un-Dead, +and will heed. Moreover, these are only to prevent her coming out; they +may not prevail on her wanting to get in; for then the Un-Dead is +desperate, and must find the line of least resistance, whatsoever it may +be. I shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after the sunrise, +and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn it. For Miss +Lucy or from her, I have no fear; but that other to whom is there that +she is Un-Dead, he have now the power to seek her tomb and find shelter. +He is cunning, as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all +along he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and +we lost; and in many ways the Un-Dead are strong. He have always the +strength in his hand of twenty men; even we four who gave our strength +to Miss Lucy it also is all to him. Besides, he can summon his wolf and +I know not what. So if it be that he come thither on this night he shall +find me; but none other shall--until it be too late. But it may be that +he will not attempt the place. There is no reason why he should; his +hunting ground is more full of game than the churchyard where the +Un-Dead woman sleep, and the one old man watch. + +"Therefore I write this in case.... Take the papers that are with this, +the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and then find this +great Un-Dead, and cut off his head and burn his heart or drive a stake +through it, so that the world may rest from him. + +"If it be so, farewell. + +"VAN HELSING." + + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 September._--It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do for +one. Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's monstrous +ideas; but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on +common sense. I have no doubt that he believes it all. I wonder if his +mind can have become in any way unhinged. Surely there must be _some_ +rational explanation of all these mysterious things. Is it possible that +the Professor can have done it himself? He is so abnormally clever that +if he went off his head he would carry out his intent with regard to +some fixed idea in a wonderful way. I am loath to think it, and indeed +it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van +Helsing was mad; but anyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some +light on the mystery. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, morning._.... Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, +Arthur and Quincey came into Van Helsing's room; he told us all that he +wanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if all +our wills were centred in his. He began by saying that he hoped we would +all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be done +there. You were doubtless surprised at my letter?" This query was +directly addressed to Lord Godalming. + +"I was. It rather upset me for a bit. There has been so much trouble +around my house of late that I could do without any more. I have been +curious, too, as to what you mean. Quincey and I talked it over; but the +more we talked, the more puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself +that I'm about up a tree as to any meaning about anything." + +"Me too," said Quincey Morris laconically. + +"Oh," said the Professor, "then you are nearer the beginning, both of +you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back before he can +even get so far as to begin." + +It was evident that he recognised my return to my old doubting frame of +mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other two, he said +with intense gravity:-- + +"I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It is, I +know, much to ask; and when you know what it is I propose to do you will +know, and only then, how much. Therefore may I ask that you promise me +in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be angry with me for a +time--I must not disguise from myself the possibility that such may +be--you shall not blame yourselves for anything." + +"That's frank anyhow," broke in Quincey. "I'll answer for the Professor. +I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest; and that's good +enough for me." + +"I thank you, sir," said Van Helsing proudly. "I have done myself the +honour of counting you one trusting friend, and such endorsement is dear +to me." He held out a hand, which Quincey took. + +Then Arthur spoke out:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to 'buy a pig in a poke,' as they +say in Scotland, and if it be anything in which my honour as a gentleman +or my faith as a Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. +If you can assure me that what you intend does not violate either of +these two, then I give my consent at once; though for the life of me, I +cannot understand what you are driving at." + +"I accept your limitation," said Van Helsing, "and all I ask of you is +that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine, you will first +consider it well and be satisfied that it does not violate your +reservations." + +"Agreed!" said Arthur; "that is only fair. And now that the +_pourparlers_ are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?" + +"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the churchyard at +Kingstead." + +Arthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way:-- + +"Where poor Lucy is buried?" The Professor bowed. Arthur went on: "And +when there?" + +"To enter the tomb!" Arthur stood up. + +"Professor, are you in earnest; or it is some monstrous joke? Pardon me, +I see that you are in earnest." He sat down again, but I could see that +he sat firmly and proudly, as one who is on his dignity. There was +silence until he asked again:-- + +"And when in the tomb?" + +"To open the coffin." + +"This is too much!" he said, angrily rising again. "I am willing to be +patient in all things that are reasonable; but in this--this desecration +of the grave--of one who----" He fairly choked with indignation. The +Professor looked pityingly at him. + +"If I could spare you one pang, my poor friend," he said, "God knows I +would. But this night our feet must tread in thorny paths; or later, and +for ever, the feet you love must walk in paths of flame!" + +Arthur looked up with set white face and said:-- + +"Take care, sir, take care!" + +"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?" said Van Helsing. +"And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose. Shall I go +on?" + +"That's fair enough," broke in Morris. + +After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort:-- + +"Miss Lucy is dead; is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong to +her. But if she be not dead----" + +Arthur jumped to his feet. + +"Good God!" he cried. "What do you mean? Has there been any mistake; has +she been buried alive?" He groaned in anguish that not even hope could +soften. + +"I did not say she was alive, my child; I did not think it. I go no +further than to say that she might be Un-Dead." + +"Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare, or what +is it?" + +"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they +may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the verge of one. But +I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?" + +"Heavens and earth, no!" cried Arthur in a storm of passion. "Not for +the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead body. Dr. +Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to you that you should +torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl do that you should want to +cast such dishonour on her grave? Are you mad that speak such things, or +am I mad to listen to them? Don't dare to think more of such a +desecration; I shall not give my consent to anything you do. I have a +duty to do in protecting her grave from outrage; and, by God, I shall do +it!" + +Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated, and +said, gravely and sternly:-- + +"My Lord Godalming, I, too, have a duty to do, a duty to others, a duty +to you, a duty to the dead; and, by God, I shall do it! All I ask you +now is that you come with me, that you look and listen; and if when +later I make the same request you do not be more eager for its +fulfilment even than I am, then--then I shall do my duty, whatever it +may seem to me. And then, to follow of your Lordship's wishes I shall +hold myself at your disposal to render an account to you, when and where +you will." His voice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of +pity:-- + +"But, I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long life of +acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did wring +my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now. Believe me that if +the time comes for you to change your mind towards me, one look from +you will wipe away all this so sad hour, for I would do what a man can +to save you from sorrow. Just think. For why should I give myself so +much of labour and so much of sorrow? I have come here from my own land +to do what I can of good; at the first to please my friend John, and +then to help a sweet young lady, whom, too, I came to love. For her--I +am ashamed to say so much, but I say it in kindness--I gave what you +gave; the blood of my veins; I gave it, I, who was not, like you, her +lover, but only her physician and her friend. I gave to her my nights +and days--before death, after death; and if my death can do her good +even now, when she is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely." He +said this with a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected +by it. He took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice:-- + +"Oh, it is hard to think of it, and I cannot understand; but at least I +shall go with you and wait." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +It was just a quarter before twelve o'clock when we got into the +churchyard over the low wall. The night was dark with occasional gleams +of moonlight between the rents of the heavy clouds that scudded across +the sky. We all kept somehow close together, with Van Helsing slightly +in front as he led the way. When we had come close to the tomb I looked +well at Arthur, for I feared that the proximity to a place laden with so +sorrowful a memory would upset him; but he bore himself well. I took it +that the very mystery of the proceeding was in some way a counteractant +to his grief. The Professor unlocked the door, and seeing a natural +hesitation amongst us for various reasons, solved the difficulty by +entering first himself. The rest of us followed, and he closed the door. +He then lit a dark lantern and pointed to the coffin. Arthur stepped +forward hesitatingly; Van Helsing said to me:-- + +"You were with me here yesterday. Was the body of Miss Lucy in that +coffin?" + +"It was." The Professor turned to the rest saying:-- + +"You hear; and yet there is no one who does not believe with me." He +took his screwdriver and again took off the lid of the coffin. Arthur +looked on, very pale but silent; when the lid was removed he stepped +forward. He evidently did not know that there was a leaden coffin, or, +at any rate, had not thought of it. When he saw the rent in the lead, +the blood rushed to his face for an instant, but as quickly fell away +again, so that he remained of a ghastly whiteness; he was still silent. +Van Helsing forced back the leaden flange, and we all looked in and +recoiled. + +The coffin was empty! + +For several minutes no one spoke a word. The silence was broken by +Quincey Morris:-- + +"Professor, I answered for you. Your word is all I want. I wouldn't ask +such a thing ordinarily--I wouldn't so dishonour you as to imply a +doubt; but this is a mystery that goes beyond any honour or dishonour. +Is this your doing?" + +"I swear to you by all that I hold sacred that I have not removed nor +touched her. What happened was this: Two nights ago my friend Seward and +I came here--with good purpose, believe me. I opened that coffin, which +was then sealed up, and we found it, as now, empty. We then waited, and +saw something white come through the trees. The next day we came here in +day-time, and she lay there. Did she not, friend John?" + +"Yes." + +"That night we were just in time. One more so small child was missing, +and we find it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves. Yesterday I came +here before sundown, for at sundown the Un-Dead can move. I waited here +all the night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing. It was most probable +that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors garlic, +which the Un-Dead cannot bear, and other things which they shun. Last +night there was no exodus, so to-night before the sundown I took away my +garlic and other things. And so it is we find this coffin empty. But +bear with me. So far there is much that is strange. Wait you with me +outside, unseen and unheard, and things much stranger are yet to be. +So"--here he shut the dark slide of his lantern--"now to the outside." +He opened the door, and we filed out, he coming last and locking the +door behind him. + +Oh! but it seemed fresh and pure in the night air after the terror of +that vault. How sweet it was to see the clouds race by, and the passing +gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing and +passing--like the gladness and sorrow of a man's life; how sweet it was +to breathe the fresh air, that had no taint of death and decay; how +humanising to see the red lighting of the sky beyond the hill, and to +hear far away the muffled roar that marks the life of a great city. Each +in his own way was solemn and overcome. Arthur was silent, and was, I +could see, striving to grasp the purpose and the inner meaning of the +mystery. I was myself tolerably patient, and half inclined again to +throw aside doubt and to accept Van Helsing's conclusions. Quincey +Morris was phlegmatic in the way of a man who accepts all things, and +accepts them in the spirit of cool bravery, with hazard of all he has to +stake. Not being able to smoke, he cut himself a good-sized plug of +tobacco and began to chew. As to Van Helsing, he was employed in a +definite way. First he took from his bag a mass of what looked like +thin, wafer-like biscuit, which was carefully rolled up in a white +napkin; next he took out a double-handful of some whitish stuff, like +dough or putty. He crumbled the wafer up fine and worked it into the +mass between his hands. This he then took, and rolling it into thin +strips, began to lay them into the crevices between the door and its +setting in the tomb. I was somewhat puzzled at this, and being close, +asked him what it was that he was doing. Arthur and Quincey drew near +also, as they too were curious. He answered:-- + +"I am closing the tomb, so that the Un-Dead may not enter." + +"And is that stuff you have put there going to do it?" asked Quincey. +"Great Scott! Is this a game?" + +"It is." + +"What is that which you are using?" This time the question was by +Arthur. Van Helsing reverently lifted his hat as he answered:-- + +"The Host. I brought it from Amsterdam. I have an Indulgence." It was an +answer that appalled the most sceptical of us, and we felt individually +that in the presence of such earnest purpose as the Professor's, a +purpose which could thus use the to him most sacred of things, it was +impossible to distrust. In respectful silence we took the places +assigned to us close round the tomb, but hidden from the sight of any +one approaching. I pitied the others, especially Arthur. I had myself +been apprenticed by my former visits to this watching horror; and yet I, +who had up to an hour ago repudiated the proofs, felt my heart sink +within me. Never did tombs look so ghastly white; never did cypress, or +yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of funereal gloom; never did tree +or grass wave or rustle so ominously; never did bough creak so +mysteriously; and never did the far-away howling of dogs send such a +woeful presage through the night. + +There was a long spell of silence, a big, aching void, and then from the +Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!" He pointed; and far down the avenue of yews +we saw a white figure advance--a dim white figure, which held something +dark at its breast. The figure stopped, and at the moment a ray of +moonlight fell upon the masses of driving clouds and showed in startling +prominence a dark-haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave. +We could not see the face, for it was bent down over what we saw to be a +fair-haired child. There was a pause and a sharp little cry, such as a +child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreams. We +were starting forward, but the Professor's warning hand, seen by us as +he stood behind a yew-tree, kept us back; and then as we looked the +white figure moved forwards again. It was now near enough for us to see +clearly, and the moonlight still held. My own heart grew cold as ice, +and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognised the features of +Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was +turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous +wantonness. Van Helsing stepped out, and, obedient to his gesture, we +all advanced too; the four of us ranged in a line before the door of the +tomb. Van Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide; by the +concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips +were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her +chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe. + +We shuddered with horror. I could see by the tremulous light that even +Van Helsing's iron nerve had failed. Arthur was next to me, and if I had +not seized his arm and held him up, he would have fallen. + +When Lucy--I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her +shape--saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives +when taken unawares; then her eyes ranged over us. Lucy's eyes in form +and colour; but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of +the pure, gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love +passed into hate and loathing; had she then to be killed, I could have +done it with savage delight. As she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy +light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile. Oh, God, +how it made me shudder to see it! With a careless motion, she flung to +the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had +clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls +over a bone. The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning. There +was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from Arthur; when +she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell +back and hid his face in his hands. + +She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, +said:-- + +"Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are +hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!" + +There was something diabolically sweet in her tones--something of the +tingling of glass when struck--which rang through the brains even of us +who heard the words addressed to another. As for Arthur, he seemed under +a spell; moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms. She +was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between +them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a +suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter +the tomb. + +When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if +arrested by some irresistible force. Then she turned, and her face was +shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had now no +quiver from Van Helsing's iron nerves. Never did I see such baffled +malice on a face; and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by +mortal eyes. The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw +out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of +the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, +blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of +the Greeks and Japanese. If ever a face meant death--if looks could +kill--we saw it at that moment. + +And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained +between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of +entry. Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur:-- + +"Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?" + +Arthur threw himself on his knees, and hid his face in his hands, as he +answered:-- + +"Do as you will, friend; do as you will. There can be no horror like +this ever any more;" and he groaned in spirit. Quincey and I +simultaneously moved towards him, and took his arms. We could hear the +click of the closing lantern as Van Helsing held it down; coming close +to the tomb, he began to remove from the chinks some of the sacred +emblem which he had placed there. We all looked on in horrified +amazement as we saw, when he stood back, the woman, with a corporeal +body as real at that moment as our own, pass in through the interstice +where scarce a knife-blade could have gone. We all felt a glad sense of +relief when we saw the Professor calmly restoring the strings of putty +to the edges of the door. + +When this was done, he lifted the child and said: + +"Come now, my friends; we can do no more till to-morrow. There is a +funeral at noon, so here we shall all come before long after that. The +friends of the dead will all be gone by two, and when the sexton lock +the gate we shall remain. Then there is more to do; but not like this of +to-night. As for this little one, he is not much harm, and by to-morrow +night he shall be well. We shall leave him where the police will find +him, as on the other night; and then to home." Coming close to Arthur, +he said:-- + +"My friend Arthur, you have had a sore trial; but after, when you look +back, you will see how it was necessary. You are now in the bitter +waters, my child. By this time to-morrow you will, please God, have +passed them, and have drunk of the sweet waters; so do not mourn +overmuch. Till then I shall not ask you to forgive me." + +Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other +on the way. We had left the child in safety, and were tired; so we all +slept with more or less reality of sleep. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, night._--A little before twelve o'clock we three--Arthur, +Quincey Morris, and myself--called for the Professor. It was odd to +notice that by common consent we had all put on black clothes. Of +course, Arthur wore black, for he was in deep mourning, but the rest of +us wore it by instinct. We got to the churchyard by half-past one, and +strolled about, keeping out of official observation, so that when the +gravediggers had completed their task and the sexton under the belief +that every one had gone, had locked the gate, we had the place all to +ourselves. Van Helsing, instead of his little black bag, had with him a +long leather one, something like a cricketing bag; it was manifestly of +fair weight. + +When we were alone and had heard the last of the footsteps die out up +the road, we silently, and as if by ordered intention, followed the +Professor to the tomb. He unlocked the door, and we entered, closing it +behind us. Then he took from his bag the lantern, which he lit, and also +two wax candles, which, when lighted, he stuck, by melting their own +ends, on other coffins, so that they might give light sufficient to work +by. When he again lifted the lid off Lucy's coffin we all looked--Arthur +trembling like an aspen--and saw that the body lay there in all its +death-beauty. But there was no love in my own heart, nothing but +loathing for the foul Thing which had taken Lucy's shape without her +soul. I could see even Arthur's face grow hard as he looked. Presently +he said to Van Helsing:-- + +"Is this really Lucy's body, or only a demon in her shape?" + +"It is her body, and yet not it. But wait a while, and you all see her +as she was, and is." + +She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there; the pointed teeth, +the bloodstained, voluptuous mouth--which it made one shudder to +see--the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a +devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity. Van Helsing, with his usual +methodicalness, began taking the various contents from his bag and +placing them ready for use. First he took out a soldering iron and some +plumbing solder, and then a small oil-lamp, which gave out, when lit in +a corner of the tomb, gas which burned at fierce heat with a blue +flame; then his operating knives, which he placed to hand; and last a +round wooden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick and about +three feet long. One end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and +was sharpened to a fine point. With this stake came a heavy hammer, such +as in households is used in the coal-cellar for breaking the lumps. To +me, a doctor's preparations for work of any kind are stimulating and +bracing, but the effect of these things on both Arthur and Quincey was +to cause them a sort of consternation. They both, however, kept their +courage, and remained silent and quiet. + +When all was ready, Van Helsing said:-- + +"Before we do anything, let me tell you this; it is out of the lore and +experience of the ancients and of all those who have studied the powers +of the Un-Dead. When they become such, there comes with the change the +curse of immortality; they cannot die, but must go on age after age +adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world; for all that +die from the preying of the Un-Dead becomes themselves Un-Dead, and prey +on their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the +ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met +that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die; or again, last night +when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, +have become _nosferatu_, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would +all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have fill us with horror. +The career of this so unhappy dear lady is but just begun. Those +children whose blood she suck are not as yet so much the worse; but if +she live on, Un-Dead, more and more they lose their blood and by her +power over them they come to her; and so she draw their blood with that +so wicked mouth. But if she die in truth, then all cease; the tiny +wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their plays +unknowing ever of what has been. But of the most blessed of all, when +this now Un-Dead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor +lady whom we love shall again be free. Instead of working wickedness by +night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she +shall take her place with the other Angels. So that, my friend, it will +be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow that sets her free. +To this I am willing; but is there none amongst us who has a better +right? Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in the silence of the +night when sleep is not: 'It was my hand that sent her to the stars; it +was the hand of him that loved her best; the hand that of all she would +herself have chosen, had it been to her to choose?' Tell me if there be +such a one amongst us?" + +We all looked at Arthur. He saw, too, what we all did, the infinite +kindness which suggested that his should be the hand which would restore +Lucy to us as a holy, and not an unholy, memory; he stepped forward and +said bravely, though his hand trembled, and his face was as pale as +snow:-- + +"My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I thank you. Tell me +what I am to do, and I shall not falter!" Van Helsing laid a hand on his +shoulder, and said:-- + +"Brave lad! A moment's courage, and it is done. This stake must be +driven through her. It will be a fearful ordeal--be not deceived in +that--but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more +than your pain was great; from this grim tomb you will emerge as though +you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only +think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for +you all the time." + +"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me what I am to do." + +"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place the point over the +heart, and the hammer in your right. Then when we begin our prayer for +the dead--I shall read him, I have here the book, and the others shall +follow--strike in God's name, that so all may be well with the dead that +we love and that the Un-Dead pass away." + +Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set on +action his hands never trembled nor even quivered. Van Helsing opened +his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we +could. Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could +see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with all his might. + +The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech +came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted +in wild contortions; the sharp white teeth champed together till the +lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur +never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm +rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst +the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it. His +face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; the sight of it +gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little +vault. + +And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the +teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver. Finally it lay still. The +terrible task was over. + +The hammer fell from Arthur's hand. He reeled and would have fallen had +we not caught him. The great drops of sweat sprang from his forehead, +and his breath came in broken gasps. It had indeed been an awful strain +on him; and had he not been forced to his task by more than human +considerations he could never have gone through with it. For a few +minutes we were so taken up with him that we did not look towards the +coffin. When we did, however, a murmur of startled surprise ran from one +to the other of us. We gazed so eagerly that Arthur rose, for he had +been seated on the ground, and came and looked too; and then a glad, +strange light broke over his face and dispelled altogether the gloom of +horror that lay upon it. + +There, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing that we had so dreaded +and grown to hate that the work of her destruction was yielded as a +privilege to the one best entitled to it, but Lucy as we had seen her in +her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity. True that +there were there, as we had seen them in life, the traces of care and +pain and waste; but these were all dear to us, for they marked her truth +to what we knew. One and all we felt that the holy calm that lay like +sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and +symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever. + +Van Helsing came and laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and said to +him:-- + +"And now, Arthur my friend, dear lad, am I not forgiven?" + +The reaction of the terrible strain came as he took the old man's hand +in his, and raising it to his lips, pressed it, and said:-- + +"Forgiven! God bless you that you have given my dear one her soul again, +and me peace." He put his hands on the Professor's shoulder, and laying +his head on his breast, cried for a while silently, whilst we stood +unmoving. When he raised his head Van Helsing said to him:-- + +"And now, my child, you may kiss her. Kiss her dead lips if you will, as +she would have you to, if for her to choose. For she is not a grinning +devil now--not any more a foul Thing for all eternity. No longer she is +the devil's Un-Dead. She is God's true dead, whose soul is with Him!" + +Arthur bent and kissed her, and then we sent him and Quincey out of the +tomb; the Professor and I sawed the top off the stake, leaving the point +of it in the body. Then we cut off the head and filled the mouth with +garlic. We soldered up the leaden coffin, screwed on the coffin-lid, +and gathering up our belongings, came away. When the Professor locked +the door he gave the key to Arthur. + +Outside the air was sweet, the sun shone, and the birds sang, and it +seemed as if all nature were tuned to a different pitch. There was +gladness and mirth and peace everywhere, for we were at rest ourselves +on one account, and we were glad, though it was with a tempered joy. + +Before we moved away Van Helsing said:-- + +"Now, my friends, one step of our work is done, one the most harrowing +to ourselves. But there remains a greater task: to find out the author +of all this our sorrow and to stamp him out. I have clues which we can +follow; but it is a long task, and a difficult, and there is danger in +it, and pain. Shall you not all help me? We have learned to believe, all +of us--is it not so? And since so, do we not see our duty? Yes! And do +we not promise to go on to the bitter end?" + +Each in turn, we took his hand, and the promise was made. Then said the +Professor as we moved off:-- + +"Two nights hence you shall meet with me and dine together at seven of +the clock with friend John. I shall entreat two others, two that you +know not as yet; and I shall be ready to all our work show and our plans +unfold. Friend John, you come with me home, for I have much to consult +about, and you can help me. To-night I leave for Amsterdam, but shall +return to-morrow night. And then begins our great quest. But first I +shall have much to say, so that you may know what is to do and to dread. +Then our promise shall be made to each other anew; for there is a +terrible task before us, and once our feet are on the ploughshare we +must not draw back." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +When we arrived at the Berkeley Hotel, Van Helsing found a telegram +waiting for him:-- + + "Am coming up by train. Jonathan at Whitby. Important news.--MINA + HARKER." + +The Professor was delighted. "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina," he said, +"pearl among women! She arrive, but I cannot stay. She must go to your +house, friend John. You must meet her at the station. Telegraph her _en +route_, so that she may be prepared." + +When the wire was despatched he had a cup of tea; over it he told me of +a diary kept by Jonathan Harker when abroad, and gave me a typewritten +copy of it, as also of Mrs. Harker's diary at Whitby. "Take these," he +said, "and study them well. When I have returned you will be master of +all the facts, and we can then better enter on our inquisition. Keep +them safe, for there is in them much of treasure. You will need all your +faith, even you who have had such an experience as that of to-day. What +is here told," he laid his hand heavily and gravely on the packet of +papers as he spoke, "may be the beginning of the end to you and me and +many another; or it may sound the knell of the Un-Dead who walk the +earth. Read all, I pray you, with the open mind; and if you can add in +any way to the story here told do so, for it is all-important. You have +kept diary of all these so strange things; is it not so? Yes! Then we +shall go through all these together when we meet." He then made ready +for his departure, and shortly after drove off to Liverpool Street. I +took my way to Paddington, where I arrived about fifteen minutes before +the train came in. + +The crowd melted away, after the bustling fashion common to arrival +platforms; and I was beginning to feel uneasy, lest I might miss my +guest, when a sweet-faced, dainty-looking girl stepped up to me, and, +after a quick glance, said: "Dr. Seward, is it not?" + +"And you are Mrs. Harker!" I answered at once; whereupon she held out +her hand. + +"I knew you from the description of poor dear Lucy; but----" She stopped +suddenly, and a quick blush overspread her face. + +The blush that rose to my own cheeks somehow set us both at ease, for it +was a tacit answer to her own. I got her luggage, which included a +typewriter, and we took the Underground to Fenchurch Street, after I had +sent a wire to my housekeeper to have a sitting-room and bedroom +prepared at once for Mrs. Harker. + +In due time we arrived. She knew, of course, that the place was a +lunatic asylum, but I could see that she was unable to repress a shudder +when we entered. + +She told me that, if she might, she would come presently to my study, as +she had much to say. So here I am finishing my entry in my phonograph +diary whilst I await her. As yet I have not had the chance of looking at +the papers which Van Helsing left with me, though they lie open before +me. I must get her interested in something, so that I may have an +opportunity of reading them. She does not know how precious time is, or +what a task we have in hand. I must be careful not to frighten her. Here +she is! + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After I had tidied myself, I went down to Dr. Seward's +study. At the door I paused a moment, for I thought I heard him talking +with some one. As, however, he had pressed me to be quick, I knocked at +the door, and on his calling out, "Come in," I entered. + +To my intense surprise, there was no one with him. He was quite alone, +and on the table opposite him was what I knew at once from the +description to be a phonograph. I had never seen one, and was much +interested. + +"I hope I did not keep you waiting," I said; "but I stayed at the door +as I heard you talking, and thought there was some one with you." + +"Oh," he replied with a smile, "I was only entering my diary." + +"Your diary?" I asked him in surprise. + +"Yes," he answered. "I keep it in this." As he spoke he laid his hand on +the phonograph. I felt quite excited over it, and blurted out:-- + +"Why, this beats even shorthand! May I hear it say something?" + +"Certainly," he replied with alacrity, and stood up to put it in train +for speaking. Then he paused, and a troubled look overspread his face. + +"The fact is," he began awkwardly, "I only keep my diary in it; and as +it is entirely--almost entirely--about my cases, it may be awkward--that +is, I mean----" He stopped, and I tried to help him out of his +embarrassment:-- + +"You helped to attend dear Lucy at the end. Let me hear how she died; +for all that I know of her, I shall be very grateful. She was very, very +dear to me." + +To my surprise, he answered, with a horrorstruck look in his face:-- + +"Tell you of her death? Not for the wide world!" + +"Why not?" I asked, for some grave, terrible feeling was coming over me. +Again he paused, and I could see that he was trying to invent an excuse. +At length he stammered out:-- + +"You see, I do not know how to pick out any particular part of the +diary." Even while he was speaking an idea dawned upon him, and he said +with unconscious simplicity, in a different voice, and with the naïveté +of a child: "That's quite true, upon my honour. Honest Indian!" I could +not but smile, at which he grimaced. "I gave myself away that time!" he +said. "But do you know that, although I have kept the diary for months +past, it never once struck me how I was going to find any particular +part of it in case I wanted to look it up?" By this time my mind was +made up that the diary of a doctor who attended Lucy might have +something to add to the sum of our knowledge of that terrible Being, and +I said boldly:-- + +"Then, Dr. Seward, you had better let me copy it out for you on my +typewriter." He grew to a positively deathly pallor as he said:-- + +"No! no! no! For all the world, I wouldn't let you know that terrible +story!" + +Then it was terrible; my intuition was right! For a moment I thought, +and as my eyes ranged the room, unconsciously looking for something or +some opportunity to aid me, they lit on a great batch of typewriting on +the table. His eyes caught the look in mine, and, without his thinking, +followed their direction. As they saw the parcel he realised my meaning. + +"You do not know me," I said. "When you have read those papers--my own +diary and my husband's also, which I have typed--you will know me +better. I have not faltered in giving every thought of my own heart in +this cause; but, of course, you do not know me--yet; and I must not +expect you to trust me so far." + +He is certainly a man of noble nature; poor dear Lucy was right about +him. He stood up and opened a large drawer, in which were arranged in +order a number of hollow cylinders of metal covered with dark wax, and +said:-- + +"You are quite right. I did not trust you because I did not know you. +But I know you now; and let me say that I should have known you long +ago. I know that Lucy told you of me; she told me of you too. May I make +the only atonement in my power? Take the cylinders and hear them--the +first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they will not horrify +you; then you will know me better. Dinner will by then be ready. In the +meantime I shall read over some of these documents, and shall be better +able to understand certain things." He carried the phonograph himself up +to my sitting-room and adjusted it for me. Now I shall learn something +pleasant, I am sure; for it will tell me the other side of a true love +episode of which I know one side already.... + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_29 September._--I was so absorbed in that wonderful diary of Jonathan +Harker and that other of his wife that I let the time run on without +thinking. Mrs. Harker was not down when the maid came to announce +dinner, so I said: "She is possibly tired; let dinner wait an hour," and +I went on with my work. I had just finished Mrs. Harker's diary, when +she came in. She looked sweetly pretty, but very sad, and her eyes were +flushed with crying. This somehow moved me much. Of late I have had +cause for tears, God knows! but the relief of them was denied me; and +now the sight of those sweet eyes, brightened with recent tears, went +straight to my heart. So I said as gently as I could:-- + +"I greatly fear I have distressed you." + +"Oh, no, not distressed me," she replied, "but I have been more touched +than I can say by your grief. That is a wonderful machine, but it is +cruelly true. It told me, in its very tones, the anguish of your heart. +It was like a soul crying out to Almighty God. No one must hear them +spoken ever again! See, I have tried to be useful. I have copied out the +words on my typewriter, and none other need now hear your heart beat, as +I did." + +"No one need ever know, shall ever know," I said in a low voice. She +laid her hand on mine and said very gravely:-- + +"Ah, but they must!" + +"Must! But why?" I asked. + +"Because it is a part of the terrible story, a part of poor dear Lucy's +death and all that led to it; because in the struggle which we have +before us to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all +the knowledge and all the help which we can get. I think that the +cylinders which you gave me contained more than you intended me to know; +but I can see that there are in your record many lights to this dark +mystery. You will let me help, will you not? I know all up to a certain +point; and I see already, though your diary only took me to 7 September, +how poor Lucy was beset, and how her terrible doom was being wrought +out. Jonathan and I have been working day and night since Professor Van +Helsing saw us. He is gone to Whitby to get more information, and he +will be here to-morrow to help us. We need have no secrets amongst us; +working together and with absolute trust, we can surely be stronger than +if some of us were in the dark." She looked at me so appealingly, and at +the same time manifested such courage and resolution in her bearing, +that I gave in at once to her wishes. "You shall," I said, "do as you +like in the matter. God forgive me if I do wrong! There are terrible +things yet to learn of; but if you have so far travelled on the road to +poor Lucy's death, you will not be content, I know, to remain in the +dark. Nay, the end--the very end--may give you a gleam of peace. Come, +there is dinner. We must keep one another strong for what is before us; +we have a cruel and dreadful task. When you have eaten you shall learn +the rest, and I shall answer any questions you ask--if there be anything +which you do not understand, though it was apparent to us who were +present." + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After dinner I came with Dr. Seward to his study. He +brought back the phonograph from my room, and I took my typewriter. He +placed me in a comfortable chair, and arranged the phonograph so that I +could touch it without getting up, and showed me how to stop it in case +I should want to pause. Then he very thoughtfully took a chair, with his +back to me, so that I might be as free as possible, and began to read. I +put the forked metal to my ears and listened. + +When the terrible story of Lucy's death, and--and all that followed, was +done, I lay back in my chair powerless. Fortunately I am not of a +fainting disposition. When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped up with a +horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking a case-bottle from a +cupboard, gave me some brandy, which in a few minutes somewhat restored +me. My brain was all in a whirl, and only that there came through all +the multitude of horrors, the holy ray of light that my dear, dear Lucy +was at last at peace, I do not think I could have borne it without +making a scene. It is all so wild, and mysterious, and strange that if I +had not known Jonathan's experience in Transylvania I could not have +believed. As it was, I didn't know what to believe, and so got out of my +difficulty by attending to something else. I took the cover off my +typewriter, and said to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Let me write this all out now. We must be ready for Dr. Van Helsing +when he comes. I have sent a telegram to Jonathan to come on here when +he arrives in London from Whitby. In this matter dates are everything, +and I think that if we get all our material ready, and have every item +put in chronological order, we shall have done much. You tell me that +Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris are coming too. Let us be able to tell him +when they come." He accordingly set the phonograph at a slow pace, and I +began to typewrite from the beginning of the seventh cylinder. I used +manifold, and so took three copies of the diary, just as I had done with +all the rest. It was late when I got through, but Dr. Seward went about +his work of going his round of the patients; when he had finished he +came back and sat near me, reading, so that I did not feel too lonely +whilst I worked. How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of +good men--even if there _are_ monsters in it. Before I left him I +remembered what Jonathan put in his diary of the Professor's +perturbation at reading something in an evening paper at the station at +Exeter; so, seeing that Dr. Seward keeps his newspapers, I borrowed the +files of "The Westminster Gazette" and "The Pall Mall Gazette," and took +them to my room. I remember how much "The Dailygraph" and "The Whitby +Gazette," of which I had made cuttings, helped us to understand the +terrible events at Whitby when Count Dracula landed, so I shall look +through the evening papers since then, and perhaps I shall get some new +light. I am not sleepy, and the work will help to keep me quiet. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_30 September._--Mr. Harker arrived at nine o'clock. He had got his +wife's wire just before starting. He is uncommonly clever, if one can +judge from his face, and full of energy. If this journal be true--and +judging by one's own wonderful experiences, it must be--he is also a man +of great nerve. That going down to the vault a second time was a +remarkable piece of daring. After reading his account of it I was +prepared to meet a good specimen of manhood, but hardly the quiet, +business-like gentleman who came here to-day. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--After lunch Harker and his wife went back to their own room, +and as I passed a while ago I heard the click of the typewriter. They +are hard at it. Mrs. Harker says that they are knitting together in +chronological order every scrap of evidence they have. Harker has got +the letters between the consignee of the boxes at Whitby and the +carriers in London who took charge of them. He is now reading his wife's +typescript of my diary. I wonder what they make out of it. Here it +is.... + + Strange that it never struck me that the very next house might be + the Count's hiding-place! Goodness knows that we had enough clues + from the conduct of the patient Renfield! The bundle of letters + relating to the purchase of the house were with the typescript. Oh, + if we had only had them earlier we might have saved poor Lucy! + Stop; that way madness lies! Harker has gone back, and is again + collating his material. He says that by dinner-time they will be + able to show a whole connected narrative. He thinks that in the + meantime I should see Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of + index to the coming and going of the Count. I hardly see this yet, + but when I get at the dates I suppose I shall. What a good thing + that Mrs. Harker put my cylinders into type! We never could have + found the dates otherwise.... + + I found Renfield sitting placidly in his room with his hands + folded, smiling benignly. At the moment he seemed as sane as any + one I ever saw. I sat down and talked with him on a lot of + subjects, all of which he treated naturally. He then, of his own + accord, spoke of going home, a subject he has never mentioned to my + knowledge during his sojourn here. In fact, he spoke quite + confidently of getting his discharge at once. I believe that, had I + not had the chat with Harker and read the letters and the dates of + his outbursts, I should have been prepared to sign for him after a + brief time of observation. As it is, I am darkly suspicious. All + those outbreaks were in some way linked with the proximity of the + Count. What then does this absolute content mean? Can it be that + his instinct is satisfied as to the vampire's ultimate triumph? + Stay; he is himself zoöphagous, and in his wild ravings outside the + chapel door of the deserted house he always spoke of "master." This + all seems confirmation of our idea. However, after a while I came + away; my friend is just a little too sane at present to make it + safe to probe him too deep with questions. He might begin to think, + and then--! So I came away. I mistrust these quiet moods of his; so + I have given the attendant a hint to look closely after him, and to + have a strait-waistcoat ready in case of need. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September, in train to London._--When I received Mr. Billington's +courteous message that he would give me any information in his power I +thought it best to go down to Whitby and make, on the spot, such +inquiries as I wanted. It was now my object to trace that horrid cargo +of the Count's to its place in London. Later, we may be able to deal +with it. Billington junior, a nice lad, met me at the station, and +brought me to his father's house, where they had decided that I must +stay the night. They are hospitable, with true Yorkshire hospitality: +give a guest everything, and leave him free to do as he likes. They all +knew that I was busy, and that my stay was short, and Mr. Billington had +ready in his office all the papers concerning the consignment of boxes. +It gave me almost a turn to see again one of the letters which I had +seen on the Count's table before I knew of his diabolical plans. +Everything had been carefully thought out, and done systematically and +with precision. He seemed to have been prepared for every obstacle which +might be placed by accident in the way of his intentions being carried +out. To use an Americanism, he had "taken no chances," and the absolute +accuracy with which his instructions were fulfilled, was simply the +logical result of his care. I saw the invoice, and took note of it: +"Fifty cases of common earth, to be used for experimental purposes." +Also the copy of letter to Carter Paterson, and their reply; of both of +these I got copies. This was all the information Mr. Billington could +give me, so I went down to the port and saw the coastguards, the Customs +officers and the harbour-master. They had all something to say of the +strange entry of the ship, which is already taking its place in local +tradition; but no one could add to the simple description "Fifty cases +of common earth." I then saw the station-master, who kindly put me in +communication with the men who had actually received the boxes. Their +tally was exact with the list, and they had nothing to add except that +the boxes were "main and mortal heavy," and that shifting them was dry +work. One of them added that it was hard lines that there wasn't any +gentleman "such-like as yourself, squire," to show some sort of +appreciation of their efforts in a liquid form; another put in a rider +that the thirst then generated was such that even the time which had +elapsed had not completely allayed it. Needless to add, I took care +before leaving to lift, for ever and adequately, this source of +reproach. + + * * * * * + +_30 September._--The station-master was good enough to give me a line to +his old companion the station-master at King's Cross, so that when I +arrived there in the morning I was able to ask him about the arrival of +the boxes. He, too, put me at once in communication with the proper +officials, and I saw that their tally was correct with the original +invoice. The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here +limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was +compelled to deal with the result in an _ex post facto_ manner. + +From thence I went on to Carter Paterson's central office, where I met +with the utmost courtesy. They looked up the transaction in their +day-book and letter-book, and at once telephoned to their King's Cross +office for more details. By good fortune, the men who did the teaming +were waiting for work, and the official at once sent them over, sending +also by one of them the way-bill and all the papers connected with the +delivery of the boxes at Carfax. Here again I found the tally agreeing +exactly; the carriers' men were able to supplement the paucity of the +written words with a few details. These were, I shortly found, connected +almost solely with the dusty nature of the job, and of the consequent +thirst engendered in the operators. On my affording an opportunity, +through the medium of the currency of the realm, of the allaying, at a +later period, this beneficial evil, one of the men remarked:-- + +"That 'ere 'ouse, guv'nor, is the rummiest I ever was in. Blyme! but it +ain't been touched sence a hundred years. There was dust that thick in +the place that you might have slep' on it without 'urtin' of yer bones; +an' the place was that neglected that yer might 'ave smelled ole +Jerusalem in it. But the ole chapel--that took the cike, that did! Me +and my mate, we thort we wouldn't never git out quick enough. Lor', I +wouldn't take less nor a quid a moment to stay there arter dark." + +Having been in the house, I could well believe him; but if he knew what +I know, he would, I think, have raised his terms. + +Of one thing I am now satisfied: that _all_ the boxes which arrived at +Whitby from Varna in the _Demeter_ were safely deposited in the old +chapel at Carfax. There should be fifty of them there, unless any have +since been removed--as from Dr. Seward's diary I fear. + +I shall try to see the carter who took away the boxes from Carfax when +Renfield attacked them. By following up this clue we may learn a good +deal. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Mina and I have worked all day, and we have put all the papers +into order. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal_ + +_30 September._--I am so glad that I hardly know how to contain myself. +It is, I suppose, the reaction from the haunting fear which I have had: +that this terrible affair and the reopening of his old wound might act +detrimentally on Jonathan. I saw him leave for Whitby with as brave a +face as I could, but I was sick with apprehension. The effort has, +however, done him good. He was never so resolute, never so strong, never +so full of volcanic energy, as at present. It is just as that dear, good +Professor Van Helsing said: he is true grit, and he improves under +strain that would kill a weaker nature. He came back full of life and +hope and determination; we have got everything in order for to-night. I +feel myself quite wild with excitement. I suppose one ought to pity any +thing so hunted as is the Count. That is just it: this Thing is not +human--not even beast. To read Dr. Seward's account of poor Lucy's +death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in +one's heart. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris arrived earlier than we +expected. Dr. Seward was out on business, and had taken Jonathan with +him, so I had to see them. It was to me a painful meeting, for it +brought back all poor dear Lucy's hopes of only a few months ago. Of +course they had heard Lucy speak of me, and it seemed that Dr. Van +Helsing, too, has been quite "blowing my trumpet," as Mr. Morris +expressed it. Poor fellows, neither of them is aware that I know all +about the proposals they made to Lucy. They did not quite know what to +say or do, as they were ignorant of the amount of my knowledge; so they +had to keep on neutral subjects. However, I thought the matter over, and +came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do would be to post +them in affairs right up to date. I knew from Dr. Seward's diary that +they had been at Lucy's death--her real death--and that I need not fear +to betray any secret before the time. So I told them, as well as I +could, that I had read all the papers and diaries, and that my husband +and I, having typewritten them, had just finished putting them in order. +I gave them each a copy to read in the library. When Lord Godalming got +his and turned it over--it does make a pretty good pile--he said:-- + +"Did you write all this, Mrs. Harker?" + +I nodded, and he went on:-- + +"I don't quite see the drift of it; but you people are all so good and +kind, and have been working so earnestly and so energetically, that all +I can do is to accept your ideas blindfold and try to help you. I have +had one lesson already in accepting facts that should make a man humble +to the last hour of his life. Besides, I know you loved my poor Lucy--" +Here he turned away and covered his face with his hands. I could hear +the tears in his voice. Mr. Morris, with instinctive delicacy, just laid +a hand for a moment on his shoulder, and then walked quietly out of the +room. I suppose there is something in woman's nature that makes a man +free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or +emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood; for when +Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat down on the sofa and +gave way utterly and openly. I sat down beside him and took his hand. I +hope he didn't think it forward of me, and that if he ever thinks of it +afterwards he never will have such a thought. There I wrong him; I +_know_ he never will--he is too true a gentleman. I said to him, for I +could see that his heart was breaking:-- + +"I loved dear Lucy, and I know what she was to you, and what you were to +her. She and I were like sisters; and now she is gone, will you not let +me be like a sister to you in your trouble? I know what sorrows you have +had, though I cannot measure the depth of them. If sympathy and pity can +help in your affliction, won't you let me be of some little service--for +Lucy's sake?" + +In an instant the poor dear fellow was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed +to me that all that he had of late been suffering in silence found a +vent at once. He grew quite hysterical, and raising his open hands, beat +his palms together in a perfect agony of grief. He stood up and then sat +down again, and the tears rained down his cheeks. I felt an infinite +pity for him, and opened my arms unthinkingly. With a sob he laid his +head on my shoulder and cried like a wearied child, whilst he shook with +emotion. + +We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above +smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked; I felt this big +sorrowing man's head resting on me, as though it were that of the baby +that some day may lie on my bosom, and I stroked his hair as though he +were my own child. I never thought at the time how strange it all was. + +After a little bit his sobs ceased, and he raised himself with an +apology, though he made no disguise of his emotion. He told me that for +days and nights past--weary days and sleepless nights--he had been +unable to speak with any one, as a man must speak in his time of +sorrow. There was no woman whose sympathy could be given to him, or with +whom, owing to the terrible circumstance with which his sorrow was +surrounded, he could speak freely. "I know now how I suffered," he said, +as he dried his eyes, "but I do not know even yet--and none other can +ever know--how much your sweet sympathy has been to me to-day. I shall +know better in time; and believe me that, though I am not ungrateful +now, my gratitude will grow with my understanding. You will let me be +like a brother, will you not, for all our lives--for dear Lucy's sake?" + +"For dear Lucy's sake," I said as we clasped hands. "Ay, and for your +own sake," he added, "for if a man's esteem and gratitude are ever worth +the winning, you have won mine to-day. If ever the future should bring +to you a time when you need a man's help, believe me, you will not call +in vain. God grant that no such time may ever come to you to break the +sunshine of your life; but if it should ever come, promise me that you +will let me know." He was so earnest, and his sorrow was so fresh, that +I felt it would comfort him, so I said:-- + +"I promise." + +As I came along the corridor I saw Mr. Morris looking out of a window. +He turned as he heard my footsteps. "How is Art?" he said. Then noticing +my red eyes, he went on: "Ah, I see you have been comforting him. Poor +old fellow! he needs it. No one but a woman can help a man when he is in +trouble of the heart; and he had no one to comfort him." + +He bore his own trouble so bravely that my heart bled for him. I saw the +manuscript in his hand, and I knew that when he read it he would realise +how much I knew; so I said to him:-- + +"I wish I could comfort all who suffer from the heart. Will you let me +be your friend, and will you come to me for comfort if you need it? You +will know, later on, why I speak." He saw that I was in earnest, and +stooping, took my hand, and raising it to his lips, kissed it. It seemed +but poor comfort to so brave and unselfish a soul, and impulsively I +bent over and kissed him. The tears rose in his eyes, and there was a +momentary choking in his throat; he said quite calmly:-- + +"Little girl, you will never regret that true-hearted kindness, so long +as ever you live!" Then he went into the study to his friend. + +"Little girl!"--the very words he had used to Lucy, and oh, but he +proved himself a friend! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_30 September._--I got home at five o'clock, and found that Godalming +and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied the transcript +of the various diaries and letters which Harker and his wonderful wife +had made and arranged. Harker had not yet returned from his visit to the +carriers' men, of whom Dr. Hennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave +us a cup of tea, and I can honestly say that, for the first time since I +have lived in it, this old house seemed like _home_. When we had +finished, Mrs. Harker said:-- + +"Dr. Seward, may I ask a favour? I want to see your patient, Mr. +Renfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your diary +interests me so much!" She looked so appealing and so pretty that I +could not refuse her, and there was no possible reason why I should; so +I took her with me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a +lady would like to see him; to which he simply answered: "Why?" + +"She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in it," I +answered. "Oh, very well," he said; "let her come in, by all means; but +just wait a minute till I tidy up the place." His method of tidying was +peculiar: he simply swallowed all the flies and spiders in the boxes +before I could stop him. It was quite evident that he feared, or was +jealous of, some interference. When he had got through his disgusting +task, he said cheerfully: "Let the lady come in," and sat down on the +edge of his bed with his head down, but with his eyelids raised so that +he could see her as she entered. For a moment I thought that he might +have some homicidal intent; I remembered how quiet he had been just +before he attacked me in my own study, and I took care to stand where I +could seize him at once if he attempted to make a spring at her. She +came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command +the respect of any lunatic--for easiness is one of the qualities mad +people most respect. She walked over to him, smiling pleasantly, and +held out her hand. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Renfield," said she. "You see, I know you, for Dr. +Seward has told me of you." He made no immediate reply, but eyed her all +over intently with a set frown on his face. This look gave way to one +of wonder, which merged in doubt; then, to my intense astonishment, he +said:-- + +"You're not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you? You can't be, +you know, for she's dead." Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied:-- + +"Oh no! I have a husband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever +saw Dr. Seward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker." + +"Then what are you doing here?" + +"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward." + +"Then don't stay." + +"But why not?" I thought that this style of conversation might not be +pleasant to Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in:-- + +"How did you know I wanted to marry any one?" His reply was simply +contemptuous, given in a pause in which he turned his eyes from Mrs. +Harker to me, instantly turning them back again:-- + +"What an asinine question!" + +"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield," said Mrs. Harker, at once +championing me. He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as +he had shown contempt to me:-- + +"You will, of course, understand, Mrs. Harker, that when a man is so +loved and honoured as our host is, everything regarding him is of +interest in our little community. Dr. Seward is loved not only by his +household and his friends, but even by his patients, who, being some of +them hardly in mental equilibrium, are apt to distort causes and +effects. Since I myself have been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I +cannot but notice that the sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates +lean towards the errors of _non causa_ and _ignoratio elenchi_." I +positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my own pet +lunatic--the most pronounced of his type that I had ever met +with--talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a polished +gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which had touched +some chord in his memory. If this new phase was spontaneous, or in any +way due to her unconscious influence, she must have some rare gift or +power. + +We continued to talk for some time; and, seeing that he was seemingly +quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me questioningly as she +began, to lead him to his favourite topic. I was again astonished, for +he addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of the +completest sanity; he even took himself as an example when he mentioned +certain things. + +"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief. Indeed, +it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on my being +put under control. I used to fancy that life was a positive and +perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of live things, no +matter how low in the scale of creation, one might indefinitely prolong +life. At times I held the belief so strongly that I actually tried to +take human life. The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I +tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by +the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his +blood--relying, of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is +the life.' Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has +vulgarised the truism to the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, +doctor?" I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to +either think or say; it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat up +his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my watch, I +saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, so I told Mrs. +Harker that it was time to leave. She came at once, after saying +pleasantly to Mr. Renfield: "Good-bye, and I hope I may see you often, +under auspices pleasanter to yourself," to which, to my astonishment, he +replied:-- + +"Good-bye, my dear. I pray God I may never see your sweet face again. +May He bless and keep you!" + +When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys behind +me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy first took +ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self than he has been for +many a long day. + +Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness of a +boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying:-- + +"Ah, friend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come +here to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I have +much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine husband? And +Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too? Good!" + +As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of how my own +diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's suggestion; at +which the Professor interrupted me:-- + +"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain--a brain that a man +should have were he much gifted--and a woman's heart. The good God +fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good +combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made that woman of help +to us; after to-night she must not have to do with this so terrible +affair. It is not good that she run a risk so great. We men are +determined--nay, are we not pledged?--to destroy this monster; but it is +no part for a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her +in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer--both in +waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams. And, besides, +she is young woman and not so long married; there may be other things to +think of some time, if not now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she +must consult with us; but to-morrow she say good-bye to this work, and +we go alone." I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we +had found in his absence: that the house which Dracula had bought was +the very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern seemed +to come on him. "Oh that we had known it before!" he said, "for then we +might have reached him in time to save poor Lucy. However, 'the milk +that is spilt cries not out afterwards,' as you say. We shall not think +of that, but go on our way to the end." Then he fell into a silence that +lasted till we entered my own gateway. Before we went to prepare for +dinner he said to Mrs. Harker:-- + +"I am told, Madam Mina, by my friend John that you and your husband have +put up in exact order all things that have been, up to this moment." + +"Not up to this moment, Professor," she said impulsively, "but up to +this morning." + +"But why not up to now? We have seen hitherto how good light all the +little things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet no one who +has told is the worse for it." + +Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets, she +said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it must go in. It +is my record of to-day. I too have seen the need of putting down at +present everything, however trivial; but there is little in this except +what is personal. Must it go in?" The Professor read it over gravely, +and handed it back, saying:-- + +"It need not go in if you do not wish it; but I pray that it may. It can +but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your friends, more +honour you--as well as more esteem and love." She took it back with +another blush and a bright smile. + +And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are complete +and in order. The Professor took away one copy to study after dinner, +and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock. The rest of us +have already read everything; so when we meet in the study we shall all +be informed as to facts, and can arrange our plan of battle with this +terrible and mysterious enemy. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 September._--When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after +dinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a sort of +board or committee. Professor Van Helsing took the head of the table, to +which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the room. He made me sit +next to him on his right, and asked me to act as secretary; Jonathan sat +next to me. Opposite us were Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. +Morris--Lord Godalming being next the Professor, and Dr. Seward in the +centre. The Professor said:-- + +"I may, I suppose, take it that we are all acquainted with the facts +that are in these papers." We all expressed assent, and he went on:-- + +"Then it were, I think good that I tell you something of the kind of +enemy with which we have to deal. I shall then make known to you +something of the history of this man, which has been ascertained for me. +So we then can discuss how we shall act, and can take our measure +according. + +"There are such beings as vampires; some of us have evidence that they +exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the +teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane +peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic. Were it not that +through long years I have train myself to keep an open mind, I could not +have believe until such time as that fact thunder on my ear. 'See! see! +I prove; I prove.' Alas! Had I known at the first what now I know--nay, +had I even guess at him--one so precious life had been spared to many of +us who did love her. But that is gone; and we must so work, that other +poor souls perish not, whilst we can save. The _nosferatu_ do not die +like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger; and being +stronger, have yet more power to work evil. This vampire which is +amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men; he is of +cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages; he have +still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the +divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are +for him at command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in +callous, and the heart of him is not; he can, within limitations, appear +at will when, and where, and in any of the forms that are to him; he +can, within his range, direct the elements; the storm, the fog, the +thunder; he can command all the meaner things: the rat, and the owl, and +the bat--the moth, and the fox, and the wolf; he can grow and become +small; and he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to +begin our strike to destroy him? How shall we find his where; and having +found it, how can we destroy? My friends, this is much; it is a terrible +task that we undertake, and there may be consequence to make the brave +shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must surely win; and then +where end we? Life is nothings; I heed him not. But to fail here, is not +mere life or death. It is that we become as him; that we henceforward +become foul things of the night like him--without heart or conscience, +preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love best. To us for +ever are the gates of heaven shut; for who shall open them to us again? +We go on for all time abhorred by all; a blot on the face of God's +sunshine; an arrow in the side of Him who died for man. But we are face +to face with duty; and in such case must we shrink? For me, I say, no; +but then I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair places, his +song of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind. You others are +young. Some have seen sorrow; but there are fair days yet in store. What +say you?" + +Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand. I feared, oh so +much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him when I +saw his hand stretch out; but it was life to me to feel its touch--so +strong, so self-reliant, so resolute. A brave man's hand can speak for +itself; it does not even need a woman's love to hear its music. + +When the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my eyes, and I +in his; there was no need for speaking between us. + +"I answer for Mina and myself," he said. + +"Count me in, Professor," said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically as usual. + +"I am with you," said Lord Godalming, "for Lucy's sake, if for no other +reason." + +Dr. Seward simply nodded. The Professor stood up and, after laying his +golden crucifix on the table, held out his hand on either side. I took +his right hand, and Lord Godalming his left; Jonathan held my right with +his left and stretched across to Mr. Morris. So as we all took hands our +solemn compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not even +occur to me to draw back. We resumed our places, and Dr. Van Helsing +went on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the serious work +had begun. It was to be taken as gravely, and in as businesslike a way, +as any other transaction of life:-- + +"Well, you know what we have to contend against; but we, too, are not +without strength. We have on our side power of combination--a power +denied to the vampire kind; we have sources of science; we are free to +act and think; and the hours of the day and the night are ours equally. +In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are +free to use them. We have self-devotion in a cause, and an end to +achieve which is not a selfish one. These things are much. + +"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us are +restrict, and how the individual cannot. In fine, let us consider the +limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one in particular. + +"All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions. These do not +at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and death--nay +of more than either life or death. Yet must we be satisfied; in the +first place because we have to be--no other means is at our control--and +secondly, because, after all, these things--tradition and +superstition--are everything. Does not the belief in vampires rest for +others--though not, alas! for us--on them? A year ago which of us would +have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, +sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth century? We even scouted a belief +that we saw justified under our very eyes. Take it, then, that the +vampire, and the belief in his limitations and his cure, rest for the +moment on the same base. For, let me tell you, he is known everywhere +that men have been. In old Greece, in old Rome; he flourish in Germany +all over, in France, in India, even in the Chernosese; and in China, so +far from us in all ways, there even is he, and the peoples fear him at +this day. He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the +devil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, the Magyar. So far, then, we +have all we may act upon; and let me tell you that very much of the +beliefs are justified by what we have seen in our own so unhappy +experience. The vampire live on, and cannot die by mere passing of the +time; he can flourish when that he can fatten on the blood of the +living. Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can even grow +younger; that his vital faculties grow strenuous, and seem as though +they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty. But he +cannot flourish without this diet; he eat not as others. Even friend +Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him to eat, never! +He throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect, as again +Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of his hand--witness again +Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him +from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather +from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog; he can be as +bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John +saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at +the window of Miss Lucy. He can come in mist which he create--that noble +ship's captain proved him of this; but, from what we know, the distance +he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself. He +come on moonlight rays as elemental dust--as again Jonathan saw those +sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small--we ourselves saw +Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a hairbreadth space at the +tomb door. He can, when once he find his way, come out from anything or +into anything, no matter how close it be bound or even fused up with +fire--solder you call it. He can see in the dark--no small power this, +in a world which is one half shut from the light. Ah, but hear me +through. He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay; he is even +more prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell. +He cannot go where he lists; he who is not of nature has yet to obey +some of nature's laws--why we know not. He may not enter anywhere at the +first, unless there be some one of the household who bid him to come; +though afterwards he can come as he please. His power ceases, as does +that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times +can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is +bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset. +These things are we told, and in this record of ours we have proof by +inference. Thus, whereas he can do as he will within his limit, when he +have his earth-home, his coffin-home, his hell-home, the place +unhallowed, as we saw when he went to the grave of the suicide at +Whitby; still at other time he can only change when the time come. It is +said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood +of the tide. Then there are things which so afflict him that he has no +power, as the garlic that we know of; and as for things sacred, as this +symbol, my crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to +them he is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and +silent with respect. There are others, too, which I shall tell you of, +lest in our seeking we may need them. The branch of wild rose on his +coffin keep him that he move not from it; a sacred bullet fired into the +coffin kill him so that he be true dead; and as for the stake through +him, we know already of its peace; or the cut-off head that giveth rest. +We have seen it with our eyes. + +"Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can confine +him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know. But he is +clever. I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to +make his record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he +has been. He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his +name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of +Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man; for in that time, +and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most +cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the +forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his +grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says +Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who +were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They +learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake +Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the +records are such words as 'stregoica'--witch, 'ordog,' and +'pokol'--Satan and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is +spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well. There have been +from the loins of this very one great men and good women, and their +graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness can dwell. For it +is not the least of its terrors that this evil thing is rooted deep in +all good; in soil barren of holy memories it cannot rest." + +Whilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the window, +and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room. There was a little +pause, and then the Professor went on:-- + +"And now we must settle what we do. We have here much data, and we must +proceed to lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry of Jonathan +that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all of which +were delivered at Carfax; we also know that at least some of these boxes +have been removed. It seems to me, that our first step should be to +ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond that wall +where we look to-day; or whether any more have been removed. If the +latter, we must trace----" + +Here we were interrupted in a very startling way. Outside the house came +the sound of a pistol-shot; the glass of the window was shattered with a +bullet, which, ricochetting from the top of the embrasure, struck the +far wall of the room. I am afraid I am at heart a coward, for I shrieked +out. The men all jumped to their feet; Lord Godalming flew over to the +window and threw up the sash. As he did so we heard Mr. Morris's voice +without:-- + +"Sorry! I fear I have alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about +it." A minute later he came in and said:-- + +"It was an idiotic thing of me to do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. +Harker, most sincerely; I fear I must have frightened you terribly. But +the fact is that whilst the Professor was talking there came a big bat +and sat on the window-sill. I have got such a horror of the damned +brutes from recent events that I cannot stand them, and I went out to +have a shot, as I have been doing of late of evenings, whenever I have +seen one. You used to laugh at me for it then, Art." + +"Did you hit it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing. + +"I don't know; I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood." Without +saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began to resume his +statement:-- + +"We must trace each of these boxes; and when we are ready, we must +either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to +speak, sterilise the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it. +Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours of +noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most weak. + +"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. +You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part to-night, you +no more must question. We shall tell you all in good time. We are men +and are able to bear; but you must be our star and our hope, and we +shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we +are." + +All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved; but it did not seem to me +good that they should brave danger and, perhaps, lessen their +safety--strength being the best safety--through care of me; but their +minds were made up, and, though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, +I could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me. + +Mr. Morris resumed the discussion:-- + +"As there is no time to lose, I vote we have a look at his house right +now. Time is everything with him; and swift action on our part may save +another victim." + +I own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action came so +close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear that if I +appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even leave +me out of their counsels altogether. They have now gone off to Carfax, +with means to get into the house. + +Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep; as if a woman can +sleep when those she loves are in danger! I shall lie down and pretend +to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he returns. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October, 4 a. m._--Just as we were about to leave the house, an +urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see +him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me. +I told the messenger to say that I would attend to his wishes in the +morning; I was busy just at the moment. The attendant added:-- + +"He seems very importunate, sir. I have never seen him so eager. I don't +know but what, if you don't see him soon, he will have one of his +violent fits." I knew the man would not have said this without some +cause, so I said: "All right; I'll go now"; and I asked the others to +wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and see my "patient." + +"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your +diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on _our_ +case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is +disturbed." + +"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming. + +"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and +we all went down the passage together. + +We found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more +rational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him. There was an +unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything I had ever +met with in a lunatic; and he took it for granted that his reasons would +prevail with others entirely sane. We all four went into the room, but +none of the others at first said anything. His request was that I would +at once release him from the asylum and send him home. This he backed up +with arguments regarding his complete recovery, and adduced his own +existing sanity. "I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, +perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have +not introduced me." I was so much astonished, that the oddness of +introducing a madman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment; and, +besides, there was a certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of +the habit of equality, that I at once made the introduction: "Lord +Godalming; Professor Van Helsing; Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas; Mr. +Renfield." He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn:-- + +"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the +Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no +more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his +youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much +patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great +state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have +far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold +alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a +vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true +place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at +meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of +conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics +by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, +conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to +one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by +the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective +places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at +least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. +And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as +well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to +be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last +appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own +charm. + +I think we were all staggered. For my own part, I was under the +conviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and history, +that his reason had been restored; and I felt under a strong impulse to +tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity, and would see about the +necessary formalities for his release in the morning. I thought it +better to wait, however, before making so grave a statement, for of old +I knew the sudden changes to which this particular patient was liable. +So I contented myself with making a general statement that he appeared +to be improving very rapidly; that I would have a longer chat with him +in the morning, and would then see what I could do in the direction of +meeting his wishes. This did not at all satisfy him, for he said +quickly:-- + +"But I fear, Dr. Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish. I desire to +go at once--here--now--this very hour--this very moment, if I may. Time +presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman it is of +the essence of the contract. I am sure it is only necessary to put +before so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward so simple, yet so +momentous a wish, to ensure its fulfilment." He looked at me keenly, and +seeing the negative in my face, turned to the others, and scrutinised +them closely. Not meeting any sufficient response, he went on:-- + +"Is it possible that I have erred in my supposition?" + +"You have," I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt, brutally. +There was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly:-- + +"Then I suppose I must only shift my ground of request. Let me ask for +this concession--boon, privilege, what you will. I am content to implore +in such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of others. I +am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons; but you may, I +assure you, take it from me that they are good ones, sound and +unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty. Could you look, +sir, into my heart, you would approve to the full the sentiments which +animate me. Nay, more, you would count me amongst the best and truest of +your friends." Again he looked at us all keenly. I had a growing +conviction that this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was +but yet another form or phase of his madness, and so determined to let +him go on a little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like +all lunatics, give himself away in the end. Van Helsing was gazing at +him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting +with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone +which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it +afterwards--for it was as of one addressing an equal:-- + +"Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be free +to-night? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me--a stranger, +without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open mind--Dr. +Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own responsibility, the +privilege you seek." He shook his head sadly, and with a look of +poignant regret on his face. The Professor went on:-- + +"Come, sir, bethink yourself. You claim the privilege of reason in the +highest degree, since you seek to impress us with your complete +reasonableness. You do this, whose sanity we have reason to doubt, since +you are not yet released from medical treatment for this very defect. If +you will not help us in our effort to choose the wisest course, how can +we perform the duty which you yourself put upon us? Be wise, and help +us; and if we can we shall aid you to achieve your wish." He still shook +his head as he said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I have nothing to say. Your argument is complete, and +if I were free to speak I should not hesitate a moment; but I am not my +own master in the matter. I can only ask you to trust me. If I am +refused, the responsibility does not rest with me." I thought it was now +time to end the scene, which was becoming too comically grave, so I went +towards the door, simply saying:-- + +"Come, my friends, we have work to do. Good-night." + +As, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the patient. He +moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I feared that he was +about to make another homicidal attack. My fears, however, were +groundless, for he held up his two hands imploringly, and made his +petition in a moving manner. As he saw that the very excess of his +emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old +relations, he became still more demonstrative. I glanced at Van Helsing, +and saw my conviction reflected in his eyes; so I became a little more +fixed in my manner, if not more stern, and motioned to him that his +efforts were unavailing. I had previously seen something of the same +constantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some request of +which at the time he had thought much, such, for instance, as when he +wanted a cat; and I was prepared to see the collapse into the same +sullen acquiescence on this occasion. My expectation was not realised, +for, when he found that his appeal would not be successful, he got into +quite a frantic condition. He threw himself on his knees, and held up +his hands, wringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a +torrent of entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his +whole face and form expressive of the deepest emotion:-- + +"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out +of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; +send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a +strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go +out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am +speaking from the depths of my heart--of my very soul. You don't know +whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. +By all you hold sacred--by all you hold dear--by your love that is +lost--by your hope that lives--for the sake of the Almighty, take me out +of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you +understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and +earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting +for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!" + +I thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get, and so +would bring on a fit; so I took him by the hand and raised him up. + +"Come," I said sternly, "no more of this; we have had quite enough +already. Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly." + +He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several moments. Then, +without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on the side of the +bed. The collapse had come, as on former occasion, just as I had +expected. + +When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in a +quiet, well-bred voice:-- + +"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later +on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, 5 a. m._--I went with the party to the search with an easy +mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well. I am +so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work. +Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful business at +all; but now that her work is done, and that it is due to her energy and +brains and foresight that the whole story is put together in such a way +that every point tells, she may well feel that her part is finished, and +that she can henceforth leave the rest to us. We were, I think, all a +little upset by the scene with Mr. Renfield. When we came away from his +room we were silent till we got back to the study. Then Mr. Morris said +to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the +sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had some +serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a +chance." Lord Godalming and I were silent, but Dr. Van Helsing added:-- + +"Friend John, you know more of lunatics than I do, and I'm glad of it, +for I fear that if it had been to me to decide I would before that last +hysterical outburst have given him free. But we live and learn, and in +our present task we must take no chance, as my friend Quincey would say. +All is best as they are." Dr. Seward seemed to answer them both in a +dreamy kind of way:-- + +"I don't know but that I agree with you. If that man had been an +ordinary lunatic I would have taken my chance of trusting him; but he +seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way that I am +afraid of doing anything wrong by helping his fads. I can't forget how +he prayed with almost equal fervour for a cat, and then tried to tear my +throat out with his teeth. Besides, he called the Count 'lord and +master,' and he may want to get out to help him in some diabolical way. +That horrid thing has the wolves and the rats and his own kind to help +him, so I suppose he isn't above trying to use a respectable lunatic. He +certainly did seem earnest, though. I only hope we have done what is +best. These things, in conjunction with the wild work we have in hand, +help to unnerve a man." The Professor stepped over, and laying his hand +on his shoulder, said in his grave, kindly way:-- + +"Friend John, have no fear. We are trying to do our duty in a very sad +and terrible case; we can only do as we deem best. What else have we to +hope for, except the pity of the good God?" Lord Godalming had slipped +away for a few minutes, but now he returned. He held up a little silver +whistle, as he remarked:-- + +"That old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote on +call." Having passed the wall, we took our way to the house, taking care +to keep in the shadows of the trees on the lawn when the moonlight shone +out. When we got to the porch the Professor opened his bag and took out +a lot of things, which he laid on the step, sorting them into four +little groups, evidently one for each. Then he spoke:-- + +"My friends, we are going into a terrible danger, and we need arms of +many kinds. Our enemy is not merely spiritual. Remember that he has the +strength of twenty men, and that, though our necks or our windpipes are +of the common kind--and therefore breakable or crushable--his are not +amenable to mere strength. A stronger man, or a body of men more strong +in all than him, can at certain times hold him; but they cannot hurt him +as we can be hurt by him. We must, therefore, guard ourselves from his +touch. Keep this near your heart"--as he spoke he lifted a little silver +crucifix and held it out to me, I being nearest to him--"put these +flowers round your neck"--here he handed to me a wreath of withered +garlic blossoms--"for other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this +knife; and for aid in all, these so small electric lamps, which you can +fasten to your breast; and for all, and above all at the last, this, +which we must not desecrate needless." This was a portion of Sacred +Wafer, which he put in an envelope and handed to me. Each of the others +was similarly equipped. "Now," he said, "friend John, where are the +skeleton keys? If so that we can open the door, we need not break house +by the window, as before at Miss Lucy's." + +Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical dexterity as a +surgeon standing him in good stead. Presently he got one to suit; after +a little play back and forward the bolt yielded, and, with a rusty +clang, shot back. We pressed on the door, the rusty hinges creaked, and +it slowly opened. It was startlingly like the image conveyed to me in +Dr. Seward's diary of the opening of Miss Westenra's tomb; I fancy that +the same idea seemed to strike the others, for with one accord they +shrank back. The Professor was the first to move forward, and stepped +into the open door. + +"_In manus tuas, Domine!_" he said, crossing himself as he passed over +the threshold. We closed the door behind us, lest when we should have +lit our lamps we should possibly attract attention from the road. The +Professor carefully tried the lock, lest we might not be able to open it +from within should we be in a hurry making our exit. Then we all lit our +lamps and proceeded on our search. + +The light from the tiny lamps fell in all sorts of odd forms, as the +rays crossed each other, or the opacity of our bodies threw great +shadows. I could not for my life get away from the feeling that there +was some one else amongst us. I suppose it was the recollection, so +powerfully brought home to me by the grim surroundings, of that terrible +experience in Transylvania. I think the feeling was common to us all, +for I noticed that the others kept looking over their shoulders at every +sound and every new shadow, just as I felt myself doing. + +The whole place was thick with dust. The floor was seemingly inches +deep, except where there were recent footsteps, in which on holding down +my lamp I could see marks of hobnails where the dust was cracked. The +walls were fluffy and heavy with dust, and in the corners were masses of +spider's webs, whereon the dust had gathered till they looked like old +tattered rags as the weight had torn them partly down. On a table in the +hall was a great bunch of keys, with a time-yellowed label on each. They +had been used several times, for on the table were several similar rents +in the blanket of dust, similar to that exposed when the Professor +lifted them. He turned to me and said:-- + +"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know +it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an +idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to +get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings +found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. +"This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small +map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence +regarding the purchase. With a little trouble we found the key on the +bunch and opened the door. We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for +as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale +through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we +encountered. None of the others had met the Count at all at close +quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of +his existence in his rooms or, when he was gloated with fresh blood, in +a ruined building open to the air; but here the place was small and +close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul. There was +an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler +air. But as to the odour itself, how shall I describe it? It was not +alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the +pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had +become itself corrupt. Faugh! it sickens me to think of it. Every breath +exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and +intensified its loathsomeness. + +Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our +enterprise to an end; but this was no ordinary case, and the high and +terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength which rose +above merely physical considerations. After the involuntary shrinking +consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set about our +work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses. + +We made an accurate examination of the place, the Professor saying as we +began:-- + +"The first thing is to see how many of the boxes are left; we must then +examine every hole and corner and cranny and see if we cannot get some +clue as to what has become of the rest." A glance was sufficient to show +how many remained, for the great earth chests were bulky, and there was +no mistaking them. + +There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty! Once I got a fright, +for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of the vaulted +door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and for an instant my +heart stood still. Somewhere, looking out from the shadow, I seemed to +see the high lights of the Count's evil face, the ridge of the nose, the +red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor. It was only for a moment, for, +as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I saw a face, but it was only the +shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I turned my lamp in the direction, +and stepped into the passage. There was no sign of any one; and as there +were no corners, no doors, no aperture of any kind, but only the solid +walls of the passage, there could be no hiding-place even for _him_. I +took it that fear had helped imagination, and said nothing. + +A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a corner, which +he was examining. We all followed his movements with our eyes, for +undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and we saw a whole mass +of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars. We all instinctively drew +back. The whole place was becoming alive with rats. + +For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was +seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great +iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, +and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the +huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver +whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered +from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a +minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house. +Unconsciously we had all moved towards the door, and as we moved I +noticed that the dust had been much disturbed: the boxes which had been +taken out had been brought this way. But even in the minute that had +elapsed the number of the rats had vastly increased. They seemed to +swarm over the place all at once, till the lamplight, shining on their +moving dark bodies and glittering, baleful eyes, made the place look +like a bank of earth set with fireflies. The dogs dashed on, but at the +threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then, simultaneously lifting +their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion. The rats were +multiplying in thousands, and we moved out. + +Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in, placed him +on the floor. The instant his feet touched the ground he seemed to +recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies. They fled before +him so fast that before he had shaken the life out of a score, the other +dogs, who had by now been lifted in the same manner, had but small prey +ere the whole mass had vanished. + +With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had departed, for +the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they made sudden darts at +their prostrate foes, and turned them over and over and tossed them in +the air with vicious shakes. We all seemed to find our spirits rise. +Whether it was the purifying of the deadly atmosphere by the opening of +the chapel door, or the relief which we experienced by finding ourselves +in the open I know not; but most certainly the shadow of dread seemed to +slip from us like a robe, and the occasion of our coming lost something +of its grim significance, though we did not slacken a whit in our +resolution. We closed the outer door and barred and locked it, and +bringing the dogs with us, began our search of the house. We found +nothing throughout except dust in extraordinary proportions, and all +untouched save for my own footsteps when I had made my first visit. +Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of uneasiness, and even when +we returned to the chapel they frisked about as though they had been +rabbit-hunting in a summer wood. + +The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the front. +Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall-door from the bunch, and +locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into his pocket +when he had done. + +"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful. No harm has +come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained how +many boxes are missing. More than all do I rejoice that this, our +first--and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous--step has been +accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina or +troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds and +smells of horror which she might never forget. One lesson, too, we have +learned, if it be allowable to argue _a particulari_: that the brute +beasts which are to the Count's command are yet themselves not amenable +to his spiritual power; for look, these rats that would come to his +call, just as from his castle top he summon the wolves to your going and +to that poor mother's cry, though they come to him, they run pell-mell +from the so little dogs of my friend Arthur. We have other matters +before us, other dangers, other fears; and that monster--he has not used +his power over the brute world for the only or the last time to-night. +So be it that he has gone elsewhere. Good! It has given us opportunity +to cry 'check' in some ways in this chess game, which we play for the +stake of human souls. And now let us go home. The dawn is close at hand, +and we have reason to be content with our first night's work. It may be +ordained that we have many nights and days to follow, if full of peril; +but we must go on, and from no danger shall we shrink." + +The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who +was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound +from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, +after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain. + +I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so +softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than +usual. I hope the meeting to-night has not upset her. I am truly +thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of our +deliberations. It is too great a strain for a woman to bear. I did not +think so at first, but I know better now. Therefore I am glad that it is +settled. There may be things which would frighten her to hear; and yet +to conceal them from her might be worse than to tell her if once she +suspected that there was any concealment. Henceforth our work is to be a +sealed book to her, till at least such time as we can tell her that all +is finished, and the earth free from a monster of the nether world. I +daresay it will be difficult to begin to keep silence after such +confidence as ours; but I must be resolute, and to-morrow I shall keep +dark over to-night's doings, and shall refuse to speak of anything that +has happened. I rest on the sofa, so as not to disturb her. + + * * * * * + +_1 October, later._--I suppose it was natural that we should have all +overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had no +rest at all. Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I slept +till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call two or +three times before she awoke. Indeed, she was so sound asleep that for a +few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with a sort of +blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad dream. She +complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest till later in the +day. We now know of twenty-one boxes having been removed, and if it be +that several were taken in any of these removals we may be able to trace +them all. Such will, of course, immensely simplify our labour, and the +sooner the matter is attended to the better. I shall look up Thomas +Snelling to-day. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--It was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor +walking into my room. He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and it +is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of the +brooding weight off his mind. After going over the adventure of the +night he suddenly said:-- + +"Your patient interests me much. May it be that with you I visit him +this morning? Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it may +be. It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk philosophy, +and reason so sound." I had some work to do which pressed, so I told him +that if he would go alone I would be glad, as then I should not have to +keep him waiting; so I called an attendant and gave him the necessary +instructions. Before the Professor left the room I cautioned him against +getting any false impression from my patient. "But," he answered, "I +want him to talk of himself and of his delusion as to consuming live +things. He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your diary of yesterday, that +he had once had such a belief. Why do you smile, friend John?" + +"Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here." I laid my hand on the +type-written matter. "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very +statement of how he _used_ to consume life, his mouth was actually +nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before Mrs. +Harker entered the room." Van Helsing smiled in turn. "Good!" he said. +"Your memory is true, friend John. I should have remembered. And yet it +is this very obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease +such a fascinating study. Perhaps I may gain more knowledge out of the +folly of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise. +Who knows?" I went on with my work, and before long was through that in +hand. It seemed that the time had been very short indeed, but there was +Van Helsing back in the study. "Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he +stood at the door. + +"Not at all," I answered. "Come in. My work is finished, and I am free. +I can go with you now, if you like. + +"It is needless; I have seen him!" + +"Well?" + +"I fear that he does not appraise me at much. Our interview was short. +When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the centre, with +his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture of sullen +discontent. I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and with such a +measure of respect as I could assume. He made no reply whatever. "Don't +you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well +enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself +and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed +Dutchmen!" Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable +sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at +all. Thus departed for this time my chance of much learning from this so +clever lunatic; so I shall go, if I may, and cheer myself with a few +happy words with that sweet soul Madam Mina. Friend John, it does +rejoice me unspeakable that she is no more to be pained, no more to be +worried with our terrible things. Though we shall much miss her help, it +is better so." + +"I agree with you with all my heart," I answered earnestly, for I did +not want him to weaken in this matter. "Mrs. Harker is better out of it. +Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have +been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, +and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time +infallibly have wrecked her." + +So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs. Harker and Harker; Quincey +and Art are all out following up the clues as to the earth-boxes. I +shall finish my round of work and we shall meet to-night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_1 October._--It is strange to me to be kept in the dark as I am to-day; +after Jonathan's full confidence for so many years, to see him +manifestly avoid certain matters, and those the most vital of all. This +morning I slept late after the fatigues of yesterday, and though +Jonathan was late too, he was the earlier. He spoke to me before he went +out, never more sweetly or tenderly, but he never mentioned a word of +what had happened in the visit to the Count's house. And yet he must +have known how terribly anxious I was. Poor dear fellow! I suppose it +must have distressed him even more than it did me. They all agreed that +it was best that I should not be drawn further into this awful work, and +I acquiesced. But to think that he keeps anything from me! And now I am +crying like a silly fool, when I _know_ it comes from my husband's great +love and from the good, good wishes of those other strong men. + +That has done me good. Well, some day Jonathan will tell me all; and +lest it should ever be that he should think for a moment that I kept +anything from him, I still keep my journal as usual. Then if he has +feared of my trust I shall show it to him, with every thought of my +heart put down for his dear eyes to read. I feel strangely sad and +low-spirited to-day. I suppose it is the reaction from the terrible +excitement. + +Last night I went to bed when the men had gone, simply because they told +me to. I didn't feel sleepy, and I did feel full of devouring anxiety. I +kept thinking over everything that has been ever since Jonathan came to +see me in London, and it all seems like a horrible tragedy, with fate +pressing on relentlessly to some destined end. Everything that one does +seems, no matter how right it may be, to bring on the very thing which +is most to be deplored. If I hadn't gone to Whitby, perhaps poor dear +Lucy would be with us now. She hadn't taken to visiting the churchyard +till I came, and if she hadn't come there in the day-time with me she +wouldn't have walked there in her sleep; and if she hadn't gone there at +night and asleep, that monster couldn't have destroyed her as he did. +Oh, why did I ever go to Whitby? There now, crying again! I wonder what +has come over me to-day. I must hide it from Jonathan, for if he knew +that I had been crying twice in one morning--I, who never cried on my +own account, and whom he has never caused to shed a tear--the dear +fellow would fret his heart out. I shall put a bold face on, and if I do +feel weepy, he shall never see it. I suppose it is one of the lessons +that we poor women have to learn.... + +I can't quite remember how I fell asleep last night. I remember hearing +the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like praying +on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is somewhere +under this. And then there was silence over everything, silence so +profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out of the window. +All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by the moonlight +seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a thing seemed to be +stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate; so that a thin +streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness +across the grass towards the house, seemed to have a sentience and a +vitality of its own. I think that the digression of my thoughts must +have done me good, for when I got back to bed I found a lethargy +creeping over me. I lay a while, but could not quite sleep, so I got out +and looked out of the window again. The mist was spreading, and was now +close up to the house, so that I could see it lying thick against the +wall, as though it were stealing up to the windows. The poor man was +more loud than ever, and though I could not distinguish a word he said, +I could in some way recognise in his tones some passionate entreaty on +his part. Then there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the +attendants were dealing with him. I was so frightened that I crept into +bed, and pulled the clothes over my head, putting my fingers in my ears. +I was not then a bit sleepy, at least so I thought; but I must have +fallen asleep, for, except dreams, I do not remember anything until the +morning, when Jonathan woke me. I think that it took me an effort and a +little time to realise where I was, and that it was Jonathan who was +bending over me. My dream was very peculiar, and was almost typical of +the way that waking thoughts become merged in, or continued in, dreams. + +I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come back. I +was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my feet, and my +hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at the +usual pace. And so I slept uneasily and thought. Then it began to dawn +upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold. I put back the +clothes from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was dim +around. The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but turned down, +came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which had evidently +grown thicker and poured into the room. Then it occurred to me that I +had shut the window before I had come to bed. I would have got out to +make certain on the point, but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my +limbs and even my will. I lay still and endured; that was all. I closed +my eyes, but could still see through my eyelids. (It is wonderful what +tricks our dreams play us, and how conveniently we can imagine.) The +mist grew thicker and thicker and I could see now how it came in, for I +could see it like smoke--or with the white energy of boiling +water--pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of +the door. It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became +concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the top +of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red eye. Things +began to whirl through my brain just as the cloudy column was now +whirling in the room, and through it all came the scriptural words "a +pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night." Was it indeed some such +spiritual guidance that was coming to me in my sleep? But the pillar was +composed of both the day and the night-guiding, for the fire was in the +red eye, which at the thought got a new fascination for me; till, as I +looked, the fire divided, and seemed to shine on me through the fog like +two red eyes, such as Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering +when, on the cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's +Church. Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan +had seen those awful women growing into reality through the whirling mist +in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all became +black darkness. The last conscious effort which imagination made was to +show me a livid white face bending over me out of the mist. I must be +careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one's reason if there were +too much of them. I would get Dr. Van Helsing or Dr. Seward to prescribe +something for me which would make me sleep, only that I fear to alarm +them. Such a dream at the present time would become woven into their +fears for me. To-night I shall strive hard to sleep naturally. If I do +not, I shall to-morrow night get them to give me a dose of chloral; that +cannot hurt me for once, and it will give me a good night's sleep. Last +night tired me more than if I had not slept at all. + + * * * * * + +_2 October 10 p. m._--Last night I slept, but did not dream. I must have +slept soundly, for I was not waked by Jonathan coming to bed; but the +sleep has not refreshed me, for to-day I feel terribly weak and +spiritless. I spent all yesterday trying to read, or lying down dozing. +In the afternoon Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me. Poor man, he was +very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and bade God bless +me. Some way it affected me much; I am crying when I think of him. This +is a new weakness, of which I must be careful. Jonathan would be +miserable if he knew I had been crying. He and the others were out till +dinner-time, and they all came in tired. I did what I could to brighten +them up, and I suppose that the effort did me good, for I forgot how +tired I was. After dinner they sent me to bed, and all went off to smoke +together, as they said, but I knew that they wanted to tell each other +of what had occurred to each during the day; I could see from Jonathan's +manner that he had something important to communicate. I was not so +sleepy as I should have been; so before they went I asked Dr. Seward to +give me a little opiate of some kind, as I had not slept well the night +before. He very kindly made me up a sleeping draught, which he gave to +me, telling me that it would do me no harm, as it was very mild.... I +have taken it, and am waiting for sleep, which still keeps aloof. I hope +I have not done wrong, for as sleep begins to flirt with me, a new fear +comes: that I may have been foolish in thus depriving myself of the +power of waking. I might want it. Here comes sleep. Good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, evening._--I found Thomas Snelling in his house at Bethnal +Green, but unhappily he was not in a condition to remember anything. The +very prospect of beer which my expected coming had opened to him had +proved too much, and he had begun too early on his expected debauch. I +learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor soul, that he +was only the assistant to Smollet, who of the two mates was the +responsible person. So off I drove to Walworth, and found Mr. Joseph +Smollet at home and in his shirtsleeves, taking a late tea out of a +saucer. He is a decent, intelligent fellow, distinctly a good, reliable +type of workman, and with a headpiece of his own. He remembered all +about the incident of the boxes, and from a wonderful dog's-eared +notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle about the +seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries in thick, +half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the boxes. There +were, he said, six in the cartload which he took from Carfax and left at +197, Chicksand Street, Mile End New Town, and another six which he +deposited at Jamaica Lane, Bermondsey. If then the Count meant to +scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were +chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more +fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that +he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now +fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern +shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to +be left out of his diabolical scheme--let alone the City itself and the +very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west. I went back +to Smollet, and asked him if he could tell us if any other boxes had +been taken from Carfax. + +He replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, you've treated me wery 'an'some"--I had given him half a +sovereign--"an' I'll tell yer all I know. I heard a man by the name of +Bloxam say four nights ago in the 'Are an' 'Ounds, in Pincher's Alley, +as 'ow he an' his mate 'ad 'ad a rare dusty job in a old 'ouse at +Purfect. There ain't a-many such jobs as this 'ere, an' I'm thinkin' +that maybe Sam Bloxam could tell ye summut." I asked if he could tell me +where to find him. I told him that if he could get me the address it +would be worth another half-sovereign to him. So he gulped down the rest +of his tea and stood up, saying that he was going to begin the search +then and there. At the door he stopped, and said:-- + +"Look 'ere, guv'nor, there ain't no sense in me a-keepin' you 'ere. I +may find Sam soon, or I mayn't; but anyhow he ain't like to be in a way +to tell ye much to-night. Sam is a rare one when he starts on the booze. +If you can give me a envelope with a stamp on it, and put yer address on +it, I'll find out where Sam is to be found and post it ye to-night. But +ye'd better be up arter 'im soon in the mornin', or maybe ye won't ketch +'im; for Sam gets off main early, never mind the booze the night afore." + +This was all practical, so one of the children went off with a penny to +buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and to keep the change. When she +came back, I addressed the envelope and stamped it, and when Smollet had +again faithfully promised to post the address when found, I took my way +to home. We're on the track anyhow. I am tired to-night, and want sleep. +Mina is fast asleep, and looks a little too pale; her eyes look as +though she had been crying. Poor dear, I've no doubt it frets her to be +kept in the dark, and it may make her doubly anxious about me and the +others. But it is best as it is. It is better to be disappointed and +worried in such a way now than to have her nerve broken. The doctors +were quite right to insist on her being kept out of this dreadful +business. I must be firm, for on me this particular burden of silence +must rest. I shall not ever enter on the subject with her under any +circumstances. Indeed, it may not be a hard task, after all, for she +herself has become reticent on the subject, and has not spoken of the +Count or his doings ever since we told her of our decision. + + * * * * * + +_2 October, evening._--A long and trying and exciting day. By the first +post I got my directed envelope with a dirty scrap of paper enclosed, on +which was written with a carpenter's pencil in a sprawling hand:-- + +"Sam Bloxam, Korkrans, 4, Poters Cort, Bartel Street, Walworth. Arsk for +the depite." + +I got the letter in bed, and rose without waking Mina. She looked heavy +and sleepy and pale, and far from well. I determined not to wake her, +but that, when I should return from this new search, I would arrange for +her going back to Exeter. I think she would be happier in our own home, +with her daily tasks to interest her, than in being here amongst us and +in ignorance. I only saw Dr. Seward for a moment, and told him where I +was off to, promising to come back and tell the rest so soon as I should +have found out anything. I drove to Walworth and found, with some +difficulty, Potter's Court. Mr. Smollet's spelling misled me, as I asked +for Poter's Court instead of Potter's Court. However, when I had found +the court, I had no difficulty in discovering Corcoran's lodging-house. +When I asked the man who came to the door for the "depite," he shook his +head, and said: "I dunno 'im. There ain't no such a person 'ere; I never +'eard of 'im in all my bloomin' days. Don't believe there ain't nobody +of that kind livin' ere or anywheres." I took out Smollet's letter, and +as I read it it seemed to me that the lesson of the spelling of the name +of the court might guide me. "What are you?" I asked. + +"I'm the depity," he answered. I saw at once that I was on the right +track; phonetic spelling had again misled me. A half-crown tip put the +deputy's knowledge at my disposal, and I learned that Mr. Bloxam, who +had slept off the remains of his beer on the previous night at +Corcoran's, had left for his work at Poplar at five o'clock that +morning. He could not tell me where the place of work was situated, but +he had a vague idea that it was some kind of a "new-fangled ware'us"; +and with this slender clue I had to start for Poplar. It was twelve +o'clock before I got any satisfactory hint of such a building, and this +I got at a coffee-shop, where some workmen were having their dinner. One +of these suggested that there was being erected at Cross Angel Street a +new "cold storage" building; and as this suited the condition of a +"new-fangled ware'us," I at once drove to it. An interview with a surly +gatekeeper and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the +coin of the realm, put me on the track of Bloxam; he was sent for on my +suggesting that I was willing to pay his day's wages to his foreman for +the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter. He was +a smart enough fellow, though rough of speech and bearing. When I had +promised to pay for his information and given him an earnest, he told me +that he had made two journeys between Carfax and a house in Piccadilly, +and had taken from this house to the latter nine great boxes--"main +heavy ones"--with a horse and cart hired by him for this purpose. I +asked him if he could tell me the number of the house in Piccadilly, to +which he replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, I forgits the number, but it was only a few doors from a +big white church or somethink of the kind, not long built. It was a +dusty old 'ouse, too, though nothin' to the dustiness of the 'ouse we +tooked the bloomin' boxes from." + +"How did you get into the houses if they were both empty?" + +"There was the old party what engaged me a-waitin' in the 'ouse at +Purfleet. He 'elped me to lift the boxes and put them in the dray. Curse +me, but he was the strongest chap I ever struck, an' him a old feller, +with a white moustache, one that thin you would think he couldn't throw +a shadder." + +How this phrase thrilled through me! + +"Why, 'e took up 'is end o' the boxes like they was pounds of tea, and +me a-puffin' an' a-blowin' afore I could up-end mine anyhow--an' I'm no +chicken, neither." + +"How did you get into the house in Piccadilly?" I asked. + +"He was there too. He must 'a' started off and got there afore me, for +when I rung of the bell he kem an' opened the door 'isself an' 'elped me +to carry the boxes into the 'all." + +"The whole nine?" I asked. + +"Yus; there was five in the first load an' four in the second. It was +main dry work, an' I don't so well remember 'ow I got 'ome." I +interrupted him:-- + +"Were the boxes left in the hall?" + +"Yus; it was a big 'all, an' there was nothin' else in it." I made one +more attempt to further matters:-- + +"You didn't have any key?" + +"Never used no key nor nothink. The old gent, he opened the door 'isself +an' shut it again when I druv off. I don't remember the last time--but +that was the beer." + +"And you can't remember the number of the house?" + +"No, sir. But ye needn't have no difficulty about that. It's a 'igh 'un +with a stone front with a bow on it, an' 'igh steps up to the door. I +know them steps, 'avin' 'ad to carry the boxes up with three loafers +what come round to earn a copper. The old gent give them shillin's, an' +they seein' they got so much, they wanted more; but 'e took one of them +by the shoulder and was like to throw 'im down the steps, till the lot +of them went away cussin'." I thought that with this description I could +find the house, so, having paid my friend for his information, I started +off for Piccadilly. I had gained a new painful experience; the Count +could, it was evident, handle the earth-boxes himself. If so, time was +precious; for, now that he had achieved a certain amount of +distribution, he could, by choosing his own time, complete the task +unobserved. At Piccadilly Circus I discharged my cab, and walked +westward; beyond the Junior Constitutional I came across the house +described, and was satisfied that this was the next of the lairs +arranged by Dracula. The house looked as though it had been long +untenanted. The windows were encrusted with dust, and the shutters were +up. All the framework was black with time, and from the iron the paint +had mostly scaled away. It was evident that up to lately there had been +a large notice-board in front of the balcony; it had, however, been +roughly torn away, the uprights which had supported it still remaining. +Behind the rails of the balcony I saw there were some loose boards, +whose raw edges looked white. I would have given a good deal to have +been able to see the notice-board intact, as it would, perhaps, have +given some clue to the ownership of the house. I remembered my +experience of the investigation and purchase of Carfax, and I could not +but feel that if I could find the former owner there might be some means +discovered of gaining access to the house. + +There was at present nothing to be learned from the Piccadilly side, and +nothing could be done; so I went round to the back to see if anything +could be gathered from this quarter. The mews were active, the +Piccadilly houses being mostly in occupation. I asked one or two of the +grooms and helpers whom I saw around if they could tell me anything +about the empty house. One of them said that he heard it had lately been +taken, but he couldn't say from whom. He told me, however, that up to +very lately there had been a notice-board of "For Sale" up, and that +perhaps Mitchell, Sons, & Candy, the house agents, could tell me +something, as he thought he remembered seeing the name of that firm on +the board. I did not wish to seem too eager, or to let my informant know +or guess too much, so, thanking him in the usual manner, I strolled +away. It was now growing dusk, and the autumn night was closing in, so I +did not lose any time. Having learned the address of Mitchell, Sons, & +Candy from a directory at the Berkeley, I was soon at their office in +Sackville Street. + +The gentleman who saw me was particularly suave in manner, but +uncommunicative in equal proportion. Having once told me that the +Piccadilly house--which throughout our interview he called a +"mansion"--was sold, he considered my business as concluded. When I +asked who had purchased it, he opened his eyes a thought wider, and +paused a few seconds before replying:-- + +"It is sold, sir." + +"Pardon me," I said, with equal politeness, "but I have a special reason +for wishing to know who purchased it." + +Again he paused longer, and raised his eyebrows still more. "It is sold, +sir," was again his laconic reply. + +"Surely," I said, "you do not mind letting me know so much." + +"But I do mind," he answered. "The affairs of their clients are +absolutely safe in the hands of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy." This was +manifestly a prig of the first water, and there was no use arguing with +him. I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so I said:-- + +"Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian of their +confidence. I am myself a professional man." Here I handed him my card. +"In this instance I am not prompted by curiosity; I act on the part of +Lord Godalming, who wishes to know something of the property which was, +he understood, lately for sale." These words put a different complexion +on affairs. He said:-- + +"I would like to oblige you if I could, Mr. Harker, and especially would +I like to oblige his lordship. We once carried out a small matter of +renting some chambers for him when he was the Honourable Arthur +Holmwood. If you will let me have his lordship's address I will consult +the House on the subject, and will, in any case, communicate with his +lordship by to-night's post. It will be a pleasure if we can so far +deviate from our rules as to give the required information to his +lordship." + +I wanted to secure a friend, and not to make an enemy, so I thanked him, +gave the address at Dr. Seward's and came away. It was now dark, and I +was tired and hungry. I got a cup of tea at the Aërated Bread Company +and came down to Purfleet by the next train. + +I found all the others at home. Mina was looking tired and pale, but she +made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerful, it wrung my heart to +think that I had had to keep anything from her and so caused her +inquietude. Thank God, this will be the last night of her looking on at +our conferences, and feeling the sting of our not showing our +confidence. It took all my courage to hold to the wise resolution of +keeping her out of our grim task. She seems somehow more reconciled; or +else the very subject seems to have become repugnant to her, for when +any accidental allusion is made she actually shudders. I am glad we +made our resolution in time, as with such a feeling as this, our growing +knowledge would be torture to her. + +I could not tell the others of the day's discovery till we were alone; +so after dinner--followed by a little music to save appearances even +amongst ourselves--I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bed. +The dear girl was more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me +as though she would detain me; but there was much to be talked of and I +came away. Thank God, the ceasing of telling things has made no +difference between us. + +When I came down again I found the others all gathered round the fire in +the study. In the train I had written my diary so far, and simply read +it off to them as the best means of letting them get abreast of my own +information; when I had finished Van Helsing said:-- + +"This has been a great day's work, friend Jonathan. Doubtless we are on +the track of the missing boxes. If we find them all in that house, then +our work is near the end. But if there be some missing, we must search +until we find them. Then shall we make our final _coup_, and hunt the +wretch to his real death." We all sat silent awhile and all at once Mr. +Morris spoke:-- + +"Say! how are we going to get into that house?" + +"We got into the other," answered Lord Godalming quickly. + +"But, Art, this is different. We broke house at Carfax, but we had night +and a walled park to protect us. It will be a mighty different thing to +commit burglary in Piccadilly, either by day or night. I confess I don't +see how we are going to get in unless that agency duck can find us a key +of some sort; perhaps we shall know when you get his letter in the +morning." Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked +about the room. By-and-by he stopped and said, turning from one to +another of us:-- + +"Quincey's head is level. This burglary business is getting serious; we +got off once all right; but we have now a rare job on hand--unless we +can find the Count's key basket." + +As nothing could well be done before morning, and as it would be at +least advisable to wait till Lord Godalming should hear from Mitchell's, +we decided not to take any active step before breakfast time. For a good +while we sat and smoked, discussing the matter in its various lights and +bearings; I took the opportunity of bringing this diary right up to the +moment. I am very sleepy and shall go to bed.... + +Just a line. Mina sleeps soundly and her breathing is regular. Her +forehead is puckered up into little wrinkles, as though she thinks even +in her sleep. She is still too pale, but does not look so haggard as she +did this morning. To-morrow will, I hope, mend all this; she will be +herself at home in Exeter. Oh, but I am sleepy! + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--I am puzzled afresh about Renfield. His moods change so +rapidly that I find it difficult to keep touch of them, and as they +always mean something more than his own well-being, they form a more +than interesting study. This morning, when I went to see him after his +repulse of Van Helsing, his manner was that of a man commanding destiny. +He was, in fact, commanding destiny--subjectively. He did not really +care for any of the things of mere earth; he was in the clouds and +looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor mortals. I +thought I would improve the occasion and learn something, so I asked +him:-- + +"What about the flies these times?" He smiled on me in quite a superior +sort of way--such a smile as would have become the face of Malvolio--as +he answered me:-- + +"The fly, my dear sir, has one striking feature; its wings are typical +of the aërial powers of the psychic faculties. The ancients did well +when they typified the soul as a butterfly!" + +I thought I would push his analogy to its utmost logically, so I said +quickly:-- + +"Oh, it is a soul you are after now, is it?" His madness foiled his +reason, and a puzzled look spread over his face as, shaking his head +with a decision which I had but seldom seen in him, he said:-- + +"Oh, no, oh no! I want no souls. Life is all I want." Here he brightened +up; "I am pretty indifferent about it at present. Life is all right; I +have all I want. You must get a new patient, doctor, if you wish to +study zoöphagy!" + +This puzzled me a little, so I drew him on:-- + +"Then you command life; you are a god, I suppose?" He smiled with an +ineffably benign superiority. + +"Oh no! Far be it from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the +Deity. I am not even concerned in His especially spiritual doings. If I +may state my intellectual position I am, so far as concerns things +purely terrestrial, somewhat in the position which Enoch occupied +spiritually!" This was a poser to me. I could not at the moment recall +Enoch's appositeness; so I had to ask a simple question, though I felt +that by so doing I was lowering myself in the eyes of the lunatic:-- + +"And why with Enoch?" + +"Because he walked with God." I could not see the analogy, but did not +like to admit it; so I harked back to what he had denied:-- + +"So you don't care about life and you don't want souls. Why not?" I put +my question quickly and somewhat sternly, on purpose to disconcert him. +The effort succeeded; for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into his +old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon me as +he replied:-- + +"I don't want any souls, indeed, indeed! I don't. I couldn't use them if +I had them; they would be no manner of use to me. I couldn't eat them +or----" He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his +face, like a wind-sweep on the surface of the water. "And doctor, as to +life, what is it after all? When you've got all you require, and you +know that you will never want, that is all. I have friends--good +friends--like you, Dr. Seward"; this was said with a leer of +inexpressible cunning. "I know that I shall never lack the means of +life!" + +I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some +antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as +he--a dogged silence. After a short time I saw that for the present it +was useless to speak to him. He was sulky, and so I came away. + +Later in the day he sent for me. Ordinarily I would not have come +without special reason, but just at present I am so interested in him +that I would gladly make an effort. Besides, I am glad to have anything +to help to pass the time. Harker is out, following up clues; and so are +Lord Godalming and Quincey. Van Helsing sits in my study poring over the +record prepared by the Harkers; he seems to think that by accurate +knowledge of all details he will light upon some clue. He does not wish +to be disturbed in the work, without cause. I would have taken him with +me to see the patient, only I thought that after his last repulse he +might not care to go again. There was also another reason: Renfield +might not speak so freely before a third person as when he and I were +alone. + +I found him sitting out in the middle of the floor on his stool, a pose +which is generally indicative of some mental energy on his part. When I +came in, he said at once, as though the question had been waiting on his +lips:-- + +"What about souls?" It was evident then that my surmise had been +correct. Unconscious cerebration was doing its work, even with the +lunatic. I determined to have the matter out. "What about them +yourself?" I asked. He did not reply for a moment but looked all round +him, and up and down, as though he expected to find some inspiration for +an answer. + +"I don't want any souls!" he said in a feeble, apologetic way. The +matter seemed preying on his mind, and so I determined to use it--to "be +cruel only to be kind." So I said:-- + +"You like life, and you want life?" + +"Oh yes! but that is all right; you needn't worry about that!" + +"But," I asked, "how are we to get the life without getting the soul +also?" This seemed to puzzle him, so I followed it up:-- + +"A nice time you'll have some time when you're flying out there, with +the souls of thousands of flies and spiders and birds and cats buzzing +and twittering and miauing all round you. You've got their lives, you +know, and you must put up with their souls!" Something seemed to affect +his imagination, for he put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes, +screwing them up tightly just as a small boy does when his face is being +soaped. There was something pathetic in it that touched me; it also gave +me a lesson, for it seemed that before me was a child--only a child, +though the features were worn, and the stubble on the jaws was white. It +was evident that he was undergoing some process of mental disturbance, +and, knowing how his past moods had interpreted things seemingly foreign +to himself, I thought I would enter into his mind as well as I could and +go with him. The first step was to restore confidence, so I asked him, +speaking pretty loud so that he would hear me through his closed ears:-- + +"Would you like some sugar to get your flies round again?" He seemed to +wake up all at once, and shook his head. With a laugh he replied:-- + +"Not much! flies are poor things, after all!" After a pause he added, +"But I don't want their souls buzzing round me, all the same." + +"Or spiders?" I went on. + +"Blow spiders! What's the use of spiders? There isn't anything in them +to eat or"--he stopped suddenly, as though reminded of a forbidden +topic. + +"So, so!" I thought to myself, "this is the second time he has suddenly +stopped at the word 'drink'; what does it mean?" Renfield seemed himself +aware of having made a lapse, for he hurried on, as though to distract +my attention from it:-- + +"I don't take any stock at all in such matters. 'Rats and mice and such +small deer,' as Shakespeare has it, 'chicken-feed of the larder' they +might be called. I'm past all that sort of nonsense. You might as well +ask a man to eat molecules with a pair of chop-sticks, as to try to +interest me about the lesser carnivora, when I know of what is before +me." + +"I see," I said. "You want big things that you can make your teeth meet +in? How would you like to breakfast on elephant?" + +"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!" He was getting too wide +awake, so I thought I would press him hard. "I wonder," I said +reflectively, "what an elephant's soul is like!" + +The effect I desired was obtained, for he at once fell from his +high-horse and became a child again. + +"I don't want an elephant's soul, or any soul at all!" he said. For a +few moments he sat despondently. Suddenly he jumped to his feet, with +his eyes blazing and all the signs of intense cerebral excitement. "To +hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about +souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, +without thinking of souls!" He looked so hostile that I thought he was +in for another homicidal fit, so I blew my whistle. The instant, +however, that I did so he became calm, and said apologetically:-- + +"Forgive me, Doctor; I forgot myself. You do not need any help. I am so +worried in my mind that I am apt to be irritable. If you only knew the +problem I have to face, and that I am working out, you would pity, and +tolerate, and pardon me. Pray do not put me in a strait-waistcoat. I +want to think and I cannot think freely when my body is confined. I am +sure you will understand!" He had evidently self-control; so when the +attendants came I told them not to mind, and they withdrew. Renfield +watched them go; when the door was closed he said, with considerable +dignity and sweetness:-- + +"Dr. Seward, you have been very considerate towards me. Believe me that +I am very, very grateful to you!" I thought it well to leave him in this +mood, and so I came away. There is certainly something to ponder over in +this man's state. Several points seem to make what the American +interviewer calls "a story," if one could only get them in proper order. +Here they are:-- + +Will not mention "drinking." + +Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything. + +Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future. + +Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being +haunted by their souls. + +Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind +that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence--the +burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to! + +And the assurance--? + +Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of +terror afoot! + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I went after my round to Van Helsing and told him my +suspicion. He grew very grave; and, after thinking the matter over for a +while asked me to take him to Renfield. I did so. As we came to the door +we heard the lunatic within singing gaily, as he used to do in the time +which now seems so long ago. When we entered we saw with amazement that +he had spread out his sugar as of old; the flies, lethargic with the +autumn, were beginning to buzz into the room. We tried to make him talk +of the subject of our previous conversation, but he would not attend. He +went on with his singing, just as though we had not been present. He had +got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book. We had to come +away as ignorant as we went in. + +His is a curious case indeed; we must watch him to-night. + + +_Letter, Mitchell, Sons and Candy to Lord Godalming._ + +_"1 October._ + +"My Lord, + +"We are at all times only too happy to meet your wishes. We beg, with +regard to the desire of your Lordship, expressed by Mr. Harker on your +behalf, to supply the following information concerning the sale and +purchase of No. 347, Piccadilly. The original vendors are the executors +of the late Mr. Archibald Winter-Suffield. The purchaser is a foreign +nobleman, Count de Ville, who effected the purchase himself paying the +purchase money in notes 'over the counter,' if your Lordship will pardon +us using so vulgar an expression. Beyond this we know nothing whatever +of him. + +"We are, my Lord, + +"Your Lordship's humble servants, + +"MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 October._--I placed a man in the corridor last night, and told him to +make an accurate note of any sound he might hear from Renfield's room, +and gave him instructions that if there should be anything strange he +was to call me. After dinner, when we had all gathered round the fire +in the study--Mrs. Harker having gone to bed--we discussed the attempts +and discoveries of the day. Harker was the only one who had any result, +and we are in great hopes that his clue may be an important one. + +Before going to bed I went round to the patient's room and looked in +through the observation trap. He was sleeping soundly, and his heart +rose and fell with regular respiration. + +This morning the man on duty reported to me that a little after midnight +he was restless and kept saying his prayers somewhat loudly. I asked him +if that was all; he replied that it was all he heard. There was +something about his manner so suspicious that I asked him point blank if +he had been asleep. He denied sleep, but admitted to having "dozed" for +a while. It is too bad that men cannot be trusted unless they are +watched. + +To-day Harker is out following up his clue, and Art and Quincey are +looking after horses. Godalming thinks that it will be well to have +horses always in readiness, for when we get the information which we +seek there will be no time to lose. We must sterilise all the imported +earth between sunrise and sunset; we shall thus catch the Count at his +weakest, and without a refuge to fly to. Van Helsing is off to the +British Museum looking up some authorities on ancient medicine. The old +physicians took account of things which their followers do not accept, +and the Professor is searching for witch and demon cures which may be +useful to us later. + +I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity in +strait-waistcoats. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--We have met again. We seem at last to be on the track, and our +work of to-morrow may be the beginning of the end. I wonder if +Renfield's quiet has anything to do with this. His moods have so +followed the doings of the Count, that the coming destruction of the +monster may be carried to him in some subtle way. If we could only get +some hint as to what passed in his mind, between the time of my argument +with him to-day and his resumption of fly-catching, it might afford us a +valuable clue. He is now seemingly quiet for a spell.... Is he?---- That +wild yell seemed to come from his room.... + + * * * * * + +The attendant came bursting into my room and told me that Renfield had +somehow met with some accident. He had heard him yell; and when he went +to him found him lying on his face on the floor, all covered with blood. +I must go at once.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well +as I can remember it, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that I +can recall must be forgotten; in all calmness I must proceed. + +When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his +left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it +became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries; +there seemed none of that unity of purpose between the parts of the body +which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see +that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the +floor--indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood +originated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as +we turned him over:-- + +"I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and +the whole side of his face are paralysed." How such a thing could have +happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure. He seemed quite +bewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said:-- + +"I can't understand the two things. He could mark his face like that by +beating his own head on the floor. I saw a young woman do it once at the +Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her. And I suppose he +might have broke his neck by falling out of bed, if he got in an awkward +kink. But for the life of me I can't imagine how the two things +occurred. If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his head; and if his +face was like that before the fall out of bed, there would be marks of +it." I said to him:-- + +"Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here at once. I want +him without an instant's delay." The man ran off, and within a few +minutes the Professor, in his dressing gown and slippers, appeared. When +he saw Renfield on the ground, he looked keenly at him a moment, and +then turned to me. I think he recognised my thought in my eyes, for he +said very quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant:-- + +"Ah, a sad accident! He will need very careful watching, and much +attention. I shall stay with you myself; but I shall first dress myself. +If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you." + +The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that +he had suffered some terrible injury. Van Helsing returned with +extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He had +evidently been thinking and had his mind made up; for, almost before he +looked at the patient, he whispered to me:-- + +"Send the attendant away. We must be alone with him when he becomes +conscious, after the operation." So I said:-- + +"I think that will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can at +present. You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing will operate. +Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere." + +The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient. +The wounds of the face was superficial; the real injury was a depressed +fracture of the skull, extending right up through the motor area. The +Professor thought a moment and said:-- + +"We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as far +as can be; the rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of +his injury. The whole motor area seems affected. The suffusion of the +brain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be +too late." As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door. I +went over and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur and +Quincey in pajamas and slippers: the former spoke:-- + +"I heard your man call up Dr. Van Helsing and tell him of an accident. +So I woke Quincey or rather called for him as he was not asleep. Things +are moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us +these times. I've been thinking that to-morrow night will not see things +as they have been. We'll have to look back--and forward a little more +than we have done. May we come in?" I nodded, and held the door open +till they had entered; then I closed it again. When Quincey saw the +attitude and state of the patient, and noted the horrible pool on the +floor, he said softly:-- + +"My God! what has happened to him? Poor, poor devil!" I told him +briefly, and added that we expected he would recover consciousness after +the operation--for a short time, at all events. He went at once and sat +down on the edge of the bed, with Godalming beside him; we all watched +in patience. + +"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best +spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove +the blood clot; for it is evident that the hæmorrhage is increasing." + +The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness. I had a +horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I gathered +that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. I dreaded +the words that Renfield might speak. I was positively afraid to think; +but the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have read of men +who have heard the death-watch. The poor man's breathing came in +uncertain gasps. Each instant he seemed as though he would open his eyes +and speak; but then would follow a prolonged stertorous breath, and he +would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I was to sick +beds and death, this suspense grew, and grew upon me. I could almost +hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging through my +temples sounded like blows from a hammer. The silence finally became +agonising. I looked at my companions, one after another, and saw from +their flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equal +torture. There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overhead +some dread bell would peal out powerfully when we should least expect +it. + +At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was +sinking fast; he might die at any moment. I looked up at the Professor +and caught his eyes fixed on mine. His face was sternly set as he +spoke:-- + +"There is no time to lose. His words may be worth many lives; I have +been thinking so, as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake! +We shall operate just above the ear." + +Without another word he made the operation. For a few moments the +breathing continued to be stertorous. Then there came a breath so +prolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest. +Suddenly his eyes opened, and became fixed in a wild, helpless stare. +This was continued for a few moments; then it softened into a glad +surprise, and from the lips came a sigh of relief. He moved +convulsively, and as he did so, said:-- + +"I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait-waistcoat. I +have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot +move. What's wrong with my face? it feels all swollen, and it smarts +dreadfully." He tried to turn his head; but even with the effort his +eyes seemed to grow glassy again so I gently put it back. Then Van +Helsing said in a quiet grave tone:-- + +"Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield." As he heard the voice his face +brightened, through its mutilation, and he said:-- + +"That is Dr. Van Helsing. How good it is of you to be here. Give me some +water, my lips are dry; and I shall try to tell you. I dreamed"--he +stopped and seemed fainting, I called quietly to Quincey--"The +brandy--it is in my study--quick!" He flew and returned with a glass, +the decanter of brandy and a carafe of water. We moistened the parched +lips, and the patient quickly revived. It seemed, however, that his poor +injured brain had been working in the interval, for, when he was quite +conscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonised confusion which I +shall never forget, and said:-- + +"I must not deceive myself; it was no dream, but all a grim reality." +Then his eyes roved round the room; as they caught sight of the two +figures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed he went on:-- + +"If I were not sure already, I would know from them." For an instant his +eyes closed--not with pain or sleep but voluntarily, as though he were +bringing all his faculties to bear; when he opened them he said, +hurriedly, and with more energy than he had yet displayed:-- + +"Quick, Doctor, quick. I am dying! I feel that I have but a few minutes; +and then I must go back to death--or worse! Wet my lips with brandy +again. I have something that I must say before I die; or before my poor +crushed brain dies anyhow. Thank you! It was that night after you left +me, when I implored you to let me go away. I couldn't speak then, for I +felt my tongue was tied; but I was as sane then, except in that way, as +I am now. I was in an agony of despair for a long time after you left +me; it seemed hours. Then there came a sudden peace to me. My brain +seemed to become cool again, and I realised where I was. I heard the +dogs bark behind our house, but not where He was!" As he spoke, Van +Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out and met mine and +gripped it hard. He did not, however, betray himself; he nodded slightly +and said: "Go on," in a low voice. Renfield proceeded:-- + +"He came up to the window in the mist, as I had seen him often before; +but he was solid then--not a ghost, and his eyes were fierce like a +man's when angry. He was laughing with his red mouth; the sharp white +teeth glinted in the moonlight when he turned to look back over the belt +of trees, to where the dogs were barking. I wouldn't ask him to come in +at first, though I knew he wanted to--just as he had wanted all along. +Then he began promising me things--not in words but by doing them." He +was interrupted by a word from the Professor:-- + +"How?" + +"By making them happen; just as he used to send in the flies when the +sun was shining. Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their +wings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on their +backs." Van Helsing nodded to him as he whispered to me unconsciously:-- + +"The _Acherontia Aitetropos of the Sphinges_--what you call the +'Death's-head Moth'?" The patient went on without stopping. + +"Then he began to whisper: 'Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, +millions of them, and every one a life; and dogs to eat them, and cats +too. All lives! all red blood, with years of life in it; and not merely +buzzing flies!' I laughed at him, for I wanted to see what he could do. +Then the dogs howled, away beyond the dark trees in His house. He +beckoned me to the window. I got up and looked out, and He raised his +hands, and seemed to call out without using any words. A dark mass +spread over the grass, coming on like the shape of a flame of fire; and +then He moved the mist to the right and left, and I could see that there +were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red--like His, only +smaller. He held up his hand, and they all stopped; and I thought he +seemed to be saying: 'All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more +and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship +me!' And then a red cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close +over my eyes; and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening +the sash and saying to Him: 'Come in, Lord and Master!' The rats were +all gone, but He slid into the room through the sash, though it was only +open an inch wide--just as the Moon herself has often come in through +the tiniest crack and has stood before me in all her size and +splendour." + +His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again, and +he continued; but it seemed as though his memory had gone on working in +the interval for his story was further advanced. I was about to call him +back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me: "Let him go on. Do +not interrupt him; he cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all +if once he lost the thread of his thought." He proceeded:-- + +"All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, not +even a blow-fly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him. +When he slid in through the window, though it was shut, and did not even +knock, I got mad with him. He sneered at me, and his white face looked +out of the mist with his red eyes gleaming, and he went on as though he +owned the whole place, and I was no one. He didn't even smell the same +as he went by me. I couldn't hold him. I thought that, somehow, Mrs. +Harker had come into the room." + +The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behind +him so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better. +They were both silent, but the Professor started and quivered; his face, +however, grew grimmer and sterner still. Renfield went on without +noticing:-- + +"When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon she wasn't the same; +it was like tea after the teapot had been watered." Here we all moved, +but no one said a word; he went on:-- + +"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look the +same. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood +in them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of it +at the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad +to know that He had been taking the life out of her." I could feel that +the rest quivered, as I did, but we remained otherwise still. "So when +He came to-night I was ready for Him. I saw the mist stealing in, and I +grabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength; and +as I knew I was a madman--at times anyhow--I resolved to use my power. +Ay, and He felt it too, for He had to come out of the mist to struggle +with me. I held tight; and I thought I was going to win, for I didn't +mean Him to take any more of her life, till I saw His eyes. They burned +into me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, and +when I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down. There +was a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed +to steal away under the door." His voice was becoming fainter and his +breath more stertorous. Van Helsing stood up instinctively. + +"We know the worst now," he said. "He is here, and we know his purpose. +It may not be too late. Let us be armed--the same as we were the other +night, but lose no time; there is not an instant to spare." There was no +need to put our fear, nay our conviction, into words--we shared them in +common. We all hurried and took from our rooms the same things that we +had when we entered the Count's house. The Professor had his ready, and +as we met in the corridor he pointed to them significantly as he said:-- + +"They never leave me; and they shall not till this unhappy business is +over. Be wise also, my friends. It is no common enemy that we deal with. +Alas! alas! that that dear Madam Mina should suffer!" He stopped; his +voice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated in +my own heart. + +Outside the Harkers' door we paused. Art and Quincey held back, and the +latter said:-- + +"Should we disturb her?" + +"We must," said Van Helsing grimly. "If the door be locked, I shall +break it in." + +"May it not frighten her terribly? It is unusual to break into a lady's +room!" + +Van Helsing said solemnly, "You are always right; but this is life and +death. All chambers are alike to the doctor; and even were they not they +are all as one to me to-night. Friend John, when I turn the handle, if +the door does not open, do you put your shoulder down and shove; and you +too, my friends. Now!" + +He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threw +ourselves against it; with a crash it burst open, and we almost fell +headlong into the room. The Professor did actually fall, and I saw +across him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I saw +appalled me. I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my neck, +and my heart seemed to stand still. + +The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind the room +was light enough to see. On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan +Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor. +Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad +figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. +His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw we all recognised +the Count--in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left +hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms +at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, +forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared +with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which +was shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible +resemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to +compel it to drink. As we burst into the room, the Count turned his +face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap +into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils +of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the +white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, +champed together like those of a wild beast. With a wrench, which threw +his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned +and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, +and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred +Wafer. The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside +the tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, +lifting our crucifixes, advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a +great black cloud sailed across the sky; and when the gaslight sprang up +under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as we +looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its bursting +open, had swung back to its old position. Van Helsing, Art, and I moved +forward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time had drawn her breath and with +it had given a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so despairing that it +seems to me now that it will ring in my ears till my dying day. For a +few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and disarray. Her face was +ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which smeared +her lips and cheeks and chin; from her throat trickled a thin stream of +blood; her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her +poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the +Count's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate wail +which made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression of an +endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and drew the coverlet gently +over her body, whilst Art, after looking at her face for an instant +despairingly, ran out of the room. Van Helsing whispered to me:-- + +"Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce. We can +do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a few moments till she recovers +herself; I must wake him!" He dipped the end of a towel in cold water +and with it began to flick him on the face, his wife all the while +holding her face between her hands and sobbing in a way that was +heart-breaking to hear. I raised the blind, and looked out of the +window. There was much moonshine; and as I looked I could see Quincey +Morris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great +yew-tree. It puzzled me to think why he was doing this; but at the +instant I heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial +consciousness, and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might well +be, was a look of wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and +then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he +started up. His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to +him with her arms stretched out, as though to embrace him; instantly, +however, she drew them in again, and putting her elbows together, held +her hands before her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook. + +"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out. "Dr. Seward, Dr. +Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is wrong? Mina, dear, +what is it? What does that blood mean? My God, my God! has it come to +this!" and, raising himself to his knees, he beat his hands wildly +together. "Good God help us! help her! oh, help her!" With a quick +movement he jumped from bed, and began to pull on his clothes,--all the +man in him awake at the need for instant exertion. "What has happened? +Tell me all about it!" he cried without pausing. "Dr. Van Helsing, you +love Mina, I know. Oh, do something to save her. It cannot have gone too +far yet. Guard her while I look for _him_!" His wife, through her terror +and horror and distress, saw some sure danger to him: instantly +forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of him and cried out:-- + +"No! no! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enough +to-night, God knows, without the dread of his harming you. You must stay +with me. Stay with these friends who will watch over you!" Her +expression became frantic as she spoke; and, he yielding to her, she +pulled him down sitting on the bed side, and clung to him fiercely. + +Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both. The Professor held up his +little golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness:-- + +"Do not fear, my dear. We are here; and whilst this is close to you no +foul thing can approach. You are safe for to-night; and we must be calm +and take counsel together." She shuddered and was silent, holding down +her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his white +night-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where +the thin open wound in her neck had sent forth drops. The instant she +saw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking +sobs:-- + +"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it +should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have +most cause to fear." To this he spoke out resolutely:-- + +"Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not +hear it of you; and I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my +deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, +if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out +his arms and folded her to his breast; and for a while she lay there +sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked +damply above his quivering nostrils; his mouth was set as steel. After a +while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then he said to +me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his nervous +power to the utmost:-- + +"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it. Too well I know the broad +fact; tell me all that has been." I told him exactly what had happened, +and he listened with seeming impassiveness; but his nostrils twitched +and his eyes blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had +held his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to +the open wound in his breast. It interested me, even at that moment, to +see, that, whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over +the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled +hair. Just as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at the door. +They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing looked at me +questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of +their coming to divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappy husband +and wife from each other and from themselves; so on nodding acquiescence +to him he asked them what they had seen or done. To which Lord Godalming +answered:-- + +"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our rooms. I +looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had gone. He had, +however----" He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping figure on +the bed. Van Helsing said gravely:-- + +"Go on, friend Arthur. We want here no more concealments. Our hope now +is in knowing all. Tell freely!" So Art went on:-- + +"He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few +seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the manuscript had been +burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes; the +cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax +had helped the flames." Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is the +other copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he +went on: "I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I looked +into Renfield's room; but there was no trace there except----!" Again he +paused. "Go on," said Harker hoarsely; so he bowed his head and +moistening his lips with his tongue, added: "except that the poor fellow +is dead." Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of +us she said solemnly:-- + +"God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping back +something; but, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing. +Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked:-- + +"And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?" + +"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at present I +can't say. I thought it well to know if possible where the Count would +go when he left the house. I did not see him; but I saw a bat rise from +Renfield's window, and flap westward. I expected to see him in some +shape go back to Carfax; but he evidently sought some other lair. He +will not be back to-night; for the sky is reddening in the east, and the +dawn is close. We must work to-morrow!" + +He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of perhaps +a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that I could +hear the sound of our hearts beating; then Van Helsing said, placing his +hand very tenderly on Mrs. Harker's head:-- + +"And now, Madam Mina--poor, dear, dear Madam Mina--tell us exactly what +happened. God knows that I do not want that you be pained; but it is +need that we know all. For now more than ever has all work to be done +quick and sharp, and in deadly earnest. The day is close to us that must +end all, if it may be so; and now is the chance that we may live and +learn." + +The poor, dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves +as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and +lower still on his breast. Then she raised her head proudly, and held +out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his, and, after stooping and +kissing it reverently, held it fast. The other hand was locked in that +of her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her protectingly. +After a pause in which she was evidently ordering her thoughts, she +began:-- + +"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, but for a +long time it did not act. I seemed to become more wakeful, and myriads +of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mind--all of them +connected with death, and vampires; with blood, and pain, and trouble." +Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and said +lovingly: "Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me +through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me +to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I +need your help. Well, I saw I must try to help the medicine to its work +with my will, if it was to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to +sleep. Sure enough sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no +more. Jonathan coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when +next I remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I +had before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this; you will find +it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague +terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some presence. +I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so soundly that it +seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping draught, and not I. I +tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I +looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me: beside +the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist--or rather as if the mist +had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared--stood a +tall, thin man, all in black. I knew him at once from the description of +the others. The waxen face; the high aquiline nose, on which the light +fell in a thin white line; the parted red lips, with the sharp white +teeth showing between; and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the +sunset on the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby. I knew, too, the +red scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant +my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was +paralysed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper, +pointing as he spoke to Jonathan:-- + +"'Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out +before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or +say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulder +and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did +so, 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well +be quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have +appeased my thirst!' I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not +want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that +such is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity +me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned +again. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as if +he were the injured one, and went on:-- + +"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How long +this horrible thing lasted I know not; but it seemed that a long time +must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away. I +saw it drip with the fresh blood!" The remembrance seemed for a while to +overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her +husband's sustaining arm. With a great effort she recovered herself and +went on:-- + +"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would play +your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and +frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in part already, +and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path. They +should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they +played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, and intrigued +for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were +born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now +to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin; my bountiful +wine-press for a while; and shall be later on my companion and my +helper. You shall be avenged in turn; for not one of them but shall +minister to your needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what you +have done. You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to my +call. When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or sea to +do my bidding; and to that end this!' With that he pulled open his +shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When +the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding +them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to +the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the---- Oh +my God! my God! what have I done? What have I done to deserve such a +fate, I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my +days. God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril; +and in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub her +lips as though to cleanse them from pollution. + +As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to quicken, +and everything became more and more clear. Harker was still and quiet; +but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look +which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first +red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out +against the whitening hair. + +We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappy +pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action. + +Of this I am sure: the sun rises to-day on no more miserable house in +all the great round of its daily course. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_3 October._--As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary. It +is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and +take something to eat; for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed +that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best will be, God +knows, required to-day. I must keep writing at every chance, for I dare +not stop to think. All, big and little, must go down; perhaps at the end +the little things may teach us most. The teaching, big or little, could +not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we are to-day. However, +we must trust and hope. Poor Mina told me just now, with the tears +running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and trial that our +faith is tested--that we must keep on trusting; and that God will aid us +up to the end. The end! oh my God! what end?... To work! To work! + +When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor +Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr. Seward +told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room below +they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a heap. His face was +all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the neck were broken. + +Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if he had +heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down--he confessed to +half dozing--when he heard loud voices in the room, and then Renfield +had called out loudly several times, "God! God! God!" after that there +was a sound of falling, and when he entered the room he found him lying +on the floor, face down, just as the doctors had seen him. Van Helsing +asked if he had heard "voices" or "a voice," and he said he could not +say; that at first it had seemed to him as if there were two, but as +there was no one in the room it could have been only one. He could swear +to it, if required, that the word "God" was spoken by the patient. Dr. +Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish to go into +the matter; the question of an inquest had to be considered, and it +would never do to put forward the truth, as no one would believe it. As +it was, he thought that on the attendant's evidence he could give a +certificate of death by misadventure in falling from bed. In case the +coroner should demand it, there would be a formal inquest, necessarily +to the same result. + +When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our next +step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full +confidence; that nothing of any sort--no matter how painful--should be +kept from her. She herself agreed as to its wisdom, and it was pitiful +to see her so brave and yet so sorrowful, and in such a depth of +despair. "There must be no concealment," she said, "Alas! we have had +too much already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that can +give me more pain than I have already endured--than I suffer now! +Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!" +Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said, suddenly +but quietly:-- + +"But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid; not for yourself, but for +others from yourself, after what has happened?" Her face grew set in its +lines, but her eyes shone with the devotion of a martyr as she +answered:-- + +"Ah no! for my mind is made up!" + +"To what?" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still; for each in +our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she meant. Her answer +came with direct simplicity, as though she were simply stating a fact:-- + +"Because if I find in myself--and I shall watch keenly for it--a sign of +harm to any that I love, I shall die!" + +"You would not kill yourself?" he asked, hoarsely. + +"I would; if there were no friend who loved me, who would save me such a +pain, and so desperate an effort!" She looked at him meaningly as she +spoke. He was sitting down; but now he rose and came close to her and +put his hand on her head as he said solemnly: + +"My child, there is such an one if it were for your good. For myself I +could hold it in my account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, +even at this moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my +child----" For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his +throat; he gulped it down and went on:-- + +"There are here some who would stand between you and death. You must not +die. You must not die by any hand; but least of all by your own. Until +the other, who has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not +die; for if he is still with the quick Un-Dead, your death would make +you even as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to +live, though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death +himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy; by the day, or the +night; in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you that you +do not die--nay, nor think of death--till this great evil be past." The +poor dear grew white as death, and shock and shivered, as I have seen a +quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide. We were all +silent; we could do nothing. At length she grew more calm and turning to +him said, sweetly, but oh! so sorrowfully, as she held out her hand:-- + +"I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will let me live, I shall +strive to do so; till, if it may be in His good time, this horror may +have passed away from me." She was so good and brave that we all felt +that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her, and we +began to discuss what we were to do. I told her that she was to have all +the papers in the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we +might hereafter use; and was to keep the record as she had done before. +She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do--if "pleased" could +be used in connection with so grim an interest. + +As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was +prepared with an exact ordering of our work. + +"It is perhaps well," he said, "that at our meeting after our visit to +Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth-boxes that lay +there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our purpose, and +would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such an +effort with regard to the others; but now he does not know our +intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such a +power exists to us as can sterilise his lairs, so that he cannot use +them as of old. We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as +to their disposition that, when we have examined the house in +Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them. To-day, then, is ours; +and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning +guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must +retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations +of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear +through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he +must open the door like a mortal. And so we have this day to hunt out +all his lairs and sterilise them. So we shall, if we have not yet catch +him and destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching +and the destroying shall be, in time, sure." Here I started up for I +could not contain myself at the thought that the minutes and seconds so +preciously laden with Mina's life and happiness were flying from us, +since whilst we talked action was impossible. But Van Helsing held up +his hand warningly. "Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the +quickest way home is the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all +act and act with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in +all probable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly. +The Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will have +deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper that he +write on; he will have his book of cheques. There are many belongings +that he must have somewhere; why not in this place so central, so quiet, +where he come and go by the front or the back at all hour, when in the +very vast of the traffic there is none to notice. We shall go there and +search that house; and when we learn what it holds, then we do what our +friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt 'stop the earths' and so we +run down our old fox--so? is it not?" + +"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious, +precious time!" The Professor did not move, but simply said:-- + +"And how are we to get into that house in Piccadilly?" + +"Any way!" I cried. "We shall break in if need be." + +"And your police; where will they be, and what will they say?" + +I was staggered; but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a good +reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could:-- + +"Don't wait more than need be; you know, I am sure, what torture I am +in." + +"Ah, my child, that I do; and indeed there is no wish of me to add to +your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the world be at +movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and thought, and it +seems to me that the simplest way is the best of all. Now we wish to get +into the house, but we have no key; is it not so?" I nodded. + +"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and could +not still get it; and think there was to you no conscience of the +housebreaker, what would you do?" + +"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the +lock for me." + +"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?" + +"Oh, no! not if they knew the man was properly employed." + +"Then," he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, "all that is in doubt is +the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your policemen as to +whether or no that employer has a good conscience or a bad one. Your +police must indeed be zealous men and clever--oh, so clever!--in reading +the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter. No, no, my +friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty house in this +your London, or of any city in the world; and if you do it as such +things are rightly done, and at the time such things are rightly done, +no one will interfere. I have read of a gentleman who owned a so fine +house in London, and when he went for months of summer to Switzerland +and lock up his house, some burglar came and broke window at back and +got in. Then he went and made open the shutters in front and walk out +and in through the door, before the very eyes of the police. Then he +have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice; +and when the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of +that other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell him +that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take all away +within a certain time. And your police and other authority help him all +they can. And when that owner come back from his holiday in Switzerland +he find only an empty hole where his house had been. This was all done +_en règle_; and in our work we shall be _en règle_ too. We shall not go +so early that the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem +it strange; but we shall go after ten o'clock, when there are many +about, and such things would be done were we indeed owners of the +house." + +I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Mina's +face became relaxed a thought; there was hope in such good counsel. Van +Helsing went on:-- + +"When once within that house we may find more clues; at any rate some of +us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places where there be +more earth-boxes--at Bermondsey and Mile End." + +Lord Godalming stood up. "I can be of some use here," he said. "I shall +wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most +convenient." + +"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to have all +ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don't you think that one +of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byway of +Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes? +It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south or east; and +even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are going to." + +"Friend Quincey is right!" said the Professor. "His head is what you +call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we go to +do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may." + +Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to see +that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the +terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale--almost +ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in +somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last, lest it should give +her needless pain; but it made my blood run cold in my veins to think of +what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood. As +yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper; but the time as yet +was short, and there was time for fear. + +When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of the +disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt. It was +finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should destroy the +Count's lair close at hand. In case he should find it out too soon, we +should thus be still ahead of him in our work of destruction; and his +presence in his purely material shape, and at his weakest, might give us +some new clue. + +As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that, +after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in Piccadilly; +that the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming +and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed them. +It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the Count +might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we might be +able to cope with him then and there. At any rate, we might be able to +follow him in force. To this plan I strenuously objected, and so far as +my going was concerned, for I said that I intended to stay and protect +Mina, I thought that my mind was made up on the subject; but Mina would +not listen to my objection. She said that there might be some law matter +in which I could be useful; that amongst the Count's papers might be +some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania; +and that, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to +cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for Mina's +resolution was fixed; she said that it was the last hope for _her_ that +we should all work together. "As for me," she said, "I have no fear. +Things have been as bad as they can be; and whatever may happen must +have in it some element of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if +He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any one present." So I +started up crying out: "Then in God's name let us come at once, for we +are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier than we +think." + +"Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand. + +"But why?" I asked. + +"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last night he +banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?" + +Did I forget! shall I ever--can I ever! Can any of us ever forget that +terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance; but +the pain overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and +shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had not intended to recall her +frightful experience. He had simply lost sight of her and her part in +the affair in his intellectual effort. When it struck him what he said, +he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her. "Oh, +Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I of all who so +reverence you should have said anything so forgetful. These stupid old +lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so; but you will +forget it, will you not?" He bent low beside her as he spoke; she took +his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely:-- + +"No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember; and with it I +have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all +together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is ready, and we +must all eat that we may be strong." + +Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful and +encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of +us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:-- + +"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we +all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's +lair; armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured +him. "Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case _quite_ safe +here until the sunset; and before then we shall return--if---- We shall +return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attack. I +have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing +of things of which we know, so that He may not enter. Now let me guard +yourself. On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the +name of the Father, the Son, and----" + +There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear. As he +had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it--had burned +into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. My poor +darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as +her nerves received the pain of it; and the two so overwhelmed her that +her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream. But the +words to her thought came quickly; the echo of the scream had not ceased +to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her +knees on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair +over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out:-- + +"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must +bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day." They +all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless +grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our +sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away +their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said +gravely; so gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some +way inspired, and was stating things outside himself:-- + +"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, +as He most surely shall, on the Judgment Day, to redress all wrongs of +the earth and of His children that He has placed thereon. And oh, Madam +Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that +red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, +and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as +we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the +burden that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did +in obedience to His Will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of +His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other +through stripes and shame; through tears and blood; through doubts and +fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man." + +There was hope in his words, and comfort; and they made for resignation. +Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old +man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then without a word we all +knelt down together, and, all holding hands, swore to be true to each +other. We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the +head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved; and we prayed for help +and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us. + +It was then time to start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which +neither of us shall forget to our dying day; and we set out. + +To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a +vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible +land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant +many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so +the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks. + +We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on +the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic +surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such +fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been made up, and had there +not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded +with our task. We found no papers, or any sign of use in the house; and +in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them last. +Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before them:-- + +"And now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilise this +earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far +distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has +been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more +holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to +God." As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and +very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth smelled +musty and close; but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention +was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his box a piece of the +Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down +the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked. + +One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left +them as we had found them to all appearance; but in each was a portion +of the Host. + +When we closed the door behind us, the Professor said solemnly:-- + +"So much is already done. If it may be that with all the others we can +be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may shine on Madam +Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!" + +As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our +train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly, and in the +window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her, and nodded to +tell that our work there was successfully accomplished. She nodded in +reply to show that she understood. The last I saw, she was waving her +hand in farewell. It was with a heavy heart that we sought the station +and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the +platform. + +I have written this in the train. + + * * * * * + +_Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock._--Just before we reached Fenchurch Street +Lord Godalming said to me:-- + +"Quincey and I will find a locksmith. You had better not come with us in +case there should be any difficulty; for under the circumstances it +wouldn't seem so bad for us to break into an empty house. But you are a +solicitor and the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you +should have known better." I demurred as to my not sharing any danger +even of odium, but he went on: "Besides, it will attract less attention +if there are not too many of us. My title will make it all right with +the locksmith, and with any policeman that may come along. You had +better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park, +somewhere in sight of the house; and when you see the door opened and +the smith has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the +lookout for you, and shall let you in." + +"The advice is good!" said Van Helsing, so we said no more. Godalming +and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another. At the corner +of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into the Green +Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was +centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst +its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours. We sat down on a bench +within good view, and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little +attention as possible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we +waited for the coming of the others. + +At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in leisurely +fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris; and down from the box descended +a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of tools. Morris paid +the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away. Together the two +ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he wanted done. +The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it on one of the spikes +of the rail, saying something to a policeman who just then sauntered +along. The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the man kneeling down +placed his bag beside him. After searching through it, he took out a +selection of tools which he produced to lay beside him in orderly +fashion. Then he stood up, looked into the keyhole, blew into it, and +turning to his employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and +the man lifted a good-sized bunch of keys; selecting one of them, he +began to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling +about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once the +door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two others +entered the hall. We sat still; my own cigar burnt furiously, but Van +Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited patiently as we saw the +workman come out and bring in his bag. Then he held the door partly +open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he fitted a key to the lock. +This he finally handed to Lord Godalming, who took out his purse and +gave him something. The man touched his hat, took his bag, put on his +coat and departed; not a soul took the slightest notice of the whole +transaction. + +When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and knocked at +the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom stood +Lord Godalming lighting a cigar. + +"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in. It did +indeed smell vilely--like the old chapel at Carfax--and with our +previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using the +place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all keeping together +in case of attack; for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy to deal +with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be in the +house. In the dining-room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found +eight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine, which we sought! +Our work was not over, and would never be until we should have found the +missing box. First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out +across a narrow stone-flagged yard at the blank face of a stable, +pointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no +windows in it, so we were not afraid of being over-looked. We did not +lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we had +brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as we had +treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us that the +Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to search for +any of his effects. + +After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement to attic, +we came to the conclusion that the dining-room contained any effects +which might belong to the Count; and so we proceeded to minutely examine +them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the great dining-room +table. There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great bundle; +deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and Bermondsey; +note-paper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were covered up in thin +wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There were also a clothes +brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin--the latter containing +dirty water which was reddened as if with blood. Last of all was a +little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes, probably those belonging to +the other houses. When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming +and Quincey Morris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the +houses in the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great +bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest of us +are, with what patience we can, waiting their return--or the coming of +the Count. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--The time seemed terrible long whilst we were waiting for +the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep +our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent +purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. +The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. +Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful +face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. To-day he is a drawn, +haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning +eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in +fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for, if +all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period; he will then, +in a kind of way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I +thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his----! The Professor knows +this well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind active. What he +has been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interest. So +well as I can remember, here it is:-- + +"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands, all +the papers relating to this monster; and the more I have studied, the +greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out. All through there +are signs of his advance; not only of his power, but of his knowledge of +it. As I learned from the researches of my friend Arminus of Buda-Pesth, +he was in life a most wonderful man. Soldier, statesman, and +alchemist--which latter was the highest development of the +science-knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond +compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse. He dared even to +attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time +that he did not essay. Well, in him the brain powers survived the +physical death; though it would seem that memory was not all complete. +In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is +growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of +man's stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well; and if it had not +been that we have crossed his path he would be yet--he may be yet if we +fail--the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must +lead through Death, not Life." + +Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my darling! +But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him!" + +"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but +surely; that big child-brain of his is working. Well for us, it is, as +yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain +things he would long ago have been beyond our power. However, he means +to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait +and to go slow. _Festina lente_ may well be his motto." + +"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "Oh, do be more plain to +me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain." + +The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke:-- + +"Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late, this +monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How he has been +making use of the zoöphagous patient to effect his entry into friend +John's home; for your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when +and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto by +an inmate. But these are not his most important experiments. Do we not +see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others. He +knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great +child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he +might not himself move the box. So he began to help; and then, when he +found that this be all-right, he try to move them all alone. And so he +progress, and he scatter these graves of him; and none but he know where +they are hidden. He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So +that he only use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his +form, they do him equal well; and none may know these are his +hiding-place! But, my child, do not despair; this knowledge come to him +just too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilise as for him; +and before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no place where he +can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we might be sure. Is +there not more at stake for us than for him? Then why we not be even +more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be +well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us. To-day is our +day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance. See! there are +five of us when those absent ones return." + +Whilst he was speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door, the +double postman's knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved out to the +hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us to +keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The boy handed in a +despatch. The Professor closed the door again, and, after looking at the +direction, opened it and read aloud. + +"Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and +hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the round and may want +to see you: Mina." + +There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice:-- + +"Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!" Van Helsing turned to him +quickly and said:-- + +"God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice +as yet; for what we wish for at the moment may be our undoings." + +"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this +brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!" + +"Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing. "God does not purchase +souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep +faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your +devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her pain would be +doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not fear any of us, we are +all devoted to this cause, and to-day shall see the end. The time is +coming for action; to-day this Vampire is limit to the powers of man, +and till sunset he may not change. It will take him time to arrive +here--see, it is twenty minutes past one--and there are yet some times +before he can hither come, be he never so quick. What we must hope for +is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first." + +About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram, there +came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an ordinary +knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made +the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. We looked at each other, and +together moved out into the hall; we each held ready to use our various +armaments--the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right. Van +Helsing pulled back the latch, and, holding the door half open, stood +back, having both hands ready for action. The gladness of our hearts +must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we +saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed +the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the +hall:-- + +"It is all right. We found both places; six boxes in each and we +destroyed them all!" + +"Destroyed?" asked the Professor. + +"For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said:-- + +"There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn't turn up +by five o'clock, we must start off; for it won't do to leave Mrs. Harker +alone after sunset." + +"He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been +consulting his pocket-book. "_Nota bene_, in Madam's telegram he went +south from Carfax, that means he went to cross the river, and he could +only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one +o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is as yet only +suspicious; and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would +suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a +short time before him. That he is not here already shows that he went to +Mile End next. This took him some time; for he would then have to be +carried over the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not +have long to wait now. We should have ready some plan of attack, so that +we may throw away no chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your +arms! Be ready!" He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could +hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door. + +I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a +dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and +adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always +been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been +accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be +renewed instinctively. With a swift glance around the room, he at once +laid out our plan of attack, and, without speaking a word, with a +gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing, Harker, and I were +just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could +guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door. +Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to +move in front of the window. We waited in a suspense that made the +seconds pass with nightmare slowness. The slow, careful steps came along +the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise--at least +he feared it. + +Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room, winning a way past +us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There was something +so panther-like in the movement--something so unhuman, that it seemed +to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was +Harker, who, with a quick movement, threw himself before the door +leading into the room in the front of the house. As the Count saw us, a +horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth long +and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of +lion-like disdain. His expression again changed as, with a single +impulse, we all advanced upon him. It was a pity that we had not some +better organised plan of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what +we were to do. I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would +avail us anything. Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had +ready his great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The +blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's +leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had shorne +through his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat, +making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of gold +fell out. The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that for a +moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife +aloft again for another stroke. Instinctively I moved forward with a +protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I +felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise that I +saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously +by each one of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of +hate and baffled malignity--of anger and hellish rage--which came over +the Count's face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast +of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the +pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next instant, with a sinuous +dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere his blow could fall, and, grasping +a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room, threw +himself at the window. Amid the crash and glitter of the falling glass, +he tumbled into the flagged area below. Through the sound of the +shivering glass I could hear the "ting" of the gold, as some of the +sovereigns fell on the flagging. + +We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up +the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door. +There he turned and spoke to us:-- + +"You think to baffle me, you--with your pale faces all in a row, like +sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You think +you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is +just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your +girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and +others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my +jackals when I want to feed. Bah!" With a contemptuous sneer, he passed +quickly through the door, and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he +fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut. The first of us +to speak was the Professor, as, realising the difficulty of following +him through the stable, we moved toward the hall. + +"We have learnt something--much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he +fears us; he fear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His +very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take that money? You +follow quick. You are hunters of wild beast, and understand it so. For +me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use to him, if so that he +return." As he spoke he put the money remaining into his pocket; took +the title-deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the +remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with +a match. + +Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker had +lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had, however, +bolted the stable door; and by the time they had forced it open there +was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back +of the house; but the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart. + +It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We had to +recognise that our game was up; with heavy hearts we agreed with the +Professor when he said:-- + +"Let us go back to Madam Mina--poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do +just now is done; and we can there, at least, protect her. But we need +not despair. There is but one more earth-box, and we must try to find +it; when that is done all may yet be well." I could see that he spoke as +bravely as he could to comfort Harker. The poor fellow was quite broken +down; now and again he gave a low groan which he could not suppress--he +was thinking of his wife. + +With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker +waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her +bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her own became as +pale as death: for a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were +in secret prayer; and then she said cheerfully:-- + +"I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling!" As she spoke, +she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed it--"Lay your +poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well, dear! God will protect +us if He so will it in His good intent." The poor fellow groaned. There +was no place for words in his sublime misery. + +We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered us +all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to hungry +people--for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast--or the sense +of companionship may have helped us; but anyhow we were all less +miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope. True to +our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed; and +although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to +threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion to her was +manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness. When we came to the +part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly, she clung to +her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could +protect him from any harm that might come. She said nothing, however, +till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought right up +to the present time. Then without letting go her husband's hand she +stood up amongst us and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the +scene; of that sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty +of her youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which +she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our +teeth--remembering whence and how it came; her loving kindness against +our grim hate; her tender faith against all our fears and doubting; and +we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and +purity and faith, was outcast from God. + +"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips it was +so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you all my true, +true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all this +dreadful time. I know that you must fight--that you must destroy even as +you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter; +but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this +misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when +he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have +spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too, though it may +not hold your hands from his destruction." + +As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together, as +though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core. +Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer, till his +knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain which I knew she +must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes that were more appealing +than ever. As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing +his hand from hers as he spoke:-- + +"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that +earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send +his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!" + +"Oh, hush! oh, hush! in the name of the good God. Don't say such things, +Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just +think, my dear--I have been thinking all this long, long day of it--that +... perhaps ... some day ... I, too, may need such pity; and that some +other like you--and with equal cause for anger--may deny it to me! Oh, +my husband! my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought +had there been another way; but I pray that God may not have treasured +your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a very loving and +sorely stricken man. Oh, God, let these poor white hairs go in evidence +of what he has suffered, who all his life has done no wrong, and on whom +so many sorrows have come." + +We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and we wept +openly. She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed. +Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and putting his arms +round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress. Van Helsing beckoned +to us and we stole out of the room, leaving the two loving hearts alone +with their God. + +Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming +of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace. +She tried to school herself to the belief, and, manifestly for her +husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle; and was, +I think and believe, not without its reward. Van Helsing had placed at +hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency. +When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should +sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the +poor stricken lady. The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us +shall be off to bed as soon as we can. Godalming has already turned in, +for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done I, too, shall go +to bed. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_3-4 October, close to midnight._--I thought yesterday would never end. +There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind belief +that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any change must +now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed what our next step +was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All we knew was that one +earth-box remained, and that the Count alone knew where it was. If he +chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years; and in the +meantime!--the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of it even now. +This I know: that if ever there was a woman who was all perfection, that +one is my poor wronged darling. I love her a thousand times more for her +sweet pity of last night, a pity that made my own hate of the monster +seem despicable. Surely God will not permit the world to be the poorer +by the loss of such a creature. This is hope to me. We are all drifting +reefwards now, and faith is our only anchor. Thank God! Mina is +sleeping, and sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be +like, with such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so +calm, within my seeing, since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came +over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of March. +I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red sunset on her +face, but somehow now I think it has a deeper meaning. I am not sleepy +myself, though I am weary--weary to death. However, I must try to sleep; +for there is to-morrow to think of, and there is no rest for me +until.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awaked by Mina, who was +sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could see easily, +for we did not leave the room in darkness; she had placed a warning hand +over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear:-- + +"Hush! there is someone in the corridor!" I got up softly, and crossing +the room, gently opened the door. + +Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake. He +raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me:-- + +"Hush! go back to bed; it is all right. One of us will be here all +night. We don't mean to take any chances!" + +His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina. +She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor, pale +face as she put her arms round me and said softly:-- + +"Oh, thank God for good brave men!" With a sigh she sank back again to +sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again. + + * * * * * + +_4 October, morning._--Once again during the night I was wakened by +Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming +dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas flame was +like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:-- + +"Go, call the Professor. I want to see him at once." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured +without my knowing it. He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I +shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest; the time is getting close." I +went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing +me, he sprang to his feet. + +"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm. + +"No," I replied; "but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once." + +"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room. + +In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his +dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at +the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a smile--a +positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as he +said:-- + +"Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See! friend Jonathan, +we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day!" Then +turning to her, he said, cheerfully: "And what am I do for you? For at +this hour you do not want me for nothings." + +"I want you to hypnotise me!" she said. "Do it before the dawn, for I +feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is +short!" Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed. + +Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her, +from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn. Mina +gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat +like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually +her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of +her bosom could one know that she was alive. The Professor made a few +more passes and then stopped, and I could see that his forehead was +covered with great beads of perspiration. Mina opened her eyes; but she +did not seem the same woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and +her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to +impose silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. +They came on tip-toe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the +foot of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The +stillness was broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone +which would not break the current of her thoughts:-- + +"Where are you?" The answer came in a neutral way:-- + +"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own." For several +minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood +staring at her fixedly; the rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room +was growing lighter; without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van +Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed +just upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse +itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke again:-- + +"Where are you now?" The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it +were as though she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the +same tone when reading her shorthand notes. + +"I do not know. It is all strange to me!" + +"What do you see?" + +"I can see nothing; it is all dark." + +"What do you hear?" I could detect the strain in the Professor's patient +voice. + +"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can +hear them on the outside." + +"Then you are on a ship?" We all looked at each other, trying to glean +something each from the other. We were afraid to think. The answer came +quick:-- + +"Oh, yes!" + +"What else do you hear?" + +"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the +creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan +falls into the rachet." + +"What are you doing?" + +"I am still--oh, so still. It is like death!" The voice faded away into +a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again. + +By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of +day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid her +head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a sleeping child for a few +moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder to see +us all around her. "Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said. +She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling, though she +was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the +conversation, and she said:-- + +"Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late!" Mr. +Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor's calm +voice called them back:-- + +"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor +whilst she spoke. There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in +your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek? God be +thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead us we +know not. We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of men, +since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking +forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen! Alas, but +that sentence is a puddle; is it not? We can know now what was in the +Count's mind, when he seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce +knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear +me, ESCAPE! He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men +following like dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He +have take his last earth-box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He +think to escape, but no! we follow him. Tally Ho! as friend Arthur would +say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily; oh! so wily, and +we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a +little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters +between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he +would--unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or +slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to +us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need, +and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with +us." Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:-- + +"But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?" He +took her hand and patted it as he replied:-- + +"Ask me nothings as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all +questions." He would say no more, and we separated to dress. + +After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her gravely for +a minute and then said sorrowfully:-- + +"Because my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him +even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!" She grew paler as +she asked faintly:-- + +"Why?" + +"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you are +but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark +upon your throat." + +I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY, SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING + + +This to Jonathan Harker. + +You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our +search--if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we +seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her to-day. +This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him +here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, +for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away; he have gone back +to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of +fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and +that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the +money; for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun +go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that +he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him. +But there was not of time. When that fail he make straight for his last +resource--his last earth-work I might say did I wish _double entente_. +He is clever, oh, so clever! he know that his game here was finish; and +so he decide he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came, +and he go in it. We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound; +when we have discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will +comfort you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope +when you think it over: that all is not lost. This very creature that we +pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London; and yet in +one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is +finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. +But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong +together. Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is +but begun, and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high +to watch over His children. Therefore be of much comfort till we return. + +VAN HELSING. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 October._--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the +phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the +certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort; +and comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that his horrible +danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to +believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem +like a long-forgotten dream. Here in the crisp autumn air in the bright +sunlight---- + +Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on +the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst that lasts, +there can be no disbelief. And afterwards the very memory of it will +keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle, so we have been +over all the diaries again and again. Somehow, although the reality +seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less. There is +something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting. +Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may +be! I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other +yet of the future. It is better to wait till we see the Professor and +the others after their investigations. + +The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run +for me again. It is now three o'clock. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, 5 p. m._--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van +Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan +Harker, Mina Harker. + +Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to +discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape:-- + +"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure that +he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea, since +by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne +ignotum pro magnifico_; and so with heavy hearts we start to find what +ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He was in sailing ship, since +Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in +your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go, by suggestion of +Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail, +however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound ship go +out with the tide. She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail from +Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence on to other parts and up the +Danube. 'Soh!' said I, 'this is the ship whereon is the Count.' So off +we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office of wood +so small that the man look bigger than the office. From him we inquire +of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much, and he red face +and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same; and when Quincey +give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up, and +put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing, he +still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us, and ask +many men who are rough and hot; these be better fellows too when they +have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom, and of +others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but +nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know. + +"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five +o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with high nose +and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning. That he be all in +black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the +time. That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what ship +sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some took him to the office and +then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at shore end of +gang-plank, and ask that the captain come to him. The captain come, when +told that he will be pay well; and though he swear much at the first he +agree to term. Then the thin man go and some one tell him where horse +and cart can be hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself +driving cart on which a great box; this he himself lift down, though it +take several to put it on truck for the ship. He give much talk to +captain as to how and where his box is to be place; but the captain like +it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him that if he like he +can come and see where it shall be. But he say 'no'; that he come not +yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the captain tell him that he +had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will leave the +place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then the thin +man smile and say that of course he must go when he think fit; but he +will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear again, +polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he +will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the +sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues tell +him that he doesn't want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and also +with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after asking +where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase ship +forms, he departed. + +"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared,' as they said, for +they had something else to think of--well with blood again; for it soon +became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as +was expected. A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it grew, +and grew; till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around her. +The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and +blood; but he could do nothing. The water rose and rose; and he began to +fear that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly mood, +when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank again and +asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain replied +that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and +blood--were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and went down +with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and stood awhile +on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him. +Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away, and +all was clear again. My friends of the thirst and the language that was +of bloom and blood laughed, as they told how the captain's swears +exceeded even his usual polyglot, and was more than ever full of +picturesque, when on questioning other mariners who were on movement up +and down on the river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any +of fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However, the ship +went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the +river mouth. She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea. + +"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for +our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way to the +Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she never so quick; and when +we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there. Our best hope +is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset; for then +he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There +are days for us, in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about +where he go; for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us +invoices and all papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in +Varna, and to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present +his credentials; and so our merchant friend will have done his part. +When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and +have inquiry made at Varna, we say 'no'; for what is to be done is not +for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone and in our own +way." + +When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain +that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied: "We have the +best proof of that: your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance this +morning." I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should +pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that +he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing passion, +at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more +forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some +of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst +men:-- + +"Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary! For your sake in the first, +and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done much harm +already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short +time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in +darkness and not knowing. All this have I told these others; you, my +dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or +in that of your husband. I have told them how the measure of leaving his +own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life +of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the +work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do +what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have +been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of +nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in +some wondrous way. The very place, where he have been alive, Un-Dead for +all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical +world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither. +There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters +of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless, +there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of +occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in +himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike +time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain, +more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in +strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and +thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which +is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from, +and are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have +infect you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for +good of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do +no more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and +so in time, death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction, +shall make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together +that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the +world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, +whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one +soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem +more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if +we fall, we fall in good cause." He paused and I said:-- + +"But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely? Since he has been driven +from England, will he not avoid it, as a tiger does the village from +which he has been hunted?" + +"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall +adopt him. Your man-eater, as they of India call the tiger who has once +tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other prey, but prowl +unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from our village is a +tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay, in himself he +is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life, he go +over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be +beaten back, but did he stay? No! He come again, and again, and again. +Look at his persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was to +him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What +does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise for +him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task. He +find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers. He +study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old +ways, the politic, the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a new +land and a new people who have come to be since he was. His glimpse that +he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it help +him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he was at +the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone! from a +ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater +world of thought is open to him. He that can smile at death, as we know +him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole +peoples. Oh, if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil, +what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours. But we +are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence, and our +efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believe not +even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest +strength. It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons +to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even our own souls +for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind, and for the +honour and glory of God." + +After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing +be definitely settled; that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to +think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow, at breakfast, we are to +meet again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another, we +shall decide on some definite cause of action. + + * * * * * + +I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting +presence were removed from me. Perhaps ... + +My surmise was not finished, could not be; for I caught sight in the +mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still +unclean. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 October._--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for +each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was more +general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience +again. + +It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let +any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way--even by +death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment. More +than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder whether +the whole of the past days had not been a dream. It was only when I +caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that I was +brought back to reality. Even now, when I am gravely revolving the +matter, it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all our +trouble is still existent. Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her +trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again, when something +recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar. We are to +meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of +action. I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct +rather than reason: we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear +that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I _know_ +that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can +guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not, or +cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing, and +he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is some of +that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work. The +Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called "the +Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be a poison that distils +itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is +a mystery we should not wonder at anything! One thing I know: that if my +instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a +terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us. The same +power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think +further; for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman! + +Van Helsing is coming to my study a little before the others. I shall +try to open the subject with him. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of +things. I could see that he had something on his mind which he wanted to +say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject. After beating +about the bush a little, he said suddenly:-- + +"Friend John, there is something that you and I must talk of alone, just +at the first at any rate. Later, we may have to take the others into our +confidence"; then he stopped, so I waited; he went on:-- + +"Madam Mina, our poor, dear Madam Mina is changing." A cold shiver ran +through me to find my worst fears thus endorsed. Van Helsing +continued:-- + +"With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be warned +before things go too far. Our task is now in reality more difficult than +ever, and this new trouble makes every hour of the direst importance. I +can see the characteristics of the vampire coming in her face. It is now +but very, very slight; but it is to be seen if we have eyes to notice +without to prejudge. Her teeth are some sharper, and at times her eyes +are more hard. But these are not all, there is to her the silence now +often; as so it was with Miss Lucy. She did not speak, even when she +wrote that which she wished to be known later. Now my fear is this. If +it be that she can, by our hypnotic trance, tell what the Count see and +hear, is it not more true that he who have hypnotise her first, and who +have drink of her very blood and make her drink of his, should, if he +will, compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?" I nodded +acquiescence; he went on:-- + +"Then, what we must do is to prevent this; we must keep her ignorant of +our intent, and so she cannot tell what she know not. This is a painful +task! Oh, so painful that it heart-break me to think of; but it must be. +When to-day we meet, I must tell her that for reason which we will not +to speak she must not more be of our council, but be simply guarded by +us." He wiped his forehead, which had broken out in profuse perspiration +at the thought of the pain which he might have to inflict upon the poor +soul already so tortured. I knew that it would be some sort of comfort +to him if I told him that I also had come to the same conclusion; for at +any rate it would take away the pain of doubt. I told him, and the +effect was as I expected. + +It is now close to the time of our general gathering. Van Helsing has +gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful part of it. I +really believe his purpose is to be able to pray alone. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was +experienced by both Van Helsing and myself. Mrs. Harker had sent a +message by her husband to say that she would not join us at present, as +she thought it better that we should be free to discuss our movements +without her presence to embarrass us. The Professor and I looked at each +other for an instant, and somehow we both seemed relieved. For my own +part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker realised the danger herself, it was +much pain as well as much danger averted. Under the circumstances we +agreed, by a questioning look and answer, with finger on lip, to +preserve silence in our suspicions, until we should have been able to +confer alone again. We went at once into our Plan of Campaign. Van +Helsing roughly put the facts before us first:-- + +"The _Czarina Catherine_ left the Thames yesterday morning. It will take +her at the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to +reach Varna; but we can travel overland to the same place in three days. +Now, if we allow for two days less for the ship's voyage, owing to such +weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to bear; and if +we allow a whole day and night for any delays which may occur to us, +then we have a margin of nearly two weeks. Thus, in order to be quite +safe, we must leave here on 17th at latest. Then we shall at any rate +be in Varna a day before the ship arrives, and able to make such +preparations as may be necessary. Of course we shall all go armed--armed +against evil things, spiritual as well as physical." Here Quincey Morris +added:-- + +"I understand that the Count comes from a wolf country, and it may be +that he shall get there before us. I propose that we add Winchesters to +our armament. I have a kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any +trouble of that sort around. Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack +after us at Tobolsk? What wouldn't we have given then for a repeater +apiece!" + +"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be. Quincey's head is +level at all times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more +dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man. In the meantime we +can do nothing here; and as I think that Varna is not familiar to any of +us, why not go there more soon? It is as long to wait here as there. +To-night and to-morrow we can get ready, and then, if all be well, we +four can set out on our journey." + +"We four?" said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to another of +us. + +"Of course!" answered the Professor quickly, "you must remain to take +care of your so sweet wife!" Harker was silent for awhile and then said +in a hollow voice:-- + +"Let us talk of that part of it in the morning. I want to consult with +Mina." I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not +to disclose our plans to her; but he took no notice. I looked at him +significantly and coughed. For answer he put his finger on his lips and +turned away. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, afternoon._--For some time after our meeting this morning I +could not think. The new phases of things leave my mind in a state of +wonder which allows no room for active thought. Mina's determination not +to take any part in the discussion set me thinking; and as I could not +argue the matter with her, I could only guess. I am as far as ever from +a solution now. The way the others received it, too, puzzled me; the +last time we talked of the subject we agreed that there was to be no +more concealment of anything amongst us. Mina is sleeping now, calmly +and sweetly like a little child. Her lips are curved and her face beams +with happiness. Thank God, there are such moments still for her. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--How strange it all is. I sat watching Mina's happy sleep, and +came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be. As the +evening drew on, and the earth took its shadows from the sun sinking +lower, the silence of the room grew more and more solemn to me. All at +once Mina opened her eyes, and looking at me tenderly, said:-- + +"Jonathan, I want you to promise me something on your word of honour. A +promise made to me, but made holily in God's hearing, and not to be +broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter +tears. Quick, you must make it to me at once." + +"Mina," I said, "a promise like that, I cannot make at once. I may have +no right to make it." + +"But, dear one," she said, with such spiritual intensity that her eyes +were like pole stars, "it is I who wish it; and it is not for myself. +You can ask Dr. Van Helsing if I am not right; if he disagrees you may +do as you will. Nay, more, if you all agree, later, you are absolved +from the promise." + +"I promise!" I said, and for a moment she looked supremely happy; though +to me all happiness for her was denied by the red scar on her forehead. +She said:-- + +"Promise me that you will not tell me anything of the plans formed for +the campaign against the Count. Not by word, or inference, or +implication; not at any time whilst this remains to me!" and she +solemnly pointed to the scar. I saw that she was in earnest, and said +solemnly:-- + +"I promise!" and as I said it I felt that from that instant a door had +been shut between us. + + * * * * * + +_Later, midnight._--Mina has been bright and cheerful all the evening. +So much so that all the rest seemed to take courage, as if infected +somewhat with her gaiety; as a result even I myself felt as if the pall +of gloom which weighs us down were somewhat lifted. We all retired +early. Mina is now sleeping like a little child; it is a wonderful thing +that her faculty of sleep remains to her in the midst of her terrible +trouble. Thank God for it, for then at least she can forget her care. +Perhaps her example may affect me as her gaiety did to-night. I shall +try it. Oh! for a dreamless sleep. + + * * * * * + +_6 October, morning._--Another surprise. Mina woke me early, about the +same time as yesterday, and asked me to bring Dr. Van Helsing. I thought +that it was another occasion for hypnotism, and without question went +for the Professor. He had evidently expected some such call, for I found +him dressed in his room. His door was ajar, so that he could hear the +opening of the door of our room. He came at once; as he passed into the +room, he asked Mina if the others might come, too. + +"No," she said quite simply, "it will not be necessary. You can tell +them just as well. I must go with you on your journey." + +Dr. Van Helsing was as startled as I was. After a moment's pause he +asked:-- + +"But why?" + +"You must take me with you. I am safer with you, and you shall be safer, +too." + +"But why, dear Madam Mina? You know that your safety is our solemnest +duty. We go into danger, to which you are, or may be, more liable than +any of us from--from circumstances--things that have been." He paused, +embarrassed. + +As she replied, she raised her finger and pointed to her forehead:-- + +"I know. That is why I must go. I can tell you now, whilst the sun is +coming up; I may not be able again. I know that when the Count wills me +I must go. I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by +wile; by any device to hoodwink--even Jonathan." God saw the look that +she turned on me as she spoke, and if there be indeed a Recording Angel +that look is noted to her everlasting honour. I could only clasp her +hand. I could not speak; my emotion was too great for even the relief of +tears. She went on:-- + +"You men are brave and strong. You are strong in your numbers, for you +can defy that which would break down the human endurance of one who had +to guard alone. Besides, I may be of service, since you can hypnotise me +and so learn that which even I myself do not know." Dr. Van Helsing said +very gravely:-- + +"Madam Mina, you are, as always, most wise. You shall with us come; and +together we shall do that which we go forth to achieve." When he had +spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her. She had fallen +back on her pillow asleep; she did not even wake when I had pulled up +the blind and let in the sunlight which flooded the room. Van Helsing +motioned to me to come with him quietly. We went to his room, and within +a minute Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris were with us also. +He told them what Mina had said, and went on:-- + +"In the morning we shall leave for Varna. We have now to deal with a +new factor: Madam Mina. Oh, but her soul is true. It is to her an agony +to tell us so much as she has done; but it is most right, and we are +warned in time. There must be no chance lost, and in Varna we must be +ready to act the instant when that ship arrives." + +"What shall we do exactly?" asked Mr. Morris laconically. The Professor +paused before replying:-- + +"We shall at the first board that ship; then, when we have identified +the box, we shall place a branch of the wild rose on it. This we shall +fasten, for when it is there none can emerge; so at least says the +superstition. And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was +man's faith in the early, and it have its root in faith still. Then, +when we get the opportunity that we seek, when none are near to see, we +shall open the box, and--and all will be well." + +"I shall not wait for any opportunity," said Morris. "When I see the box +I shall open it and destroy the monster, though there were a thousand +men looking on, and if I am to be wiped out for it the next moment!" I +grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a piece of steel. +I think he understood my look; I hope he did. + +"Good boy," said Dr. Van Helsing. "Brave boy. Quincey is all man. God +bless him for it. My child, believe me none of us shall lag behind or +pause from any fear. I do but say what we may do--what we must do. But, +indeed, indeed we cannot say what we shall do. There are so many things +which may happen, and their ways and their ends are so various that +until the moment we may not say. We shall all be armed, in all ways; and +when the time for the end has come, our effort shall not be lack. Now +let us to-day put all our affairs in order. Let all things which touch +on others dear to us, and who on us depend, be complete; for none of us +can tell what, or when, or how, the end may be. As for me, my own +affairs are regulate; and as I have nothing else to do, I shall go make +arrangements for the travel. I shall have all tickets and so forth for +our journey." + +There was nothing further to be said, and we parted. I shall now settle +up all my affairs of earth, and be ready for whatever may come.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It is all done; my will is made, and all complete. Mina if she +survive is my sole heir. If it should not be so, then the others who +have been so good to us shall have remainder. + +It is now drawing towards the sunset; Mina's uneasiness calls my +attention to it. I am sure that there is something on her mind which the +time of exact sunset will reveal. These occasions are becoming harrowing +times for us all, for each sunrise and sunset opens up some new +danger--some new pain, which, however, may in God's will be means to a +good end. I write all these things in the diary since my darling must +not hear them now; but if it may be that she can see them again, they +shall be ready. + +She is calling to me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_11 October, Evening._--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this, as he +says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record kept. + +I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs. +Harker a little before the time of sunset. We have of late come to +understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar freedom; +when her old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing +or restraining her, or inciting her to action. This mood or condition +begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise or sunset, and lasts +till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds are still aglow with +the rays streaming above the horizon. At first there is a sort of +negative condition, as if some tie were loosened, and then the absolute +freedom quickly follows; when, however, the freedom ceases the +change-back or relapse comes quickly, preceded only by a spell of +warning silence. + +To-night, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the +signs of an internal struggle. I put it down myself to her making a +violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so. A very few +minutes, however, gave her complete control of herself; then, motioning +her husband to sit beside her on the sofa where she was half reclining, +she made the rest of us bring chairs up close. Taking her husband's hand +in hers began:-- + +"We are all here together in freedom, for perhaps the last time! I know, +dear; I know that you will always be with me to the end." This was to +her husband whose hand had, as we could see, tightened upon hers. "In +the morning we go out upon our task, and God alone knows what may be in +store for any of us. You are going to be so good to me as to take me +with you. I know that all that brave earnest men can do for a poor weak +woman, whose soul perhaps is lost--no, no, not yet, but is at any rate +at stake--you will do. But you must remember that I am not as you are. +There is a poison in my blood, in my soul, which may destroy me; which +must destroy me, unless some relief comes to us. Oh, my friends, you +know as well as I do, that my soul is at stake; and though I know there +is one way out for me, you must not and I must not take it!" She looked +appealingly to us all in turn, beginning and ending with her husband. + +"What is that way?" asked Van Helsing in a hoarse voice. "What is that +way, which we must not--may not--take?" + +"That I may die now, either by my own hand or that of another, before +the greater evil is entirely wrought. I know, and you know, that were I +once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit, even as you +did my poor Lucy's. Were death, or the fear of death, the only thing +that stood in the way I would not shrink to die here, now, amidst the +friends who love me. But death is not all. I cannot believe that to die +in such a case, when there is hope before us and a bitter task to be +done, is God's will. Therefore, I, on my part, give up here the +certainty of eternal rest, and go out into the dark where may be the +blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" We were all +silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a prelude. The +faces of the others were set and Harker's grew ashen grey; perhaps he +guessed better than any of us what was coming. She continued:-- + +"This is what I can give into the hotch-pot." I could not but note the +quaint legal phrase which she used in such a place, and with all +seriousness. "What will each of you give? Your lives I know," she went +on quickly, "that is easy for brave men. Your lives are God's, and you +can give them back to Him; but what will you give to me?" She looked +again questioningly, but this time avoided her husband's face. Quincey +seemed to understand; he nodded, and her face lit up. "Then I shall tell +you plainly what I want, for there must be no doubtful matter in this +connection between us now. You must promise me, one and all--even you, +my beloved husband--that, should the time come, you will kill me." + +"What is that time?" The voice was Quincey's, but it was low and +strained. + +"When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better that +I die that I may live. When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, +without a moment's delay, drive a stake through me and cut off my head; +or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!" + +Quincey was the first to rise after the pause. He knelt down before her +and taking her hand in his said solemnly:-- + +"I'm only a rough fellow, who hasn't, perhaps, lived as a man should to +win such a distinction, but I swear to you by all that I hold sacred and +dear that, should the time ever come, I shall not flinch from the duty +that you have set us. And I promise you, too, that I shall make all +certain, for if I am only doubtful I shall take it that the time has +come!" + +"My true friend!" was all she could say amid her fast-falling tears, as, +bending over, she kissed his hand. + +"I swear the same, my dear Madam Mina!" said Van Helsing. + +"And I!" said Lord Godalming, each of them in turn kneeling to her to +take the oath. I followed, myself. Then her husband turned to her +wan-eyed and with a greenish pallor which subdued the snowy whiteness of +his hair, and asked:-- + +"And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?" + +"You too, my dearest," she said, with infinite yearning of pity in her +voice and eyes. "You must not shrink. You are nearest and dearest and +all the world to me; our souls are knit into one, for all life and all +time. Think, dear, that there have been times when brave men have killed +their wives and their womenkind, to keep them from falling into the +hands of the enemy. Their hands did not falter any the more because +those that they loved implored them to slay them. It is men's duty +towards those whom they love, in such times of sore trial! And oh, my +dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it be at +the hand of him that loves me best. Dr. Van Helsing, I have not +forgotten your mercy in poor Lucy's case to him who loved"--she stopped +with a flying blush, and changed her phrase--"to him who had best right +to give her peace. If that time shall come again, I look to you to make +it a happy memory of my husband's life that it was his loving hand which +set me free from the awful thrall upon me." + +"Again I swear!" came the Professor's resonant voice. Mrs. Harker +smiled, positively smiled, as with a sigh of relief she leaned back and +said:-- + +"And now one word of warning, a warning which you must never forget: +this time, if it ever come, may come quickly and unexpectedly, and in +such case you must lose no time in using your opportunity. At such a +time I myself might be--nay! if the time ever comes, _shall be_--leagued +with your enemy against you." + +"One more request;" she became very solemn as she said this, "it is not +vital and necessary like the other, but I want you to do one thing for +me, if you will." We all acquiesced, but no one spoke; there was no need +to speak:-- + +"I want you to read the Burial Service." She was interrupted by a deep +groan from her husband; taking his hand in hers, she held it over her +heart, and continued: "You must read it over me some day. Whatever may +be the issue of all this fearful state of things, it will be a sweet +thought to all or some of us. You, my dearest, will I hope read it, for +then it will be in your voice in my memory for ever--come what may!" + +"But oh, my dear one," he pleaded, "death is afar off from you." + +"Nay," she said, holding up a warning hand. "I am deeper in death at +this moment than if the weight of an earthly grave lay heavy upon me!" + +"Oh, my wife, must I read it?" he said, before he began. + +"It would comfort me, my husband!" was all she said; and he began to +read when she had got the book ready. + +"How can I--how could any one--tell of that strange scene, its +solemnity, its gloom, its sadness, its horror; and, withal, its +sweetness. Even a sceptic, who can see nothing but a travesty of bitter +truth in anything holy or emotional, would have been melted to the heart +had he seen that little group of loving and devoted friends kneeling +round that stricken and sorrowing lady; or heard the tender passion of +her husband's voice, as in tones so broken with emotion that often he +had to pause, he read the simple and beautiful service from the Burial +of the Dead. I--I cannot go on--words--and--v-voice--f-fail m-me!" + + * * * * * + +She was right in her instinct. Strange as it all was, bizarre as it may +hereafter seem even to us who felt its potent influence at the time, it +comforted us much; and the silence, which showed Mrs. Harker's coming +relapse from her freedom of soul, did not seem so full of despair to any +of us as we had dreaded. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_15 October, Varna._--We left Charing Cross on the morning of the 12th, +got to Paris the same night, and took the places secured for us in the +Orient Express. We travelled night and day, arriving here at about five +o'clock. Lord Godalming went to the Consulate to see if any telegram had +arrived for him, whilst the rest of us came on to this hotel--"the +Odessus." The journey may have had incidents; I was, however, too eager +to get on, to care for them. Until the _Czarina Catherine_ comes into +port there will be no interest for me in anything in the wide world. +Thank God! Mina is well, and looks to be getting stronger; her colour is +coming back. She sleeps a great deal; throughout the journey she slept +nearly all the time. Before sunrise and sunset, however, she is very +wakeful and alert; and it has become a habit for Van Helsing to +hypnotise her at such times. At first, some effort was needed, and he +had to make many passes; but now, she seems to yield at once, as if by +habit, and scarcely any action is needed. He seems to have power at +these particular moments to simply will, and her thoughts obey him. He +always asks her what she can see and hear. She answers to the first:-- + +"Nothing; all is dark." And to the second:-- + +"I can hear the waves lapping against the ship, and the water rushing +by. Canvas and cordage strain and masts and yards creak. The wind is +high--I can hear it in the shrouds, and the bow throws back the foam." +It is evident that the _Czarina Catherine_ is still at sea, hastening on +her way to Varna. Lord Godalming has just returned. He had four +telegrams, one each day since we started, and all to the same effect: +that the _Czarina Catherine_ had not been reported to Lloyd's from +anywhere. He had arranged before leaving London that his agent should +send him every day a telegram saying if the ship had been reported. He +was to have a message even if she were not reported, so that he might be +sure that there was a watch being kept at the other end of the wire. + +We had dinner and went to bed early. To-morrow we are to see the +Vice-Consul, and to arrange, if we can, about getting on board the ship +as soon as she arrives. Van Helsing says that our chance will be to get +on the boat between sunrise and sunset. The Count, even if he takes the +form of a bat, cannot cross the running water of his own volition, and +so cannot leave the ship. As he dare not change to man's form without +suspicion--which he evidently wishes to avoid--he must remain in the +box. If, then, we can come on board after sunrise, he is at our mercy; +for we can open the box and make sure of him, as we did of poor Lucy, +before he wakes. What mercy he shall get from us will not count for +much. We think that we shall not have much trouble with officials or the +seamen. Thank God! this is the country where bribery can do anything, +and we are well supplied with money. We have only to make sure that the +ship cannot come into port between sunset and sunrise without our being +warned, and we shall be safe. Judge Moneybag will settle this case, I +think! + + * * * * * + +_16 October._--Mina's report still the same: lapping waves and rushing +water, darkness and favouring winds. We are evidently in good time, and +when we hear of the _Czarina Catherine_ we shall be ready. As she must +pass the Dardanelles we are sure to have some report. + + * * * * * + +_17 October._--Everything is pretty well fixed now, I think, to welcome +the Count on his return from his tour. Godalming told the shippers that +he fancied that the box sent aboard might contain something stolen from +a friend of his, and got a half consent that he might open it at his own +risk. The owner gave him a paper telling the Captain to give him every +facility in doing whatever he chose on board the ship, and also a +similar authorisation to his agent at Varna. We have seen the agent, who +was much impressed with Godalming's kindly manner to him, and we are all +satisfied that whatever he can do to aid our wishes will be done. We +have already arranged what to do in case we get the box open. If the +Count is there, Van Helsing and Seward will cut off his head at once and +drive a stake through his heart. Morris and Godalming and I shall +prevent interference, even if we have to use the arms which we shall +have ready. The Professor says that if we can so treat the Count's body, +it will soon after fall into dust. In such case there would be no +evidence against us, in case any suspicion of murder were aroused. But +even if it were not, we should stand or fall by our act, and perhaps +some day this very script may be evidence to come between some of us and +a rope. For myself, I should take the chance only too thankfully if it +were to come. We mean to leave no stone unturned to carry out our +intent. We have arranged with certain officials that the instant the +_Czarina Catherine_ is seen, we are to be informed by a special +messenger. + + * * * * * + +_24 October._--A whole week of waiting. Daily telegrams to Godalming, +but only the same story: "Not yet reported." Mina's morning and evening +hypnotic answer is unvaried: lapping waves, rushing water, and creaking +masts. + +_Telegram, October 24th._ + +_Rufus Smith, Lloyd's, London, to Lord Godalming, care of H. B. M. +Vice-Consul, Varna._ + +"_Czarina Catherine_ reported this morning from Dardanelles." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_25 October._--How I miss my phonograph! To write diary with a pen is +irksome to me; but Van Helsing says I must. We were all wild with +excitement yesterday when Godalming got his telegram from Lloyd's. I +know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heard. Mrs. +Harker, alone of our party, did not show any signs of emotion. After +all, it is not strange that she did not; for we took special care not to +let her know anything about it, and we all tried not to show any +excitement when we were in her presence. In old days she would, I am +sure, have noticed, no matter how we might have tried to conceal it; but +in this way she is greatly changed during the past three weeks. The +lethargy grows upon her, and though she seems strong and well, and is +getting back some of her colour, Van Helsing and I are not satisfied. We +talk of her often; we have not, however, said a word to the others. It +would break poor Harker's heart--certainly his nerve--if he knew that we +had even a suspicion on the subject. Van Helsing examines, he tells me, +her teeth very carefully, whilst she is in the hypnotic condition, for +he says that so long as they do not begin to sharpen there is no active +danger of a change in her. If this change should come, it would be +necessary to take steps!... We both know what those steps would have to +be, though we do not mention our thoughts to each other. We should +neither of us shrink from the task--awful though it be to contemplate. +"Euthanasia" is an excellent and a comforting word! I am grateful to +whoever invented it. + +It is only about 24 hours' sail from the Dardanelles to here, at the +rate the _Czarina Catherine_ has come from London. She should therefore +arrive some time in the morning; but as she cannot possibly get in +before then, we are all about to retire early. We shall get up at one +o'clock, so as to be ready. + + * * * * * + +_25 October, Noon_.--No news yet of the ship's arrival. Mrs. Harker's +hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible +that we may get news at any moment. We men are all in a fever of +excitement, except Harker, who is calm; his hands are cold as ice, and +an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife +which he now always carries with him. It will be a bad lookout for the +Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat, driven by +that stern, ice-cold hand! + +Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about Mrs. Harker to-day. About +noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not like; although we +kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy about it. She +had been restless all the morning, so that we were at first glad to know +that she was sleeping. When, however, her husband mentioned casually +that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not wake her, we went to +her room to see for ourselves. She was breathing naturally and looked so +well and peaceful that we agreed that the sleep was better for her than +anything else. Poor girl, she has so much to forget that it is no wonder +that sleep, if it brings oblivion to her, does her good. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep +of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had +been for days. At sunset she made the usual hypnotic report. Wherever he +may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his destination. To +his doom, I trust! + + * * * * * + +_26 October._--Another day and no tidings of the _Czarina Catherine_. +She ought to be here by now. That she is still journeying _somewhere_ is +apparent, for Mrs. Harker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the +same. It is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for fog; +some of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches of fog +both to north and south of the port. We must continue our watching, as +the ship may now be signalled any moment. + + * * * * * + +_27 October, Noon._--Most strange; no news yet of the ship we wait for. +Mrs. Harker reported last night and this morning as usual: "lapping +waves and rushing water," though she added that "the waves were very +faint." The telegrams from London have been the same: "no further +report." Van Helsing is terribly anxious, and told me just now that he +fears the Count is escaping us. He added significantly:-- + +"I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina's. Souls and memories can do +strange things during trance." I was about to ask him more, but Harker +just then came in, and he held up a warning hand. We must try to-night +at sunset to make her speak more fully when in her hypnotic state. + + * * * * * + + _28 October._--Telegram. _Rufus Smith, London, to Lord Godalming, + care H. B. M. Vice Consul, Varna._ + + "_Czarina Catherine_ reported entering Galatz at one o'clock + to-day." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 October._--When the telegram came announcing the arrival in Galatz I +do not think it was such a shock to any of us as might have been +expected. True, we did not know whence, or how, or when, the bolt would +come; but I think we all expected that something strange would happen. +The delay of arrival at Varna made us individually satisfied that things +would not be just as we had expected; we only waited to learn where the +change would occur. None the less, however, was it a surprise. I suppose +that nature works on such a hopeful basis that we believe against +ourselves that things will be as they ought to be, not as we should know +that they will be. Transcendentalism is a beacon to the angels, even if +it be a will-o'-the-wisp to man. It was an odd experience and we all +took it differently. Van Helsing raised his hand over his head for a +moment, as though in remonstrance with the Almighty; but he said not a +word, and in a few seconds stood up with his face sternly set. Lord +Godalming grew very pale, and sat breathing heavily. I was myself half +stunned and looked in wonder at one after another. Quincey Morris +tightened his belt with that quick movement which I knew so well; in our +old wandering days it meant "action." Mrs. Harker grew ghastly white, so +that the scar on her forehead seemed to burn, but she folded her hands +meekly and looked up in prayer. Harker smiled--actually smiled--the +dark, bitter smile of one who is without hope; but at the same time his +action belied his words, for his hands instinctively sought the hilt of +the great Kukri knife and rested there. "When does the next train start +for Galatz?" said Van Helsing to us generally. + +"At 6:30 to-morrow morning!" We all started, for the answer came from +Mrs. Harker. + +"How on earth do you know?" said Art. + +"You forget--or perhaps you do not know, though Jonathan does and so +does Dr. Van Helsing--that I am the train fiend. At home in Exeter I +always used to make up the time-tables, so as to be helpful to my +husband. I found it so useful sometimes, that I always make a study of +the time-tables now. I knew that if anything were to take us to Castle +Dracula we should go by Galatz, or at any rate through Bucharest, so I +learned the times very carefully. Unhappily there are not many to learn, +as the only train to-morrow leaves as I say." + +"Wonderful woman!" murmured the Professor. + +"Can't we get a special?" asked Lord Godalming. Van Helsing shook his +head: "I fear not. This land is very different from yours or mine; even +if we did have a special, it would probably not arrive as soon as our +regular train. Moreover, we have something to prepare. We must think. +Now let us organize. You, friend Arthur, go to the train and get the +tickets and arrange that all be ready for us to go in the morning. Do +you, friend Jonathan, go to the agent of the ship and get from him +letters to the agent in Galatz, with authority to make search the ship +just as it was here. Morris Quincey, you see the Vice-Consul, and get +his aid with his fellow in Galatz and all he can do to make our way +smooth, so that no times be lost when over the Danube. John will stay +with Madam Mina and me, and we shall consult. For so if time be long you +may be delayed; and it will not matter when the sun set, since I am here +with Madam to make report." + +"And I," said Mrs. Harker brightly, and more like her old self than she +had been for many a long day, "shall try to be of use in all ways, and +shall think and write for you as I used to do. Something is shifting +from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have been of late!" +The three younger men looked happier at the moment as they seemed to +realise the significance of her words; but Van Helsing and I, turning to +each other, met each a grave and troubled glance. We said nothing at the +time, however. + +When the three men had gone out to their tasks Van Helsing asked Mrs. +Harker to look up the copy of the diaries and find him the part of +Harker's journal at the Castle. She went away to get it; when the door +was shut upon her he said to me:-- + +"We mean the same! speak out!" + +"There is some change. It is a hope that makes me sick, for it may +deceive us." + +"Quite so. Do you know why I asked her to get the manuscript?" + +"No!" said I, "unless it was to get an opportunity of seeing me alone." + +"You are in part right, friend John, but only in part. I want to tell +you something. And oh, my friend, I am taking a great--a terrible--risk; +but I believe it is right. In the moment when Madam Mina said those +words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration came to me. In +the trance of three days ago the Count sent her his spirit to read her +mind; or more like he took her to see him in his earth-box in the ship +with water rushing, just as it go free at rise and set of sun. He learn +then that we are here; for she have more to tell in her open life with +eyes to see and ears to hear than he, shut, as he is, in his coffin-box. +Now he make his most effort to escape us. At present he want her not. + +"He is sure with his so great knowledge that she will come at his call; +but he cut her off--take her, as he can do, out of his own power, that +so she come not to him. Ah! there I have hope that our man-brains that +have been of man so long and that have not lost the grace of God, will +come higher than his child-brain that lie in his tomb for centuries, +that grow not yet to our stature, and that do only work selfish and +therefore small. Here comes Madam Mina; not a word to her of her trance! +She know it not; and it would overwhelm her and make despair just when +we want all her hope, all her courage; when most we want all her great +brain which is trained like man's brain, but is of sweet woman and have +a special power which the Count give her, and which he may not take away +altogether--though he think not so. Hush! let me speak, and you shall +learn. Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits. I fear, as I never +feared before. We can only trust the good God. Silence! here she comes!" + +I thought that the Professor was going to break down and have hysterics, +just as he had when Lucy died, but with a great effort he controlled +himself and was at perfect nervous poise when Mrs. Harker tripped into +the room, bright and happy-looking and, in the doing of work, seemingly +forgetful of her misery. As she came in, she handed a number of sheets +of typewriting to Van Helsing. He looked over them gravely, his face +brightening up as he read. Then holding the pages between his finger and +thumb he said:-- + +"Friend John, to you with so much of experience already--and you, too, +dear Madam Mina, that are young--here is a lesson: do not fear ever to +think. A half-thought has been buzzing often in my brain, but I fear to +let him loose his wings. Here now, with more knowledge, I go back to +where that half-thought come from and I find that he be no half-thought +at all; that be a whole thought, though so young that he is not yet +strong to use his little wings. Nay, like the "Ugly Duck" of my friend +Hans Andersen, he be no duck-thought at all, but a big swan-thought that +sail nobly on big wings, when the time come for him to try them. See I +read here what Jonathan have written:-- + +"That other of his race who, in a later age, again and again, brought +his forces over The Great River into Turkey Land; who, when he was +beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come +alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, +since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph." + +"What does this tell us? Not much? no! The Count's child-thought see +nothing; therefore he speak so free. Your man-thought see nothing; my +man-thought see nothing, till just now. No! But there comes another word +from some one who speak without thought because she, too, know not what +it mean--what it _might_ mean. Just as there are elements which rest, +yet when in nature's course they move on their way and they touch--then +pouf! and there comes a flash of light, heaven wide, that blind and kill +and destroy some; but that show up all earth below for leagues and +leagues. Is it not so? Well, I shall explain. To begin, have you ever +study the philosophy of crime? 'Yes' and 'No.' You, John, yes; for it is +a study of insanity. You, no, Madam Mina; for crime touch you not--not +but once. Still, your mind works true, and argues not _a particulari ad +universale_. There is this peculiarity in criminals. It is so constant, +in all countries and at all times, that even police, who know not much +from philosophy, come to know it empirically, that _it is_. That is to +be empiric. The criminal always work at one crime--that is the true +criminal who seems predestinate to crime, and who will of none other. +This criminal has not full man-brain. He is clever and cunning and +resourceful; but he be not of man-stature as to brain. He be of +child-brain in much. Now this criminal of ours is predestinate to crime +also; he, too, have child-brain, and it is of the child to do what he +have done. The little bird, the little fish, the little animal learn not +by principle, but empirically; and when he learn to do, then there is to +him the ground to start from to do more. '_Dos pou sto_,' said +Archimedes. 'Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world!' To do once, +is the fulcrum whereby child-brain become man-brain; and until he have +the purpose to do more, he continue to do the same again every time, +just as he have done before! Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes are +opened, and that to you the lightning flash show all the leagues," for +Mrs. Harker began to clap her hands and her eyes sparkled. He went on:-- + +"Now you shall speak. Tell us two dry men of science what you see with +those so bright eyes." He took her hand and held it whilst she spoke. +His finger and thumb closed on her pulse, as I thought instinctively and +unconsciously, as she spoke:-- + +"The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would +so classify him, and _quâ_ criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind. +Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit. His past is a +clue, and the one page of it that we know--and that from his own +lips--tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call a +'tight place,' he went back to his own country from the land he had +tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself +for a new effort. He came again better equipped for his work; and won. +So he came to London to invade a new land. He was beaten, and when all +hope of success was lost, and his existence in danger, he fled back over +the sea to his home; just as formerly he had fled back over the Danube +from Turkey Land." + +"Good, good! oh, you so clever lady!" said Van Helsing, +enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand. A moment later he +said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick-room +consultation:-- + +"Seventy-two only; and in all this excitement. I have hope." Turning to +her again, he said with keen expectation:-- + +"But go on. Go on! there is more to tell if you will. Be not afraid; +John and I know. I do in any case, and shall tell you if you are right. +Speak, without fear!" + +"I will try to; but you will forgive me if I seem egotistical." + +"Nay! fear not, you must be egotist, for it is of you that we think." + +"Then, as he is criminal he is selfish; and as his intellect is small +and his action is based on selfishness, he confines himself to one +purpose. That purpose is remorseless. As he fled back over the Danube, +leaving his forces to be cut to pieces, so now he is intent on being +safe, careless of all. So his own selfishness frees my soul somewhat +from the terrible power which he acquired over me on that dreadful +night. I felt it! Oh, I felt it! Thank God, for His great mercy! My soul +is freer than it has been since that awful hour; and all that haunts me +is a fear lest in some trance or dream he may have used my knowledge for +his ends." The Professor stood up:-- + +"He has so used your mind; and by it he has left us here in Varna, +whilst the ship that carried him rushed through enveloping fog up to +Galatz, where, doubtless, he had made preparation for escaping from us. +But his child-mind only saw so far; and it may be that, as ever is in +God's Providence, the very thing that the evil-doer most reckoned on for +his selfish good, turns out to be his chiefest harm. The hunter is taken +in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says. For now that he think he +is free from every trace of us all, and that he has escaped us with so +many hours to him, then his selfish child-brain will whisper him to +sleep. He think, too, that as he cut himself off from knowing your mind, +there can be no knowledge of him to you; there is where he fail! That +terrible baptism of blood which he give you makes you free to go to him +in spirit, as you have as yet done in your times of freedom, when the +sun rise and set. At such times you go by my volition and not by his; +and this power to good of you and others, as you have won from your +suffering at his hands. This is now all the more precious that he know +it not, and to guard himself have even cut himself off from his +knowledge of our where. We, however, are not selfish, and we believe +that God is with us through all this blackness, and these many dark +hours. We shall follow him; and we shall not flinch; even if we peril +ourselves that we become like him. Friend John, this has been a great +hour; and it have done much to advance us on our way. You must be scribe +and write him all down, so that when the others return from their work +you can give it to them; then they shall know as we do." + +And so I have written it whilst we wait their return, and Mrs. Harker +has written with her typewriter all since she brought the MS. to us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_29 October._--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz. Last +night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset. Each of us +had done his work as well as he could; so far as thought, and endeavour, +and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our journey, and +for our work when we get to Galatz. When the usual time came round Mrs. +Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort; and after a longer and +more serious effort on the part of Van Helsing than has been usually +necessary, she sank into the trance. Usually she speaks on a hint; but +this time the Professor had to ask her questions, and to ask them pretty +resolutely, before we could learn anything; at last her answer came:-- + +"I can see nothing; we are still; there are no waves lapping, but only a +steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser. I can hear +men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in +the rowlocks. A gun is fired somewhere; the echo of it seems far away. +There is tramping of feet overhead, and ropes and chains are dragged +along. What is this? There is a gleam of light; I can feel the air +blowing upon me." + +Here she stopped. She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she lay +on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if lifting a +weight. Van Helsing and I looked at each other with understanding. +Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her intently, whilst +Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of his Kukri. There +was a long pause. We all knew that the time when she could speak was +passing; but we felt that it was useless to say anything. Suddenly she +sat up, and, as she opened her eyes, said sweetly:-- + +"Would none of you like a cup of tea? You must all be so tired!" We +could only make her happy, and so acquiesced. She bustled off to get +tea; when she had gone Van Helsing said:-- + +"You see, my friends. _He_ is close to land: he has left his +earth-chest. But he has yet to get on shore. In the night he may lie +hidden somewhere; but if he be not carried on shore, or if the ship do +not touch it, he cannot achieve the land. In such case he can, if it be +in the night, change his form and can jump or fly on shore, as he did +at Whitby. But if the day come before he get on shore, then, unless he +be carried he cannot escape. And if he be carried, then the customs men +may discover what the box contain. Thus, in fine, if he escape not on +shore to-night, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him. +We may then arrive in time; for if he escape not at night we shall come +on him in daytime, boxed up and at our mercy; for he dare not be his +true self, awake and visible, lest he be discovered." + +There was no more to be said, so we waited in patience until the dawn; +at which time we might learn more from Mrs. Harker. + +Early this morning we listened, with breathless anxiety, for her +response in her trance. The hypnotic stage was even longer in coming +than before; and when it came the time remaining until full sunrise was +so short that we began to despair. Van Helsing seemed to throw his whole +soul into the effort; at last, in obedience to his will she made +reply:-- + +"All is dark. I hear lapping water, level with me, and some creaking as +of wood on wood." She paused, and the red sun shot up. We must wait till +to-night. + +And so it is that we are travelling towards Galatz in an agony of +expectation. We are due to arrive between two and three in the morning; +but already, at Bucharest, we are three hours late, so we cannot +possibly get in till well after sun-up. Thus we shall have two more +hypnotic messages from Mrs. Harker; either or both may possibly throw +more light on what is happening. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Sunset has come and gone. Fortunately it came at a time when +there was no distraction; for had it occurred whilst we were at a +station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation. +Mrs. Harker yielded to the hypnotic influence even less readily than +this morning. I am in fear that her power of reading the Count's +sensations may die away, just when we want it most. It seems to me that +her imagination is beginning to work. Whilst she has been in the trance +hitherto she has confined herself to the simplest of facts. If this goes +on it may ultimately mislead us. If I thought that the Count's power +over her would die away equally with her power of knowledge it would be +a happy thought; but I am afraid that it may not be so. When she did +speak, her words were enigmatical:-- + +"Something is going out; I can feel it pass me like a cold wind. I can +hear, far off, confused sounds--as of men talking in strange tongues, +fierce-falling water, and the howling of wolves." She stopped and a +shudder ran through her, increasing in intensity for a few seconds, +till, at the end, she shook as though in a palsy. She said no more, even +in answer to the Professor's imperative questioning. When she woke from +the trance, she was cold, and exhausted, and languid; but her mind was +all alert. She could not remember anything, but asked what she had said; +when she was told, she pondered over it deeply for a long time and in +silence. + + * * * * * + +_30 October, 7 a. m._--We are near Galatz now, and I may not have time +to write later. Sunrise this morning was anxiously looked for by us all. +Knowing of the increasing difficulty of procuring the hypnotic trance, +Van Helsing began his passes earlier than usual. They produced no +effect, however, until the regular time, when she yielded with a still +greater difficulty, only a minute before the sun rose. The Professor +lost no time in his questioning; her answer came with equal quickness:-- + +"All is dark. I hear water swirling by, level with my ears, and the +creaking of wood on wood. Cattle low far off. There is another sound, a +queer one like----" She stopped and grew white, and whiter still. + +"Go on; go on! Speak, I command you!" said Van Helsing in an agonised +voice. At the same time there was despair in his eyes, for the risen sun +was reddening even Mrs. Harker's pale face. She opened her eyes, and we +all started as she said, sweetly and seemingly with the utmost +unconcern:-- + +"Oh, Professor, why ask me to do what you know I can't? I don't remember +anything." Then, seeing the look of amazement on our faces, she said, +turning from one to the other with a troubled look:-- + +"What have I said? What have I done? I know nothing, only that I was +lying here, half asleep, and heard you say go on! speak, I command you!' +It seemed so funny to hear you order me about, as if I were a bad +child!" + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, sadly, "it is proof, if proof be needed, of +how I love and honour you, when a word for your good, spoken more +earnest than ever, can seem so strange because it is to order her whom I +am proud to obey!" + +The whistles are sounding; we are nearing Galatz. We are on fire with +anxiety and eagerness. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--Mr. Morris took me to the hotel where our rooms had been +ordered by telegraph, he being the one who could best be spared, since +he does not speak any foreign language. The forces were distributed +much as they had been at Varna, except that Lord Godalming went to the +Vice-Consul, as his rank might serve as an immediate guarantee of some +sort to the official, we being in extreme hurry. Jonathan and the two +doctors went to the shipping agent to learn particulars of the arrival +of the _Czarina Catherine_. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming has returned. The Consul is away, and the +Vice-Consul sick; so the routine work has been attended to by a clerk. +He was very obliging, and offered to do anything in his power. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--At nine o'clock Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and I called +on Messrs. Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm of +Hapgood. They had received a wire from London, in answer to Lord +Godalming's telegraphed request, asking us to show them any civility in +their power. They were more than kind and courteous, and took us at once +on board the _Czarina Catherine_, which lay at anchor out in the river +harbour. There we saw the Captain, Donelson by name, who told us of his +voyage. He said that in all his life he had never had so favourable a +run. + +"Man!" he said, "but it made us afeard, for we expeckit that we should +have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to keep up the +average. It's no canny to run frae London to the Black Sea wi' a wind +ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on yer sail for his +ain purpose. An' a' the time we could no speer a thing. Gin we were nigh +a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi' us, +till when after it had lifted and we looked out, the deil a thing could +we see. We ran by Gibraltar wi'oot bein' able to signal; an' till we +came to the Dardanelles and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we +never were within hail o' aught. At first I inclined to slack off sail +and beat about till the fog was lifted; but whiles, I thocht that if the +Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it +whether we would or no. If we had a quick voyage it would be no to our +miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic; an' the Old Mon who +had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no +hinderin' him." This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition +and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said:-- + +"Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some; and +he know when he meet his match!" The skipper was not displeased with the +compliment, and went on:-- + +"When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them, +the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had +been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started +frae London. I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa +fingers when they saw him, to guard against the evil eye. Man! but the +supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot +their business pretty quick; but as just after a fog closed in on us I +felt a wee bit as they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it was +agin the big box. Well, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up for +five days I joost let the wind carry us; for if the Deil wanted to get +somewheres--well, he would fetch it up a'reet. An' if he didn't, well, +we'd keep a sharp lookout anyhow. Sure eneuch, we had a fair way and +deep water all the time; and two days ago, when the mornin' sun came +through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite Galatz. +The Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take out the +box and fling it in the river. I had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a +handspike; an' when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in +his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the +property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the +river Danube. They had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to +fling in, and as it was marked Galatz _via_ Varna, I thocht I'd let it +lie till we discharged in the port an' get rid o't althegither. We +didn't do much clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor; +but in the mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sun-up, a man came +aboard wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box +marked for one Count Dracula. Sure eneuch the matter was one ready to +his hand. He had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the +dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it. If the Deil +did have any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither +than that same!" + +"What was the name of the man who took it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing with +restrained eagerness. + +"I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and, stepping down to his +cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim." Burgen-strasse +16 was the address. We found out that this was all the Captain knew; so +with thanks we came away. + +We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi +Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez. His arguments were +pointed with specie--we doing the punctuation--and with a little +bargaining he told us what he knew. This turned out to be simple but +important. He had received a letter from Mr. de Ville of London, telling +him to receive, if possible before sunrise so as to avoid customs, a box +which would arrive at Galatz in the _Czarina Catherine_. This he was to +give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks +who traded down the river to the port. He had been paid for his work by +an English bank note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube +International Bank. When Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him to +the ship and handed over the box, so as to save porterage. That was all +he knew. + +We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him. One of his +neighbours, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he had +gone away two days before, no one knew whither. This was corroborated by +his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house +together with the rent due, in English money. This had been between ten +and eleven o'clock last night. We were at a standstill again. + +Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped out that +the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the churchyard of +St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as if by some wild +animal. Those we had been speaking with ran off to see the horror, the +women crying out "This is the work of a Slovak!" We hurried away lest we +should have been in some way drawn into the affair, and so detained. + +As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion. We were all +convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to somewhere; but where +that might be we would have to discover. With heavy hearts we came home +to the hotel to Mina. + +When we met together, the first thing was to consult as to taking Mina +again into our confidence. Things are getting desperate, and it is at +least a chance, though a hazardous one. As a preliminary step, I was +released from my promise to her. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October, evening._--They were so tired and worn out and dispirited +that there was nothing to be done till they had some rest; so I asked +them all to lie down for half an hour whilst I should enter everything +up to the moment. I feel so grateful to the man who invented the +"Traveller's" typewriter, and to Mr. Morris for getting this one for +me. I should have felt quite; astray doing the work if I had to write +with a pen.... + +It is all done; poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered, +what must he be suffering now. He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to +breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse. His brows are knit; his +face is drawn with pain. Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I can +see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his thoughts. Oh! +if I could only help at all.... I shall do what I can. + +I have asked Dr. Van Helsing, and he has got me all the papers that I +have not yet seen.... Whilst they are resting, I shall go over all +carefully, and perhaps I may arrive at some conclusion. I shall try to +follow the Professor's example, and think without prejudice on the facts +before me.... + + * * * * * + +I do believe that under God's providence I have made a discovery. I +shall get the maps and look over them.... + + * * * * * + +I am more than ever sure that I am right. My new conclusion is ready, so +I shall get our party together and read it. They can judge it; it is +well to be accurate, and every minute is precious. + + +_Mina Harker's Memorandum._ + +(Entered in her Journal.) + +_Ground of inquiry._--Count Dracula's problem is to get back to his own +place. + +(_a_) He must be _brought back_ by some one. This is evident; for had he +power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or wolf, +or bat, or in some other way. He evidently fears discovery or +interference, in the state of helplessness in which he must be--confined +as he is between dawn and sunset in his wooden box. + +(_b_) _How is he to be taken?_--Here a process of exclusions may help +us. By road, by rail, by water? + +1. _By Road._--There are endless difficulties, especially in leaving the +city. + +(_x_) There are people; and people are curious, and investigate. A hint, +a surmise, a doubt as to what might be in the box, would destroy him. + +(_y_) There are, or there may be, customs and octroi officers to pass. + +(_z_) His pursuers might follow. This is his highest fear; and in order +to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled, so far as he can, even +his victim--me! + +2. _By Rail._--There is no one in charge of the box. It would have to +take its chance of being delayed; and delay would be fatal, with enemies +on the track. True, he might escape at night; but what would he be, if +left in a strange place with no refuge that he could fly to? This is not +what he intends; and he does not mean to risk it. + +3. _By Water._--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but with most +danger in another. On the water he is powerless except at night; even +then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves. But were +he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless; and he would +indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land; but if it were +unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would +still be desperate. + +We know from the record that he was on the water; so what we have to do +is to ascertain _what_ water. + +The first thing is to realise exactly what he has done as yet; we may, +then, get a light on what his later task is to be. + +_Firstly._--We must differentiate between what he did in London as part +of his general plan of action, when he was pressed for moments and had +to arrange as best he could. + +_Secondly_ we must see, as well as we can surmise it from the facts we +know of, what he has done here. + +As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent +invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of +exit from England; his immediate and sole purpose then was to escape. +The proof of this, is the letter of instructions sent to Immanuel +Hildesheim to clear and take away the box _before sunrise_. There is +also the instruction to Petrof Skinsky. These we must only guess at; but +there must have been some letter or message, since Skinsky came to +Hildesheim. + +That, so far, his plans were successful we know. The _Czarina Catherine_ +made a phenomenally quick journey--so much so that Captain Donelson's +suspicions were aroused; but his superstition united with his canniness +played the Count's game for him, and he ran with his favouring wind +through fogs and all till he brought up blindfold at Galatz. That the +Count's arrangements were well made, has been proved. Hildesheim cleared +the box, took it off, and gave it to Skinsky. Skinsky took it--and here +we lose the trail. We only know that the box is somewhere on the water, +moving along. The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have been +avoided. + +Now we come to what the Count must have done after his arrival--_on +land_, at Galatz. + +The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise. At sunrise the Count could +appear in his own form. Here, we ask why Skinsky was chosen at all to +aid in the work? In my husband's diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing +with the Slovaks who trade down the river to the port; and the man's +remark, that the murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general +feeling against his class. The Count wanted isolation. + +My surmise is, this: that in London the Count decided to get back to his +castle by water, as the most safe and secret way. He was brought from +the castle by Szgany, and probably they delivered their cargo to Slovaks +who took the boxes to Varna, for there they were shipped for London. +Thus the Count had knowledge of the persons who could arrange this +service. When the box was on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he +came out from his box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to +arranging the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and +he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he thought, +by murdering his agent. + +I have examined the map and find that the river most suitable for the +Slovaks to have ascended is either the Pruth or the Sereth. I read in +the typescript that in my trance I heard cows low and water swirling +level with my ears and the creaking of wood. The Count in his box, then, +was on a river in an open boat--propelled probably either by oars or +poles, for the banks are near and it is working against stream. There +would be no such sound if floating down stream. + +Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but we may +possibly investigate further. Now of these two, the Pruth is the more +easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at Fundu, joined by the Bistritza +which runs up round the Borgo Pass. The loop it makes is manifestly as +close to Dracula's castle as can be got by water. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal--continued._ + +When I had done reading, Jonathan took me in his arms and kissed me. The +others kept shaking me by both hands, and Dr. Van Helsing said:-- + +"Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have been where +we were blinded. Now we are on the track once again, and this time we +may succeed. Our enemy is at his most helpless; and if we can come on +him by day, on the water, our task will be over. He has a start, but he +is powerless to hasten, as he may not leave his box lest those who carry +him may suspect; for them to suspect would be to prompt them to throw +him in the stream where he perish. This he knows, and will not. Now men, +to our Council of War; for, here and now, we must plan what each and all +shall do." + +"I shall get a steam launch and follow him," said Lord Godalming. + +"And I, horses to follow on the bank lest by chance he land," said Mr. +Morris. + +"Good!" said the Professor, "both good. But neither must go alone. There +must be force to overcome force if need be; the Slovak is strong and +rough, and he carries rude arms." All the men smiled, for amongst them +they carried a small arsenal. Said Mr. Morris:-- + +"I have brought some Winchesters; they are pretty handy in a crowd, and +there may be wolves. The Count, if you remember, took some other +precautions; he made some requisitions on others that Mrs. Harker could +not quite hear or understand. We must be ready at all points." Dr. +Seward said:-- + +"I think I had better go with Quincey. We have been accustomed to hunt +together, and we two, well armed, will be a match for whatever may come +along. You must not be alone, Art. It may be necessary to fight the +Slovaks, and a chance thrust--for I don't suppose these fellows carry +guns--would undo all our plans. There must be no chances, this time; we +shall, not rest until the Count's head and body have been separated, and +we are sure that he cannot re-incarnate." He looked at Jonathan as he +spoke, and Jonathan looked at me. I could see that the poor dear was +torn about in his mind. Of course he wanted to be with me; but then the +boat service would, most likely, be the one which would destroy the ... +the ... the ... Vampire. (Why did I hesitate to write the word?) He was +silent awhile, and during his silence Dr. Van Helsing spoke:-- + +"Friend Jonathan, this is to you for twice reasons. First, because you +are young and brave and can fight, and all energies may be needed at the +last; and again that it is your right to destroy him--that--which has +wrought such woe to you and yours. Be not afraid for Madam Mina; she +will be my care, if I may. I am old. My legs are not so quick to run as +once; and I am not used to ride so long or to pursue as need be, or to +fight with lethal weapons. But I can be of other service; I can fight in +other way. And I can die, if need be, as well as younger men. Now let +me say that what I would is this: while you, my Lord Godalming and +friend Jonathan go in your so swift little steamboat up the river, and +whilst John and Quincey guard the bank where perchance he might be +landed, I will take Madam Mina right into the heart of the enemy's +country. Whilst the old fox is tied in his box, floating on the running +stream whence he cannot escape to land--where he dares not raise the lid +of his coffin-box lest his Slovak carriers should in fear leave him to +perish--we shall go in the track where Jonathan went,--from Bistritz +over the Borgo, and find our way to the Castle of Dracula. Here, Madam +Mina's hypnotic power will surely help, and we shall find our way--all +dark and unknown otherwise--after the first sunrise when we are near +that fateful place. There is much to be done, and other places to be +made sanctify, so that that nest of vipers be obliterated." Here +Jonathan interrupted him hotly:-- + +"Do you mean to say, Professor Van Helsing, that you would bring Mina, +in her sad case and tainted as she is with that devil's illness, right +into the jaws of his death-trap? Not for the world! Not for Heaven or +Hell!" He became almost speechless for a minute, and then went on:-- + +"Do you know what the place is? Have you seen that awful den of hellish +infamy--with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every +speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo? +Have you felt the Vampire's lips upon your throat?" Here he turned to +me, and as his eyes lit on my forehead he threw up his arms with a cry: +"Oh, my God, what have we done to have this terror upon us!" and he sank +down on the sofa in a collapse of misery. The Professor's voice, as he +spoke in clear, sweet tones, which seemed to vibrate in the air, calmed +us all:-- + +"Oh, my friend, it is because I would save Madam Mina from that awful +place that I would go. God forbid that I should take her into that +place. There is work--wild work--to be done there, that her eyes may not +see. We men here, all save Jonathan, have seen with their own eyes what +is to be done before that place can be purify. Remember that we are in +terrible straits. If the Count escape us this time--and he is strong and +subtle and cunning--he may choose to sleep him for a century, and then +in time our dear one"--he took my hand--"would come to him to keep him +company, and would be as those others that you, Jonathan, saw. You have +told us of their gloating lips; you heard their ribald laugh as they +clutched the moving bag that the Count threw to them. You shudder; and +well may it be. Forgive me that I make you so much pain, but it is +necessary. My friend, is it not a dire need for the which I am giving, +possibly my life? If it were that any one went into that place to stay, +it is I who would have to go to keep them company." + +"Do as you will," said Jonathan, with a sob that shook him all over, "we +are in the hands of God!" + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked. +How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true, and +so brave! And, too, it made me think of the wonderful power of money! +What can it not do when it is properly applied; and what might it do +when basely used. I felt so thankful that Lord Godalming is rich, and +that both he and Mr. Morris, who also has plenty of money, are willing +to spend it so freely. For if they did not, our little expedition could +not start, either so promptly or so well equipped, as it will within +another hour. It is not three hours since it was arranged what part each +of us was to do; and now Lord Godalming and Jonathan have a lovely steam +launch, with steam up ready to start at a moment's notice. Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris have half a dozen good horses, well appointed. We have +all the maps and appliances of various kinds that can be had. Professor +Van Helsing and I are to leave by the 11:40 train to-night for Veresti, +where we are to get a carriage to drive to the Borgo Pass. We are +bringing a good deal of ready money, as we are to buy a carriage and +horses. We shall drive ourselves, for we have no one whom we can trust +in the matter. The Professor knows something of a great many languages, +so we shall get on all right. We have all got arms, even for me a +large-bore revolver; Jonathan would not be happy unless I was armed like +the rest. Alas! I cannot carry one arm that the rest do; the scar on my +forehead forbids that. Dear Dr. Van Helsing comforts me by telling me +that I am fully armed as there may be wolves; the weather is getting +colder every hour, and there are snow-flurries which come and go as +warnings. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It took all my courage to say good-bye to my darling. We may +never meet again. Courage, Mina! the Professor is looking at you keenly; +his look is a warning. There must be no tears now--unless it may be that +God will let them fall in gladness. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_October 30. Night._--I am writing this in the light from the furnace +door of the steam launch: Lord Godalming is firing up. He is an +experienced hand at the work, as he has had for years a launch of his +own on the Thames, and another on the Norfolk Broads. Regarding our +plans, we finally decided that Mina's guess was correct, and that if any +waterway was chosen for the Count's escape back to his Castle, the +Sereth and then the Bistritza at its junction, would be the one. We took +it, that somewhere about the 47th degree, north latitude, would be the +place chosen for the crossing the country between the river and the +Carpathians. We have no fear in running at good speed up the river at +night; there is plenty of water, and the banks are wide enough apart to +make steaming, even in the dark, easy enough. Lord Godalming tells me to +sleep for a while, as it is enough for the present for one to be on +watch. But I cannot sleep--how can I with the terrible danger hanging +over my darling, and her going out into that awful place.... My only +comfort is that we are in the hands of God. Only for that faith it would +be easier to die than to live, and so be quit of all the trouble. Mr. +Morris and Dr. Seward were off on their long ride before we started; +they are to keep up the right bank, far enough off to get on higher +lands where they can see a good stretch of river and avoid the following +of its curves. They have, for the first stages, two men to ride and lead +their spare horses--four in all, so as not to excite curiosity. When +they dismiss the men, which shall be shortly, they shall themselves look +after the horses. It may be necessary for us to join forces; if so they +can mount our whole party. One of the saddles has a movable horn, and +can be easily adapted for Mina, if required. + +It is a wild adventure we are on. Here, as we are rushing along through +the darkness, with the cold from the river seeming to rise up and strike +us; with all the mysterious voices of the night around us, it all comes +home. We seem to be drifting into unknown places and unknown ways; into +a whole world of dark and dreadful things. Godalming is shutting the +furnace door.... + + * * * * * + +_31 October._--Still hurrying along. The day has come, and Godalming is +sleeping. I am on watch. The morning is bitterly cold; the furnace heat +is grateful, though we have heavy fur coats. As yet we have passed only +a few open boats, but none of them had on board any box or package of +anything like the size of the one we seek. The men were scared every +time we turned our electric lamp on them, and fell on their knees and +prayed. + + * * * * * + +_1 November, evening._--No news all day; we have found nothing of the +kind we seek. We have now passed into the Bistritza; and if we are wrong +in our surmise our chance is gone. We have over-hauled every boat, big +and little. Early this morning, one crew took us for a Government boat, +and treated us accordingly. We saw in this a way of smoothing matters, +so at Fundu, where the Bistritza runs into the Sereth, we got a +Roumanian flag which we now fly conspicuously. With every boat which we +have over-hauled since then this trick has succeeded; we have had every +deference shown to us, and not once any objection to whatever we chose +to ask or do. Some of the Slovaks tell us that a big boat passed them, +going at more than usual speed as she had a double crew on board. This +was before they came to Fundu, so they could not tell us whether the +boat turned into the Bistritza or continued on up the Sereth. At Fundu +we could not hear of any such boat, so she must have passed there in the +night. I am feeling very sleepy; the cold is perhaps beginning to tell +upon me, and nature must have rest some time. Godalming insists that he +shall keep the first watch. God bless him for all his goodness to poor +dear Mina and me. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--It is broad daylight. That good fellow would not +wake me. He says it would have been a sin to, for I slept peacefully and +was forgetting my trouble. It seems brutally selfish to me to have slept +so long, and let him watch all night; but he was quite right. I am a new +man this morning; and, as I sit here and watch him sleeping, I can do +all that is necessary both as to minding the engine, steering, and +keeping watch. I can feel that my strength and energy are coming back to +me. I wonder where Mina is now, and Van Helsing. They should have got to +Veresti about noon on Wednesday. It would take them some time to get the +carriage and horses; so if they had started and travelled hard, they +would be about now at the Borgo Pass. God guide and help them! I am +afraid to think what may happen. If we could only go faster! but we +cannot; the engines are throbbing and doing their utmost. I wonder how +Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris are getting on. There seem to be endless +streams running down the mountains into this river, but as none of them +are very large--at present, at all events, though they are terrible +doubtless in winter and when the snow melts--the horsemen may not have +met much obstruction. I hope that before we get to Strasba we may see +them; for if by that time we have not overtaken the Count, it may be +necessary to take counsel together what to do next. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 November._--Three days on the road. No news, and no time to write it +if there had been, for every moment is precious. We have had only the +rest needful for the horses; but we are both bearing it wonderfully. +Those adventurous days of ours are turning up useful. We must push on; +we shall never feel happy till we get the launch in sight again. + + * * * * * + +_3 November._--We heard at Fundu that the launch had gone up the +Bistritza. I wish it wasn't so cold. There are signs of snow coming; and +if it falls heavy it will stop us. In such case we must get a sledge and +go on, Russian fashion. + + * * * * * + +_4 November._--To-day we heard of the launch having been detained by an +accident when trying to force a way up the rapids. The Slovak boats get +up all right, by aid of a rope and steering with knowledge. Some went up +only a few hours before. Godalming is an amateur fitter himself, and +evidently it was he who put the launch in trim again. Finally, they got +up the rapids all right, with local help, and are off on the chase +afresh. I fear that the boat is not any better for the accident; the +peasantry tell us that after she got upon smooth water again, she kept +stopping every now and again so long as she was in sight. We must push +on harder than ever; our help may be wanted soon. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_31 October._--Arrived at Veresti at noon. The Professor tells me that +this morning at dawn he could hardly hypnotise me at all, and that all I +could say was: "dark and quiet." He is off now buying a carriage and +horses. He says that he will later on try to buy additional horses, so +that we may be able to change them on the way. We have something more +than 70 miles before us. The country is lovely, and most interesting; if +only we were under different conditions, how delightful it would be to +see it all. If Jonathan and I were driving through it alone what a +pleasure it would be. To stop and see people, and learn something of +their life, and to fill our minds and memories with all the colour and +picturesqueness of the whole wild, beautiful country and the quaint +people! But, alas!-- + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Dr. Van Helsing has returned. He has got the carriage and +horses; we are to have some dinner, and to start in an hour. The +landlady is putting us up a huge basket of provisions; it seems enough +for a company of soldiers. The Professor encourages her, and whispers to +me that it may be a week before we can get any good food again. He has +been shopping too, and has sent home such a wonderful lot of fur coats +and wraps, and all sorts of warm things. There will not be any chance of +our being cold. + + * * * * * + +We shall soon be off. I am afraid to think what may happen to us. We are +truly in the hands of God. He alone knows what may be, and I pray Him, +with all the strength of my sad and humble soul, that He will watch over +my beloved husband; that whatever may happen, Jonathan may know that I +loved him and honoured him more than I can say, and that my latest and +truest thought will be always for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 November._--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The +horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go +willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many +changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to +think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic; +he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well +to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea; and +off we go. It is a lovely country; full of beauties of all imaginable +kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full +of nice qualities. They are _very, very_ superstitious. In the first +house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my +forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to +keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an +extra amount of garlic into our food; and I can't abide garlic. Ever +since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have +escaped their suspicions. We are travelling fast, and as we have no +driver with us to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal; but I daresay +that fear of the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the way. The +Professor seems tireless; all day he would not take any rest, though he +made me sleep for a long spell. At sunset time he hypnotised me, and he +says that I answered as usual "darkness, lapping water and creaking +wood"; so our enemy is still on the river. I am afraid to think of +Jonathan, but somehow I have now no fear for him, or for myself. I write +this whilst we wait in a farmhouse for the horses to be got ready. Dr. +Van Helsing is sleeping, Poor dear, he looks very tired and old and +grey, but his mouth is set as firmly as a conqueror's; even in his sleep +he is instinct with resolution. When we have well started I must make +him rest whilst I drive. I shall tell him that we have days before us, +and we must not break down when most of all his strength will be +needed.... All is ready; we are off shortly. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--I was successful, and we took turns driving all +night; now the day is on us, bright though cold. There is a strange +heaviness in the air--I say heaviness for want of a better word; I mean +that it oppresses us both. It is very cold, and only our warm furs keep +us comfortable. At dawn Van Helsing hypnotised me; he says I answered +"darkness, creaking wood and roaring water," so the river is changing as +they ascend. I do hope that my darling will not run any chance of +danger--more than need be; but we are in God's hands. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, night._--All day long driving. The country gets wilder as +we go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at Veresti seemed +so far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to gather round us +and tower in front. We both seem in good spirits; I think we make an +effort each to cheer the other; in the doing so we cheer ourselves. Dr. +Van Helsing says that by morning we shall reach the Borgo Pass. The +houses are very few here now, and the Professor says that the last horse +we got will have to go on with us, as we may not be able to change. He +got two in addition to the two we changed, so that now we have a rude +four-in-hand. The dear horses are patient and good, and they give us no +trouble. We are not worried with other travellers, and so even I can +drive. We shall get to the Pass in daylight; we do not want to arrive +before. So we take it easy, and have each a long rest in turn. Oh, what +will to-morrow bring to us? We go to seek the place where my poor +darling suffered so much. God grant that we may be guided aright, and +that He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both, +and who are in such deadly peril. As for me, I am not worthy in His +sight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deign +to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred +His wrath. + + +_Memorandum by Abraham Van Helsing._ + +_4 November._--This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D., of +Purfleet, London, in case I may not see him. It may explain. It is +morning, and I write by a fire which all the night I have kept +alive--Madam Mina aiding me. It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey +heavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all +winter as the ground is hardening to receive it. It seems to have +affected Madam Mina; she has been so heavy of head all day that she was +not like herself. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps! She who is usual +so alert, have done literally nothing all the day; she even have lost +her appetite. She make no entry into her little diary, she who write so +faithful at every pause. Something whisper to me that all is not well. +However, to-night she is more _vif_. Her long sleep all day have refresh +and restore her, for now she is all sweet and bright as ever. At sunset +I try to hypnotise her, but alas! with no effect; the power has grown +less and less with each day, and to-night it fail me altogether. Well, +God's will be done--whatever it may be, and whithersoever it may lead! + +Now to the historical, for as Madam Mina write not in her stenography, I +must, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so each day of us may not go +unrecorded. + +We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday morning. When I +saw the signs of the dawn I got ready for the hypnotism. We stopped our +carriage, and got down so that there might be no disturbance. I made a +couch with furs, and Madam Mina, lying down, yield herself as usual, but +more slow and more short time than ever, to the hypnotic sleep. As +before, came the answer: "darkness and the swirling of water." Then she +woke, bright and radiant and we go on our way and soon reach the Pass. +At this time and place, she become all on fire with zeal; some new +guiding power be in her manifested, for she point to a road and say:-- + +"This is the way." + +"How know you it?" I ask. + +"Of course I know it," she answer, and with a pause, add: "Have not my +Jonathan travelled it and wrote of his travel?" + +At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be only one +such by-road. It is used but little, and very different from the coach +road from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more wide and hard, and +more of use. + +So we came down this road; when we meet other ways--not always were we +sure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect and light snow +have fallen--the horses know and they only. I give rein to them, and +they go on so patient. By-and-by we find all the things which Jonathan +have note in that wonderful diary of him. Then we go on for long, long +hours and hours. At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep; she try, and +she succeed. She sleep all the time; till at the last, I feel myself to +suspicious grow, and attempt to wake her. But she sleep on, and I may +not wake her though I try. I do not wish to try too hard lest I harm +her; for I know that she have suffer much, and sleep at times be +all-in-all to her. I think I drowse myself, for all of sudden I feel +guilt, as though I have done something; I find myself bolt up, with the +reins in my hand, and the good horses go along jog, jog, just as ever. I +look down and find Madam Mina still sleep. It is now not far off sunset +time, and over the snow the light of the sun flow in big yellow flood, +so that we throw great long shadow on where the mountain rise so steep. +For we are going up, and up; and all is oh! so wild and rocky, as though +it were the end of the world. + +Then I arouse Madam Mina. This time she wake with not much trouble, and +then I try to put her to hypnotic sleep. But she sleep not, being as +though I were not. Still I try and try, till all at once I find her and +myself in dark; so I look round, and find that the sun have gone down. +Madam Mina laugh, and I turn and look at her. She is now quite awake, +and look so well as I never saw her since that night at Carfax when we +first enter the Count's house. I am amaze, and not at ease then; but she +is so bright and tender and thoughtful for me that I forget all fear. I +light a fire, for we have brought supply of wood with us, and she +prepare food while I undo the horses and set them, tethered in shelter, +to feed. Then when I return to the fire she have my supper ready. I go +to help her; but she smile, and tell me that she have eat already--that +she was so hungry that she would not wait. I like it not, and I have +grave doubts; but I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of it. She +help me and I eat alone; and then we wrap in fur and lie beside the +fire, and I tell her to sleep while I watch. But presently I forget all +of watching; and when I sudden remember that I watch, I find her lying +quiet, but awake, and looking at me with so bright eyes. Once, twice +more the same occur, and I get much sleep till before morning. When I +wake I try to hypnotise her; but alas! though she shut her eyes +obedient, she may not sleep. The sun rise up, and up, and up; and then +sleep come to her too late, but so heavy that she will not wake. I have +to lift her up, and place her sleeping in the carriage when I have +harnessed the horses and made all ready. Madam still sleep, and she look +in her sleep more healthy and more redder than before. And I like it +not. And I am afraid, afraid, afraid!--I am afraid of all things--even +to think but I must go on my way. The stake we play for is life and +death, or more than these, and we must not flinch. + + * * * * * + +_5 November, morning._--Let me be accurate in everything, for though you +and I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first think +that I, Van Helsing, am mad--that the many horrors and the so long +strain on nerves has at the last turn my brain. + +All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains, and +moving into a more and more wild and desert land. There are great, +frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have held +sometime her carnival. Madam Mina still sleep and sleep; and though I +did have hunger and appeased it, I could not waken her--even for food. I +began to fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon her, tainted as +she is with that Vampire baptism. "Well," said I to myself, "if it be +that she sleep all the day, it shall also be that I do not sleep at +night." As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient and +imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept. Again I waked +with a sense of guilt and of time passed, and found Madam Mina still +sleeping, and the sun low down. But all was indeed changed; the frowning +mountains seemed further away, and we were near the top of a +steep-rising hill, on summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell +of in his diary. At once I exulted and feared; for now, for good or ill, +the end was near. + +I woke Madam Mina, and again tried to hypnotise her; but alas! +unavailing till too late. Then, ere the great dark came upon us--for +even after down-sun the heavens reflected the gone sun on the snow, and +all was for a time in a great twilight--I took out the horses and fed +them in what shelter I could. Then I make a fire; and near it I make +Madam Mina, now awake and more charming than ever, sit comfortable amid +her rugs. I got ready food: but she would not eat, simply saying that +she had not hunger. I did not press her, knowing her unavailingness. But +I myself eat, for I must needs now be strong for all. Then, with the +fear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so big for her comfort, round +where Madam Mina sat; and over the ring I passed some of the wafer, and +I broke it fine so that all was well guarded. She sat still all the +time--so still as one dead; and she grew whiter and ever whiter till the +snow was not more pale; and no word she said. But when I drew near, she +clung to me, and I could know that the poor soul shook her from head to +feet with a tremor that was pain to feel. I said to her presently, when +she had grown more quiet:-- + +"Will you not come over to the fire?" for I wished to make a test of +what she could. She rose obedient, but when she have made a step she +stopped, and stood as one stricken. + +"Why not go on?" I asked. She shook her head, and, coming back, sat +down in her place. Then, looking at me with open eyes, as of one waked +from sleep, she said simply:-- + +"I cannot!" and remained silent. I rejoiced, for I knew that what she +could not, none of those that we dreaded could. Though there might be +danger to her body, yet her soul was safe! + +Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their tethers till I +came to them and quieted them. When they did feel my hands on them, they +whinnied low as in joy, and licked at my hands and were quiet for a +time. Many times through the night did I come to them, till it arrive to +the cold hour when all nature is at lowest; and every time my coming was +with quiet of them. In the cold hour the fire began to die, and I was +about stepping forth to replenish it, for now the snow came in flying +sweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the dark there was a light of +some kind, as there ever is over snow; and it seemed as though the +snow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of women with +trailing garments. All was in dead, grim silence only that the horses +whinnied and cowered, as if in terror of the worst. I began to +fear--horrible fears; but then came to me the sense of safety in that +ring wherein I stood. I began, too, to think that my imaginings were of +the night, and the gloom, and the unrest that I have gone through, and +all the terrible anxiety. It was as though my memories of all Jonathan's +horrid experience were befooling me; for the snow flakes and the mist +began to wheel and circle round, till I could get as though a shadowy +glimpse of those women that would have kissed him. And then the horses +cowered lower and lower, and moaned in terror as men do in pain. Even +the madness of fright was not to them, so that they could break away. I +feared for my dear Madam Mina when these weird figures drew near and +circled round. I looked at her, but she sat calm, and smiled at me; when +I would have stepped to the fire to replenish it, she caught me and held +me back, and whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so low +it was:-- + +"No! No! Do not go without. Here you are safe!" I turned to her, and +looking in her eyes, said:-- + +"But you? It is for you that I fear!" whereat she laughed--a laugh, low +and unreal, and said:-- + +"Fear for _me_! Why fear for me? None safer in all the world from them +than I am," and as I wondered at the meaning of her words, a puff of +wind made the flame leap up, and I see the red scar on her forehead. +Then, alas! I knew. Did I not, I would soon have learned, for the +wheeling figures of mist and snow came closer, but keeping ever without +the Holy circle. Then they began to materialise till--if God have not +take away my reason, for I saw it through my eyes--there were before me +in actual flesh the same three women that Jonathan saw in the room, when +they would have kissed his throat. I knew the swaying round forms, the +bright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous +lips. They smiled ever at poor dear Madam Mina; and as their laugh came +through the silence of the night, they twined their arms and pointed to +her, and said in those so sweet tingling tones that Jonathan said were +of the intolerable sweetness of the water-glasses:-- + +"Come, sister. Come to us. Come! Come!" In fear I turned to my poor +Madam Mina, and my heart with gladness leapt like flame; for oh! the +terror in her sweet eyes, the repulsion, the horror, told a story to my +heart that was all of hope. God be thanked she was not, yet, of them. I +seized some of the firewood which was by me, and holding out some of the +Wafer, advanced on them towards the fire. They drew back before me, and +laughed their low horrid laugh. I fed the fire, and feared them not; for +I knew that we were safe within our protections. They could not +approach, me, whilst so armed, nor Madam Mina whilst she remained within +the ring, which she could not leave no more than they could enter. The +horses had ceased to moan, and lay still on the ground; the snow fell on +them softly, and they grew whiter. I knew that there was for the poor +beasts no more of terror. + +And so we remained till the red of the dawn to fall through the +snow-gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror; but +when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again. +At the first coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in the +whirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom moved away +towards the castle, and were lost. + +Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina, intending +to hypnotise her; but she lay in a deep and sudden sleep, from which I +could not wake her. I tried to hypnotise through her sleep, but she made +no response, none at all; and the day broke. I fear yet to stir. I have +made my fire and have seen the horses, they are all dead. To-day I have +much to do here, and I keep waiting till the sun is up high; for there +may be places where I must go, where that sunlight, though snow and mist +obscure it, will be to me a safety. + +I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my terrible +work. Madam Mina still sleeps; and, God be thanked! she is calm in her +sleep.... + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 November, evening._--The accident to the launch has been a terrible +thing for us. Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago; +and by now my dear Mina would have been free. I fear to think of her, +off on the wolds near that horrid place. We have got horses, and we +follow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready. We +have our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean fight. Oh, if only +Morris and Seward were with us. We must only hope! If I write no more +Good-bye, Mina! God bless and keep you. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 November._--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashing +away from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded it in a +cluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is falling lightly +and there is a strange excitement in the air. It may be our own +feelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the howling of +wolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and there are +dangers to all of us, and from all sides. The horses are nearly ready, +and we are soon off. We ride to death of some one. God alone knows who, +or where, or what, or when, or how it may be.... + + +_Dr. Van Helsing's Memorandum._ + +_5 November, afternoon._--I am at least sane. Thank God for that mercy +at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I left +Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the castle. +The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from Veresti was +useful; though the doors were all open I broke them off the rusty +hinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close them, so that +being entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter experience served +me here. By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel, for I +knew that here my work lay. The air was oppressive; it seemed as if +there was some sulphurous fume, which at times made me dizzy. Either +there was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar off the howl of wolves. +Then I bethought me of my dear Madam Mina, and I was in terrible plight. +The dilemma had me between his horns. + +Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe from the +Vampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf! I +resolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we must +submit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death and +freedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself the +choice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in than +the grave of the Vampire! So I make my choice to go on with my work. + +I knew that there were at least three graves to find--graves that are +inhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She lay in her +Vampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I shudder as +though I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in old time, when +such things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as mine, +found at the last his heart fail him, and then his nerve. So he delay, +and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of the +wanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain on and on, till sunset +come, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the beautiful eyes of the fair +woman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a +kiss--and man is weak. And there remain one more victim in the Vampire +fold; one more to swell the grim and grisly ranks of the Un-Dead!... + +There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presence +of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age and +heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour such +as the lairs of the Count have had. Yes, I was moved--I, Van Helsing, +with all my purpose and with my motive for hate--I was moved to a +yearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties and to clog my +very soul. It may have been that the need of natural sleep, and the +strange oppression of the air were beginning to overcome me. Certain it +was that I was lapsing into sleep, the open-eyed sleep of one who yields +to a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled air a +long, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me like the sound +of a clarion. For it was the voice of my dear Madam Mina that I heard. + +Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by wrenching +away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one. I dared not +pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should +begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find in +a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sister +which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of +the mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so +exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls +some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl +with new emotion. But God be thanked, that soul-wail of my dear Madam +Mina had not died out of my ears; and, before the spell could be wrought +further upon me, I had nerved myself to my wild work. By this time I had +searched all the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell; and as +there had been only three of these Un-Dead phantoms around us in the +night, I took it that there were no more of active Un-Dead existent. +There was one great tomb more lordly than all the rest; huge it was, and +nobly proportioned. On it was but one word + + DRACULA. + +This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so many more +were due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what I knew. +Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through my +awful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished +him from it, Un-Dead, for ever. + +Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it. Had it been but one, it +had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I had +been through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweet +Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survived +through centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of the +years; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives.... + +Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work; had I not been nerved by +thoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung such a pall of +fear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble even yet, though +till all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand. Had I not seen +the repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole over it just +ere the final dissolution came, as realisation that the soul had been +won, I could not have gone further with my butchery. I could not have +endured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging of +writhing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled in terror and +left my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls, I can pity them +now and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of death +for a short moment ere fading. For, friend John, hardly had my knife +severed the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away and +crumble in to its native dust, as though the death that should have come +centuries agone had at last assert himself and say at once and loud "I +am here!" + +Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never more can +the Count enter there Un-Dead. + +When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke from her +sleep, and, seeing, me, cried out in pain that I had endured too much. + +"Come!" she said, "come away from this awful place! Let us go to meet my +husband who is, I know, coming towards us." She was looking thin and +pale and weak; but her eyes were pure and glowed with fervour. I was +glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the +fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep. + +And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go eastward to meet +our friends--and _him_--whom Madam Mina tell me that she _know_ are +coming to meet us. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_6 November._--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I +took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming. We did +not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to take +heavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility of being +left without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take some of our +provisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as we +could see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign of +habitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavy +walking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw where the +clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so deep under +the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective of the +Carpathian mountains was far below it. We saw it in all its grandeur, +perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice, and with +seemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the adjacent mountain +on any side. There was something wild and uncanny about the place. We +could hear the distant howling of wolves. They were far off, but the +sound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was +full of terror. I knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching about +that he was trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be less +exposed in case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; we +could trace it through the drifted snow. + +In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and joined +him. He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow in a rock, +with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders. He took me by the +hand and drew me in: "See!" he said, "here you will be in shelter; and +if the wolves do come I can meet them one by one." He brought in our +furs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some provisions and +forced them upon me. But I could not eat; to even try to do so was +repulsive to me, and, much as I would have liked to please him, I could +not bring myself to the attempt. He looked very sad, but did not +reproach me. Taking his field-glasses from the case, he stood on the top +of the rock, and began to search the horizon. Suddenly he called out:-- + +"Look! Madam Mina, look! look!" I sprang up and stood beside him on the +rock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow was now falling +more heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginning +to blow. However, there were times when there were pauses between the +snow flurries and I could see a long way round. From the height where we +were it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond the +white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon in +kinks and curls as it wound its way. Straight in front of us and not far +off--in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before--came a +group of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a +long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail +wagging, with each stern inequality of the road. Outlined against the +snow as they were, I could see from the men's clothes that they were +peasants or gypsies of some kind. + +On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw it, for I +felt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing close, and +well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then imprisoned +there, would take new freedom and could in any of many forms elude all +pursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor; to my consternation, +however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him below me. Round +the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found shelter in last +night. When he had completed it he stood beside me again, saying:-- + +"At least you shall be safe here from _him_!" He took the glasses from +me, and at the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us. +"See," he said, "they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, and +galloping as hard as they can." He paused and went on in a hollow +voice:-- + +"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will be +done!" Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole +landscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and once more his +glasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden cry:-- + +"Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming up from the +south. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look before the snow +blots it all out!" I took it and looked. The two men might be Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan. +At the same time I _knew_ that Jonathan was not far off; looking around +I saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding at +break-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took, +of course, to be Lord Godalming. They, too, were pursuing the party with +the cart. When I told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy, +and, after looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, he +laid his Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at the +opening of our shelter. "They are all converging," he said. "When the +time comes we shall have gypsies on all sides." I got out my revolver +ready to hand, for whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came +louder and closer. When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again. +It was strange to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us, +and beyond, the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank down +towards the far mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I could +see here and there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger +numbers--the wolves were gathering for their prey. + +Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now in +fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us in +circling eddies. At times we could not see an arm's length before us; +but at others, as the hollow-sounding wind swept by us, it seemed to +clear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off. We had of +late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that we knew +with fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that before long the +sun would set. It was hard to believe that by our watches it was less +than an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the various +bodies began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercer +and more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seemingly +had driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts, +the snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each +party, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did +not seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they +seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower +and lower on the mountain tops. + +Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behind +our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determined +that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of our +presence. + +All at once two voices shouted out to: "Halt!" One was my Jonathan's, +raised in a high key of passion; the other Mr. Morris' strong resolute +tone of quiet command. The gypsies may not have known the language, but +there was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the words were +spoken. Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant Lord Godalming +and Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris on the +other. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid-looking fellow who sat his +horse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a fierce voice gave to his +companions some word to proceed. They lashed the horses which sprang +forward; but the four men raised their Winchester rifles, and in an +unmistakable way commanded them to stop. At the same moment Dr. Van +Helsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them. +Seeing that they were surrounded the men tightened their reins and drew +up. The leader turned to them and gave a word at which every man of the +gypsy party drew what weapon he carried, knife or pistol, and held +himself in readiness to attack. Issue was joined in an instant. + +The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out in +front, and pointing first to the sun--now close down on the hill +tops--and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand. +For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their horses +and dashed towards the cart. I should have felt terrible fear at seeing +Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have been +upon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild, +surging desire to do something. Seeing the quick movement of our +parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command; his men instantly +formed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined endeavour, each one +shouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness to carry out the +order. + +In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring +of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it was +evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun +should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither the +levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, nor +the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their +attention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his +purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they +cowered, aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon the +cart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great +box, and flung it over the wheel to the ground. In the meantime, Mr. +Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring of +Szgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had, +with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and had +seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them, and +they cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at first +I thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he sprang +beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could see that +with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the blood was +spurting through his fingers. He did not delay notwithstanding this, for +as Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked one end of the chest, +attempting to prize off the lid with his great Kukri knife, he attacked +the other frantically with his bowie. Under the efforts of both men the +lid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, and +the top of the box was thrown back. + +By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters, +and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and made +no resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the +shadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow. I saw the Count +lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from +the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen +image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I +knew too well. + +As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them +turned to triumph. + +But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. +I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same +moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart. + +It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in the +drawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed from +our sight. + +I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final +dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never +could have imagined might have rested there. + +The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone +of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the +setting sun. + +The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinary +disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away as +if for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped upon the +leiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them. The wolves, +which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their wake, leaving +us alone. + +Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his +hand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through his fingers. I +flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the +two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his +head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand +in that of his own which was unstained. He must have seen the anguish of +my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said:-- + +"I am only too happy to have been of any service! Oh, God!" he cried +suddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and pointing to me, "It was +worth for this to die! Look! look!" + +The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams +fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse +the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all +as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger. The dying man +spoke:-- + +"Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not +more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!" + +And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a +gallant gentleman. + + + + + NOTE + + +Seven years ago we all went through the flames; and the happiness of +some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured. It +is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same +day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the +secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into +him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together; but +we call him Quincey. + +In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania, and went +over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid and +terrible memories. It was almost impossible to believe that the things +which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears were +living truths. Every trace of all that had been was blotted out. The +castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation. + +When we got home we were talking of the old time--which we could all +look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are both happily +married. I took the papers from the safe where they had been ever since +our return so long ago. We were struck with the fact, that in all the +mass of material of which the record is composed, there is hardly one +authentic document; nothing but a mass of typewriting, except the later +note-books of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van Helsing's memorandum. +We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as +proofs of so wild a story. Van Helsing summed it all up as he said, with +our boy on his knee:-- + +"We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy will some day +know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is. Already he knows her +sweetness and loving care; later on he will understand how some men so +loved her, that they did dare much for her sake." + +JONATHAN HARKER. + + THE END + + * * * * * + + _There's More to Follow!_ + + More stories of the sort you like; more, probably, by the author of + this one; more than 500 titles all told by writers of world-wide + reputation, in the Authors' Alphabetical List which you will find + on the _reverse side_ of the wrapper of this book. Look it over + before you lay it aside. There are books here you are sure to + want--some, possibly, that you have _always_ wanted. + + It is a _selected_ list; every book in it has achieved a certain + measure of _success_. + + The Grosset & Dunlap list is not only the greatest Index of Good + Fiction available, it represents in addition a generally accepted + Standard of Value. It will pay you to + + _Look on the Other Side of the Wrapper!_ + + _In case the wrapper is lost write to the publishers for a complete + catalog_ + + * * * * * + +DETECTIVE STORIES BY J. S. FLETCHER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +THE SECRET OF THE BARBICAN + +THE ANNEXATION SOCIETY + +THE WOLVES AND THE LAMB + +GREEN INK + +THE KING versus WARGRAVE + +THE LOST MR. LINTHWAITE + +THE MILL OF MANY WINDOWS + +THE HEAVEN-KISSED HILL + +THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER + +RAVENSDENE COURT + +THE RAYNER-SLADE AMALGAMATION + +THE SAFETY PIN + +THE SECRET WAY + +THE VALLEY OF HEADSTRONG MEN + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +in a very simply way=> in a very simple way {pg 68} + +"The Westminister Gazette," 25 September.=> "The Westminster Gazette," +25 September. {pg 165} + +It have told him=> She must have told him {pg 169} + +from md sight=> from my sight {pg}184 + +Goldaming=> Godalming {pg 226} + +I I did not want to hinder him=> I did not want to hinder him {pg 267} + +They lay in a sort of or-orderly=> They lay in a sort of orderly {pg +279} + +Translyvania=> Transylvania {pg 294} + +this mrrning from Dardanelles=> this morning from Dardanelles {pg 313} + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + +***** This file should be named 345-8.txt or 345-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/345/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20bdbdb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt @@ -0,0 +1,887 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven +Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition + Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes + +Author: Edgar Allan Poe + +Release Date: May 19, 2008 [EBook #25525] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Contents and Index of Five Volumes + + +THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE + +TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX OF THE FIVE VOLUMES + +The Raven Edition + + +Project Gutenberg Volumes: +#2147, #2148, #2149, #2150, #2151 + + + +CONTENTS + +INDEX + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME 1 + +EDGAR ALLAN POE + +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE + +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL + +THE GOLD-BUG + +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD + +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE + +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET + +THE BALLOON-HOAX + +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE + +THE OVAL PORTRAIT + +VOLUME 2 + +THE PURLOINED LETTER + +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE + +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM. + +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY + +MESMERIC REVELATION + +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR + +THE BLACK CAT. + +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER + +SILENCE—A FABLE + +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. + +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. + +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE + +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY + +THE ASSIGNATION + +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM + +THE PREMATURE BURIAL + +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM + +LANDOR'S COTTAGE + +WILLIAM WILSON + +THE TELL-TALE HEART. + +BERENICE + +ELEONORA + +VOLUME 3 +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM + +CHAPTER 1 + +CHAPTER 2 + +CHAPTER 3 + +CHAPTER 4 + +CHAPTER 5 + +CHAPTER 6 + +CHAPTER 7 + +CHAPTER 8 + +CHAPTER 9 + +CHAPTER 10 + +CHAPTER 11 + +CHAPTER 12 + +CHAPTER 13 + +CHAPTER 14 + +CHAPTER 15 + +CHAPTER 16 + +CHAPTER 17 + +CHAPTER 18 + +CHAPTER 19 + +CHAPTER 20 + +CHAPTER 21 + +CHAPTER 22 + +CHAPTER 23 + +CHAPTER 24 + +CHAPTER 25 + +Notes + +LIGEIA + +MORELLA + +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS + +THE SPECTACLES + +KING PEST. + +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK + +VOLUME 4 + +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY + +LIONIZING + +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +METZENGERSTEIN + +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER + +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. + +A PREDICAMENT + +MYSTIFICATION + +DIDDLING + +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD + +MELLONTA TAUTA + +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. + +THE OBLONG BOX. + +LOSS OF BREATH + +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. + +THE BUSINESS MAN + +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN + +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER + +THE POWER OF WORDS + +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA + +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION + +SHADOW—A PARABLE + +VOLUME 5 + +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. + +A TALE OF JERUSALEM + +THE SPHINX + +HOP-FROG + +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. + +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD + +THOU ART THE MAN + +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING + +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. + +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE + +OLD ENGLISH POETRY + +POEMS + +PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE + +THE RAVEN. + +THE BELLS. + +ULALUME + +TO HELEN + +ANNABEL LEE. + +A VALENTINE. + +AN ENIGMA + +FOR ANNIE + +TO F——. + +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD + +ELDORADO. + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + +THE SLEEPER. + +NOTES + +POEMS OF MANHOOD + +LENORE + +TO ONE IN PARADISE. + +THE COLISEUM. + +THE HAUNTED PALACE. + +THE CONQUEROR WORM. + +SILENCE + +DREAM-LAND + +HYMN + +TO ZANTE + +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" + +POEMS OF YOUTH + +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 + +LETTER TO MR. B—. + +SONNET—TO SCIENCE + +AL AARAAF + +TAMERLANE + +TO HELEN + +THE VALLEY OF UNREST + +ISRAFEL + +TO —— + +TO —— + +TO THE RIVER—— + +SONG + +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD + +A DREAM + +ROMANCE + +FAIRY-LAND + +THE LAKE —— TO—— + +EVENING STAR + +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." + +IMITATION + +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS + +DREAMS + +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +NOTES + +DOUBTFUL POEMS + +ALONE + +TO ISADORE + +THE VILLAGE STREET + +THE FOREST REVERIE + +NOTES + + + +INDEX + +PROSE +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD +THE ASSIGNATION +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. +THE BUSINESS MAN +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE +EDGAR ALLAN POE +THE BALLOON-HOAX +THE BLACK CAT. +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD +BERENICE +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY +DIDDLING +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. +ELEONORA +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING +THE GOLD-BUG +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM +HOP-FROG +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY +A TALE OF JERUSALEM +KING PEST. +LANDOR'S COTTAGE +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN +LIGEIA +LIONIZING +LOSS OF BREATH +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. +MELLONTA TAUTA +MESMERIC REVELATION +METZENGERSTEIN +MORELLA +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET +MYSTIFICATION +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD +THE OBLONG BOX. +THE OVAL PORTRAIT +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM +THE POWER OF WORDS +A PREDICAMENT +THE PREMATURE BURIAL +THE PURLOINED LETTER +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS +SHADOW—A PARABLE +SILENCE—A FABLE +THE SPECTACLES +THE SPHINX +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER +THE TELL-TALE HEART. +THOU ART THE MAN +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY +WILLIAM WILSON +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +POETRY +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE +OLD ENGLISH POETRY PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE +ANNABEL LEE. +FOR ANNIE +THE BELLS. +THE CITY IN THE SEA. +ELDORADO. +AN ENIGMA +TO F——. +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD +TO HELEN +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +THE RAVEN. +THE SLEEPER. +ULALUME +A VALENTINE. + +POEMS OF MANHOOD +THE COLISEUM. +THE CONQUEROR WORM. +DREAM-LAND +THE HAUNTED PALACE. +HYMN +LENORE +TO ONE IN PARADISE. +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" +SILENCE +TO ZANTE + +POEMS OF YOUTH +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 +LETTER TO MR. B—. +AL AARAAF +A DREAM +DREAMS +EVENING STAR +FAIRY-LAND +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." +TO HELEN +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS +IMITATION +ISRAFEL +THE LAKE —— TO—— +SONG +SONNET—TO SCIENCE +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD +TAMERLANE +TO —— +TO —— +TO THE RIVER—— +ROMANCE +THE VALLEY OF UNREST +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +DOUBTFUL POEMS +ALONE +THE FOREST REVERIE +TO ISADORE +THE VILLAGE STREET + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The +Raven Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + +***** This file should be named 25525-8.txt or 25525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/2/25525/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..acf0827 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b57efc6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_head/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3c7dd11e95498a9492fde773a0532dcaec3f494736021d42451da170dcfb988b6e5df66453aa3816fd891b7917c842f2a495e706ffd37c3d779790bef1ffb88b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..22d0607 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +{ + "head": "v1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2336d6c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +8d4c1e7087aa15042751806750115365b73f4fe93a7503d29fd5b1ce45b95879ae6e2a99b54a4d5e63a5d5b1d4107fbfd264c2426ede2d9f84ec8dd6954a7166 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51ee313 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15973 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Dracula + +Author: Bram Stoker + +Release Date: August 16, 2013 [EBook #345] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + DRACULA + + + + + + DRACULA + + _by_ + + Bram Stoker + + [Illustration: colophon] + + NEW YORK + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + _Publishers_ + + Copyright, 1897, in the United States of America, according + to Act of Congress, by Bram Stoker + + [_All rights reserved._] + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES + AT + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + + + TO + + MY DEAR FRIEND + + HOMMY-BEG + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + Page + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 1 + +CHAPTER II + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 14 + +CHAPTER III + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 26 + +CHAPTER IV + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 38 + +CHAPTER V + +Letters--Lucy and Mina 51 + +CHAPTER VI + +Mina Murray's Journal 59 + +CHAPTER VII + +Cutting from "The Dailygraph," 8 August 71 + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mina Murray's Journal 84 + +CHAPTER IX + +Mina Murray's Journal 98 + +CHAPTER X + +Mina Murray's Journal 111 + +CHAPTER XI + +Lucy Westenra's Diary 124 + +CHAPTER XII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 136 + +CHAPTER XIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 152 + +CHAPTER XIV + +Mina Harker's Journal 167 + +CHAPTER XV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 181 + +CHAPTER XVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 194 + +CHAPTER XVII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 204 + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 216 + +CHAPTER XIX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 231 + +CHAPTER XX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 243 + +CHAPTER XXI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 256 + +CHAPTER XXII + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 269 + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 281 + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Dr. Seward's Phonograph Diary, spoken by Van Helsing 294 + +CHAPTER XXV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 308 + +CHAPTER XXVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 322 + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Mina Harker's Journal 338 + + + + +DRACULA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + +(_Kept in shorthand._) + + +_3 May. Bistritz._--Left Munich at 8:35 P. M., on 1st May, arriving at +Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an +hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I +got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the +streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived +late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The +impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the +East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is +here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish +rule. + +We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. +Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or +rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was +very good but thirsty. (_Mem._, get recipe for Mina.) I asked the +waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and that, as it was a +national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the +Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I +don't know how I should be able to get on without it. + +Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the +British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library +regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the +country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a +nobleman of that country. I find that the district he named is in the +extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, +Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian +mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe. I was +not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the +Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare +with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post +town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter +here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my +travels with Mina. + +In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: +Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the +descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the +East and North. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended +from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered +the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. I +read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the +horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of +imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (_Mem._, I +must ask the Count all about them.) + +I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had +all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my +window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been +the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was +still thirsty. Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous +knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. +I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour +which they said was "mamaliga," and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a +very excellent dish, which they call "impletata." (_Mem._, get recipe +for this also.) I had to hurry breakfast, for the train started a little +before eight, or rather it ought to have done so, for after rushing to +the station at 7:30 I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour +before we began to move. It seems to me that the further east you go the +more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China? + +All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of +beauty of every kind. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the +top of steep hills such as we see in old missals; sometimes we ran by +rivers and streams which seemed from the wide stony margin on each side +of them to be subject to great floods. It takes a lot of water, and +running strong, to sweep the outside edge of a river clear. At every +station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts +of attire. Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I +saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets and round hats +and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque. The women +looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy +about the waist. They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, +and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something +fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of course there +were petticoats under them. The strangest figures we saw were the +Slovaks, who were more barbarian than the rest, with their big cow-boy +hats, great baggy dirty-white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous +heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass +nails. They wore high boots, with their trousers tucked into them, and +had long black hair and heavy black moustaches. They are very +picturesque, but do not look prepossessing. On the stage they would be +set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands. They are, +however, I am told, very harmless and rather wanting in natural +self-assertion. + +It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a +very interesting old place. Being practically on the frontier--for the +Borgo Pass leads from it into Bukovina--it has had a very stormy +existence, and it certainly shows marks of it. Fifty years ago a series +of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate +occasions. At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent +a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war +proper being assisted by famine and disease. + +Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I +found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of +course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. I was +evidently expected, for when I got near the door I faced a +cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress--white +undergarment with long double apron, front, and back, of coloured stuff +fitting almost too tight for modesty. When I came close she bowed and +said, "The Herr Englishman?" "Yes," I said, "Jonathan Harker." She +smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirt-sleeves, +who had followed her to the door. He went, but immediately returned with +a letter:-- + + "My Friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting + you. Sleep well to-night. At three to-morrow the diligence will + start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo + Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust + that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you + will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. + +"Your friend, + +"DRACULA." + + +_4 May._--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, +directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on +making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and +pretended that he could not understand my German. This could not be +true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he +answered my questions exactly as if he did. He and his wife, the old +lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of +way. He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that +was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could +tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, +and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak +further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask +any one else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means +comforting. + +Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a +very hysterical way: + +"Must you go? Oh! young Herr, must you go?" She was in such an excited +state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and +mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all. I +was just able to follow her by asking many questions. When I told her +that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, +she asked again: + +"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. +She shook her head as she said again: + +"Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?" On +my saying that I did not understand, she went on: + +"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when +the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have +full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" +She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but +without effect. Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not +to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very +ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business +to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it. I therefore +tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked +her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go. She then rose and +dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me. I +did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been +taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it +seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a +state of mind. She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the +rosary round my neck, and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out +of the room. I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting +for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still +round my neck. Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly +traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I +am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual. If this book should +ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. Here comes the +coach! + + * * * * * + +_5 May. The Castle._--The grey of the morning has passed, and the sun is +high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or +hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are +mixed. I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, +naturally I write till sleep comes. There are many odd things to put +down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I +left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they +called "robber steak"--bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red +pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple +style of the London cat's meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which +produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not +disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else. + +When I got on the coach the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him +talking with the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every +now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting +on the bench outside the door--which they call by a name meaning +"word-bearer"--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them +pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for +there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my polyglot +dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not +cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"--Satan, "pokol"--hell, +"stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both of which mean the same +thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is +either were-wolf or vampire. (_Mem._, I must ask the Count about these +superstitions) + +When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time +swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and +pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a +fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he would not answer at +first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a +charm or guard against the evil eye. This was not very pleasant for me, +just starting for an unknown place to meet an unknown man; but every one +seemed so kind-hearted, and so sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I +could not but be touched. I shall never forget the last glimpse which I +had of the inn-yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing +themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of +rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the +centre of the yard. Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered +the whole front of the box-seat--"gotza" they call them--cracked his big +whip over his four small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on +our journey. + +I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty of the +scene as we drove along, although had I known the language, or rather +languages, which my fellow-passengers were speaking, I might not have +been able to throw them off so easily. Before us lay a green sloping +land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned +with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the +road. There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom--apple, +plum, pear, cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under +the trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out amongst these +green hills of what they call here the "Mittel Land" ran the road, +losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut out by the +straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the +hillsides like tongues of flame. The road was rugged, but still we +seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste. I could not understand then +what the haste meant, but the driver was evidently bent on losing no +time in reaching Borgo Prund. I was told that this road is in summertime +excellent, but that it had not yet been put in order after the winter +snows. In this respect it is different from the general run of roads in +the Carpathians, for it is an old tradition that they are not to be kept +in too good order. Of old the Hospadars would not repair them, lest the +Turk should think that they were preparing to bring in foreign troops, +and so hasten the war which was always really at loading point. + +Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes +of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves. Right +and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon +them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, +deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where +grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and +pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where +the snowy peaks rose grandly. Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the +mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again +the white gleam of falling water. One of my companions touched my arm as +we swept round the base of a hill and opened up the lofty, snow-covered +peak of a mountain, which seemed, as we wound on our serpentine way, to +be right before us:-- + +"Look! Isten szek!"--"God's seat!"--and he crossed himself reverently. + +As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind +us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us. This was +emphasised by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the +sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink. Here and there +we passed Cszeks and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but I noticed +that goitre was painfully prevalent. By the roadside were many crosses, +and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves. Here and there +was a peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine, who did not even +turn round as we approached, but seemed in the self-surrender of +devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the outer world. There were +many things new to me: for instance, hay-ricks in the trees, and here +and there very beautiful masses of weeping birch, their white stems +shining like silver through the delicate green of the leaves. Now and +again we passed a leiter-wagon--the ordinary peasant's cart--with its +long, snake-like vertebra, calculated to suit the inequalities of the +road. On this were sure to be seated quite a group of home-coming +peasants, the Cszeks with their white, and the Slovaks with their +coloured, sheepskins, the latter carrying lance-fashion their long +staves, with axe at end. As the evening fell it began to get very cold, +and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the +gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which +ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the +Pass, the dark firs stood out here and there against the background of +late-lying snow. Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods +that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of +greyness, which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a +peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and +grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset +threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the +Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes the +hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could +only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, +but the driver would not hear of it. "No, no," he said; "you must not +walk here; the dogs are too fierce"; and then he added, with what he +evidently meant for grim pleasantry--for he looked round to catch the +approving smile of the rest--"and you may have enough of such matters +before you go to sleep." The only stop he would make was a moment's +pause to light his lamps. + +When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the +passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as +though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses unmercifully +with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on +to further exertions. Then through the darkness I could see a sort of +patch of grey light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the +hills. The excitement of the passengers grew greater; the crazy coach +rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a +stormy sea. I had to hold on. The road grew more level, and we appeared +to fly along. Then the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each +side and to frown down upon us; we were entering on the Borgo Pass. One +by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed +upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial; these were +certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good +faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that strange mixture of +fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at +Bistritz--the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye. +Then, as we flew along, the driver leaned forward, and on each side the +passengers, craning over the edge of the coach, peered eagerly into the +darkness. It was evident that something very exciting was either +happening or expected, but though I asked each passenger, no one would +give me the slightest explanation. This state of excitement kept on for +some little time; and at last we saw before us the Pass opening out on +the eastern side. There were dark, rolling clouds overhead, and in the +air the heavy, oppressive sense of thunder. It seemed as though the +mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got +into the thunderous one. I was now myself looking out for the conveyance +which was to take me to the Count. Each moment I expected to see the +glare of lamps through the blackness; but all was dark. The only light +was the flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our +hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud. We could see now the sandy +road lying white before us, but there was on it no sign of a vehicle. +The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock +my own disappointment. I was already thinking what I had best do, when +the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something which I +could hardly hear, it was spoken so quietly and in so low a tone; I +thought it was "An hour less than the time." Then turning to me, he said +in German worse than my own:-- + +"There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He will +now come on to Bukovina, and return to-morrow or the next day; better +the next day." Whilst he was speaking the horses began to neigh and +snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up. Then, +amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a universal crossing +of themselves, a calèche, with four horses, drove up behind us, overtook +us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see from the flash of our +lamps, as the rays fell on them, that the horses were coal-black and +splendid animals. They were driven by a tall man, with a long brown +beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide his face from us. I +could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red +in the lamplight, as he turned to us. He said to the driver:-- + +"You are early to-night, my friend." The man stammered in reply:-- + +"The English Herr was in a hurry," to which the stranger replied:-- + +"That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot +deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift." As he +spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with +very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my +companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore":-- + + "Denn die Todten reiten schnell"-- + ("For the dead travel fast.") + +The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a +gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time +putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. "Give me the Herr's +luggage," said the driver; and with exceeding alacrity my bags were +handed out and put in the calèche. Then I descended from the side of the +coach, as the calèche was close alongside, the driver helping me with a +hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel; his strength must have been +prodigious. Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we +swept into the darkness of the Pass. As I looked back I saw the steam +from the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected +against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves. Then +the driver cracked his whip and called to his horses, and off they swept +on their way to Bukovina. As they sank into the darkness I felt a +strange chill, and a lonely feeling came over me; but a cloak was thrown +over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the driver said in +excellent German:-- + +"The night is chill, mein Herr, and my master the Count bade me take all +care of you. There is a flask of slivovitz (the plum brandy of the +country) underneath the seat, if you should require it." I did not take +any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the same. I felt a +little strangely, and not a little frightened. I think had there been +any alternative I should have taken it, instead of prosecuting that +unknown night journey. The carriage went at a hard pace straight along, +then we made a complete turn and went along another straight road. It +seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground +again; and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was +so. I would have liked to have asked the driver what this all meant, but +I really feared to do so, for I thought that, placed as I was, any +protest would have had no effect in case there had been an intention to +delay. By-and-by, however, as I was curious to know how time was +passing, I struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch; it was +within a few minutes of midnight. This gave me a sort of shock, for I +suppose the general superstition about midnight was increased by my +recent experiences. I waited with a sick feeling of suspense. + +Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road--a +long, agonised wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by +another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which +now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed +to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp +it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to +strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly, and they +quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from +sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each +side of us began a louder and a sharper howling--that of wolves--which +affected both the horses and myself in the same way--for I was minded to +jump from the calèche and run, whilst they reared again and plunged +madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them +from bolting. In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to +the sound, and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able +to descend and to stand before them. He petted and soothed them, and +whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse-tamers +doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became +quite manageable again, though they still trembled. The driver again +took his seat, and shaking his reins, started off at a great pace. This +time, after going to the far side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a +narrow roadway which ran sharply to the right. + +Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the +roadway till we passed as through a tunnel; and again great frowning +rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in shelter, we +could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled through the +rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. +It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall, +so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket. The +keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew +fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer +and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. I +grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, +however, was not in the least disturbed; he kept turning his head to +left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. + +Suddenly, away on our left, I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The +driver saw it at the same moment; he at once checked the horses, and, +jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness. I did not know +what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer; but while +I wondered the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a word took +his seat, and we resumed our journey. I think I must have fallen asleep +and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be repeated +endlessly, and now looking back, it is like a sort of awful nightmare. +Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the darkness +around us I could watch the driver's motions. He went rapidly to where +the blue flame arose--it must have been very faint, for it did not seem +to illumine the place around it at all--and gathering a few stones, +formed them into some device. Once there appeared a strange optical +effect: when he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, +for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. This startled me, but +as the effect was only momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me +straining through the darkness. Then for a time there were no blue +flames, and we sped onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the +wolves around us, as though they were following in a moving circle. + +At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he +had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble worse +than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause +for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether; but just +then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the +jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw +around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, +with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more +terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled. +For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man +feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand +their true import. + +All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had +some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared, and +looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see; +but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side; and they +had perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for +it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the +ring and to aid his approach. I shouted and beat the side of the +calèche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from that side, so as +to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came there, I know +not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and +looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway. As he swept his +long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves +fell back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across +the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness. + +When I could see again the driver was climbing into the calèche, and the +wolves had disappeared. This was all so strange and uncanny that a +dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time +seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost complete +darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. We kept on +ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main +always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the +driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a +vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, +and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit +sky. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +_5 May._--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully +awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In +the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark +ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than +it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight. + +When the calèche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand +to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious +strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have +crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps, and placed +them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and +studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of +massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was +massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and +weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the +reins; the horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one +of the dark openings. + +I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell +or knocker there was no sign; through these frowning walls and dark +window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The +time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon +me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? +What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a +customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to +explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor's +clerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor--for just before leaving +London I got word that my examination was successful; and I am now a +full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if +I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I +expected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with +the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and again felt +in the morning after a day of overwork. But my flesh answered the +pinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awake +and among the Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and to +wait the coming of the morning. + +Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching +behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming +light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of +massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise +of long disuse, and the great door swung back. + +Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white +moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck +of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver +lamp, in which the flame burned without chimney or globe of any kind, +throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the +open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with a courtly +gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange intonation:-- + +"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!" He made no +motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his +gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that +I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and +holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, +an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed as cold as +ice--more like the hand of a dead than a living man. Again he said:-- + +"Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the +happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so much akin to +that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that +for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was +speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:-- + +"Count Dracula?" He bowed in a courtly way as he replied:-- + +"I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in; +the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest." As he was +speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, +took my luggage; he had carried it in before I could forestall him. I +protested but he insisted:-- + +"Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not +available. Let me see to your comfort myself." He insisted on carrying +my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and +along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang +heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced +to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper, +and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, +flamed and flared. + +The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing +the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit +by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing +through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a +welcome sight; for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with +another log fire,--also added to but lately, for the top logs were +fresh--which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The Count himself +left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he closed the +door:-- + +"You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your +toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come +into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared." + +The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have +dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal state, +I discovered that I was half famished with hunger; so making a hasty +toilet, I went into the other room. + +I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of the +great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of +his hand to the table, and said:-- + +"I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse +me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup." + +I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me. +He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile, he handed +it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of +pleasure. + +"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant +sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to +come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in +whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy +and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is +discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall +be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take +your instructions in all matters." + +The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I +fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese +and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was +my supper. During the time I was eating it the Count asked me many +questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had +experienced. + +By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn +up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, +at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an +opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked +physiognomy. + +His face was a strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bridge of the +thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and +hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His +eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy +hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I +could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather +cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over +the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a +man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops +extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm +though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. + +Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees +in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeing +them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather +coarse--broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in +the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp +point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not +repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a +horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could +not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a +grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his +protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the +fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the +window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a +strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from +down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes +gleamed, and he said:-- + +"Listen to them--the children of the night. What music they make!" +Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he +added:-- + +"Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the +hunter." Then he rose and said:-- + +"But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow you +shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon; +so sleep well and dream well!" With a courteous bow, he opened for me +himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom.... + +I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, +which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the +sake of those dear to me! + + * * * * * + +_7 May._--It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the +last twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my +own accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had +supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the +pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the table, on which +was written:-- + +"I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.--D." I set to and +enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, so that I +might let the servants know I had finished; but I could not find one. +There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, considering the +extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The table service +is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it must be of immense value. +The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and sofas and the hangings of +my bed are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have +been of fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, +though in excellent order. I saw something like them in Hampton Court, +but there they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of +the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my +table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I +could either shave or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant +anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. +Some time after I had finished my meal--I do not know whether to call it +breakfast or dinner, for it was between five and six o'clock when I had +it--I looked about for something to read, for I did not like to go about +the castle until I had asked the Count's permission. There was +absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing +materials; so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of +library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found it locked. + +In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English +books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and +newspapers. A table in the centre was littered with English magazines +and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The books +were of the most varied kind--history, geography, politics, political +economy, botany, geology, law--all relating to England and English life +and customs and manners. There were even such books of reference as the +London Directory, the "Red" and "Blue" books, Whitaker's Almanac, the +Army and Navy Lists, and--it somehow gladdened my heart to see it--the +Law List. + +Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Count +entered. He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a good +night's rest. Then he went on:-- + +"I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much that +will interest you. These companions"--and he laid his hand on some of +the books--"have been good friends to me, and for some years past, ever +since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many, many hours +of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your great England; and to +know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of +your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of +humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes +it what it is. But alas! as yet I only know your tongue through books. +To you, my friend, I look that I know it to speak." + +"But, Count," I said, "you know and speak English thoroughly!" He bowed +gravely. + +"I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet I +fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I know +the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them." + +"Indeed," I said, "you speak excellently." + +"Not so," he answered. "Well, I know that, did I move and speak in your +London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is not +enough for me. Here I am noble; I am _boyar_; the common people know me, +and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one; men +know him not--and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am +like the rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or pause in his +speaking if he hear my words, 'Ha, ha! a stranger!' I have been so long +master that I would be master still--or at least that none other should +be master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of my friend Peter +Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in London. You +shall, I trust, rest here with me awhile, so that by our talking I may +learn the English intonation; and I would that you tell me when I make +error, even of the smallest, in my speaking. I am sorry that I had to be +away so long to-day; but you will, I know, forgive one who has so many +important affairs in hand." + +Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might +come into that room when I chose. He answered: "Yes, certainly," and +added:-- + +"You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are +locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is reason that +all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with +my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand." I said I was sure of +this, and then he went on:-- + +"We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are +not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from +what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of +what strange things there may be." + +This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he wanted to +talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding +things that had already happened to me or come within my notice. +Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by +pretending not to understand; but generally he answered all I asked most +frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked +him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as, for +instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue +flames. He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a +certain night of the year--last night, in fact, when all evil spirits +are supposed to have unchecked sway--a blue flame is seen over any place +where treasure has been concealed. "That treasure has been hidden," he +went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be +but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by the +Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil +in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, +patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the +Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out +to meet them--men and women, the aged and the children too--and waited +their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep +destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader +was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been +sheltered in the friendly soil." + +"But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when +there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?" +The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, +sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:-- + +"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only +appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he +can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he +would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of who +marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight +even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to +find these places again?" + +"There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where even +to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters. + +"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you +have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went into my +own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in +order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as I +passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp +lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit +in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa, +reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's Guide. When I +came in he cleared the books and papers from the table; and with him I +went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested in +everything, and asked me a myriad questions about the place and its +surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the +subject of the neighbourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much +more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered:-- + +"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there +I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan--nay, pardon me, I +fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first--my friend +Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He will be +in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law with my +other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!" + +We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at +Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the +necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to +Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a +place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which I +inscribe here:-- + +"At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as seemed to +be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place +was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of ancient structure, +built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of +years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with +rust. + +"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old _Quatre +Face_, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of +the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded by +the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which +make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or +small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear and +flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large and of all +periods back, I should say, to mediæval times, for one part is of stone +immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily barred with +iron. It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an old chapel or +church. I could not enter it, as I had not the key of the door leading +to it from the house, but I have taken with my kodak views of it from +various points. The house has been added to, but in a very straggling +way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must +be very great. There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very +large house only recently added to and formed into a private lunatic +asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds." + +When I had finished, he said:-- + +"I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and to +live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable in a +day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice +also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles love +not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. I seek not +gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and +sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I am no longer young; +and my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead, is not +attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken; the +shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken +battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow, and would +be alone with my thoughts when I may." Somehow his words and his look +did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his +smile look malignant and saturnine. + +Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my papers +together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of +the books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally at +England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at it I found in +certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I noticed +that one was near London on the east side, manifestly where his new +estate was situated; the other two were Exeter, and Whitby on the +Yorkshire coast. + +It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned. "Aha!" he +said; "still at your books? Good! But you must not work always. Come; I +am informed that your supper is ready." He took my arm, and we went into +the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on the table. The +Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on his being away from +home. But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted whilst I ate. +After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the Count stayed with +me, chatting and asking questions on every conceivable subject, hour +after hour. I felt that it was getting very late indeed, but I did not +say anything, for I felt under obligation to meet my host's wishes in +every way. I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified +me; but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes over one at +the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. +They say that people who are near death die generally at the change to +the dawn or at the turn of the tide; any one who has when tired, and +tied as it were to his post, experienced this change in the atmosphere +can well believe it. All at once we heard the crow of a cock coming up +with preternatural shrillness through the clear morning air; Count +Dracula, jumping to his feet, said:-- + +"Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so +long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of +England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by +us," and, with a courtly bow, he quickly left me. + +I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little to +notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the +warm grey of quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again, and have +written of this day. + + * * * * * + +_8 May._--I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too +diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for +there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I +cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had +never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling on +me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk to I +could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak with, +and he!--I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. Let +me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me to bear up, and +imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am lost. Let me say +at once how I stand--or seem to. + +I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could +not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window, +and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, +and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good-morning." I started, for +it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass +covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, +but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count's +salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. +This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I +could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in +the mirror! The whole room behind me was displayed; but there was no +sign of a man in it, except myself. This was startling, and, coming on +the top of so many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague +feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at +the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was +trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half +round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my face, his +eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at +my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which +held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed +so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there. + +"Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself. It is more +dangerous than you think in this country." Then seizing the shaving +glass, he went on: "And this is the wretched thing that has done the +mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it!" and +opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung +out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones +of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very +annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or +the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal. + +When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could +not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is strange that +as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very +peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle. I +went out on the stairs, and found a room looking towards the South. The +view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every opportunity +of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A +stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without +touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree +tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and +there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through +the forests. + +But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I +explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and +bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there +an available exit. + +The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me. +I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of +every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my +helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I look back after a +few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much +as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me +that I was helpless I sat down quietly--as quietly as I have ever done +anything in my life--and began to think over what was best to be done. I +am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of +one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making my ideas known to +the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it +himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive +me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only +plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes +open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, +or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and +shall need, all my brains to get through. + +I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below +shut, and knew that the Count had returned. He did not come at once into +the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making +the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along +thought--that there were no servants in the house. When later I saw him +through the chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in the +dining-room, I was assured of it; for if he does himself all these +menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. +This gave me a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it +must have been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that +brought me here. This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it +mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his +hand in silence. How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the +coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the +crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless +that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! for it is a +comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing +which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous +should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there +is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, +a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Some +time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my +mind about it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count +Dracula, as it may help me to understand. To-night he may talk of +himself, if I turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, +however, not to awake his suspicion. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few +questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject +wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of +battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he +afterwards explained by saying that to a _boyar_ the pride of his house +and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their +fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said "we," +and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could put +down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most +fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He +grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his great +white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands as +though he would crush it by main strength. One thing he said which I +shall put down as nearly as I can; for it tells in its way the story of +his race:-- + +"We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood +of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, +in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from +Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their +Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, +and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the +were-wolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found +the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, +till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those +old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the devils in the +desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as +Attila, whose blood is in these veins?" He held up his arms. "Is it a +wonder that we were a conquering race; that we were proud; that when the +Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his +thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when +Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he found us +here when he reached the frontier; that the Honfoglalas was completed +there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were +claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries +was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkey-land; ay, and more +than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for, as the Turks say, +'water sleeps, and enemy is sleepless.' Who more gladly than we +throughout the Four Nations received the 'bloody sword,' or at its +warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was +redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the +flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who +was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat +the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that +his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the +Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, +indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and +again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, +when he was beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had +to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being +slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They +said that he thought only of himself. Bah! what good are peasants +without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart to +conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohács, we threw off the +Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for +our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the +Szekelys--and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains, and +their swords--can boast a record that mushroom growths like the +Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over. +Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace; and +the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told." + +It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. (_Mem._, this +diary seems horribly like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," for +everything has to break off at cockcrow--or like the ghost of Hamlet's +father.) + + * * * * * + +_12 May._--Let me begin with facts--bare, meagre facts, verified by +books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not +confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own +observation, or my memory of them. Last evening when the Count came from +his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the +doing of certain kinds of business. I had spent the day wearily over +books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the +matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn. There was a certain +method in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put them down in +sequence; the knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to me. + +First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more. I +told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not be +wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as only +one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to militate +against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to +ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one man to +attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case +local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking +solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not by any +chance mislead him, so he said:-- + +"I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from under +the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far from +London, buys for me through your good self my place at London. Good! Now +here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange that I have +sought the services of one so far off from London instead of some one +resident there, that my motive was that no local interest might be +served save my wish only; and as one of London residence might, perhaps, +have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus afield to +seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest. Now, suppose +I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to Newcastle, or +Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it not be that it could with more +ease be done by consigning to one in these ports?" I answered that +certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of +agency one for the other, so that local work could be done locally on +instruction from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing +himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by +him without further trouble. + +"But," said he, "I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it not so?" + +"Of course," I replied; and "such is often done by men of business, who +do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person." + +"Good!" he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making +consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of +difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded +against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability, +and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made a +wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of or +foresee. For a man who was never in the country, and who did not +evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were +wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had +spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books +available, he suddenly stood up and said:-- + +"Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter +Hawkins, or to any other?" It was with some bitterness in my heart that +I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of +sending letters to anybody. + +"Then write now, my young friend," he said, laying a heavy hand on my +shoulder: "write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will +please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now." + +"Do you wish me to stay so long?" I asked, for my heart grew cold at the +thought. + +"I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, +employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, +it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not +stinted. Is it not so?" + +What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins's interest, not +mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, while Count +Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing +which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I +could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his +mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but +in his own smooth, resistless way:-- + +"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things +other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please your +friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to getting +home to them. Is it not so?" As he spoke he handed me three sheets of +note-paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest foreign +post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, +with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood +as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for +he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only formal notes +now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for +to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle the Count, if he +did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a +book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to +some books on his table. Then he took up my two and placed them with his +own, and put by his writing materials, after which, the instant the door +had closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which +were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so, for +under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way +I could. + +One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The +Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the third was to +Coutts & Co., London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth, +bankers, Buda-Pesth. The second and fourth were unsealed. I was just +about to look at them when I saw the door-handle move. I sank back in my +seat, having just had time to replace the letters as they had been and +to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter in his +hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped +them carefully, and then turning to me, said:-- + +"I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this +evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish." At the door he +turned, and after a moment's pause said:-- + +"Let me advise you, my dear young friend--nay, let me warn you with all +seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any +chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has +many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be +warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then +haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be +safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then"--He finished his +speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were +washing them. I quite understood; my only doubt was as to whether any +dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom +and mystery which seemed closing around me. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no +doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is +not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed--I imagine that +my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain. + +When he left me I went to my room. After a little while, not hearing any +sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could look out +towards the South. There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, +inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow darkness +of the courtyard. Looking out on this, I felt that I was indeed in +prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air, though it were of +the night. I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. +It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and am full of all +sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is ground for my +terrible fear in this accursed place! I looked out over the beautiful +expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was almost as light as +day. In the soft light the distant hills became melted, and the shadows +in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness. The mere beauty seemed +to cheer me; there was peace and comfort in every breath I drew. As I +leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a storey +below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of +the rooms, that the windows of the Count's own room would look out. The +window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though +weatherworn, was still complete; but it was evidently many a day since +the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework, and looked +carefully out. + +What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not +see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his +back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had +so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and +somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest +and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to +repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the +window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, +_face down_ with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At +first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the +moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept looking, and it could +be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the +stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus +using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable +speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall. + +What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the +semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering +me; I am in fear--in awful fear--and there is no escape for me; I am +encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of.... + + * * * * * + +_15 May._--Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion. +He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good +deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head +had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without +avail--the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I +knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to +explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and +taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had +expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went down the +stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could +pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains; but the +door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's +room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and +escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs +and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two +small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in +them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, +however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it +seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, +and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came +from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door +rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have +again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that +I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right +than the rooms I knew and a storey lower down. From the windows I could +see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the +windows of the end room looking out both west and south. On the latter +side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle +was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was +quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or +bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, +impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the +west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged +mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with +mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and +crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle +occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of +comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the +yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to +see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over +all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My +lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was +glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place +which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better +than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the +presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I +found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak +table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much +thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my +diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is +nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my +senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own +which mere "modernity" cannot kill. + + * * * * * + +_Later: the Morning of 16 May._--God preserve my sanity, for to this I +am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. +Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not +go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it +is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this +hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I +can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his +purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way +lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which +have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant +when he made Hamlet say:-- + + "My tablets! quick, my tablets! + 'Tis meet that I put it down," etc., + +for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock +had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. +The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me. + +The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens +me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold upon +me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say! + +When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book and +pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count's warning came into my mind, +but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me, +and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The soft +moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom +which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the +gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat +and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for +their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great +couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay, I could look +at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring for +the dust, composed myself for sleep. I suppose I must have fallen +asleep; I hope so, but I fear, for all that followed was startlingly +real--so real that now sitting here in the broad, full sunlight of the +morning, I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep. + +I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I +came into it; I could see along the floor, in the brilliant moonlight, +my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of +dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by +their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming +when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they threw +no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some +time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline +noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes that seemed to be +almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was +fair, as fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes +like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it +in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the +moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like +pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something +about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some +deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would +kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some +day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth. +They whispered together, and then they all three laughed--such a +silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have +come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, +tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. +The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her +on. One said:-- + +"Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to +begin." The other added:-- + +"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all." I lay quiet, +looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. +The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement +of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent +the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter +underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood. + +I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under +the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply +gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling +and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips +like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining +on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp +teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of +my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. Then she +paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked +her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the +skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that +is to tickle it approaches nearer--nearer. I could feel the soft, +shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, +and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. +I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited--waited with beating +heart. + +But at that instant, another sensation swept through me as quick as +lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his +being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I +saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with +giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the +white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with +passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to +the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light +in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His +face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; +the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar +of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman +from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating +them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the +wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to +cut through the air and then ring round the room he said:-- + +"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when +I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware +how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me." The fair girl, +with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:-- + +"You yourself never loved; you never love!" On this the other women +joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the +room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure +of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, +and said in a soft whisper:-- + +"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it +not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall +kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work +to be done." + +"Are we to have nothing to-night?" said one of them, with a low laugh, +as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and which +moved as though there were some living thing within it. For answer he +nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my +ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a +half-smothered child. The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with +horror; but as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful +bag. There was no door near them, and they could not have passed me +without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the rays of the +moonlight and pass out through the window, for I could see outside the +dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely faded away. + +Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +I awoke in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must +have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but +could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were +certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by +in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am +rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and +many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been +evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, from some cause or +another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof. Of one +thing I am glad: if it was that the Count carried me here and undressed +me, he must have been hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I +am sure this diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not +have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look round this +room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of +sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who +were--who _are_--waiting to suck my blood. + + * * * * * + +_18 May._--I have been down to look at that room again in daylight, for +I _must_ know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the +stairs I found it closed. It had been so forcibly driven against the +jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered. I could see that the bolt +of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the inside. +I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise. + + * * * * * + +_19 May._--I am surely in the toils. Last night the Count asked me in +the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying that my work here +was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days, +another that I was starting on the next morning from the time of the +letter, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at +Bistritz. I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present state +of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I +am so absolutely in his power; and to refuse would be to excite his +suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and +that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only chance is to +prolong my opportunities. Something may occur which will give me a +chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something of that gathering wrath +which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from him. He explained +to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that my writing now would +ensure ease of mind to my friends; and he assured me with so much +impressiveness that he would countermand the later letters, which would +be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would admit of my +prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have been to create new +suspicion. I therefore pretended to fall in with his views, and asked +him what dates I should put on the letters. He calculated a minute, and +then said:-- + +"The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June +29." + +I know now the span of my life. God help me! + + * * * * * + +_28 May._--There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being able to +send word home. A band of Szgany have come to the castle, and are +encamped in the courtyard. These Szgany are gipsies; I have notes of +them in my book. They are peculiar to this part of the world, though +allied to the ordinary gipsies all the world over. There are thousands +of them in Hungary and Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. +They attach themselves as a rule to some great noble or _boyar_, and +call themselves by his name. They are fearless and without religion, +save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany +tongue. + +I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to have them +posted. I have already spoken them through my window to begin +acquaintanceship. They took their hats off and made obeisance and many +signs, which, however, I could not understand any more than I could +their spoken language.... + + * * * * * + +I have written the letters. Mina's is in shorthand, and I simply ask Mr. +Hawkins to communicate with her. To her I have explained my situation, +but without the horrors which I may only surmise. It would shock and +frighten her to death were I to expose my heart to her. Should the +letters not carry, then the Count shall not yet know my secret or the +extent of my knowledge.... + + * * * * * + +I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars of my window +with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to have them posted. The +man who took them pressed them to his heart and bowed, and then put them +in his cap. I could do no more. I stole back to the study, and began to +read. As the Count did not come in, I have written here.... + + * * * * * + +The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his smoothest +voice as he opened two letters:-- + +"The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not whence they +come, I shall, of course, take care. See!"--he must have looked at +it--"one is from you, and to my friend Peter Hawkins; the other"--here +he caught sight of the strange symbols as he opened the envelope, and +the dark look came into his face, and his eyes blazed wickedly--"the +other is a vile thing, an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is +not signed. Well! so it cannot matter to us." And he calmly held letter +and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed. Then he +went on:-- + +"The letter to Hawkins--that I shall, of course, send on, since it is +yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend, that +unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it again?" He held +out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow handed me a clean +envelope. I could only redirect it and hand it to him in silence. When +he went out of the room I could hear the key turn softly. A minute later +I went over and tried it, and the door was locked. + +When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room, his +coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the sofa. He was very +courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been +sleeping, he said:-- + +"So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. There is the surest rest. I +may not have the pleasure to talk to-night, since there are many labours +to me; but you will sleep, I pray." I passed to my room and went to bed, +and, strange to say, slept without dreaming. Despair has its own calms. + + * * * * * + +_31 May._--This morning when I woke I thought I would provide myself +with some paper and envelopes from my bag and keep them in my pocket, so +that I might write in case I should get an opportunity, but again a +surprise, again a shock! + +Every scrap of paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my memoranda, +relating to railways and travel, my letter of credit, in fact all that +might be useful to me were I once outside the castle. I sat and pondered +awhile, and then some thought occurred to me, and I made search of my +portmanteau and in the wardrobe where I had placed my clothes. + +The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and +rug; I could find no trace of them anywhere. This looked like some new +scheme of villainy.... + + * * * * * + +_17 June._--This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed +cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding +and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard. +With joy I hurried to the window, and saw drive into the yard two great +leiter-wagons, each drawn by eight sturdy horses, and at the head of +each pair a Slovak, with his wide hat, great nail-studded belt, dirty +sheepskin, and high boots. They had also their long staves in hand. I +ran to the door, intending to descend and try and join them through the +main hall, as I thought that way might be opened for them. Again a +shock: my door was fastened on the outside. + +Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me +stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, +and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they +laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised +entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away. +The leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick +rope; these were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks +handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved. When +they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one corner of the +yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the Szgany, and spitting on +it for luck, lazily went each to his horse's head. Shortly afterwards, I +heard the cracking of their whips die away in the distance. + + * * * * * + +_24 June, before morning._--Last night the Count left me early, and +locked himself into his own room. As soon as I dared I ran up the +winding stair, and looked out of the window, which opened south. I +thought I would watch for the Count, for there is something going on. +The Szgany are quartered somewhere in the castle and are doing work of +some kind. I know it, for now and then I hear a far-away muffled sound +as of mattock and spade, and, whatever it is, it must be the end of some +ruthless villainy. + +I had been at the window somewhat less than half an hour, when I saw +something coming out of the Count's window. I drew back and watched +carefully, and saw the whole man emerge. It was a new shock to me to +find that he had on the suit of clothes which I had worn whilst +travelling here, and slung over his shoulder the terrible bag which I +had seen the women take away. There could be no doubt as to his quest, +and in my garb, too! This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he will +allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may both leave +evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages posting my own +letters, and that any wickedness which he may do shall by the local +people be attributed to me. + +It makes me rage to think that this can go on, and whilst I am shut up +here, a veritable prisoner, but without that protection of the law which +is even a criminal's right and consolation. + +I thought I would watch for the Count's return, and for a long time sat +doggedly at the window. Then I began to notice that there were some +quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were +like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in +clusters in a nebulous sort of way. I watched them with a sense of +soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me. I leaned back in the +embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy more +fully the aërial gambolling. + +Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far +below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight. Louder it seemed to +ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to +the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to +awake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, +and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I +was becoming hypnotised! Quicker and quicker danced the dust; the +moonbeams seemed to quiver as they went by me into the mass of gloom +beyond. More and more they gathered till they seemed to take dim phantom +shapes. And then I started, broad awake and in full possession of my +senses, and ran screaming from the place. The phantom shapes, which were +becoming gradually materialised from the moonbeams, were those of the +three ghostly women to whom I was doomed. I fled, and felt somewhat +safer in my own room, where there was no moonlight and where the lamp +was burning brightly. + +When a couple of hours had passed I heard something stirring in the +Count's room, something like a sharp wail quickly suppressed; and then +there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me. With a +beating heart, I tried the door; but I was locked in my prison, and +could do nothing. I sat down and simply cried. + +As I sat I heard a sound in the courtyard without--the agonised cry of a +woman. I rushed to the window, and throwing it up, peered out between +the bars. There, indeed, was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her +hands over her heart as one distressed with running. She was leaning +against a corner of the gateway. When she saw my face at the window she +threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace:-- + +"Monster, give me my child!" + +She threw herself on her knees, and raising up her hands, cried the same +words in tones which wrung my heart. Then she tore her hair and beat her +breast, and abandoned herself to all the violences of extravagant +emotion. Finally, she threw herself forward, and, though I could not see +her, I could hear the beating of her naked hands against the door. + +Somewhere high overhead, probably on the tower, I heard the voice of the +Count calling in his harsh, metallic whisper. His call seemed to be +answered from far and wide by the howling of wolves. Before many minutes +had passed a pack of them poured, like a pent-up dam when liberated, +through the wide entrance into the courtyard. + +There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but +short. Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips. + +I could not pity her, for I knew now what had become of her child, and +she was better dead. + +What shall I do? what can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful +thing of night and gloom and fear? + + * * * * * + +_25 June, morning._--No man knows till he has suffered from the night +how sweet and how dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. When the +sun grew so high this morning that it struck the top of the great +gateway opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me +as if the dove from the ark had lighted there. My fear fell from me as +if it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth. I must +take action of some sort whilst the courage of the day is upon me. Last +night one of my post-dated letters went to post, the first of that fatal +series which is to blot out the very traces of my existence from the +earth. + +Let me not think of it. Action! + +It has always been at night-time that I have been molested or +threatened, or in some way in danger or in fear. I have not yet seen the +Count in the daylight. Can it be that he sleeps when others wake, that +he may be awake whilst they sleep? If I could only get into his room! +But there is no possible way. The door is always locked, no way for me. + +Yes, there is a way, if one dares to take it. Where his body has gone +why may not another body go? I have seen him myself crawl from his +window. Why should not I imitate him, and go in by his window? The +chances are desperate, but my need is more desperate still. I shall risk +it. At the worst it can only be death; and a man's death is not a +calf's, and the dreaded Hereafter may still be open to me. God help me +in my task! Good-bye, Mina, if I fail; good-bye, my faithful friend and +second father; good-bye, all, and last of all Mina! + + * * * * * + +_Same day, later._--I have made the effort, and God, helping me, have +come safely back to this room. I must put down every detail in order. I +went whilst my courage was fresh straight to the window on the south +side, and at once got outside on the narrow ledge of stone which runs +around the building on this side. The stones are big and roughly cut, +and the mortar has by process of time been washed away between them. I +took off my boots, and ventured out on the desperate way. I looked down +once, so as to make sure that a sudden glimpse of the awful depth would +not overcome me, but after that kept my eyes away from it. I knew pretty +well the direction and distance of the Count's window, and made for it +as well as I could, having regard to the opportunities available. I did +not feel dizzy--I suppose I was too excited--and the time seemed +ridiculously short till I found myself standing on the window-sill and +trying to raise up the sash. I was filled with agitation, however, when +I bent down and slid feet foremost in through the window. Then I looked +around for the Count, but, with surprise and gladness, made a discovery. +The room was empty! It was barely furnished with odd things, which +seemed to have never been used; the furniture was something the same +style as that in the south rooms, and was covered with dust. I looked +for the key, but it was not in the lock, and I could not find it +anywhere. The only thing I found was a great heap of gold in one +corner--gold of all kinds, Roman, and British, and Austrian, and +Hungarian, and Greek and Turkish money, covered with a film of dust, as +though it had lain long in the ground. None of it that I noticed was +less than three hundred years old. There were also chains and ornaments, +some jewelled, but all of them old and stained. + +At one corner of the room was a heavy door. I tried it, for, since I +could not find the key of the room or the key of the outer door, which +was the main object of my search, I must make further examination, or +all my efforts would be in vain. It was open, and led through a stone +passage to a circular stairway, which went steeply down. I descended, +minding carefully where I went, for the stairs were dark, being only lit +by loopholes in the heavy masonry. At the bottom there was a dark, +tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour, the +odour of old earth newly turned. As I went through the passage the smell +grew closer and heavier. At last I pulled open a heavy door which stood +ajar, and found myself in an old, ruined chapel, which had evidently +been used as a graveyard. The roof was broken, and in two places were +steps leading to vaults, but the ground had recently been dug over, and +the earth placed in great wooden boxes, manifestly those which had been +brought by the Slovaks. There was nobody about, and I made search for +any further outlet, but there was none. Then I went over every inch of +the ground, so as not to lose a chance. I went down even into the +vaults, where the dim light struggled, although to do so was a dread to +my very soul. Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments +of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a +discovery. + +There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a +pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep, I +could not say which--for the eyes were open and stony, but without the +glassiness of death--and the cheeks had the warmth of life through all +their pallor; the lips were as red as ever. But there was no sign of +movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart. I bent over him, +and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain. He could not have lain +there long, for the earthy smell would have passed away in a few hours. +By the side of the box was its cover, pierced with holes here and there. +I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw +the dead eyes, and in them, dead though they were, such a look of hate, +though unconscious of me or my presence, that I fled from the place, and +leaving the Count's room by the window, crawled again up the castle +wall. Regaining my room, I threw myself panting upon the bed and tried +to think.... + + * * * * * + +_29 June._--To-day is the date of my last letter, and the Count has +taken steps to prove that it was genuine, for again I saw him leave the +castle by the same window, and in my clothes. As he went down the wall, +lizard fashion, I wished I had a gun or some lethal weapon, that I might +destroy him; but I fear that no weapon wrought alone by man's hand would +have any effect on him. I dared not wait to see him return, for I feared +to see those weird sisters. I came back to the library, and read there +till I fell asleep. + +I was awakened by the Count, who looked at me as grimly as a man can +look as he said:-- + +"To-morrow, my friend, we must part. You return to your beautiful +England, I to some work which may have such an end that we may never +meet. Your letter home has been despatched; to-morrow I shall not be +here, but all shall be ready for your journey. In the morning come the +Szgany, who have some labours of their own here, and also come some +Slovaks. When they have gone, my carriage shall come for you, and shall +bear you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence from Bukovina to +Bistritz. But I am in hopes that I shall see more of you at Castle +Dracula." I suspected him, and determined to test his sincerity. +Sincerity! It seems like a profanation of the word to write it in +connection with such a monster, so asked him point-blank:-- + +"Why may I not go to-night?" + +"Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away on a mission." + +"But I would walk with pleasure. I want to get away at once." He smiled, +such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was some trick +behind his smoothness. He said:-- + +"And your baggage?" + +"I do not care about it. I can send for it some other time." + +The Count stood up, and said, with a sweet courtesy which made me rub my +eyes, it seemed so real:-- + +"You English have a saying which is close to my heart, for its spirit is +that which rules our _boyars_: 'Welcome the coming; speed the parting +guest.' Come with me, my dear young friend. Not an hour shall you wait +in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that +you so suddenly desire it. Come!" With a stately gravity, he, with the +lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he +stopped. + +"Hark!" + +Close at hand came the howling of many wolves. It was almost as if the +sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great +orchestra seems to leap under the bâton of the conductor. After a pause +of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back +the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it +open. + +To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlocked. Suspiciously, I +looked all round, but could see no key of any kind. + +As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder +and angrier; their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed +feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door. I knew then that +to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such +allies as these at his command, I could do nothing. But still the door +continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gap. +Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my +doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There +was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and +as a last chance I cried out:-- + +"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my +hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. With one sweep of his +powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and the great bolts clanged +and echoed through the hall as they shot back into their places. + +In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went +to my own room. The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand +to me; with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that +Judas in hell might be proud of. + +When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a +whispering at my door. I went to it softly and listened. Unless my ears +deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count:-- + +"Back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have +patience! To-night is mine. To-morrow night is yours!" There was a low, +sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open the door, and saw +without the three terrible women licking their lips. As I appeared they +all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away. + +I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees. It is then so near +the end? To-morrow! to-morrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am +dear! + + * * * * * + +_30 June, morning._--These may be the last words I ever write in this +diary. I slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself +on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me +ready. + +At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the morning +had come. Then came the welcome cock-crow, and I felt that I was safe. +With a glad heart, I opened my door and ran down to the hall. I had seen +that the door was unlocked, and now escape was before me. With hands +that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and drew back the +massive bolts. + +But the door would not move. Despair seized me. I pulled, and pulled, at +the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its +casement. I could see the bolt shot. It had been locked after I left the +Count. + +Then a wild desire took me to obtain that key at any risk, and I +determined then and there to scale the wall again and gain the Count's +room. He might kill me, but death now seemed the happier choice of +evils. Without a pause I rushed up to the east window, and scrambled +down the wall, as before, into the Count's room. It was empty, but that +was as I expected. I could not see a key anywhere, but the heap of gold +remained. I went through the door in the corner and down the winding +stair and along the dark passage to the old chapel. I knew now well +enough where to find the monster I sought. + +The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the lid +was laid on it, not fastened down, but with the nails ready in their +places to be hammered home. I knew I must reach the body for the key, so +I raised the lid, and laid it back against the wall; and then I saw +something which filled my very soul with horror. There lay the Count, +but looking as if his youth had been half renewed, for the white hair +and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, +and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than +ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the +corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, +burning eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches +underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were +simply gorged with blood. He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his +repletion. I shuddered as I bent over to touch him, and every sense in +me revolted at the contact; but I had to search, or I was lost. The +coming night might see my own body a banquet in a similar way to those +horrid three. I felt all over the body, but no sign could I find of the +key. Then I stopped and looked at the Count. There was a mocking smile +on the bloated face which seemed to drive me mad. This was the being I +was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come +he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and +create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the +helpless. The very thought drove me mad. A terrible desire came upon me +to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, +but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the +cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the +hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell full +upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to +paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, +merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my +hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade +caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid +thing from my sight. The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, +blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its +own in the nethermost hell. + +I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed +on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over me. As I +waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices coming +closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and the +cracking of whips; the Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count had +spoken were coming. With a last look around and at the box which +contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count's +room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be opened. +With strained ears, I listened, and heard downstairs the grinding of the +key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy door. There must +have been some other means of entry, or some one had a key for one of +the locked doors. Then there came the sound of many feet tramping and +dying away in some passage which sent up a clanging echo. I turned to +run down again towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance; +but at the moment there seemed to come a violent puff of wind, and the +door to the winding stair blew to with a shock that set the dust from +the lintels flying. When I ran to push it open, I found that it was +hopelessly fast. I was again a prisoner, and the net of doom was closing +round me more closely. + +As I write there is in the passage below a sound of many tramping feet +and the crash of weights being set down heavily, doubtless the boxes, +with their freight of earth. There is a sound of hammering; it is the +box being nailed down. Now I can hear the heavy feet tramping again +along the hall, with many other idle feet coming behind them. + +The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key +in the lock; I can hear the key withdraw: then another door opens and +shuts; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt. + +Hark! in the courtyard and down the rocky way the roll of heavy wheels, +the crack of whips, and the chorus of the Szgany as they pass into the +distance. + +I am alone in the castle with those awful women. Faugh! Mina is a woman, +and there is nought in common. They are devils of the Pit! + +I shall not remain alone with them; I shall try to scale the castle wall +farther than I have yet attempted. I shall take some of the gold with +me, lest I want it later. I may find a way from this dreadful place. + +And then away for home! away to the quickest and nearest train! away +from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his +children still walk with earthly feet! + +At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the +precipice is steep and high. At its foot a man may sleep--as a man. +Good-bye, all! Mina! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Letter from Miss Mina Murray to Miss Lucy Westenra._ + + +"_9 May._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed +with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. +I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together +freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard +lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have +been practising shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I shall +be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I +can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for +him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard. He +and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a +stenographic journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I +shall keep a diary in the same way. I don't mean one of those +two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a +sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I do not +suppose there will be much of interest to other people; but it is not +intended for them. I may show it to Jonathan some day if there is in it +anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try +to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing +descriptions and trying to remember conversations. I am told that, with +a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears +said during a day. However, we shall see. I will tell you of my little +plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan +from Transylvania. He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I +am longing to hear all his news. It must be so nice to see strange +countries. I wonder if we--I mean Jonathan and I--shall ever see them +together. There is the ten o'clock bell ringing. Good-bye. + +"Your loving + +"MINA. + +"Tell me all the news when you write. You have not told me anything for +a long time. I hear rumours, and especially of a tall, handsome, +curly-haired man???" + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_17, Chatham Street_, + +"_Wednesday_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"I must say you tax me _very_ unfairly with being a bad correspondent. I +wrote to you _twice_ since we parted, and your last letter was only your +_second_. Besides, I have nothing to tell you. There is really nothing +to interest you. Town is very pleasant just now, and we go a good deal +to picture-galleries and for walks and rides in the park. As to the +tall, curly-haired man, I suppose it was the one who was with me at the +last Pop. Some one has evidently been telling tales. That was Mr. +Holmwood. He often comes to see us, and he and mamma get on very well +together; they have so many things to talk about in common. We met some +time ago a man that would just _do for you_, if you were not already +engaged to Jonathan. He is an excellent _parti_, being handsome, well +off, and of good birth. He is a doctor and really clever. Just fancy! He +is only nine-and-twenty, and he has an immense lunatic asylum all under +his own care. Mr. Holmwood introduced him to me, and he called here to +see us, and often comes now. I think he is one of the most resolute men +I ever saw, and yet the most calm. He seems absolutely imperturbable. I +can fancy what a wonderful power he must have over his patients. He has +a curious habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to +read one's thoughts. He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter +myself he has got a tough nut to crack. I know that from my glass. Do +you ever try to read your own face? _I do_, and I can tell you it is not +a bad study, and gives you more trouble than you can well fancy if you +have never tried it. He says that I afford him a curious psychological +study, and I humbly think I do. I do not, as you know, take sufficient +interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions. Dress is a +bore. That is slang again, but never mind; Arthur says that every day. +There, it is all out. Mina, we have told all our secrets to each other +since we were _children_; we have slept together and eaten together, and +laughed and cried together; and now, though I have spoken, I would like +to speak more. Oh, Mina, couldn't you guess? I love him. I am blushing +as I write, for although I _think_ he loves me, he has not told me so in +words. But oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him! There, that +does me good. I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire +undressing, as we used to sit; and I would try to tell you what I feel. +I do not know how I am writing this even to you. I am afraid to stop, +or I should tear up the letter, and I don't want to stop, for I _do_ so +want to tell you all. Let me hear from you _at once_, and tell me all +that you think about it. Mina, I must stop. Good-night. Bless me in your +prayers; and, Mina, pray for my happiness. + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--I need not tell you this is a secret. Good-night again. + +"L." + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_24 May_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter. It was so +nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy. + +"My dear, it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. +Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a +proposal till to-day, not a real proposal, and to-day I have had three. +Just fancy! THREE proposals in one day! Isn't it awful! I feel sorry, +really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Mina, I am so +happy that I don't know what to do with myself. And three proposals! +But, for goodness' sake, don't tell any of the girls, or they would be +getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured +and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at +least. Some girls are so vain! You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and +are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can +despise vanity. Well, I must tell you about the three, but you must keep +it a secret, dear, from _every one_, except, of course, Jonathan. You +will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell +Arthur. A woman ought to tell her husband everything--don't you think +so, dear?--and I must be fair. Men like women, certainly their wives, to +be quite as fair as they are; and women, I am afraid, are not always +quite as fair as they should be. Well, my dear, number One came just +before lunch. I told you of him, Dr. John Seward, the lunatic-asylum +man, with the strong jaw and the good forehead. He was very cool +outwardly, but was nervous all the same. He had evidently been schooling +himself as to all sorts of little things, and remembered them; but he +almost managed to sit down on his silk hat, which men don't generally do +when they are cool, and then when he wanted to appear at ease he kept +playing with a lancet in a way that made me nearly scream. He spoke to +me, Mina, very straightforwardly. He told me how dear I was to him, +though he had known me so little, and what his life would be with me to +help and cheer him. He was going to tell me how unhappy he would be if I +did not care for him, but when he saw me cry he said that he was a brute +and would not add to my present trouble. Then he broke off and asked if +I could love him in time; and when I shook my head his hands trembled, +and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared already for any one +else. He put it very nicely, saying that he did not want to wring my +confidence from me, but only to know, because if a woman's heart was +free a man might have hope. And then, Mina, I felt a sort of duty to +tell him that there was some one. I only told him that much, and then he +stood up, and he looked very strong and very grave as he took both my +hands in his and said he hoped I would be happy, and that if I ever +wanted a friend I must count him one of my best. Oh, Mina dear, I can't +help crying: and you must excuse this letter being all blotted. Being +proposed to is all very nice and all that sort of thing, but it isn't at +all a happy thing when you have to see a poor fellow, whom you know +loves you honestly, going away and looking all broken-hearted, and to +know that, no matter what he may say at the moment, you are passing +quite out of his life. My dear, I must stop here at present, I feel so +miserable, though I am so happy. + +"_Evening._ + +"Arthur has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I left +off, so I can go on telling you about the day. Well, my dear, number Two +came after lunch. He is such a nice fellow, an American from Texas, and +he looks so young and so fresh that it seems almost impossible that he +has been to so many places and has had such adventures. I sympathise +with poor Desdemona when she had such a dangerous stream poured in her +ear, even by a black man. I suppose that we women are such cowards that +we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him. I know now +what I would do if I were a man and wanted to make a girl love me. No, I +don't, for there was Mr. Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never +told any, and yet---- My dear, I am somewhat previous. Mr. Quincey P. +Morris found me alone. It seems that a man always does find a girl +alone. No, he doesn't, for Arthur tried twice to _make_ a chance, and I +helping him all I could; I am not ashamed to say it now. I must tell you +beforehand that Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang--that is to say, +he never does so to strangers or before them, for he is really well +educated and has exquisite manners--but he found out that it amused me +to hear him talk American slang, and whenever I was present, and there +was no one to be shocked, he said such funny things. I am afraid, my +dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits exactly into whatever else he +has to say. But this is a way slang has. I do not know myself if I shall +ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it, as I have never +heard him use any as yet. Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked +as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see all the same that he was +very nervous. He took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly:-- + +"'Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your +little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you +will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won't +you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road +together, driving in double harness?' + +"Well, he did look so good-humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem +half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward; so I said, as +lightly as I could, that I did not know anything of hitching, and that I +wasn't broken to harness at all yet. Then he said that he had spoken in +a light manner, and he hoped that if he had made a mistake in doing so +on so grave, so momentous, an occasion for him, I would forgive him. He +really did look serious when he was saying it, and I couldn't help +feeling a bit serious too--I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid +flirt--though I couldn't help feeling a sort of exultation that he was +number two in one day. And then, my dear, before I could say a word he +began pouring out a perfect torrent of love-making, laying his very +heart and soul at my feet. He looked so earnest over it that I shall +never again think that a man must be playful always, and never earnest, +because he is merry at times. I suppose he saw something in my face +which checked him, for he suddenly stopped, and said with a sort of +manly fervour that I could have loved him for if I had been free:-- + +"'Lucy, you are an honest-hearted girl, I know. I should not be here +speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit, right +through to the very depths of your soul. Tell me, like one good fellow +to another, is there any one else that you care for? And if there is +I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again, but will be, if you will +let me, a very faithful friend.' + +"My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy +of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great-hearted, true +gentleman. I burst into tears--I am afraid, my dear, you will think +this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one--and I really felt very +badly. Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want +her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say +it. I am glad to say that, though I was crying, I was able to look into +Mr. Morris's brave eyes, and I told him out straight:-- + +"'Yes, there is some one I love, though he has not told me yet that he +even loves me.' I was right to speak to him so frankly, for quite a +light came into his face, and he put out both his hands and took mine--I +think I put them into his--and said in a hearty way:-- + +"'That's my brave girl. It's better worth being late for a chance of +winning you than being in time for any other girl in the world. Don't +cry, my dear. If it's for me, I'm a hard nut to crack; and I take it +standing up. If that other fellow doesn't know his happiness, well, he'd +better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal with me. Little girl, +your honesty and pluck have made me a friend, and that's rarer than a +lover; it's more unselfish anyhow. My dear, I'm going to have a pretty +lonely walk between this and Kingdom Come. Won't you give me one kiss? +It'll be something to keep off the darkness now and then. You can, you +know, if you like, for that other good fellow--he must be a good fellow, +my dear, and a fine fellow, or you could not love him--hasn't spoken +yet.' That quite won me, Mina, for it _was_ brave and sweet of him, and +noble, too, to a rival--wasn't it?--and he so sad; so I leant over and +kissed him. He stood up with my two hands in his, and as he looked down +into my face--I am afraid I was blushing very much--he said:-- + +"'Little girl, I hold your hand, and you've kissed me, and if these +things don't make us friends nothing ever will. Thank you for your sweet +honesty to me, and good-bye.' He wrung my hand, and taking up his hat, +went straight out of the room without looking back, without a tear or a +quiver or a pause; and I am crying like a baby. Oh, why must a man like +that be made unhappy when there are lots of girls about who would +worship the very ground he trod on? I know I would if I were free--only +I don't want to be free. My dear, this quite upset me, and I feel I +cannot write of happiness just at once, after telling you of it; and I +don't wish to tell of the number three until it can be all happy. + +"Ever your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--Oh, about number Three--I needn't tell you of number Three, need +I? Besides, it was all so confused; it seemed only a moment from his +coming into the room till both his arms were round me, and he was +kissing me. I am very, very happy, and I don't know what I have done to +deserve it. I must only try in the future to show that I am not +ungrateful to God for all His goodness to me in sending to me such a +lover, such a husband, and such a friend. + +"Good-bye." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +(Kept in phonograph) + +_25 May._--Ebb tide in appetite to-day. Cannot eat, cannot rest, so +diary instead. Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty +feeling; nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be worth +the doing.... As I knew that the only cure for this sort of thing was +work, I went down amongst the patients. I picked out one who has +afforded me a study of much interest. He is so quaint that I am +determined to understand him as well as I can. To-day I seemed to get +nearer than ever before to the heart of his mystery. + +I questioned him more fully than I had ever done, with a view to making +myself master of the facts of his hallucination. In my manner of doing +it there was, I now see, something of cruelty. I seemed to wish to keep +him to the point of his madness--a thing which I avoid with the patients +as I would the mouth of hell. + +(_Mem._, under what circumstances would I _not_ avoid the pit of hell?) +_Omnia Romæ venalia sunt._ Hell has its price! _verb. sap._ If there be +anything behind this instinct it will be valuable to trace it afterwards +_accurately_, so I had better commence to do so, therefore-- + +R. M. Renfield, ætat 59.--Sanguine temperament; great physical strength; +morbidly excitable; periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I +cannot make out. I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the +disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish; a possibly +dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men caution +is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of +on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is +balanced with the centrifugal; when duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed +point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of +accidents can balance it. + + +_Letter, Quincey P. Morris to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_25 May._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"We've told yarns by the camp-fire in the prairies; and dressed one +another's wounds after trying a landing at the Marquesas; and drunk +healths on the shore of Titicaca. There are more yarns to be told, and +other wounds to be healed, and another health to be drunk. Won't you let +this be at my camp-fire to-morrow night? I have no hesitation in asking +you, as I know a certain lady is engaged to a certain dinner-party, and +that you are free. There will only be one other, our old pal at the +Korea, Jack Seward. He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our +weeps over the wine-cup, and to drink a health with all our hearts to +the happiest man in all the wide world, who has won the noblest heart +that God has made and the best worth winning. We promise you a hearty +welcome, and a loving greeting, and a health as true as your own right +hand. We shall both swear to leave you at home if you drink too deep to +a certain pair of eyes. Come! + +"Yours, as ever and always, + +"QUINCEY P. MORRIS." + + +_Telegram from Arthur Holmwood to Quincey P. Morris._ + +"_26 May._ + +"Count me in every time. I bear messages which will make both your ears +tingle. + +"ART." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_24 July. Whitby._--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and +lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in +which they have rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the +Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the +harbour. A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through which the +view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is +beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land +on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to +see down. The houses of the old town--the side away from us--are all +red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the +pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby +Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of +"Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble +ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is +a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. Between it and +the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big +graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in +Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the +harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness +stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that +part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been +destroyed. In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches +out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside +them, through the churchyard; and people go and sit there all day long +looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze. I shall come and +sit here very often myself and work. Indeed, I am writing now, with my +book on my knee, and listening to the talk of three old men who are +sitting beside me. They seem to do nothing all day but sit up here and +talk. + +The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite wall +stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of it, in +the middle of which is a lighthouse. A heavy sea-wall runs along outside +of it. On the near side, the sea-wall makes an elbow crooked inversely, +and its end too has a lighthouse. Between the two piers there is a +narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly widens. + +It is nice at high water; but when the tide is out it shoals away to +nothing, and there is merely the stream of the Esk, running between +banks of sand, with rocks here and there. Outside the harbour on this +side there rises for about half a mile a great reef, the sharp edge of +which runs straight out from behind the south lighthouse. At the end of +it is a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in a +mournful sound on the wind. They have a legend here that when a ship is +lost bells are heard out at sea. I must ask the old man about this; he +is coming this way.... + +He is a funny old man. He must be awfully old, for his face is all +gnarled and twisted like the bark of a tree. He tells me that he is +nearly a hundred, and that he was a sailor in the Greenland fishing +fleet when Waterloo was fought. He is, I am afraid, a very sceptical +person, for when I asked him about the bells at sea and the White Lady +at the abbey he said very brusquely:-- + +"I wouldn't fash masel' about them, miss. Them things be all wore out. +Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say that they wasn't in +my time. They be all very well for comers and trippers, an' the like, +but not for a nice young lady like you. Them feet-folks from York and +Leeds that be always eatin' cured herrin's an' drinkin' tea an' lookin' +out to buy cheap jet would creed aught. I wonder masel' who'd be +bothered tellin' lies to them--even the newspapers, which is full of +fool-talk." I thought he would be a good person to learn interesting +things from, so I asked him if he would mind telling me something about +the whale-fishing in the old days. He was just settling himself to begin +when the clock struck six, whereupon he laboured to get up, and said:-- + +"I must gang ageeanwards home now, miss. My grand-daughter doesn't like +to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to +crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em; an', miss, I lack +belly-timber sairly by the clock." + +He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could, down +the steps. The steps are a great feature on the place. They lead from +the town up to the church, there are hundreds of them--I do not know how +many--and they wind up in a delicate curve; the slope is so gentle that +a horse could easily walk up and down them. I think they must originally +have had something to do with the abbey. I shall go home too. Lucy went +out visiting with her mother, and as they were only duty calls, I did +not go. They will be home by this. + + * * * * * + +_1 August._--I came up here an hour ago with Lucy, and we had a most +interesting talk with my old friend and the two others who always come +and join him. He is evidently the Sir Oracle of them, and I should think +must have been in his time a most dictatorial person. He will not admit +anything, and downfaces everybody. If he can't out-argue them he bullies +them, and then takes their silence for agreement with his views. Lucy +was looking sweetly pretty in her white lawn frock; she has got a +beautiful colour since she has been here. I noticed that the old men did +not lose any time in coming up and sitting near her when we sat down. +She is so sweet with old people; I think they all fell in love with her +on the spot. Even my old man succumbed and did not contradict her, but +gave me double share instead. I got him on the subject of the legends, +and he went off at once into a sort of sermon. I must try to remember it +and put it down:-- + +"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that's what it be, an' +nowt else. These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' barguests an' bogles +an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women +a-belderin'. They be nowt but air-blebs. They, an' all grims an' signs +an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome beuk-bodies an' +railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do +somethin' that they don't other incline to. It makes me ireful to think +o' them. Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on paper +an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them on the +tombstones. Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them +steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, +is acant--simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on +them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of +them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' +the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less +sacred. Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or another! My +gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they +come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an' tryin' to +drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them +trimmlin' and ditherin', with their hands that dozzened an' slippy from +lyin' in the sea that they can't even keep their grup o' them." + +I could see from the old fellow's self-satisfied air and the way in +which he looked round for the approval of his cronies that he was +"showing off," so I put in a word to keep him going:-- + +"Oh, Mr. Swales, you can't be serious. Surely these tombstones are not +all wrong?" + +"Yabblins! There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin' where they make +out the people too good; for there be folk that do think a balm-bowl be +like the sea, if only it be their own. The whole thing be only lies. Now +look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth." I +nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite +understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church. +He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be +happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again. "Then that be just where +the lie comes in. Why, there be scores of these lay-beds that be toom as +old Dun's 'bacca-box on Friday night." He nudged one of his companions, +and they all laughed. "And my gog! how could they be otherwise? Look at +that one, the aftest abaft the bier-bank: read it!" I went over and +read:-- + +"Edward Spencelagh, master mariner, murdered by pirates off the coast of +Andres, April, 1854, æt. 30." When I came back Mr. Swales went on:-- + +"Who brought him home, I wonder, to hap him here? Murdered off the coast +of Andres! an' you consated his body lay under! Why, I could name ye a +dozen whose bones lie in the Greenland seas above"--he pointed +northwards--"or where the currents may have drifted them. There be the +steans around ye. Ye can, with your young eyes, read the small-print of +the lies from here. This Braithwaite Lowrey--I knew his father, lost in +the _Lively_ off Greenland in '20; or Andrew Woodhouse, drowned in the +same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year +later; or old John Rawlings, whose grandfather sailed with me, drowned +in the Gulf of Finland in '50. Do ye think that all these men will have +to make a rush to Whitby when the trumpet sounds? I have me antherums +aboot it! I tell ye that when they got here they'd be jommlin' an' +jostlin' one another that way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice +in the old days, when we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' +tryin' to tie up our cuts by the light of the aurora borealis." This was +evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his +cronies joined in with gusto. + +"But," I said, "surely you are not quite correct, for you start on the +assumption that all the poor people, or their spirits, will have to +take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment. Do you think +that will be really necessary?" + +"Well, what else be they tombstones for? Answer me that, miss!" + +"To please their relatives, I suppose." + +"To please their relatives, you suppose!" This he said with intense +scorn. "How will it pleasure their relatives to know that lies is wrote +over them, and that everybody in the place knows that they be lies?" He +pointed to a stone at our feet which had been laid down as a slab, on +which the seat was rested, close to the edge of the cliff. "Read the +lies on that thruff-stean," he said. The letters were upside down to me +from where I sat, but Lucy was more opposite to them, so she leant over +and read:-- + +"Sacred to the memory of George Canon, who died, in the hope of a +glorious resurrection, on July, 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at +Kettleness. This tomb was erected by his sorrowing mother to her dearly +beloved son. 'He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.' +Really, Mr. Swales, I don't see anything very funny in that!" She spoke +her comment very gravely and somewhat severely. + +"Ye don't see aught funny! Ha! ha! But that's because ye don't gawm the +sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was +acrewk'd--a regular lamiter he was--an' he hated her so that he +committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put on +his life. He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that +they had for scarin' the crows with. 'Twarn't for crows then, for it +brought the clegs and the dowps to him. That's the way he fell off the +rocks. And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often heard him +say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was so pious +that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to addle where +she was. Now isn't that stean at any rate"--he hammered it with his +stick as he spoke--"a pack of lies? and won't it make Gabriel keckle +when Geordie comes pantin' up the grees with the tombstean balanced on +his hump, and asks it to be took as evidence!" + +I did not know what to say, but Lucy turned the conversation as she +said, rising up:-- + +"Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favourite seat, and I cannot +leave it; and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a +suicide." + +"That won't harm ye, my pretty; an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome to +have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap. That won't hurt ye. Why, I've +sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't done me +no harm. Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie +there either! It'll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the +tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field. +There's the clock, an' I must gang. My service to ye, ladies!" And off +he hobbled. + +Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we +took hands as we sat; and she told me all over again about Arthur and +their coming marriage. That made me just a little heart-sick, for I +haven't heard from Jonathan for a whole month. + + * * * * * + +_The same day._ I came up here alone, for I am very sad. There was no +letter for me. I hope there cannot be anything the matter with Jonathan. +The clock has just struck nine. I see the lights scattered all over the +town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and sometimes singly; +they run right up the Esk and die away in the curve of the valley. To my +left the view is cut off by a black line of roof of the old house next +the abbey. The sheep and lambs are bleating in the fields away behind +me, and there is a clatter of a donkey's hoofs up the paved road below. +The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further +along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street. +Neither of the bands hears the other, but up here I hear and see them +both. I wonder where Jonathan is and if he is thinking of me! I wish he +were here. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 June._--The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to +understand the man. He has certain qualities very largely developed; +selfishness, secrecy, and purpose. I wish I could get at what is the +object of the latter. He seems to have some settled scheme of his own, +but what it is I do not yet know. His redeeming quality is a love of +animals, though, indeed, he has such curious turns in it that I +sometimes imagine he is only abnormally cruel. His pets are of odd +sorts. Just now his hobby is catching flies. He has at present such a +quantity that I have had myself to expostulate. To my astonishment, he +did not break out into a fury, as I expected, but took the matter in +simple seriousness. He thought for a moment, and then said: "May I have +three days? I shall clear them away." Of course, I said that would do. I +must watch him. + + * * * * * + +_18 June._--He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several +very big fellows in a box. He keeps feeding them with his flies, and +the number of the latter is becoming sensibly diminished, although he +has used half his food in attracting more flies from outside to his +room. + + * * * * * + +_1 July._--His spiders are now becoming as great a nuisance as his +flies, and to-day I told him that he must get rid of them. He looked +very sad at this, so I said that he must clear out some of them, at all +events. He cheerfully acquiesced in this, and I gave him the same time +as before for reduction. He disgusted me much while with him, for when a +horrid blow-fly, bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, +he caught it, held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger +and thumb, and, before I knew what he was going to do, put it in his +mouth and ate it. I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it +was very good and very wholesome; that it was life, strong life, and +gave life to him. This gave me an idea, or the rudiment of one. I must +watch how he gets rid of his spiders. He has evidently some deep problem +in his mind, for he keeps a little note-book in which he is always +jotting down something. Whole pages of it are filled with masses of +figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the +totals added in batches again, as though he were "focussing" some +account, as the auditors put it. + + * * * * * + +_8 July._--There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in +my mind is growing. It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, +unconscious cerebration! you will have to give the wall to your +conscious brother. I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I +might notice if there were any change. Things remain as they were except +that he has parted with some of his pets and got a new one. He has +managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed it. His means +of taming is simple, for already the spiders have diminished. Those that +do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by +tempting them with his food. + + * * * * * + +_19 July._--We are progressing. My friend has now a whole colony of +sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated. When I came +in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour--a very, +very great favour; and as he spoke he fawned on me like a dog. I asked +him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his voice and +bearing:-- + +"A kitten, a nice little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, +and teach, and feed--and feed--and feed!" I was not unprepared for this +request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and +vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows +should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and the spiders; so +I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a +cat than a kitten. His eagerness betrayed him as he answered:-- + +"Oh, yes, I would like a cat! I only asked for a kitten lest you should +refuse me a cat. No one would refuse me a kitten, would they?" I shook +my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but +that I would see about it. His face fell, and I could see a warning of +danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong look which meant +killing. The man is an undeveloped homicidal maniac. I shall test him +with his present craving and see how it will work out; then I shall know +more. + + * * * * * + +_10 p. m._--I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner +brooding. When I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and +implored me to let him have a cat; that his salvation depended upon it. +I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon +he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the corner +where I had found him. I shall see him in the morning early. + + * * * * * + +_20 July._--Visited Renfield very early, before the attendant went his +rounds. Found him up and humming a tune. He was spreading out his sugar, +which he had saved, in the window, and was manifestly beginning his +fly-catching again; and beginning it cheerfully and with a good grace. I +looked around for his birds, and not seeing them, asked him where they +were. He replied, without turning round, that they had all flown away. +There were a few feathers about the room and on his pillow a drop of +blood. I said nothing, but went and told the keeper to report to me if +there were anything odd about him during the day. + + * * * * * + +_11 a. m._--The attendant has just been to me to say that Renfield has +been very sick and has disgorged a whole lot of feathers. "My belief is, +doctor," he said, "that he has eaten his birds, and that he just took +and ate them raw!" + + * * * * * + +_11 p. m._--I gave Renfield a strong opiate to-night, enough to make +even him sleep, and took away his pocket-book to look at it. The thought +that has been buzzing about my brain lately is complete, and the theory +proved. My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I shall have to +invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoöphagous +(life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he +can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way. He +gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then +wanted a cat to eat the many birds. What would have been his later +steps? It would almost be worth while to complete the experiment. It +might be done if there were only a sufficient cause. Men sneered at +vivisection, and yet look at its results to-day! Why not advance science +in its most difficult and vital aspect--the knowledge of the brain? Had +I even the secret of one such mind--did I hold the key to the fancy of +even one lunatic--I might advance my own branch of science to a pitch +compared with which Burdon-Sanderson's physiology or Ferrier's +brain-knowledge would be as nothing. If only there were a sufficient +cause! I must not think too much of this, or I may be tempted; a good +cause might turn the scale with me, for may not I too be of an +exceptional brain, congenitally? + +How well the man reasoned; lunatics always do within their own scope. I +wonder at how many lives he values a man, or if at only one. He has +closed the account most accurately, and to-day begun a new record. How +many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives? + +To me it seems only yesterday that my whole life ended with my new hope, +and that truly I began a new record. So it will be until the Great +Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a balance to +profit or loss. Oh, Lucy, Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be +angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on +hopeless and work. Work! work! + +If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there--a +good, unselfish cause to make me work--that would be indeed happiness. + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_26 July._--I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here; it +is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time. And +there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it +different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I +had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned; but +yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from +him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said the enclosed +had just been received. It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, +and says that he is just starting for home. That is not like Jonathan; +I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy. Then, too, Lucy, +although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in +her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided +that I am to lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra has +got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and +along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over +with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place. Poor dear, she is +naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy's +father, had the same habit; that he would get up in the night and dress +himself and go out, if he were not stopped. Lucy is to be married in the +autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is +to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan +and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to +make both ends meet. Mr. Holmwood--he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only +son of Lord Godalming--is coming up here very shortly--as soon as he can +leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is +counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up to the seat +on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it +is the waiting which disturbs her; she will be all right when he +arrives. + + * * * * * + +_27 July._--No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him, +though why I should I do not know; but I do wish that he would write, if +it were only a single line. Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I +am awakened by her moving about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so +hot that she cannot get cold; but still the anxiety and the perpetually +being wakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and +wakeful myself. Thank God, Lucy's health keeps up. Mr. Holmwood has been +suddenly called to Ring to see his father, who has been taken seriously +ill. Lucy frets at the postponement of seeing him, but it does not touch +her looks; she is a trifle stouter, and her cheeks are a lovely +rose-pink. She has lost that anæmic look which she had. I pray it will +all last. + + * * * * * + +_3 August._--Another week gone, and no news from Jonathan, not even to +Mr. Hawkins, from whom I have heard. Oh, I do hope he is not ill. He +surely would have written. I look at that last letter of his, but +somehow it does not satisfy me. It does not read like him, and yet it is +his writing. There is no mistake of that. Lucy has not walked much in +her sleep the last week, but there is an odd concentration about her +which I do not understand; even in her sleep she seems to be watching +me. She tries the door, and finding it locked, goes about the room +searching for the key. + +_6 August._--Another three days, and no news. This suspense is getting +dreadful. If I only knew where to write to or where to go to, I should +feel easier; but no one has heard a word of Jonathan since that last +letter. I must only pray to God for patience. Lucy is more excitable +than ever, but is otherwise well. Last night was very threatening, and +the fishermen say that we are in for a storm. I must try to watch it and +learn the weather signs. To-day is a grey day, and the sun as I write is +hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey--except +the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it; grey earthy rock; +grey clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the +grey sea, into which the sand-points stretch like grey fingers. The sea +is tumbling in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, +muffled in the sea-mists drifting inland. The horizon is lost in a grey +mist. All is vastness; the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and +there is a "brool" over the sea that sounds like some presage of doom. +Dark figures are on the beach here and there, sometimes half shrouded in +the mist, and seem "men like trees walking." The fishing-boats are +racing for home, and rise and dip in the ground swell as they sweep into +the harbour, bending to the scuppers. Here comes old Mr. Swales. He is +making straight for me, and I can see, by the way he lifts his hat, that +he wants to talk.... + +I have been quite touched by the change in the poor old man. When he sat +down beside me, he said in a very gentle way:-- + +"I want to say something to you, miss." I could see he was not at ease, +so I took his poor old wrinkled hand in mine and asked him to speak +fully; so he said, leaving his hand in mine:-- + +"I'm afraid, my deary, that I must have shocked you by all the wicked +things I've been sayin' about the dead, and such like, for weeks past; +but I didn't mean them, and I want ye to remember that when I'm gone. We +aud folks that be daffled, and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't +altogether like to think of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it; +an' that's why I've took to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my +own heart a bit. But, Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a +bit; only I don't want to die if I can help it. My time must be nigh at +hand now, for I be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to +expect; and I'm so nigh it that the Aud Man is already whettin' his +scythe. Ye see, I can't get out o' the habit of caffin' about it all at +once; the chafts will wag as they be used to. Some day soon the Angel of +Death will sound his trumpet for me. But don't ye dooal an' greet, my +deary!"--for he saw that I was crying--"if he should come this very +night I'd not refuse to answer his call. For life be, after all, only a +waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin'; and death be all that +we can rightly depend on. But I'm content, for it's comin' to me, my +deary, and comin' quick. It may be comin' while we be lookin' and +wonderin'. Maybe it's in that wind out over the sea that's bringin' with +it loss and wreck, and sore distress, and sad hearts. Look! look!" he +cried suddenly. "There's something in that wind and in the hoast beyont +that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It's in the +air; I feel it comin'. Lord, make me answer cheerful when my call +comes!" He held up his arms devoutly, and raised his hat. His mouth +moved as though he were praying. After a few minutes' silence, he got +up, shook hands with me, and blessed me, and said good-bye, and hobbled +off. It all touched me, and upset me very much. + +I was glad when the coastguard came along, with his spy-glass under his +arm. He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time +kept looking at a strange ship. + +"I can't make her out," he said; "she's a Russian, by the look of her; +but she's knocking about in the queerest way. She doesn't know her mind +a bit; she seems to see the storm coming, but can't decide whether to +run up north in the open, or to put in here. Look there again! She is +steered mighty strangely, for she doesn't mind the hand on the wheel; +changes about with every puff of wind. We'll hear more of her before +this time to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CUTTING FROM "THE DAILYGRAPH," 8 AUGUST + + +(_Pasted in Mina Murray's Journal._) + +From a Correspondent. + +_Whitby_. + +One of the greatest and suddenest storms on record has just been +experienced here, with results both strange and unique. The weather had +been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the month of +August. Saturday evening was as fine as was ever known, and the great +body of holiday-makers laid out yesterday for visits to Mulgrave Woods, +Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes, and the various trips in +the neighbourhood of Whitby. The steamers _Emma_ and _Scarborough_ made +trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of +"tripping" both to and from Whitby. The day was unusually fine till the +afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff +churchyard, and from that commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of +sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of +"mares'-tails" high in the sky to the north-west. The wind was then +blowing from the south-west in the mild degree which in barometrical +language is ranked "No. 2: light breeze." The coastguard on duty at once +made report, and one old fisherman, who for more than half a century has +kept watch on weather signs from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic +manner the coming of a sudden storm. The approach of sunset was so very +beautiful, so grand in its masses of splendidly-coloured clouds, that +there was quite an assemblage on the walk along the cliff in the old +churchyard to enjoy the beauty. Before the sun dipped below the black +mass of Kettleness, standing boldly athwart the western sky, its +downward way was marked by myriad clouds of every sunset-colour--flame, +purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold; with here and +there masses not large, but of seemingly absolute blackness, in all +sorts of shapes, as well outlined as colossal silhouettes. The +experience was not lost on the painters, and doubtless some of the +sketches of the "Prelude to the Great Storm" will grace the R. A. and R. +I. walls in May next. More than one captain made up his mind then and +there that his "cobble" or his "mule," as they term the different +classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed. +The wind fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there +was a dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity which, on +the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive nature. There +were but few lights in sight at sea, for even the coasting steamers, +which usually "hug" the shore so closely, kept well to seaward, and but +few fishing-boats were in sight. The only sail noticeable was a foreign +schooner with all sails set, which was seemingly going westwards. The +foolhardiness or ignorance of her officers was a prolific theme for +comment whilst she remained in sight, and efforts were made to signal +her to reduce sail in face of her danger. Before the night shut down she +was seen with sails idly flapping as she gently rolled on the undulating +swell of the sea, + + "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." + +Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite +oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a sheep +inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly heard, and the +band on the pier, with its lively French air, was like a discord in the +great harmony of nature's silence. A little after midnight came a +strange sound from over the sea, and high overhead the air began to +carry a strange, faint, hollow booming. + +Then without warning the tempest broke. With a rapidity which, at the +time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible to realize, +the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed. The waves rose in +growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till in a very few minutes +the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and devouring monster. +White-crested waves beat madly on the level sands and rushed up the +shelving cliffs; others broke over the piers, and with their spume swept +the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise from the end of either pier +of Whitby Harbour. The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such +force that it was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, +or clung with grim clasp to the iron stanchions. It was found necessary +to clear the entire piers from the mass of onlookers, or else the +fatalities of the night would have been increased manifold. To add to +the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came +drifting inland--white, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, +so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of +imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were +touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and many +a one shuddered as the wreaths of sea-mist swept by. At times the mist +cleared, and the sea for some distance could be seen in the glare of the +lightning, which now came thick and fast, followed by such sudden peals +of thunder that the whole sky overhead seemed trembling under the shock +of the footsteps of the storm. + +Some of the scenes thus revealed were of immeasurable grandeur and of +absorbing interest--the sea, running mountains high, threw skywards with +each wave mighty masses of white foam, which the tempest seemed to +snatch at and whirl away into space; here and there a fishing-boat, with +a rag of sail, running madly for shelter before the blast; now and again +the white wings of a storm-tossed sea-bird. On the summit of the East +Cliff the new searchlight was ready for experiment, but had not yet been +tried. The officers in charge of it got it into working order, and in +the pauses of the inrushing mist swept with it the surface of the sea. +Once or twice its service was most effective, as when a fishing-boat, +with gunwale under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance +of the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the +piers. As each boat achieved the safety of the port there was a shout of +joy from the mass of people on shore, a shout which for a moment seemed +to cleave the gale and was then swept away in its rush. + +Before long the searchlight discovered some distance away a schooner +with all sails set, apparently the same vessel which had been noticed +earlier in the evening. The wind had by this time backed to the east, +and there was a shudder amongst the watchers on the cliff as they +realized the terrible danger in which she now was. Between her and the +port lay the great flat reef on which so many good ships have from time +to time suffered, and, with the wind blowing from its present quarter, +it would be quite impossible that she should fetch the entrance of the +harbour. It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so +great that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost +visible, and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with such +speed that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up somewhere, +if it was only in hell." Then came another rush of sea-fog, greater than +any hitherto--a mass of dank mist, which seemed to close on all things +like a grey pall, and left available to men only the organ of hearing, +for the roar of the tempest, and the crash of the thunder, and the +booming of the mighty billows came through the damp oblivion even louder +than before. The rays of the searchlight were kept fixed on the harbour +mouth across the East Pier, where the shock was expected, and men waited +breathless. The wind suddenly shifted to the north-east, and the remnant +of the sea-fog melted in the blast; and then, _mirabile dictu_, between +the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, +swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and +gained the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed her, and a +shudder ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a +corpse, with drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each +motion of the ship. No other form could be seen on deck at all. A great +awe came on all as they realised that the ship, as if by a miracle, had +found the harbour, unsteered save by the hand of a dead man! However, +all took place more quickly than it takes to write these words. The +schooner paused not, but rushing across the harbour, pitched herself on +that accumulation of sand and gravel washed by many tides and many +storms into the south-east corner of the pier jutting under the East +Cliff, known locally as Tate Hill Pier. + +There was of course a considerable concussion as the vessel drove up on +the sand heap. Every spar, rope, and stay was strained, and some of the +"top-hammer" came crashing down. But, strangest of all, the very instant +the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as +if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow +on the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard +hangs over the laneway to the East Pier so steeply that some of the flat +tombstones--"thruff-steans" or "through-stones," as they call them in +the Whitby vernacular--actually project over where the sustaining cliff +has fallen away, it disappeared in the darkness, which seemed +intensified just beyond the focus of the searchlight. + +It so happened that there was no one at the moment on Tate Hill Pier, as +all those whose houses are in close proximity were either in bed or were +out on the heights above. Thus the coastguard on duty on the eastern +side of the harbour, who at once ran down to the little pier, was the +first to climb on board. The men working the searchlight, after scouring +the entrance of the harbour without seeing anything, then turned the +light on the derelict and kept it there. The coastguard ran aft, and +when he came beside the wheel, bent over to examine it, and recoiled at +once as though under some sudden emotion. This seemed to pique general +curiosity, and quite a number of people began to run. It is a good way +round from the West Cliff by the Drawbridge to Tate Hill Pier, but your +correspondent is a fairly good runner, and came well ahead of the crowd. +When I arrived, however, I found already assembled on the pier a crowd, +whom the coastguard and police refused to allow to come on board. By the +courtesy of the chief boatman, I was, as your correspondent, permitted +to climb on deck, and was one of a small group who saw the dead seaman +whilst actually lashed to the wheel. + +It was no wonder that the coastguard was surprised, or even awed, for +not often can such a sight have been seen. The man was simply fastened +by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between +the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix, the set of beads on which it +was fastened being around both wrists and wheel, and all kept fast by +the binding cords. The poor fellow may have been seated at one time, but +the flapping and buffeting of the sails had worked through the rudder of +the wheel and dragged him to and fro, so that the cords with which he +was tied had cut the flesh to the bone. Accurate note was made of the +state of things, and a doctor--Surgeon J. M. Caffyn, of 33, East Elliot +Place--who came immediately after me, declared, after making +examination, that the man must have been dead for quite two days. In his +pocket was a bottle, carefully corked, empty save for a little roll of +paper, which proved to be the addendum to the log. The coastguard said +the man must have tied up his own hands, fastening the knots with his +teeth. The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some +complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot +claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a +derelict. Already, however, the legal tongues are wagging, and one young +law student is loudly asserting that the rights of the owner are already +completely sacrificed, his property being held in contravention of the +statutes of mortmain, since the tiller, as emblemship, if not proof, of +delegated possession, is held in a _dead hand_. It is needless to say +that the dead steersman has been reverently removed from the place where +he held his honourable watch and ward till death--a steadfastness as +noble as that of the young Casabianca--and placed in the mortuary to +await inquest. + +Already the sudden storm is passing, and its fierceness is abating; +crowds are scattering homeward, and the sky is beginning to redden over +the Yorkshire wolds. I shall send, in time for your next issue, further +details of the derelict ship which found her way so miraculously into +harbour in the storm. + +_Whitby_ + +_9 August._--The sequel to the strange arrival of the derelict in the +storm last night is almost more startling than the thing itself. It +turns out that the schooner is a Russian from Varna, and is called the +_Demeter_. She is almost entirely in ballast of silver sand, with only a +small amount of cargo--a number of great wooden boxes filled with mould. +This cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor, Mr. S. F. Billington, of +7, The Crescent, who this morning went aboard and formally took +possession of the goods consigned to him. The Russian consul, too, +acting for the charter-party, took formal possession of the ship, and +paid all harbour dues, etc. Nothing is talked about here to-day except +the strange coincidence; the officials of the Board of Trade have been +most exacting in seeing that every compliance has been made with +existing regulations. As the matter is to be a "nine days' wonder," they +are evidently determined that there shall be no cause of after +complaint. A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which +landed when the ship struck, and more than a few of the members of the +S. P. C. A., which is very strong in Whitby, have tried to befriend the +animal. To the general disappointment, however, it was not to be found; +it seems to have disappeared entirely from the town. It may be that it +was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it is still +hiding in terror. There are some who look with dread on such a +possibility, lest later on it should in itself become a danger, for it +is evidently a fierce brute. Early this morning a large dog, a half-bred +mastiff belonging to a coal merchant close to Tate Hill Pier, was found +dead in the roadway opposite to its master's yard. It had been fighting, +and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn away, +and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--By the kindness of the Board of Trade inspector, I have been +permitted to look over the log-book of the _Demeter_, which was in order +up to within three days, but contained nothing of special interest +except as to facts of missing men. The greatest interest, however, is +with regard to the paper found in the bottle, which was to-day produced +at the inquest; and a more strange narrative than the two between them +unfold it has not been my lot to come across. As there is no motive for +concealment, I am permitted to use them, and accordingly send you a +rescript, simply omitting technical details of seamanship and +supercargo. It almost seems as though the captain had been seized with +some kind of mania before he had got well into blue water, and that +this had developed persistently throughout the voyage. Of course my +statement must be taken _cum grano_, since I am writing from the +dictation of a clerk of the Russian consul, who kindly translated for +me, time being short. + + LOG OF THE "DEMETER." + + +_Varna to Whitby._ + +_Written 18 July, things so strange happening, that I shall keep +accurate note henceforth till we land._ + + * * * * * + +On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes of earth. +At noon set sail. East wind, fresh. Crew, five hands ... two mates, +cook, and myself (captain). + + * * * * * + +On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus. Boarded by Turkish Customs +officers. Backsheesh. All correct. Under way at 4 p. m. + + * * * * * + +On 12 July through Dardanelles. More Customs officers and flagboat of +guarding squadron. Backsheesh again. Work of officers thorough, but +quick. Want us off soon. At dark passed into Archipelago. + + * * * * * + +On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. +Seemed scared, but would not speak out. + + * * * * * + +On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew. Men all steady fellows, who +sailed with me before. Mate could not make out what was wrong; they only +told him there was _something_, and crossed themselves. Mate lost temper +with one of them that day and struck him. Expected fierce quarrel, but +all was quiet. + + * * * * * + +On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of crew, Petrofsky, was +missing. Could not account for it. Took larboard watch eight bells last +night; was relieved by Abramoff, but did not go to bunk. Men more +downcast than ever. All said they expected something of the kind, but +would not say more than there was _something_ aboard. Mate getting very +impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead. + + * * * * * + +On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin, and in +an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a strange man +aboard the ship. He said that in his watch he had been sheltering +behind the deck-house, as there was a rain-storm, when he saw a tall, +thin man, who was not like any of the crew, come up the companion-way, +and go along the deck forward, and disappear. He followed cautiously, +but when he got to bows found no one, and the hatchways were all closed. +He was in a panic of superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may +spread. To allay it, I shall to-day search entire ship carefully from +stem to stern. + + * * * * * + +Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as they +evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would search from +stem to stern. First mate angry; said it was folly, and to yield to such +foolish ideas would demoralise the men; said he would engage to keep +them out of trouble with a handspike. I let him take the helm, while the +rest began thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns: we left +no corner unsearched. As there were only the big wooden boxes, there +were no odd corners where a man could hide. Men much relieved when +search over, and went back to work cheerfully. First mate scowled, but +said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_22 July_.--Rough weather last three days, and all hands busy with +sails--no time to be frightened. Men seem to have forgotten their dread. +Mate cheerful again, and all on good terms. Praised men for work in bad +weather. Passed Gibralter and out through Straits. All well. + + * * * * * + +_24 July_.--There seems some doom over this ship. Already a hand short, +and entering on the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and yet last +night another man lost--disappeared. Like the first, he came off his +watch and was not seen again. Men all in a panic of fear; sent a round +robin, asking to have double watch, as they fear to be alone. Mate +angry. Fear there will be some trouble, as either he or the men will do +some violence. + + * * * * * + +_28 July_.--Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of maelstrom, +and the wind a tempest. No sleep for any one. Men all worn out. Hardly +know how to set a watch, since no one fit to go on. Second mate +volunteered to steer and watch, and let men snatch a few hours' sleep. +Wind abating; seas still terrific, but feel them less, as ship is +steadier. + + * * * * * + +_29 July_.--Another tragedy. Had single watch to-night, as crew too +tired to double. When morning watch came on deck could find no one +except steersman. Raised outcry, and all came on deck. Thorough search, +but no one found. Are now without second mate, and crew in a panic. Mate +and I agreed to go armed henceforth and wait for any sign of cause. + + * * * * * + +_30 July_.--Last night. Rejoiced we are nearing England. Weather fine, +all sails set. Retired worn out; slept soundly; awaked by mate telling +me that both man of watch and steersman missing. Only self and mate and +two hands left to work ship. + + * * * * * + +_1 August_.--Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted. Had hoped when in +the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get in somewhere. +Not having power to work sails, have to run before wind. Dare not lower, +as could not raise them again. We seem to be drifting to some terrible +doom. Mate now more demoralised than either of men. His stronger nature +seems to have worked inwardly against himself. Men are beyond fear, +working stolidly and patiently, with minds made up to worst. They are +Russian, he Roumanian. + + * * * * * + +_2 August, midnight_.--Woke up from few minutes' sleep by hearing a cry, +seemingly outside my port. Could see nothing in fog. Rushed on deck, and +ran against mate. Tells me heard cry and ran, but no sign of man on +watch. One more gone. Lord, help us! Mate says we must be past Straits +of Dover, as in a moment of fog lifting he saw North Foreland, just as +he heard the man cry out. If so we are now off in the North Sea, and +only God can guide us in the fog, which seems to move with us; and God +seems to have deserted us. + + * * * * * + +_3 August_.--At midnight I went to relieve the man at the wheel, and +when I got to it found no one there. The wind was steady, and as we ran +before it there was no yawing. I dared not leave it, so shouted for the +mate. After a few seconds he rushed up on deck in his flannels. He +looked wild-eyed and haggard, and I greatly fear his reason has given +way. He came close to me and whispered hoarsely, with his mouth to my +ear, as though fearing the very air might hear: "_It_ is here; I know +it, now. On the watch last night I saw It, like a man, tall and thin, +and ghastly pale. It was in the bows, and looking out. I crept behind +It, and gave It my knife; but the knife went through It, empty as the +air." And as he spoke he took his knife and drove it savagely into +space. Then he went on: "But It is here, and I'll find It. It is in the +hold, perhaps in one of those boxes. I'll unscrew them one by one and +see. You work the helm." And, with a warning look and his finger on his +lip, he went below. There was springing up a choppy wind, and I could +not leave the helm. I saw him come out on deck again with a tool-chest +and a lantern, and go down the forward hatchway. He is mad, stark, +raving mad, and it's no use my trying to stop him. He can't hurt those +big boxes: they are invoiced as "clay," and to pull them about is as +harmless a thing as he can do. So here I stay, and mind the helm, and +write these notes. I can only trust in God and wait till the fog clears. +Then, if I can't steer to any harbour with the wind that is, I shall cut +down sails and lie by, and signal for help.... + + * * * * * + +It is nearly all over now. Just as I was beginning to hope that the mate +would come out calmer--for I heard him knocking away at something in the +hold, and work is good for him--there came up the hatchway a sudden, +startled scream, which made my blood run cold, and up on the deck he +came as if shot from a gun--a raging madman, with his eyes rolling and +his face convulsed with fear. "Save me! save me!" he cried, and then +looked round on the blanket of fog. His horror turned to despair, and in +a steady voice he said: "You had better come too, captain, before it is +too late. _He_ is there. I know the secret now. The sea will save me +from Him, and it is all that is left!" Before I could say a word, or +move forward to seize him, he sprang on the bulwark and deliberately +threw himself into the sea. I suppose I know the secret too, now. It was +this madman who had got rid of the men one by one, and now he has +followed them himself. God help me! How am I to account for all these +horrors when I get to port? _When_ I get to port! Will that ever be? + + * * * * * + +_4 August._--Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce. I know there is +sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not. I dared not go +below, I dared not leave the helm; so here all night I stayed, and in +the dimness of the night I saw It--Him! God forgive me, but the mate was +right to jump overboard. It was better to die like a man; to die like a +sailor in blue water no man can object. But I am captain, and I must not +leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie +my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with +them I shall tie that which He--It!--dare not touch; and then, come good +wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my honour as a captain. I am +growing weaker, and the night is coming on. If He can look me in the +face again, I may not have time to act.... If we are wrecked, mayhap +this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand; if not, +... well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trust. God +and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying +to do his duty.... + + * * * * * + +Of course the verdict was an open one. There is no evidence to adduce; +and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now +none to say. The folk here hold almost universally that the captain is +simply a hero, and he is to be given a public funeral. Already it is +arranged that his body is to be taken with a train of boats up the Esk +for a piece and then brought back to Tate Hill Pier and up the abbey +steps; for he is to be buried in the churchyard on the cliff. The owners +of more than a hundred boats have already given in their names as +wishing to follow him to the grave. + +No trace has ever been found of the great dog; at which there is much +mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he would, I +believe, be adopted by the town. To-morrow will see the funeral; and so +will end this one more "mystery of the sea." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_8 August._--Lucy was very restless all night, and I, too, could not +sleep. The storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the +chimney-pots, it made me shudder. When a sharp puff came it seemed to be +like a distant gun. Strangely enough, Lucy did not wake; but she got up +twice and dressed herself. Fortunately, each time I awoke in time and +managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bed. It +is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is +thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, +disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her +life. + +Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see +if anything had happened in the night. There were very few people about, +and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, +grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that +topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth +of the harbour--like a bullying man going through a crowd. Somehow I +felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on land. But, +oh, is he on land or sea? Where is he, and how? I am getting fearfully +anxious about him. If I only knew what to do, and could do anything! + + * * * * * + +_10 August._--The funeral of the poor sea-captain to-day was most +touching. Every boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin +was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the +churchyard. Lucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat, whilst +the cortège of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came down +again. We had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the way. +The poor fellow was laid to rest quite near our seat so that we stood on +it when the time came and saw everything. Poor Lucy seemed much upset. +She was restless and uneasy all the time, and I cannot but think that +her dreaming at night is telling on her. She is quite odd in one thing: +she will not admit to me that there is any cause for restlessness; or if +there be, she does not understand it herself. There is an additional +cause in that poor old Mr. Swales was found dead this morning on our +seat, his neck being broken. He had evidently, as the doctor said, +fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of +fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudder. Poor +dear old man! Perhaps he had seen Death with his dying eyes! Lucy is so +sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other +people do. Just now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did +not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals. One of the men +who came up here often to look for the boats was followed by his dog. +The dog is always with him. They are both quiet persons, and I never saw +the man angry, nor heard the dog bark. During the service the dog would +not come to its master, who was on the seat with us, but kept a few +yards off, barking and howling. Its master spoke to it gently, and then +harshly, and then angrily; but it would neither come nor cease to make a +noise. It was in a sort of fury, with its eyes savage, and all its hairs +bristling out like a cat's tail when puss is on the war-path. Finally +the man, too, got angry, and jumped down and kicked the dog, and then +took it by the scruff of the neck and half dragged and half threw it on +the tombstone on which the seat is fixed. The moment it touched the +stone the poor thing became quiet and fell all into a tremble. It did +not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was +in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, +to comfort it. Lucy was full of pity, too, but she did not attempt to +touch the dog, but looked at it in an agonised sort of way. I greatly +fear that she is of too super-sensitive a nature to go through the world +without trouble. She will be dreaming of this to-night, I am sure. The +whole agglomeration of things--the ship steered into port by a dead +man; his attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads; the +touching funeral; the dog, now furious and now in terror--will all +afford material for her dreams. + +I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I +shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and +back. She ought not to have much inclination for sleep-walking then. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_Same day, 11 o'clock p. m._--Oh, but I am tired! If it were not that I +had made my diary a duty I should not open it to-night. We had a lovely +walk. Lucy, after a while, was in gay spirits, owing, I think, to some +dear cows who came nosing towards us in a field close to the lighthouse, +and frightened the wits out of us. I believe we forgot everything +except, of course, personal fear, and it seemed to wipe the slate clean +and give us a fresh start. We had a capital "severe tea" at Robin Hood's +Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow-window right over +the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand. I believe we should have +shocked the "New Woman" with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless +them! Then we walked home with some, or rather many, stoppages to rest, +and with our hearts full of a constant dread of wild bulls. Lucy was +really tired, and we intended to creep off to bed as soon as we could. +The young curate came in, however, and Mrs. Westenra asked him to stay +for supper. Lucy and I had both a fight for it with the dusty miller; I +know it was a hard fight on my part, and I am quite heroic. I think that +some day the bishops must get together and see about breeding up a new +class of curates, who don't take supper, no matter how they may be +pressed to, and who will know when girls are tired. Lucy is asleep and +breathing softly. She has more colour in her cheeks than usual, and +looks, oh, so sweet. If Mr. Holmwood fell in love with her seeing her +only in the drawing-room, I wonder what he would say if he saw her now. +Some of the "New Women" writers will some day start an idea that men and +women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or +accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to +accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make +of it, too! There's some consolation in that. I am so happy to-night, +because dear Lucy seems better. I really believe she has turned the +corner, and that we are over her troubles with dreaming. I should be +quite happy if I only knew if Jonathan.... God bless and keep him. + + * * * * * + +_11 August, 3 a. m._--Diary again. No sleep now, so I may as well write. +I am too agitated to sleep. We have had such an adventure, such an +agonising experience. I fell asleep as soon as I had closed my diary.... +Suddenly I became broad awake, and sat up, with a horrible sense of fear +upon me, and of some feeling of emptiness around me. The room was dark, +so I could not see Lucy's bed; I stole across and felt for her. The bed +was empty. I lit a match and found that she was not in the room. The +door was shut, but not locked, as I had left it. I feared to wake her +mother, who has been more than usually ill lately, so threw on some +clothes and got ready to look for her. As I was leaving the room it +struck me that the clothes she wore might give me some clue to her +dreaming intention. Dressing-gown would mean house; dress, outside. +Dressing-gown and dress were both in their places. "Thank God," I said +to myself, "she cannot be far, as she is only in her nightdress." I ran +downstairs and looked in the sitting-room. Not there! Then I looked in +all the other open rooms of the house, with an ever-growing fear +chilling my heart. Finally I came to the hall door and found it open. It +was not wide open, but the catch of the lock had not caught. The people +of the house are careful to lock the door every night, so I feared that +Lucy must have gone out as she was. There was no time to think of what +might happen; a vague, overmastering fear obscured all details. I took a +big, heavy shawl and ran out. The clock was striking one as I was in the +Crescent, and there was not a soul in sight. I ran along the North +Terrace, but could see no sign of the white figure which I expected. At +the edge of the West Cliff above the pier I looked across the harbour to +the East Cliff, in the hope or fear--I don't know which--of seeing Lucy +in our favourite seat. There was a bright full moon, with heavy black, +driving clouds, which threw the whole scene into a fleeting diorama of +light and shade as they sailed across. For a moment or two I could see +nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church and all +around it. Then as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the abbey +coming into view; and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as +a sword-cut moved along, the church and the churchyard became gradually +visible. Whatever my expectation was, it was not disappointed, for +there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a +half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too +quick for me to see much, for shadow shut down on light almost +immediately; but it seemed to me as though something dark stood behind +the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, +whether man or beast, I could not tell; I did not wait to catch another +glance, but flew down the steep steps to the pier and along by the +fish-market to the bridge, which was the only way to reach the East +Cliff. The town seemed as dead, for not a soul did I see; I rejoiced +that it was so, for I wanted no witness of poor Lucy's condition. The +time and distance seemed endless, and my knees trembled and my breath +came laboured as I toiled up the endless steps to the abbey. I must have +gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as if my feet were weighted with +lead, and as though every joint in my body were rusty. When I got almost +to the top I could see the seat and the white figure, for I was now +close enough to distinguish it even through the spells of shadow. There +was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the +half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, "Lucy! Lucy!" and +something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face +and red, gleaming eyes. Lucy did not answer, and I ran on to the +entrance of the churchyard. As I entered, the church was between me and +the seat, and for a minute or so I lost sight of her. When I came in +view again the cloud had passed, and the moonlight struck so brilliantly +that I could see Lucy half reclining with her head lying over the back +of the seat. She was quite alone, and there was not a sign of any living +thing about. + +When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips +were parted, and she was breathing--not softly as usual with her, but in +long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every +breath. As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled the +collar of her nightdress close around her throat. Whilst she did so +there came a little shudder through her, as though she felt the cold. I +flung the warm shawl over her, and drew the edges tight round her neck, +for I dreaded lest she should get some deadly chill from the night air, +unclad as she was. I feared to wake her all at once, so, in order to +have my hands free that I might help her, I fastened the shawl at her +throat with a big safety-pin; but I must have been clumsy in my anxiety +and pinched or pricked her with it, for by-and-by, when her breathing +became quieter, she put her hand to her throat again and moaned. When I +had her carefully wrapped up I put my shoes on her feet and then began +very gently to wake her. At first she did not respond; but gradually she +became more and more uneasy in her sleep, moaning and sighing +occasionally. At last, as time was passing fast, and, for many other +reasons, I wished to get her home at once, I shook her more forcibly, +till finally she opened her eyes and awoke. She did not seem surprised +to see me, as, of course, she did not realise all at once where she was. +Lucy always wakes prettily, and even at such a time, when her body must +have been chilled with cold, and her mind somewhat appalled at waking +unclad in a churchyard at night, she did not lose her grace. She +trembled a little, and clung to me; when I told her to come at once with +me home she rose without a word, with the obedience of a child. As we +passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince. She +stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes; but I would not. +However, when we got to the pathway outside the churchyard, where there +was a puddle of water, remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet with +mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home, no +one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare feet. + +Fortune favoured us, and we got home without meeting a soul. Once we saw +a man, who seemed not quite sober, passing along a street in front of +us; but we hid in a door till he had disappeared up an opening such as +there are here, steep little closes, or "wynds," as they call them in +Scotland. My heart beat so loud all the time that sometimes I thought I +should faint. I was filled with anxiety about Lucy, not only for her +health, lest she should suffer from the exposure, but for her reputation +in case the story should get wind. When we got in, and had washed our +feet, and had said a prayer of thankfulness together, I tucked her into +bed. Before falling asleep she asked--even implored--me not to say a +word to any one, even her mother, about her sleep-walking adventure. I +hesitated at first to promise; but on thinking of the state of her +mother's health, and how the knowledge of such a thing would fret her, +and thinking, too, of how such a story might become distorted--nay, +infallibly would--in case it should leak out, I thought it wiser to do +so. I hope I did right. I have locked the door, and the key is tied to +my wrist, so perhaps I shall not be again disturbed. Lucy is sleeping +soundly; the reflex of the dawn is high and far over the sea.... + + * * * * * + +_Same day, noon._--All goes well. Lucy slept till I woke her and seemed +not to have even changed her side. The adventure of the night does not +seem to have harmed her; on the contrary, it has benefited her, for she +looks better this morning than she has done for weeks. I was sorry to +notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her. Indeed, it might +have been serious, for the skin of her throat was pierced. I must have +pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are +two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her nightdress +was a drop of blood. When I apologised and was concerned about it, she +laughed and petted me, and said she did not even feel it. Fortunately it +cannot leave a scar, as it is so tiny. + + * * * * * + +_Same day, night._--We passed a happy day. The air was clear, and the +sun bright, and there was a cool breeze. We took our lunch to Mulgrave +Woods, Mrs. Westenra driving by the road and Lucy and I walking by the +cliff-path and joining her at the gate. I felt a little sad myself, for +I could not but feel how _absolutely_ happy it would have been had +Jonathan been with me. But there! I must only be patient. In the evening +we strolled in the Casino Terrace, and heard some good music by Spohr +and Mackenzie, and went to bed early. Lucy seems more restful than she +has been for some time, and fell asleep at once. I shall lock the door +and secure the key the same as before, though I do not expect any +trouble to-night. + + * * * * * + +_12 August._--My expectations were wrong, for twice during the night I +was wakened by Lucy trying to get out. She seemed, even in her sleep, to +be a little impatient at finding the door shut, and went back to bed +under a sort of protest. I woke with the dawn, and heard the birds +chirping outside of the window. Lucy woke, too, and, I was glad to see, +was even better than on the previous morning. All her old gaiety of +manner seemed to have come back, and she came and snuggled in beside me +and told me all about Arthur. I told her how anxious I was about +Jonathan, and then she tried to comfort me. Well, she succeeded +somewhat, for, though sympathy can't alter facts, it can help to make +them more bearable. + + * * * * * + +_13 August._--Another quiet day, and to bed with the key on my wrist as +before. Again I awoke in the night, and found Lucy sitting up in bed, +still asleep, pointing to the window. I got up quietly, and pulling +aside the blind, looked out. It was brilliant moonlight, and the soft +effect of the light over the sea and sky--merged together in one great, +silent mystery--was beautiful beyond words. Between me and the moonlight +flitted a great bat, coming and going in great whirling circles. Once or +twice it came quite close, but was, I suppose, frightened at seeing me, +and flitted away across the harbour towards the abbey. When I came back +from the window Lucy had lain down again, and was sleeping peacefully. +She did not stir again all night. + + * * * * * + +_14 August._--On the East Cliff, reading and writing all day. Lucy seems +to have become as much in love with the spot as I am, and it is hard to +get her away from it when it is time to come home for lunch or tea or +dinner. This afternoon she made a funny remark. We were coming home for +dinner, and had come to the top of the steps up from the West Pier and +stopped to look at the view, as we generally do. The setting sun, low +down in the sky, was just dropping behind Kettleness; the red light was +thrown over on the East Cliff and the old abbey, and seemed to bathe +everything in a beautiful rosy glow. We were silent for a while, and +suddenly Lucy murmured as if to herself:-- + +"His red eyes again! They are just the same." It was such an odd +expression, coming _apropos_ of nothing, that it quite startled me. I +slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare +at her, and saw that she was in a half-dreamy state, with an odd look on +her face that I could not quite make out; so I said nothing, but +followed her eyes. She appeared to be looking over at our own seat, +whereon was a dark figure seated alone. I was a little startled myself, +for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes like +burning flames; but a second look dispelled the illusion. The red +sunlight was shining on the windows of St. Mary's Church behind our +seat, and as the sun dipped there was just sufficient change in the +refraction and reflection to make it appear as if the light moved. I +called Lucy's attention to the peculiar effect, and she became herself +with a start, but she looked sad all the same; it may have been that she +was thinking of that terrible night up there. We never refer to it; so I +said nothing, and we went home to dinner. Lucy had a headache and went +early to bed. I saw her asleep, and went out for a little stroll myself; +I walked along the cliffs to the westward, and was full of sweet +sadness, for I was thinking of Jonathan. When coming home--it was then +bright moonlight, so bright that, though the front of our part of the +Crescent was in shadow, everything could be well seen--I threw a glance +up at our window, and saw Lucy's head leaning out. I thought that +perhaps she was looking out for me, so I opened my handkerchief and +waved it. She did not notice or make any movement whatever. Just then, +the moonlight crept round an angle of the building, and the light fell +on the window. There distinctly was Lucy with her head lying up against +the side of the window-sill and her eyes shut. She was fast asleep, and +by her, seated on the window-sill, was something that looked like a +good-sized bird. I was afraid she might get a chill, so I ran upstairs, +but as I came into the room she was moving back to her bed, fast +asleep, and breathing heavily; she was holding her hand to her throat, +as though to protect it from cold. + +I did not wake her, but tucked her up warmly; I have taken care that the +door is locked and the window securely fastened. + +She looks so sweet as she sleeps; but she is paler than is her wont, and +there is a drawn, haggard look under her eyes which I do not like. I +fear she is fretting about something. I wish I could find out what it +is. + + * * * * * + +_15 August._--Rose later than usual. Lucy was languid and tired, and +slept on after we had been called. We had a happy surprise at breakfast. +Arthur's father is better, and wants the marriage to come off soon. Lucy +is full of quiet joy, and her mother is glad and sorry at once. Later on +in the day she told me the cause. She is grieved to lose Lucy as her +very own, but she is rejoiced that she is soon to have some one to +protect her. Poor dear, sweet lady! She confided to me that she has got +her death-warrant. She has not told Lucy, and made me promise secrecy; +her doctor told her that within a few months, at most, she must die, for +her heart is weakening. At any time, even now, a sudden shock would be +almost sure to kill her. Ah, we were wise to keep from her the affair of +the dreadful night of Lucy's sleep-walking. + + * * * * * + +_17 August._--No diary for two whole days. I have not had the heart to +write. Some sort of shadowy pall seems to be coming over our happiness. +No news from Jonathan, and Lucy seems to be growing weaker, whilst her +mother's hours are numbering to a close. I do not understand Lucy's +fading away as she is doing. She eats well and sleeps well, and enjoys +the fresh air; but all the time the roses in her cheeks are fading, and +she gets weaker and more languid day by day; at night I hear her gasping +as if for air. I keep the key of our door always fastened to my wrist at +night, but she gets up and walks about the room, and sits at the open +window. Last night I found her leaning out when I woke up, and when I +tried to wake her I could not; she was in a faint. When I managed to +restore her she was as weak as water, and cried silently between long, +painful struggles for breath. When I asked her how she came to be at the +window she shook her head and turned away. I trust her feeling ill may +not be from that unlucky prick of the safety-pin. I looked at her throat +just now as she lay asleep, and the tiny wounds seem not to have healed. +They are still open, and, if anything, larger than before, and the +edges of them are faintly white. They are like little white dots with +red centres. Unless they heal within a day or two, I shall insist on the +doctor seeing about them. + + +_Letter, Samuel F. Billington & Son, Solicitors, Whitby, to Messrs. +Carter, Paterson & Co., London._ + +"_17 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"Herewith please receive invoice of goods sent by Great Northern +Railway. Same are to be delivered at Carfax, near Purfleet, immediately +on receipt at goods station King's Cross. The house is at present empty, +but enclosed please find keys, all of which are labelled. + +"You will please deposit the boxes, fifty in number, which form the +consignment, in the partially ruined building forming part of the house +and marked 'A' on rough diagram enclosed. Your agent will easily +recognise the locality, as it is the ancient chapel of the mansion. The +goods leave by the train at 9:30 to-night, and will be due at King's +Cross at 4:30 to-morrow afternoon. As our client wishes the delivery +made as soon as possible, we shall be obliged by your having teams ready +at King's Cross at the time named and forthwith conveying the goods to +destination. In order to obviate any delays possible through any routine +requirements as to payment in your departments, we enclose cheque +herewith for ten pounds (£10), receipt of which please acknowledge. +Should the charge be less than this amount, you can return balance; if +greater, we shall at once send cheque for difference on hearing from +you. You are to leave the keys on coming away in the main hall of the +house, where the proprietor may get them on his entering the house by +means of his duplicate key. + +"Pray do not take us as exceeding the bounds of business courtesy in +pressing you in all ways to use the utmost expedition. + +_"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON."_ + + +_Letter, Messrs. Carter, Paterson & Co., London, to Messrs. Billington & +Son, Whitby._ + +"_21 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"We beg to acknowledge £10 received and to return cheque £1 17s. 9d, +amount of overplus, as shown in receipted account herewith. Goods are +delivered in exact accordance with instructions, and keys left in parcel +in main hall, as directed. + +"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Yours respectfully. + +"_Pro_ CARTER, PATERSON & CO." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_18 August._--I am happy to-day, and write sitting on the seat in the +churchyard. Lucy is ever so much better. Last night she slept well all +night, and did not disturb me once. The roses seem coming back already +to her cheeks, though she is still sadly pale and wan-looking. If she +were in any way anæmic I could understand it, but she is not. She is in +gay spirits and full of life and cheerfulness. All the morbid reticence +seems to have passed from her, and she has just reminded me, as if I +needed any reminding, of _that_ night, and that it was here, on this +very seat, I found her asleep. As she told me she tapped playfully with +the heel of her boot on the stone slab and said:-- + +"My poor little feet didn't make much noise then! I daresay poor old Mr. +Swales would have told me that it was because I didn't want to wake up +Geordie." As she was in such a communicative humour, I asked her if she +had dreamed at all that night. Before she answered, that sweet, puckered +look came into her forehead, which Arthur--I call him Arthur from her +habit--says he loves; and, indeed, I don't wonder that he does. Then she +went on in a half-dreaming kind of way, as if trying to recall it to +herself:-- + +"I didn't quite dream; but it all seemed to be real. I only wanted to be +here in this spot--I don't know why, for I was afraid of something--I +don't know what. I remember, though I suppose I was asleep, passing +through the streets and over the bridge. A fish leaped as I went by, and +I leaned over to look at it, and I heard a lot of dogs howling--the +whole town seemed as if it must be full of dogs all howling at once--as +I went up the steps. Then I had a vague memory of something long and +dark with red eyes, just as we saw in the sunset, and something very +sweet and very bitter all around me at once; and then I seemed sinking +into deep green water, and there was a singing in my ears, as I have +heard there is to drowning men; and then everything seemed passing away +from me; my soul seemed to go out from my body and float about the air. +I seem to remember that once the West Lighthouse was right under me, +and then there was a sort of agonising feeling, as if I were in an +earthquake, and I came back and found you shaking my body. I saw you do +it before I felt you." + +Then she began to laugh. It seemed a little uncanny to me, and I +listened to her breathlessly. I did not quite like it, and thought it +better not to keep her mind on the subject, so we drifted on to other +subjects, and Lucy was like her old self again. When we got home the +fresh breeze had braced her up, and her pale cheeks were really more +rosy. Her mother rejoiced when she saw her, and we all spent a very +happy evening together. + + * * * * * + +_19 August._--Joy, joy, joy! although not all joy. At last, news of +Jonathan. The dear fellow has been ill; that is why he did not write. I +am not afraid to think it or say it, now that I know. Mr. Hawkins sent +me on the letter, and wrote himself, oh, so kindly. I am to leave in the +morning and go over to Jonathan, and to help to nurse him if necessary, +and to bring him home. Mr. Hawkins says it would not be a bad thing if +we were to be married out there. I have cried over the good Sister's +letter till I can feel it wet against my bosom, where it lies. It is of +Jonathan, and must be next my heart, for he is _in_ my heart. My journey +is all mapped out, and my luggage ready. I am only taking one change of +dress; Lucy will bring my trunk to London and keep it till I send for +it, for it may be that ... I must write no more; I must keep it to say +to Jonathan, my husband. The letter that he has seen and touched must +comfort me till we meet. + + +_Letter, Sister Agatha, Hospital of St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, +Buda-Pesth, to Miss Wilhelmina Murray._ + +"_12 August._ + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not strong +enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St. Joseph +and Ste. Mary. He has been under our care for nearly six weeks, +suffering from a violent brain fever. He wishes me to convey his love, +and to say that by this post I write for him to Mr. Peter Hawkins, +Exeter, to say, with his dutiful respects, that he is sorry for his +delay, and that all of his work is completed. He will require some few +weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but will then return. He +wishes me to say that he has not sufficient money with him, and that he +would like to pay for his staying here, so that others who need shall +not be wanting for help. + +"Believe me, + +"Yours, with sympathy and all blessings, + +"SISTER AGATHA. + +"P. S.--My patient being asleep, I open this to let you know something +more. He has told me all about you, and that you are shortly to be his +wife. All blessings to you both! He has had some fearful shock--so says +our doctor--and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful; of +wolves and poison and blood; of ghosts and demons; and I fear to say of +what. Be careful with him always that there may be nothing to excite him +of this kind for a long time to come; the traces of such an illness as +his do not lightly die away. We should have written long ago, but we +knew nothing of his friends, and there was on him nothing that any one +could understand. He came in the train from Klausenburg, and the guard +was told by the station-master there that he rushed into the station +shouting for a ticket for home. Seeing from his violent demeanour that +he was English, they gave him a ticket for the furthest station on the +way thither that the train reached. + +"Be assured that he is well cared for. He has won all hearts by his +sweetness and gentleness. He is truly getting on well, and I have no +doubt will in a few weeks be all himself. But be careful of him for +safety's sake. There are, I pray God and St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, many, +many, happy years for you both." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_19 August._--Strange and sudden change in Renfield last night. About +eight o'clock he began to get excited and sniff about as a dog does when +setting. The attendant was struck by his manner, and knowing my interest +in him, encouraged him to talk. He is usually respectful to the +attendant and at times servile; but to-night, the man tells me, he was +quite haughty. Would not condescend to talk with him at all. All he +would say was:-- + + "I don't want to talk to you: you don't count now; the Master is at + hand." + +The attendant thinks it is some sudden form of religious mania which has +seized him. If so, we must look out for squalls, for a strong man with +homicidal and religious mania at once might be dangerous. The +combination is a dreadful one. At nine o'clock I visited him myself. His +attitude to me was the same as that to the attendant; in his sublime +self-feeling the difference between myself and attendant seemed to him +as nothing. It looks like religious mania, and he will soon think that +he himself is God. These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man +are too paltry for an Omnipotent Being. How these madmen give themselves +away! The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created +from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow. Oh, +if men only knew! + +For half an hour or more Renfield kept getting excited in greater and +greater degree. I did not pretend to be watching him, but I kept strict +observation all the same. All at once that shifty look came into his +eyes which we always see when a madman has seized an idea, and with it +the shifty movement of the head and back which asylum attendants come to +know so well. He became quite quiet, and went and sat on the edge of his +bed resignedly, and looked into space with lack-lustre eyes. I thought I +would find out if his apathy were real or only assumed, and tried to +lead him to talk of his pets, a theme which had never failed to excite +his attention. At first he made no reply, but at length said testily:-- + +"Bother them all! I don't care a pin about them." + +"What?" I said. "You don't mean to tell me you don't care about +spiders?" (Spiders at present are his hobby and the note-book is filling +up with columns of small figures.) To this he answered enigmatically:-- + +"The bride-maidens rejoice the eyes that wait the coming of the bride; +but when the bride draweth nigh, then the maidens shine not to the eyes +that are filled." + +He would not explain himself, but remained obstinately seated on his bed +all the time I remained with him. + +I am weary to-night and low in spirits. I cannot but think of Lucy, and +how different things might have been. If I don't sleep at once, chloral, +the modern Morpheus--C_{2}HCl_{3}O. H_{2}O! I must be careful not to let +it grow into a habit. No, I shall take none to-night! I have thought of +Lucy, and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two. If need be, +to-night shall be sleepless.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Glad I made the resolution; gladder that I kept to it. I had +lain tossing about, and had heard the clock strike only twice, when the +night-watchman came to me, sent up from the ward, to say that Renfield +had escaped. I threw on my clothes and ran down at once; my patient is +too dangerous a person to be roaming about. Those ideas of his might +work out dangerously with strangers. The attendant was waiting for me. +He said he had seen him not ten minutes before, seemingly asleep in his +bed, when he had looked through the observation-trap in the door. His +attention was called by the sound of the window being wrenched out. He +ran back and saw his feet disappear through the window, and had at once +sent up for me. He was only in his night-gear, and cannot be far off. +The attendant thought it would be more useful to watch where he should +go than to follow him, as he might lose sight of him whilst getting out +of the building by the door. He is a bulky man, and couldn't get through +the window. I am thin, so, with his aid, I got out, but feet foremost, +and, as we were only a few feet above ground, landed unhurt. The +attendant told me the patient had gone to the left, and had taken a +straight line, so I ran as quickly as I could. As I got through the belt +of trees I saw a white figure scale the high wall which separates our +grounds from those of the deserted house. + +I ran back at once, told the watchman to get three or four men +immediately and follow me into the grounds of Carfax, in case our friend +might be dangerous. I got a ladder myself, and crossing the wall, +dropped down on the other side. I could see Renfield's figure just +disappearing behind the angle of the house, so I ran after him. On the +far side of the house I found him pressed close against the old +ironbound oak door of the chapel. He was talking, apparently to some +one, but I was afraid to go near enough to hear what he was saying, lest +I might frighten him, and he should run off. Chasing an errant swarm of +bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic, when the fit of escaping +is upon him! After a few minutes, however, I could see that he did not +take note of anything around him, and so ventured to draw nearer to +him--the more so as my men had now crossed the wall and were closing him +in. I heard him say:-- + +"I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will +reward me, for I shall be faithful. I have worshipped You long and afar +off. Now that You are near, I await Your commands, and You will not pass +me by, will You, dear Master, in Your distribution of good things?" + +He _is_ a selfish old beggar anyhow. He thinks of the loaves and fishes +even when he believes he is in a Real Presence. His manias make a +startling combination. When we closed in on him he fought like a tiger. +He is immensely strong, for he was more like a wild beast than a man. I +never saw a lunatic in such a paroxysm of rage before; and I hope I +shall not again. It is a mercy that we have found out his strength and +his danger in good time. With strength and determination like his, he +might have done wild work before he was caged. He is safe now at any +rate. Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat +that keeps him restrained, and he's chained to the wall in the padded +room. His cries are at times awful, but the silences that follow are +more deadly still, for he means murder in every turn and movement. + +Just now he spoke coherent words for the first time:-- + +"I shall be patient, Master. It is coming--coming--coming!" + +So I took the hint, and came too. I was too excited to sleep, but this +diary has quieted me, and I feel I shall get some sleep to-night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +"_Buda-Pesth, 24 August._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"I know you will be anxious to hear all that has happened since we +parted at the railway station at Whitby. Well, my dear, I got to Hull +all right, and caught the boat to Hamburg, and then the train on here. I +feel that I can hardly recall anything of the journey, except that I +knew I was coming to Jonathan, and, that as I should have to do some +nursing, I had better get all the sleep I could.... I found my dear one, +oh, so thin and pale and weak-looking. All the resolution has gone out +of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his +face has vanished. He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not +remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At +least, he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask. He has had some +terrible shock, and I fear it might tax his poor brain if he were to try +to recall it. Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and a born nurse, +tells me that he raved of dreadful things whilst he was off his head. I +wanted her to tell me what they were; but she would only cross herself, +and say she would never tell; that the ravings of the sick were the +secrets of God, and that if a nurse through her vocation should hear +them, she should respect her trust. She is a sweet, good soul, and the +next day, when she saw I was troubled, she opened up the subject again, +and after saying that she could never mention what my poor dear raved +about, added: 'I can tell you this much, my dear: that it was not about +anything which he has done wrong himself; and you, as his wife to be, +have no cause to be concerned. He has not forgotten you or what he owes +to you. His fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can +treat of.' I do believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my +poor dear should have fallen in love with any other girl. The idea of +_my_ being jealous about Jonathan! And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I +felt a thrill of joy through me when I _knew_ that no other woman was a +cause of trouble. I am now sitting by his bedside, where I can see his +face while he sleeps. He is waking!... + +"When he woke he asked me for his coat, as he wanted to get something +from the pocket; I asked Sister Agatha, and she brought all his things. +I saw that amongst them was his note-book, and was going to ask him to +let me look at it--for I knew then that I might find some clue to his +trouble--but I suppose he must have seen my wish in my eyes, for he sent +me over to the window, saying he wanted to be quite alone for a moment. +Then he called me back, and when I came he had his hand over the +note-book, and he said to me very solemnly:-- + +"'Wilhelmina'--I knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has +never called me by that name since he asked me to marry him--'you know, +dear, my ideas of the trust between husband and wife: there should be no +secret, no concealment. I have had a great shock, and when I try to +think of what it is I feel my head spin round, and I do not know if it +was all real or the dreaming of a madman. You know I have had brain +fever, and that is to be mad. The secret is here, and I do not want to +know it. I want to take up my life here, with our marriage.' For, my +dear, we had decided to be married as soon as the formalities are +complete. 'Are you willing, Wilhelmina, to share my ignorance? Here is +the book. Take it and keep it, read it if you will, but never let me +know; unless, indeed, some solemn duty should come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, sane or mad, recorded here.' He fell +back exhausted, and I put the book under his pillow, and kissed him. I +have asked Sister Agatha to beg the Superior to let our wedding be this +afternoon, and am waiting her reply.... + + * * * * * + +"She has come and told me that the chaplain of the English mission +church has been sent for. We are to be married in an hour, or as soon +after as Jonathan awakes.... + + * * * * * + +"Lucy, the time has come and gone. I feel very solemn, but very, very +happy. Jonathan woke a little after the hour, and all was ready, and he +sat up in bed, propped up with pillows. He answered his 'I will' firmly +and strongly. I could hardly speak; my heart was so full that even those +words seemed to choke me. The dear sisters were so kind. Please God, I +shall never, never forget them, nor the grave and sweet responsibilities +I have taken upon me. I must tell you of my wedding present. When the +chaplain and the sisters had left me alone with my husband--oh, Lucy, it +is the first time I have written the words 'my husband'--left me alone +with my husband, I took the book from under his pillow, and wrapped it +up in white paper, and tied it with a little bit of pale blue ribbon +which was round my neck, and sealed it over the knot with sealing-wax, +and for my seal I used my wedding ring. Then I kissed it and showed it +to my husband, and told him that I would keep it so, and then it would +be an outward and visible sign for us all our lives that we trusted each +other; that I would never open it unless it were for his own dear sake +or for the sake of some stern duty. Then he took my hand in his, and oh, +Lucy, it was the first time he took _his wife's_ hand, and said that it +was the dearest thing in all the wide world, and that he would go +through all the past again to win it, if need be. The poor dear meant to +have said a part of the past, but he cannot think of time yet, and I +shall not wonder if at first he mixes up not only the month, but the +year. + +"Well, my dear, what could I say? I could only tell him that I was the +happiest woman in all the wide world, and that I had nothing to give him +except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these went my love +and duty for all the days of my life. And, my dear, when he kissed me, +and drew me to him with his poor weak hands, it was like a very solemn +pledge between us.... + +"Lucy dear, do you know why I tell you all this? It is not only because +it is all sweet to me, but because you have been, and are, very dear to +me. It was my privilege to be your friend and guide when you came from +the schoolroom to prepare for the world of life. I want you to see now, +and with the eyes of a very happy wife, whither duty has led me; so that +in your own married life you too may be all happy as I am. My dear, +please Almighty God, your life may be all it promises: a long day of +sunshine, with no harsh wind, no forgetting duty, no distrust. I must +not wish you no pain, for that can never be; but I do hope you will be +_always_ as happy as I am _now_. Good-bye, my dear. I shall post this at +once, and, perhaps, write you very soon again. I must stop, for Jonathan +is waking--I must attend to my husband! + +"Your ever-loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Harker._ + +"_Whitby, 30 August._ + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Oceans of love and millions of kisses, and may you soon be in your own +home with your husband. I wish you could be coming home soon enough to +stay with us here. The strong air would soon restore Jonathan; it has +quite restored me. I have an appetite like a cormorant, am full of +life, and sleep well. You will be glad to know that I have quite given +up walking in my sleep. I think I have not stirred out of my bed for a +week, that is when I once got into it at night. Arthur says I am getting +fat. By the way, I forgot to tell you that Arthur is here. We have such +walks and drives, and rides, and rowing, and tennis, and fishing +together; and I love him more than ever. He _tells_ me that he loves me +more, but I doubt that, for at first he told me that he couldn't love me +more than he did then. But this is nonsense. There he is, calling to me. +So no more just at present from your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P. S.--Mother sends her love. She seems better, poor dear. "P. P. +S.--We are to be married on 28 September." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 August._--The case of Renfield grows even more interesting. He has +now so far quieted that there are spells of cessation from his passion. +For the first week after his attack he was perpetually violent. Then one +night, just as the moon rose, he grew quiet, and kept murmuring to +himself: "Now I can wait; now I can wait." The attendant came to tell +me, so I ran down at once to have a look at him. He was still in the +strait-waistcoat and in the padded room, but the suffused look had gone +from his face, and his eyes had something of their old pleading--I might +almost say, "cringing"--softness. I was satisfied with his present +condition, and directed him to be relieved. The attendants hesitated, +but finally carried out my wishes without protest. It was a strange +thing that the patient had humour enough to see their distrust, for, +coming close to me, he said in a whisper, all the while looking +furtively at them:-- + +"They think I could hurt you! Fancy _me_ hurting _you_! The fools!" + +It was soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself dissociated +even in the mind of this poor madman from the others; but all the same I +do not follow his thought. Am I to take it that I have anything in +common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together; or has +he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well-being is needful +to him? I must find out later on. To-night he will not speak. Even the +offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat will not tempt him. He will +only say: "I don't take any stock in cats. I have more to think of now, +and I can wait; I can wait." + +After a while I left him. The attendant tells me that he was quiet +until just before dawn, and that then he began to get uneasy, and at +length violent, until at last he fell into a paroxysm which exhausted +him so that he swooned into a sort of coma. + + * * * * * + +... Three nights has the same thing happened--violent all day then quiet +from moonrise to sunrise. I wish I could get some clue to the cause. It +would almost seem as if there was some influence which came and went. +Happy thought! We shall to-night play sane wits against mad ones. He +escaped before without our help; to-night he shall escape with it. We +shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow in case they +are required.... + + * * * * * + +_23 August._--"The unexpected always happens." How well Disraeli knew +life. Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly, so all our +subtle arrangements were for nought. At any rate, we have proved one +thing; that the spells of quietness last a reasonable time. We shall in +future be able to ease his bonds for a few hours each day. I have given +orders to the night attendant merely to shut him in the padded room, +when once he is quiet, until an hour before sunrise. The poor soul's +body will enjoy the relief even if his mind cannot appreciate it. Hark! +The unexpected again! I am called; the patient has once more escaped. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another night adventure. Renfield artfully waited until the +attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past him +and flew down the passage. I sent word for the attendants to follow. +Again he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we found him +in the same place, pressed against the old chapel door. When he saw me +he became furious, and had not the attendants seized him in time, he +would have tried to kill me. As we were holding him a strange thing +happened. He suddenly redoubled his efforts, and then as suddenly grew +calm. I looked round instinctively, but could see nothing. Then I caught +the patient's eye and followed it, but could trace nothing as it looked +into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was flapping its silent and +ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit about, but this one +seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound for or had +some intention of its own. The patient grew calmer every instant, and +presently said:-- + +"You needn't tie me; I shall go quietly!" Without trouble we came back +to the house. I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall +not forget this night.... + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary_ + +_Hillingham, 24 August._--I must imitate Mina, and keep writing things +down. Then we can have long talks when we do meet. I wonder when it will +be. I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy. Last night I +seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby. Perhaps it is the +change of air, or getting home again. It is all dark and horrid to me, +for I can remember nothing; but I am full of vague fear, and I feel so +weak and worn out. When Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved +when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to be cheerful. I wonder +if I could sleep in mother's room to-night. I shall make an excuse and +try. + + * * * * * + +_25 August._--Another bad night. Mother did not seem to take to my +proposal. She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to +worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but when the +clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been falling +asleep. There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I +did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have +fallen asleep. More bad dreams. I wish I could remember them. This +morning I am horribly weak. My face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains +me. It must be something wrong with my lungs, for I don't seem ever to +get air enough. I shall try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I +know he will be miserable to see me so. + + +_Letter, Arthur Holmwood to Dr. Seward._ + +"_Albemarle Hotel, 31 August._ + +"My dear Jack,-- + +"I want you to do me a favour. Lucy is ill; that is, she has no special +disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every day. I have +asked her if there is any cause; I do not dare to ask her mother, for to +disturb the poor lady's mind about her daughter in her present state of +health would be fatal. Mrs. Westenra has confided to me that her doom is +spoken--disease of the heart--though poor Lucy does not know it yet. I +am sure that there is something preying on my dear girl's mind. I am +almost distracted when I think of her; to look at her gives me a pang. I +told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at +first--I know why, old fellow--she finally consented. It will be a +painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it is for _her_ sake, and +I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act. You are to come to lunch at +Hillingham to-morrow, two o'clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in +Mrs. Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being +alone with you. I shall come in for tea, and we can go away together; I +am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I +can after you have seen her. Do not fail! + +"ARTHUR." + + +_Telegram, Arthur Holmwood to Seward._ + +"_1 September._ + +"Am summoned to see my father, who is worse. Am writing. Write me fully +by to-night's post to Ring. Wire me if necessary." + + +_Letter from Dr. Seward to Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My dear old fellow,-- + +"With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at once +that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady +that I know of. At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with +her appearance; she is woefully different from what she was when I saw +her last. Of course you must bear in mind that I did not have full +opportunity of examination such as I should wish; our very friendship +makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can +bridge over. I had better tell you exactly what happened, leaving you to +draw, in a measure, your own conclusions. I shall then say what I have +done and propose doing. + +"I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, +and in a few seconds I made up my mind that she was trying all she knew +to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious. I have no +doubt she guesses, if she does not know, what need of caution there is. +We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we +got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real cheerfulness +amongst us. Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and Lucy was left with +me. We went into her boudoir, and till we got there her gaiety remained, +for the servants were coming and going. As soon as the door was closed, +however, the mask fell from her face, and she sank down into a chair +with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her hand. When I saw that her +high spirits had failed, I at once took advantage of her reaction to +make a diagnosis. She said to me very sweetly:-- + +"'I cannot tell you how I loathe talking about myself.' I reminded her +that a doctor's confidence was sacred, but that you were grievously +anxious about her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that +matter in a word. 'Tell Arthur everything you choose. I do not care for +myself, but all for him!' So I am quite free. + +"I could easily see that she is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see +the usual anæmic signs, and by a chance I was actually able to test the +quality of her blood, for in opening a window which was stiff a cord +gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with broken glass. It was a +slight matter in itself, but it gave me an evident chance, and I secured +a few drops of the blood and have analysed them. The qualitative +analysis gives a quite normal condition, and shows, I should infer, in +itself a vigorous state of health. In other physical matters I was quite +satisfied that there is no need for anxiety; but as there must be a +cause somewhere, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something +mental. She complains of difficulty in breathing satisfactorily at +times, and of heavy, lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but +regarding which she can remember nothing. She says that as a child she +used to walk in her sleep, and that when in Whitby the habit came back, +and that once she walked out in the night and went to East Cliff, where +Miss Murray found her; but she assures me that of late the habit has not +returned. I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of; I +have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of +Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the +world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that all things +were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who you are and your +relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow, is in obedience to +your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to do anything I can for +her. Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal +reason, so, no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his +wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, but this is because he knows +what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a philosopher +and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; +and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron +nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, an indomitable resolution, +self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the +kindliest and truest heart that beats--these form his equipment for the +noble work that he is doing for mankind--work both in theory and +practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy. I +tell you these facts that you may know why I have such confidence in +him. I have asked him to come at once. I shall see Miss Westenra +to-morrow again. She is to meet me at the Stores, so that I may not +alarm her mother by too early a repetition of my call. + +"Yours always, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Letter, Abraham Van Helsing, M. D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc., to Dr. +Seward._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My good Friend,-- + +"When I have received your letter I am already coming to you. By good +fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who have +trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who have +trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those he holds +dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so +swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other +friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my +aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do. But it +is pleasure added to do for him, your friend; it is to you that I come. +Have then rooms for me at the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I may be near +to hand, and please it so arrange that we may see the young lady not too +late on to-morrow, for it is likely that I may have to return here that +night. But if need be I shall come again in three days, and stay longer +if it must. Till then good-bye, my friend John. + + "VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_3 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"Van Helsing has come and gone. He came on with me to Hillingham, and +found that, by Lucy's discretion, her mother was lunching out, so that +we were alone with her. Van Helsing made a very careful examination of +the patient. He is to report to me, and I shall advise you, for of +course I was not present all the time. He is, I fear, much concerned, +but says he must think. When I told him of our friendship and how you +trust to me in the matter, he said: 'You must tell him all you think. +Tell him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will. Nay, I am not +jesting. This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.' I asked +what he meant by that, for he was very serious. This was when we had +come back to town, and he was having a cup of tea before starting on his +return to Amsterdam. He would not give me any further clue. You must not +be angry with me, Art, because his very reticence means that all his +brains are working for her good. He will speak plainly enough when the +time comes, be sure. So I told him I would simply write an account of +our visit, just as if I were doing a descriptive special article for +_The Daily Telegraph_. He seemed not to notice, but remarked that the +smuts in London were not quite so bad as they used to be when he was a +student here. I am to get his report to-morrow if he can possibly make +it. In any case I am to have a letter. + +"Well, as to the visit. Lucy was more cheerful than on the day I first +saw her, and certainly looked better. She had lost something of the +ghastly look that so upset you, and her breathing was normal. She was +very sweet to the professor (as she always is), and tried to make him +feel at ease; though I could see that the poor girl was making a hard +struggle for it. I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw the quick +look under his bushy brows that I knew of old. Then he began to chat of +all things except ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite +geniality that I could see poor Lucy's pretense of animation merge into +reality. Then, without any seeming change, he brought the conversation +gently round to his visit, and suavely said:-- + +"'My dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you are so +much beloved. That is much, my dear, ever were there that which I do not +see. They told me you were down in the spirit, and that you were of a +ghastly pale. To them I say: "Pouf!"' And he snapped his fingers at me +and went on: 'But you and I shall show them how wrong they are. How can +he'--and he pointed at me with the same look and gesture as that with +which once he pointed me out to his class, on, or rather after, a +particular occasion which he never fails to remind me of--'know anything +of a young ladies? He has his madams to play with, and to bring them +back to happiness, and to those that love them. It is much to do, and, +oh, but there are rewards, in that we can bestow such happiness. But the +young ladies! He has no wife nor daughter, and the young do not tell +themselves to the young, but to the old, like me, who have known so many +sorrows and the causes of them. So, my dear, we will send him away to +smoke the cigarette in the garden, whiles you and I have little talk all +to ourselves.' I took the hint, and strolled about, and presently the +professor came to the window and called me in. He looked grave, but +said: 'I have made careful examination, but there is no functional +cause. With you I agree that there has been much blood lost; it has +been, but is not. But the conditions of her are in no way anæmic. I have +asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or two question, +that so I may not chance to miss nothing. I know well what she will say. +And yet there is cause; there is always cause for everything. I must go +back home and think. You must send to me the telegram every day; and if +there be cause I shall come again. The disease--for not to be all well +is a disease--interest me, and the sweet young dear, she interest me +too. She charm me, and for her, if not for you or disease, I come.' + +"As I tell you, he would not say a word more, even when we were alone. +And so now, Art, you know all I know. I shall keep stern watch. I trust +your poor father is rallying. It must be a terrible thing to you, my +dear old fellow, to be placed in such a position between two people who +are both so dear to you. I know your idea of duty to your father, and +you are right to stick to it; but, if need be, I shall send you word to +come at once to Lucy; so do not be over-anxious unless you hear from +me." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_4 September._--Zoöphagous patient still keeps up our interest in him. +He had only one outburst and that was yesterday at an unusual time. Just +before the stroke of noon he began to grow restless. The attendant knew +the symptoms, and at once summoned aid. Fortunately the men came at a +run, and were just in time, for at the stroke of noon he became so +violent that it took all their strength to hold him. In about five +minutes, however, he began to get more and more quiet, and finally sank +into a sort of melancholy, in which state he has remained up to now. The +attendant tells me that his screams whilst in the paroxysm were really +appalling; I found my hands full when I got in, attending to some of the +other patients who were frightened by him. Indeed, I can quite +understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed even me, though I was +some distance away. It is now after the dinner-hour of the asylum, and +as yet my patient sits in a corner brooding, with a dull, sullen, +woe-begone look in his face, which seems rather to indicate than to show +something directly. I cannot quite understand it. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another change in my patient. At five o'clock I looked in on +him, and found him seemingly as happy and contented as he used to be. He +was catching flies and eating them, and was keeping note of his capture +by making nail-marks on the edge of the door between the ridges of +padding. When he saw me, he came over and apologised for his bad +conduct, and asked me in a very humble, cringing way to be led back to +his own room and to have his note-book again. I thought it well to +humour him: so he is back in his room with the window open. He has the +sugar of his tea spread out on the window-sill, and is reaping quite a +harvest of flies. He is not now eating them, but putting them into a +box, as of old, and is already examining the corners of his room to find +a spider. I tried to get him to talk about the past few days, for any +clue to his thoughts would be of immense help to me; but he would not +rise. For a moment or two he looked very sad, and said in a sort of +far-away voice, as though saying it rather to himself than to me:-- + +"All over! all over! He has deserted me. No hope for me now unless I do +it for myself!" Then suddenly turning to me in a resolute way, he said: +"Doctor, won't you be very good to me and let me have a little more +sugar? I think it would be good for me." + +"And the flies?" I said. + +"Yes! The flies like it, too, and I like the flies; therefore I like +it." And there are people who know so little as to think that madmen do +not argue. I procured him a double supply, and left him as happy a man +as, I suppose, any in the world. I wish I could fathom his mind. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--Another change in him. I had been to see Miss Westenra, +whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at our +own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him yelling. As +his room is on this side of the house, I could hear it better than in +the morning. It was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky +beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights and inky shadows +and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds even as on foul +water, and to realise all the grim sternness of my own cold stone +building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own desolate heart +to endure it all. I reached him just as the sun was going down, and from +his window saw the red disc sink. As it sank he became less and less +frenzied; and just as it dipped he slid from the hands that held him, an +inert mass, on the floor. It is wonderful, however, what intellectual +recuperative power lunatics have, for within a few minutes he stood up +quite calmly and looked around him. I signalled to the attendants not to +hold him, for I was anxious to see what he would do. He went straight +over to the window and brushed out the crumbs of sugar; then he took his +fly-box, and emptied it outside, and threw away the box; then he shut +the window, and crossing over, sat down on his bed. All this surprised +me, so I asked him: "Are you not going to keep flies any more?" + +"No," said he; "I am sick of all that rubbish!" He certainly is a +wonderfully interesting study. I wish I could get some glimpse of his +mind or of the cause of his sudden passion. Stop; there may be a clue +after all, if we can find why to-day his paroxysms came on at high noon +and at sunset. Can it be that there is a malign influence of the sun at +periods which affects certain natures--as at times the moon does others? +We shall see. + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_4 September._--Patient still better to-day." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_5 September._--Patient greatly improved. Good appetite; sleeps +naturally; good spirits; colour coming back." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_6 September._--Terrible change for the worse. Come at once; do not +lose an hour. I hold over telegram to Holmwood till have seen you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_6 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a bit. +There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it; Mrs. +Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me +professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told +her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to +stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with +myself; so now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a +shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak +condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with +difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall +come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if you +do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for +news. In haste + +Yours ever, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_7 September._--The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at +Liverpool Street was:-- + +"Have you said anything to our young friend the lover of her?" + +"No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my telegram. I +wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were coming, as Miss +Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him know if need be." + +"Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as yet; +perhaps he shall never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then he +shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You deal +with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch +as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's madmen, +too--the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what you do nor why +you do it; you tell them not what you think. So you shall keep knowledge +in its place, where it may rest--where it may gather its kind around it +and breed. You and I shall keep as yet what we know here, and here." He +touched me on the heart and on the forehead, and then touched himself +the same way. "I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall +unfold to you." + +"Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at some +decision." He stopped and looked at me, and said:-- + +"My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has +ripened--while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshine +has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the +ear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, +and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the +time comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For reply +he reached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully, as +he used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The good husbandman tell +you so then because he knows, but not till then. But you do not find the +good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is for +the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as of +the work of their life. See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn, +and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, +there's some promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He broke +off, for he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and very +gravely:-- + +"You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever more +full than the rest. You were only student then; now you are master, and +I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, that +knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker. +Even if you have not kept the good practise, let me tell you that this +case of our dear miss is one that may be--mind, I say _may be_--of such +interest to us and others that all the rest may not make him kick the +beam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is too +small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. +Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We +learn from failure, not from success!" + +When I described Lucy's symptoms--the same as before, but infinitely +more marked--he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with him a +bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly paraphernalia +of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of his lectures, the +equipment of a professor of the healing craft. When we were shown in, +Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as I +expected to find her. Nature in one of her beneficent moods has ordained +that even death has some antidote to its own terrors. Here, in a case +where any shock may prove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some +cause or other, the things not personal--even the terrible change in her +daughter to whom she is so attached--do not seem to reach her. It is +something like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an +envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that +which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an ordered +selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one for the vice +of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes than we have +knowledge of. + +I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid down +a rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think of her illness +more than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so readily that +I saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life. Van Helsing and I were +shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, I +was horrified when I saw her to-day. She was ghastly, chalkily pale; the +red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gums, and the bones of +her face stood out prominently; her breathing was painful to see or +hear. Van Helsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged +till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not +seem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. Then +Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the room. The +instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along the passage to +the next door, which was open. Then he pulled me quickly in with him and +closed the door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no time +to be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's +action as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at once. Is +it you or me?" + +"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me." + +"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am prepared." + +I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock at +the hall-door. When we reached the hall the maid had just opened the +door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me, saying in +an eager whisper:-- + +"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter, and +have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran down here to see for +myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so thankful to you, +sir, for coming." When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he had +been angry at his interruption at such a time; but now, as he took in +his stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood which +seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause he said to +him gravely as he held out his hand:-- + +"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss. She is +bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For he +suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are to +help her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is your +best help." + +"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it. My +life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for +her." The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old +knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer:-- + +"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that--not the last!" + +"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostril +quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder. "Come!" +he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want. You are better than +me, better than my friend John." Arthur looked bewildered, and the +Professor went on by explaining in a kindly way:-- + +"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must have +or die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about to perform +what we call transfusion of blood--to transfer from full veins of one to +the empty veins which pine for him. John was to give his blood, as he is +the more young and strong than me"--here Arthur took my hand and wrung +it hard in silence--"but, now you are here, you are more good than us, +old or young, who toil much in the world of thought. Our nerves are not +so calm and our blood not so bright than yours!" Arthur turned to him +and said:-- + +"If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you would +understand----" + +He stopped, with a sort of choke in his voice. + +"Good boy!" said Van Helsing. "In the not-so-far-off you will be happy +that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be silent. You +shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must go; and you +must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame; you know how it is with +her! There must be no shock; any knowledge of this would be one. Come!" + +We all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained outside. +Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing. She was not +asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort. Her eyes spoke +to us; that was all. Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laid +them on a little table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, and +coming over to the bed, said cheerily:-- + +"Now, little miss, here is your medicine. Drink it off, like a good +child. See, I lift you so that to swallow is easy. Yes." She had made +the effort with success. + +It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact, marked +the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until sleep began to +flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the narcotic began to manifest +its potency; and she fell into a deep sleep. When the Professor was +satisfied he called Arthur into the room, and bade him strip off his +coat. Then he added: "You may take that one little kiss whiles I bring +over the table. Friend John, help to me!" So neither of us looked whilst +he bent over her. + +Van Helsing turning to me, said: + +"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not +defibrinate it." + +Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed the +operation. As the transfusion went on something like life seemed to come +back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing pallor the joy +of his face seemed absolutely to shine. After a bit I began to grow +anxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur, strong man as he +was. It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain Lucy's system must +have undergone that what weakened Arthur only partially restored her. +But the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand and with +his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I could hear my own +heart beat. Presently he said in a soft voice: "Do not stir an instant. +It is enough. You attend him; I will look to her." When all was over I +could see how much Arthur was weakened. I dressed the wound and took his +arm to bring him away, when Van Helsing spoke without turning round--the +man seems to have eyes in the back of his head:-- + +"The brave lover, I think, deserve another kiss, which he shall have +presently." And as he had now finished his operation, he adjusted the +pillow to the patient's head. As he did so the narrow black velvet band +which she seems always to wear round her throat, buckled with an old +diamond buckle which her lover had given her, was dragged a little up, +and showed a red mark on her throat. Arthur did not notice it, but I +could hear the deep hiss of indrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing's +ways of betraying emotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned to +me, saying: "Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port +wine, and let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleep +much and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given to +his love. He must not stay here. Hold! a moment. I may take it, sir, +that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you that in all ways +the operation is successful. You have saved her life this time, and you +can go home and rest easy in mind that all that can be is. I shall tell +her all when she is well; she shall love you none the less for what you +have done. Good-bye." + +When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping gently, +but her breathing was stronger; I could see the counterpane move as her +breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking at her intently. +The velvet band again covered the red mark. I asked the Professor in a +whisper:-- + +"What do you make of that mark on her throat?" + +"What do you make of it?" + +"I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there proceeded +to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein there were two +punctures, not large, but not wholesome-looking. There was no sign of +disease, but the edges were white and worn-looking, as if by some +trituration. It at once occurred to me that this wound, or whatever it +was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood; but I abandoned +the idea as soon as formed, for such a thing could not be. The whole bed +would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must +have lost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion. + +"Well?" said Van Helsing. + +"Well," said I, "I can make nothing of it." The Professor stood up. "I +must go back to Amsterdam to-night," he said. "There are books and +things there which I want. You must remain here all the night, and you +must not let your sight pass from her." + +"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked. + +"We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night; see that +she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must not sleep all +the night. Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall be back as soon as +possible. And then we may begin." + +"May begin?" I said. "What on earth do you mean?" + +"We shall see!" he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a moment +later and put his head inside the door and said with warning finger held +up:-- + +"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave her, and harm befall, you +shall not sleep easy hereafter!" + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary--continued._ + +_8 September._--I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked itself +off towards dusk, and she waked naturally; she looked a different being +from what she had been before the operation. Her spirits even were good, +and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see evidences of the +absolute prostration which she had undergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra +that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should sit up with her she +almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her daughter's renewed +strength and excellent spirits. I was firm, however, and made +preparations for my long vigil. When her maid had prepared her for the +night I came in, having in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by +the bedside. She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me +gratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed +sinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together +and shook it off. This was repeated several times, with greater effort +and with shorter pauses as the time moved on. It was apparent that she +did not want to sleep, so I tackled the subject at once:-- + +"You do not want to go to sleep?" + +"No; I am afraid." + +"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave for." + +"Ah, not if you were like me--if sleep was to you a presage of horror!" + +"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?" + +"I don't know; oh, I don't know. And that is what is so terrible. All +this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very thought." + +"But, my dear girl, you may sleep to-night. I am here watching you, and +I can promise that nothing will happen." + +"Ah, I can trust you!" I seized the opportunity, and said: "I promise +you that if I see any evidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once." + +"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I will +sleep!" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief, and sank +back, asleep. + +All night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on and on +in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep. Her lips were +slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity of a +pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was evident that no bad +dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind. + +In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and took +myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I sent a short +wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent result +of the operation. My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all +day to clear off; it was dark when I was able to inquire about my +zoöphagous patient. The report was good; he had been quite quiet for the +past day and night. A telegram came from Van Helsing at Amsterdam whilst +I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at Hillingham to-night, as +it might be well to be at hand, and stating that he was leaving by the +night mail and would join me early in the morning. + + * * * * * + +_9 September_.--I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to +Hillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my +brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral +exhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook hands +with me she looked sharply in my face and said:-- + +"No sitting up to-night for you. You are worn out. I am quite well +again; indeed, I am; and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I who +will sit up with you." I would not argue the point, but went and had my +supper. Lucy came with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I +made an excellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than +excellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room next +her own, where a cozy fire was burning. "Now," she said, "you must stay +here. I shall leave this door open and my door too. You can lie on the +sofa for I know that nothing would induce any of you doctors to go to +bed whilst there is a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I +shall call out, and you can come to me at once." I could not but +acquiesce, for I was "dog-tired," and could not have sat up had I tried. +So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she should want anything, +I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about everything. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_9 September._--I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably weak, +that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after +a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky. Somehow Arthur feels very, +very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about me. I suppose +it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things and turn our inner +eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and strength give Love +rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know +where my thoughts are. If Arthur only knew! My dear, my dear, your ears +must tingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of +last night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching me. +And to-night I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at hand and +within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me! Thank God! +Good-night, Arthur. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_10 September._--I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head, and +started awake all in a second. That is one of the things that we learn +in an asylum, at any rate. + +"And how is our patient?" + +"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered. + +"Come, let us see," he said. And together we went into the room. + +The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van +Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed. + +As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I +heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity, a +deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over he moved back, and +his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no enforcement from +his agonised face. He raised his hand and pointed to the bed, and his +iron face was drawn and ashen white. I felt my knees begin to tremble. + +There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly +white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white, and the gums +seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes see in a +corpse after a prolonged illness. Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp +in anger, but the instinct of his life and all the long years of habit +stood to him, and he put it down again softly. "Quick!" he said. "Bring +the brandy." I flew to the dining-room, and returned with the decanter. +He wetted the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and +wrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonising +suspense said:-- + +"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work is +undone; we must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now; I have +to call on you yourself this time, friend John." As he spoke, he was +dipping into his bag and producing the instruments for transfusion; I +had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt-sleeve. There was no +possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of one; and so, +without a moment's delay, we began the operation. After a time--it did +not seem a short time either, for the draining away of one's blood, no +matter how willingly it be given, is a terrible feeling--Van Helsing +held up a warning finger. "Do not stir," he said, "but I fear that with +growing strength she may wake; and that would make danger, oh, so much +danger. But I shall precaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection +of morphia." He proceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his +intent. The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge +subtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal pride +that I could see a faint tinge of colour steal back into the pallid +cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to +feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves. + +The Professor watched me critically. "That will do," he said. "Already?" +I remonstrated. "You took a great deal more from Art." To which he +smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied:-- + +"He is her lover, her _fiancé_. You have work, much work, to do for her +and for others; and the present will suffice." + +When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied +digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, whilst I waited his +leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sick. By-and-by +he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for +myself. As I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half +whispered:-- + +"Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should turn up +unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once frighten him and +enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!" + +When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said:-- + +"You are not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and +rest awhile; then have much breakfast, and come here to me." + +I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they were. I +had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strength. I +felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at +what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over +and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how +she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign anywhere to +show for it. I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, +sleeping and waking, my thoughts always came back to the little +punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their +edges--tiny though they were. + +Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well and +strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before. When Van Helsing +had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge, with strict +injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment. I could hear his +voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest telegraph office. + +Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that anything +had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested. When her mother +came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change whatever, but +said to me gratefully:-- + +"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you really +must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking pale +yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit; that you +do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only momentarily, +for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long such an unwonted +drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned +imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my +lips; with a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows. + +Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me: +"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself strong. I +stay here to-night, and I shall sit up with little miss myself. You and +I must watch the case, and we must have none other to know. I have grave +reasons. No, do not ask them; think what you will. Do not fear to think +even the most not-probable. Good-night." + +In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either of +them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to let them; and +when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either he or I should sit +up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the "foreign +gentleman." I was much touched by their kindness. Perhaps it is because +I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on Lucy's account, that +their devotion was manifested; for over and over again have I seen +similar instances of woman's kindness. I got back here in time for a +late dinner; went my rounds--all well; and set this down whilst waiting +for sleep. It is coming. + + * * * * * + +_11 September._--This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found Van +Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly after I had +arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor. He opened it +with much impressment--assumed, of course--and showed a great bundle of +white flowers. + +"These are for you, Miss Lucy," he said. + +"For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!" + +"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are medicines." Here +Lucy made a wry face. "Nay, but they are not to take in a decoction or +in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming nose, or I shall +point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have to endure in seeing +so much beauty that he so loves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, +that bring the so nice nose all straight again. This is medicinal, but +you do not know how. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and +hang him round your neck, so that you sleep well. Oh yes! they, like the +lotus flower, make your trouble forgotten. It smell so like the waters +of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought +for in the Floridas, and find him all too late." + +Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and smelling +them. Now she threw them down, saying, with half-laughter, and +half-disgust:-- + +"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why, +these flowers are only common garlic." + +To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his +iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:-- + +"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do; +and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of +others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she might +well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my dear, do not fear +me. I only do for your good; but there is much virtue to you in those so +common flowers. See, I place them myself in your room. I make myself the +wreath that you are to wear. But hush! no telling to others that make so +inquisitive questions. We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience; +and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait +for you. Now sit still awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall +help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, +where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year. +I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here." + +We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's +actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia +that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them +securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over +the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get +in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed +all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round +the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and +presently I said:-- + +"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but +this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he +would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit." + +"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which +Lucy was to wear round her neck. + +We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she +was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her +neck. The last words he said to her were:-- + +"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close, do +not to-night open the window or the door." + +"I promise," said Lucy, "and thank you both a thousand times for all +your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such +friends?" + +As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said:-- + +"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want--two nights of travel, +much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow, +and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the morning early +you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much +more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho! ho!" + +He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights +before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror. It must +have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but +I felt it all the more, like unshed tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + + +_12 September._--How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. +Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He +positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been +right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread +being alone to-night, and I can go to sleep without fear. I shall not +mind any flapping outside the window. Oh, the terrible struggle that I +have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, +or the pain of the fear of sleep, with such unknown horrors as it has +for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no +dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings +nothing but sweet dreams. Well, here I am to-night, hoping for sleep, +and lying like Ophelia in the play, with "virgin crants and maiden +strewments." I never liked garlic before, but to-night it is delightful! +There is peace in its smell; I feel sleep coming already. Good-night, +everybody. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_13 September._--Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual, +up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting. The +Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now. + +Let all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at +eight o'clock. It was a lovely morning; the bright sunshine and all the +fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of nature's +annual work. The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, +but had not yet begun to drop from the trees. When we entered we met +Mrs. Westenra coming out of the morning room. She is always an early +riser. She greeted us warmly and said:-- + +"You will be glad to know that Lucy is better. The dear child is still +asleep. I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go in, lest I +should disturb her." The Professor smiled, and looked quite jubilant. He +rubbed his hands together, and said:-- + +"Aha! I thought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working," to +which she answered:-- + +"You must not take all the credit to yourself, doctor. Lucy's state this +morning is due in part to me." + +"How you do mean, ma'am?" asked the Professor. + +"Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went into +her room. She was sleeping soundly--so soundly that even my coming did +not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There were a lot of those +horrible, strong-smelling flowers about everywhere, and she had actually +a bunch of them round her neck. I feared that the heavy odour would be +too much for the dear child in her weak state, so I took them all away +and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh air. You will be +pleased with her, I am sure." + +She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted early. As +she had spoken, I watched the Professor's face, and saw it turn ashen +grey. He had been able to retain his self-command whilst the poor lady +was present, for he knew her state and how mischievous a shock would be; +he actually smiled on her as he held open the door for her to pass into +her room. But the instant she had disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and +forcibly, into the dining-room and closed the door. + +Then, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break down. He +raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then beat +his palms together in a helpless way; finally he sat down on a chair, +and putting his hands before his face, began to sob, with loud, dry sobs +that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart. Then he raised +his arms again, as though appealing to the whole universe. "God! God! +God!" he said. "What have we done, what has this poor thing done, that +we are so sore beset? Is there fate amongst us still, sent down from the +pagan world of old, that such things must be, and in such way? This poor +mother, all unknowing, and all for the best as she think, does such +thing as lose her daughter body and soul; and we must not tell her, we +must not even warn her, or she die, and then both die. Oh, how we are +beset! How are all the powers of the devils against us!" Suddenly he +jumped to his feet. "Come," he said, "come, we must see and act. Devils +or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him +all the same." He went to the hall-door for his bag; and together we +went up to Lucy's room. + +Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards the bed. +This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face with the same +awful, waxen pallor as before. He wore a look of stern sadness and +infinite pity. + +"As I expected," he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of his which +meant so much. Without a word he went and locked the door, and then +began to set out on the little table the instruments for yet another +operation of transfusion of blood. I had long ago recognised the +necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he stopped me with a +warning hand. "No!" he said. "To-day you must operate. I shall provide. +You are weakened already." As he spoke he took off his coat and rolled +up his shirt-sleeve. + +Again the operation; again the narcotic; again some return of colour to +the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep. This time I +watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and rested. + +Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she must +not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him; that the +flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of their odour +was a part of the system of cure. Then he took over the care of the case +himself, saying that he would watch this night and the next and would +send me word when to come. + +After another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright and +seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal. + +What does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of life +amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_17 September._--Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so strong +again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed through some +long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and +feel the fresh air of the morning around me. I have a dim +half-remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing; darkness +in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present distress +more poignant: and then long spells of oblivion, and the rising back to +life as a diver coming up through a great press of water. Since, +however, Dr. Van Helsing has been with me, all this bad dreaming seems +to have passed away; the noises that used to frighten me out of my +wits--the flapping against the windows, the distant voices which seemed +so close to me, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and +commanded me to do I know not what--have all ceased. I go to bed now +without any fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown +quite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day from +Haarlem. To-night Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to be for a +day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched; I am well enough to be left +alone. Thank God for mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our +friends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change, for +last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time. I found +him asleep twice when I awoke; but I did not fear to go to sleep again, +although the boughs or bats or something napped almost angrily against +the window-panes. + + +_"The Pall Mall Gazette," 18 September._ + + THE ESCAPED WOLF. + + PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER. + + _Interview with the Keeper in the Zoölogical Gardens._ + +After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and perpetually using +the words "Pall Mall Gazette" as a sort of talisman, I managed to find +the keeper of the section of the Zoölogical Gardens in which the wolf +department is included. Thomas Bilder lives in one of the cottages in +the enclosure behind the elephant-house, and was just sitting down to +his tea when I found him. Thomas and his wife are hospitable folk, +elderly, and without children, and if the specimen I enjoyed of their +hospitality be of the average kind, their lives must be pretty +comfortable. The keeper would not enter on what he called "business" +until the supper was over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the +table was cleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said:-- + +"Now, sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want. You'll excoose me +refoosin' to talk of perfeshunal subjects afore meals. I gives the +wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section their tea afore +I begins to arsk them questions." + +"How do you mean, ask them questions?" I queried, wishful to get him +into a talkative humour. + +"'Ittin' of them over the 'ead with a pole is one way; scratchin' of +their hears is another, when gents as is flush wants a bit of a show-orf +to their gals. I don't so much mind the fust--the 'ittin' with a pole +afore I chucks in their dinner; but I waits till they've 'ad their +sherry and kawffee, so to speak, afore I tries on with the +ear-scratchin'. Mind you," he added philosophically, "there's a deal of +the same nature in us as in them theer animiles. Here's you a-comin' and +arskin' of me questions about my business, and I that grumpy-like that +only for your bloomin' 'arf-quid I'd 'a' seen you blowed fust 'fore I'd +answer. Not even when you arsked me sarcastic-like if I'd like you to +arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me questions. Without offence +did I tell yer to go to 'ell?" + +"You did." + +"An' when you said you'd report me for usin' of obscene language that +was 'ittin' me over the 'ead; but the 'arf-quid made that all right. I +weren't a-goin' to fight, so I waited for the food, and did with my 'owl +as the wolves, and lions, and tigers does. But, Lor' love yer 'art, now +that the old 'ooman has stuck a chunk of her tea-cake in me, an' rinsed +me out with her bloomin' old teapot, and I've lit hup, you may scratch +my ears for all you're worth, and won't git even a growl out of me. +Drive along with your questions. I know what yer a-comin' at, that 'ere +escaped wolf." + +"Exactly. I want you to give me your view of it. Just tell me how it +happened; and when I know the facts I'll get you to say what you +consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole affair will +end." + +"All right, guv'nor. This 'ere is about the 'ole story. That 'ere wolf +what we called Bersicker was one of three grey ones that came from +Norway to Jamrach's, which we bought off him four years ago. He was a +nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk of. I'm more +surprised at 'im for wantin' to get out nor any other animile in the +place. But, there, you can't trust wolves no more nor women." + +"Don't you mind him, sir!" broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery laugh. "'E's +got mindin' the animiles so long that blest if he ain't like a old wolf +'isself! But there ain't no 'arm in 'im." + +"Well, sir, it was about two hours after feedin' yesterday when I first +hear my disturbance. I was makin' up a litter in the monkey-house for a +young puma which is ill; but when I heard the yelpin' and 'owlin' I kem +away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin' like a mad thing at the +bars as if he wanted to get out. There wasn't much people about that +day, and close at hand was only one man, a tall, thin chap, with a 'ook +nose and a pointed beard, with a few white hairs runnin' through it. He +had a 'ard, cold look and red eyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, +for it seemed as if it was 'im as they was hirritated at. He 'ad white +kid gloves on 'is 'ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says: +'Keeper, these wolves seem upset at something.' + +"'Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he give +'isself. He didn't git angry, as I 'oped he would, but he smiled a kind +of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. 'Oh no, they +wouldn't like me,' 'e says. + +"'Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin' of him. 'They always likes a +bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea-time, which you 'as a +bagful.' + +"Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us a-talkin' they +lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let me stroke his ears +same as ever. That there man kem over, and blessed but if he didn't put +in his hand and stroke the old wolf's ears too! + +"'Tyke care,' says I. 'Bersicker is quick.' + +"'Never mind,' he says. 'I'm used to 'em!' + +"'Are you in the business yourself?' I says, tyking off my 'at, for a +man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to keepers. + +"'No' says he, 'not exactly in the business, but I 'ave made pets of +several.' And with that he lifts his 'at as perlite as a lord, and walks +away. Old Bersicker kep' a-lookin' arter 'im till 'e was out of sight, +and then went and lay down in a corner and wouldn't come hout the 'ole +hevening. Well, larst night, so soon as the moon was hup, the wolves +here all began a-'owling. There warn't nothing for them to 'owl at. +There warn't no one near, except some one that was evidently a-callin' a +dog somewheres out back of the gardings in the Park road. Once or twice +I went out to see that all was right, and it was, and then the 'owling +stopped. Just before twelve o'clock I just took a look round afore +turnin' in, an', bust me, but when I kem opposite to old Bersicker's +cage I see the rails broken and twisted about and the cage empty. And +that's all I know for certing." + +"Did any one else see anything?" + +"One of our gard'ners was a-comin' 'ome about that time from a 'armony, +when he sees a big grey dog comin' out through the garding 'edges. At +least, so he says, but I don't give much for it myself, for if he did 'e +never said a word about it to his missis when 'e got 'ome, and it was +only after the escape of the wolf was made known, and we had been up all +night-a-huntin' of the Park for Bersicker, that he remembered seein' +anything. My own belief was that the 'armony 'ad got into his 'ead." + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape of the +wolf?" + +"Well, sir," he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, "I think I can; +but I don't know as 'ow you'd be satisfied with the theory." + +"Certainly I shall. If a man like you, who knows the animals from +experience, can't hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even to try?" + +"Well then, sir, I accounts for it this way; it seems to me that 'ere +wolf escaped--simply because he wanted to get out." + +From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the joke I +could see that it had done service before, and that the whole +explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I couldn't cope in badinage +with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way to his heart, +so I said:-- + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, we'll consider that first half-sovereign worked off, +and this brother of his is waiting to be claimed when you've told me +what you think will happen." + +"Right y'are, sir," he said briskly. "Ye'll excoose me, I know, for +a-chaffin' of ye, but the old woman here winked at me, which was as much +as telling me to go on." + +"Well, I never!" said the old lady. + +"My opinion is this: that 'ere wolf is a-'idin' of, somewheres. The +gard'ner wot didn't remember said he was a-gallopin' northward faster +than a horse could go; but I don't believe him, for, yer see, sir, +wolves don't gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein' built that +way. Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay when they gets +in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more afeared than they is +they can make a devil of a noise and chop it up, whatever it is. But, +Lor' bless you, in real life a wolf is only a low creature, not half so +clever or bold as a good dog; and not half a quarter so much fight in +'im. This one ain't been used to fightin' or even to providin' for +hisself, and more like he's somewhere round the Park a-'idin' an' +a-shiverin' of, and, if he thinks at all, wonderin' where he is to get +his breakfast from; or maybe he's got down some area and is in a +coal-cellar. My eye, won't some cook get a rum start when she sees his +green eyes a-shining at her out of the dark! If he can't get food he's +bound to look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher's +shop in time. If he doesn't, and some nursemaid goes a-walkin' orf with +a soldier, leavin' of the hinfant in the perambulator--well, then I +shouldn't be surprised if the census is one babby the less. That's +all." + +I was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came bobbing up +against the window, and Mr. Bilder's face doubled its natural length +with surprise. + +"God bless me!" he said. "If there ain't old Bersicker come back by +'isself!" + +He went to the door and opened it; a most unnecessary proceeding it +seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so +well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us; a +personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea. + +After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither Bilder nor +his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a dog. The animal +itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all +picture-wolves--Red Riding Hood's quondam friend, whilst moving her +confidence in masquerade. + +The whole scene was an unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos. The +wicked wolf that for half a day had paralysed London and set all the +children in the town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of +penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine +prodigal son. Old Bilder examined him all over with most tender +solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent said:-- + +"There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of trouble; +didn't I say it all along? Here's his head all cut and full of broken +glass. 'E's been a-gettin' over some bloomin' wall or other. It's a +shyme that people are allowed to top their walls with broken bottles. +This 'ere's what comes of it. Come along, Bersicker." + +He took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece of meat that +satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary conditions of the +fatted calf, and went off to report. + +I came off, too, to report the only exclusive information that is given +to-day regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_17 September._--I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up my +books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to Lucy, +had fallen sadly into arrear. Suddenly the door was burst open, and in +rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion. I was +thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord +into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown. Without an instant's +pause he made straight at me. He had a dinner-knife in his hand, and, +as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to keep the table between us. He was +too quick and too strong for me, however; for before I could get my +balance he had struck at me and cut my left wrist rather severely. +Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right and he was +sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled freely, and quite a +little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw that my friend was not +intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist, +keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time. When the +attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his employment +positively sickened me. He was lying on his belly on the floor licking +up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was +easily secured, and, to my surprise, went with the attendants quite +placidly, simply repeating over and over again: "The blood is the life! +The blood is the life!" + +I cannot afford to lose blood just at present; I have lost too much of +late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of Lucy's +illness and its horrible phases is telling on me. I am over-excited and +weary, and I need rest, rest, rest. Happily Van Helsing has not summoned +me, so I need not forego my sleep; to-night I could not well do without +it. + + +_Telegram, Van Helsing, Antwerp, to Seward, Carfax._ + +(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given; delivered late by +twenty-two hours.) + +"_17 September._--Do not fail to be at Hillingham to-night. If not +watching all the time frequently, visit and see that flowers are as +placed; very important; do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as +possible after arrival." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_18 September._--Just off for train to London. The arrival of Van +Helsing's telegram filled me with dismay. A whole night lost, and I know +by bitter experience what may happen in a night. Of course it is +possible that all may be well, but what _may_ have happened? Surely +there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every possible accident +should thwart us in all we try to do. I shall take this cylinder with +me, and then I can complete my entry on Lucy's phonograph. + + +_Memorandum left by Lucy Westenra._ + +_17 September. Night._--I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no +one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact +record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and +have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the +doing. + +I went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were placed as Dr. +Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep. + +I was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after that +sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and which now I +know so well. I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr. Seward was in +the next room--as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be--so that I might have +called him. I tried to go to sleep, but could not. Then there came to me +the old fear of sleep, and I determined to keep awake. Perversely sleep +would try to come then when I did not want it; so, as I feared to be +alone, I opened my door and called out: "Is there anybody there?" There +was no answer. I was afraid to wake mother, and so closed my door again. +Then outside in the shrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog's, but +more fierce and deeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could +see nothing, except a big bat, which had evidently been buffeting its +wings against the window. So I went back to bed again, but determined +not to go to sleep. Presently the door opened, and mother looked in; +seeing by my moving that I was not asleep, came in, and sat by me. She +said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont:-- + +"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you were all +right." + +I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to come in +and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down beside me; she did +not take off her dressing gown, for she said she would only stay a while +and then go back to her own bed. As she lay there in my arms, and I in +hers, the flapping and buffeting came to the window again. She was +startled and a little frightened, and cried out: "What is that?" I tried +to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet; but I could +hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly. After a while there was +the low howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly after there was a +crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass was hurled on the floor. +The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the +aperture of the broken panes there was the head of a great, gaunt grey +wolf. Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting +posture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her. Amongst +other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing +insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me. For a +second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was a strange +and horrible gurgling in her throat; then she fell over--as if struck +with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and made me dizzy for a +moment or two. The room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my +eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole +myriad of little specks seemed to come blowing in through the broken +window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that +travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I tried to +stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear mother's poor body, +which seemed to grow cold already--for her dear heart had ceased to +beat--weighed me down; and I remembered no more for a while. + +The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered +consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling; the +dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling; and in our shrubbery, +seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing. I was dazed and +stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the sound of the +nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort +me. The sounds seemed to have awakened the maids, too, for I could hear +their bare feet pattering outside my door. I called to them, and they +came in, and when they saw what had happened, and what it was that lay +over me on the bed, they screamed out. The wind rushed in through the +broken window, and the door slammed to. They lifted off the body of my +dear mother, and laid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I +had got up. They were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them +to go to the dining-room and have each a glass of wine. The door flew +open for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then went +in a body to the dining-room; and I laid what flowers I had on my dear +mother's breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr. Van Helsing +had told me, but I didn't like to remove them, and, besides, I would +have some of the servants to sit up with me now. I was surprised that +the maids did not come back. I called them, but got no answer, so I went +to the dining-room to look for them. + +My heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay helpless +on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry was on the table +half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about. I was suspicious, +and examined the decanter. It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the +sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for +her--oh! did use--was empty. What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back +in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for +the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I +dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the +broken window. + +The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from +the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God +shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, +where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother +gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not +survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_18 September._--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early. +Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently +and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy or her +mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door. After a while, +finding no response, I knocked and rang again; still no answer. I cursed +the laziness of the servants that they should lie abed at such an +hour--for it was now ten o'clock--and so rang and knocked again, but +more impatiently, but still without response. Hitherto I had blamed only +the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me. Was this +desolation but another link in the chain of doom which seemed drawing +tight around us? Was it indeed a house of death to which I had come, too +late? I knew that minutes, even seconds of delay, might mean hours of +danger to Lucy, if she had had again one of those frightful relapses; +and I went round the house to try if I could find by chance an entry +anywhere. + +I could find no means of ingress. Every window and door was fastened and +locked, and I returned baffled to the porch. As I did so, I heard the +rapid pit-pat of a swiftly driven horse's feet. They stopped at the +gate, and a few seconds later I met Van Helsing running up the avenue. +When he saw me, he gasped out:-- + +"Then it was you, and just arrived. How is she? Are we too late? Did you +not get my telegram?" + +I answered as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got his +telegram early in the morning, and had not lost a minute in coming here, +and that I could not make any one in the house hear me. He paused and +raised his hat as he said solemnly:-- + +"Then I fear we are too late. God's will be done!" With his usual +recuperative energy, he went on: "Come. If there be no way open to get +in, we must make one. Time is all in all to us now." + +We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen +window. The Professor took a small surgical saw from his case, and +handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window. I +attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them. Then +with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the sashes and +opened the window. I helped the Professor in, and followed him. There +was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which were close at +hand. We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in the dining-room, +dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters, found four +servant-women lying on the floor. There was no need to think them dead, +for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the +room left no doubt as to their condition. Van Helsing and I looked at +each other, and as we moved away he said: "We can attend to them later." +Then we ascended to Lucy's room. For an instant or two we paused at the +door to listen, but there was no sound that we could hear. With white +faces and trembling hands, we opened the door gently, and entered the +room. + +How shall I describe what we saw? On the bed lay two women, Lucy and her +mother. The latter lay farthest in, and she was covered with a white +sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the draught through the +broken window, showing the drawn, white face, with a look of terror +fixed upon it. By her side lay Lucy, with face white and still more +drawn. The flowers which had been round her neck we found upon her +mother's bosom, and her throat was bare, showing the two little wounds +which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white and mangled. +Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head almost touching +poor Lucy's breast; then he gave a quick turn of his head, as of one who +listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to me:-- + +"It is not yet too late! Quick! quick! Bring the brandy!" + +I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste +it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I found +on the table. The maids were still breathing, but more restlessly, and I +fancied that the narcotic was wearing off. I did not stay to make sure, +but returned to Van Helsing. He rubbed the brandy, as on another +occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists and the palms of her +hands. He said to me:-- + +"I can do this, all that can be at the present. You go wake those maids. +Flick them in the face with a wet towel, and flick them hard. Make them +get heat and fire and a warm bath. This poor soul is nearly as cold as +that beside her. She will need be heated before we can do anything +more." + +I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the +women. The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently +affected her more strongly, so I lifted her on the sofa and let her +sleep. The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to +them they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner. I was stern with +them, however, and would not let them talk. I told them that one life +was bad enough to lose, and that if they delayed they would sacrifice +Miss Lucy. So, sobbing and crying, they went about their way, half clad +as they were, and prepared fire and water. Fortunately, the kitchen and +boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water. We +got a bath and carried Lucy out as she was and placed her in it. Whilst +we were busy chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall door. One +of the maids ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and opened it. Then +she returned and whispered to us that there was a gentleman who had come +with a message from Mr. Holmwood. I bade her simply tell him that he +must wait, for we could see no one now. She went away with the message, +and, engrossed with our work, I clean forgot all about him. + +I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly +earnest. I knew--as he knew--that it was a stand-up fight with death, +and in a pause told him so. He answered me in a way that I did not +understand, but with the sternest look that his face could wear:-- + +"If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her fade +away into peace, for I see no light in life over her horizon." He went +on with his work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied vigour. + +Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to +be of some effect. Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the +stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement. Van Helsing's +face almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her in +a hot sheet to dry her he said to me:-- + +"The first gain is ours! Check to the King!" + +We took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and laid +her in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat. I noticed +that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round her throat. She was +still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not worse than, we had +ever seen her. + +Van Helsing called in one of the women, and told her to stay with her +and not to take her eyes off her till we returned, and then beckoned me +out of the room. + +"We must consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended the +stairs. In the hall he opened the dining-room door, and we passed in, he +closing the door carefully behind him. The shutters had been opened, but +the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the etiquette of +death which the British woman of the lower classes always rigidly +observes. The room was, therefore, dimly dark. It was, however, light +enough for our purposes. Van Helsing's sternness was somewhat relieved +by a look of perplexity. He was evidently torturing his mind about +something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke:-- + +"What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help? We must have +another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life +won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted already; I am +exhausted too. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have +courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his +veins for her?" + +"What's the matter with me, anyhow?" + +The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought +relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris. Van +Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but his face softened and a +glad look came into his eyes as I cried out: "Quincey Morris!" and +rushed towards him with outstretched hands. + +"What brought you here?" I cried as our hands met. + +"I guess Art is the cause." + +He handed me a telegram:-- + +"Have not heard from Seward for three days, and am terribly anxious. +Cannot leave. Father still in same condition. Send me word how Lucy is. +Do not delay.--HOLMWOOD." + +"I think I came just in the nick of time. You know you have only to tell +me what to do." + +Van Helsing strode forward, and took his hand, looking him straight in +the eyes as he said:-- + +"A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in +trouble. You're a man and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against +us for all he's worth, but God sends us men when we want them." + +Once again we went through that ghastly operation. I have not the heart +to go through with the details. Lucy had got a terrible shock and it +told on her more than before, for though plenty of blood went into her +veins, her body did not respond to the treatment as well as on the other +occasions. Her struggle back into life was something frightful to see +and hear. However, the action of both heart and lungs improved, and Van +Helsing made a subcutaneous injection of morphia, as before, and with +good effect. Her faint became a profound slumber. The Professor watched +whilst I went downstairs with Quincey Morris, and sent one of the maids +to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting. I left Quincey lying down +after having a glass of wine, and told the cook to get ready a good +breakfast. Then a thought struck me, and I went back to the room where +Lucy now was. When I came softly in, I found Van Helsing with a sheet or +two of note-paper in his hand. He had evidently read it, and was +thinking it over as he sat with his hand to his brow. There was a look +of grim satisfaction in his face, as of one who has had a doubt solved. +He handed me the paper saying only: "It dropped from Lucy's breast when +we carried her to the bath." + +When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause +asked him: "In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, +mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it?" I was so bewildered that I +did not know what to say more. Van Helsing put out his hand and took the +paper, saying:-- + +"Do not trouble about it now. Forget it for the present. You shall know +and understand it all in good time; but it will be later. And now what +is it that you came to me to say?" This brought me back to fact, and I +was all myself again. + +"I came to speak about the certificate of death. If we do not act +properly and wisely, there may be an inquest, and that paper would have +to be produced. I am in hopes that we need have no inquest, for if we +had it would surely kill poor Lucy, if nothing else did. I know, and you +know, and the other doctor who attended her knows, that Mrs. Westenra +had disease of the heart, and we can certify that she died of it. Let us +fill up the certificate at once, and I shall take it myself to the +registrar and go on to the undertaker." + +"Good, oh my friend John! Well thought of! Truly Miss Lucy, if she be +sad in the foes that beset her, is at least happy in the friends that +love her. One, two, three, all open their veins for her, besides one old +man. Ah yes, I know, friend John; I am not blind! I love you all the +more for it! Now go." + +In the hall I met Quincey Morris, with a telegram for Arthur telling him +that Mrs. Westenra was dead; that Lucy also had been ill, but was now +going on better; and that Van Helsing and I were with her. I told him +where I was going, and he hurried me out, but as I was going said:-- + +"When you come back, Jack, may I have two words with you all to +ourselves?" I nodded in reply and went out. I found no difficulty about +the registration, and arranged with the local undertaker to come up in +the evening to measure for the coffin and to make arrangements. + +When I got back Quincey was waiting for me. I told him I would see him +as soon as I knew about Lucy, and went up to her room. She was still +sleeping, and the Professor seemingly had not moved from his seat at her +side. From his putting his finger to his lips, I gathered that he +expected her to wake before long and was afraid of forestalling nature. +So I went down to Quincey and took him into the breakfast-room, where +the blinds were not drawn down, and which was a little more cheerful, or +rather less cheerless, than the other rooms. When we were alone, he said +to me:-- + +"Jack Seward, I don't want to shove myself in anywhere where I've no +right to be; but this is no ordinary case. You know I loved that girl +and wanted to marry her; but, although that's all past and gone, I can't +help feeling anxious about her all the same. What is it that's wrong +with her? The Dutchman--and a fine old fellow he is; I can see +that--said, that time you two came into the room, that you must have +_another_ transfusion of blood, and that both you and he were exhausted. +Now I know well that you medical men speak _in camera_, and that a man +must not expect to know what they consult about in private. But this is +no common matter, and, whatever it is, I have done my part. Is not that +so?" + +"That's so," I said, and he went on:-- + +"I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did +to-day. Is not that so?" + +"That's so." + +"And I guess Art was in it too. When I saw him four days ago down at his +own place he looked queer. I have not seen anything pulled down so quick +since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of go to grass +all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at +her in the night, and what with his gorge and the vein left open, there +wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up, and I had to put a +bullet through her as she lay. Jack, if you may tell me without +betraying confidence, Arthur was the first, is not that so?" As he spoke +the poor fellow looked terribly anxious. He was in a torture of suspense +regarding the woman he loved, and his utter ignorance of the terrible +mystery which seemed to surround her intensified his pain. His very +heart was bleeding, and it took all the manhood of him--and there was a +royal lot of it, too--to keep him from breaking down. I paused before +answering, for I felt that I must not betray anything which the +Professor wished kept secret; but already he knew so much, and guessed +so much, that there could be no reason for not answering, so I answered +in the same phrase: "That's so." + +"And how long has this been going on?" + +"About ten days." + +"Ten days! Then I guess, Jack Seward, that that poor pretty creature +that we all love has had put into her veins within that time the blood +of four strong men. Man alive, her whole body wouldn't hold it." Then, +coming close to me, he spoke in a fierce half-whisper: "What took it +out?" + +I shook my head. "That," I said, "is the crux. Van Helsing is simply +frantic about it, and I am at my wits' end. I can't even hazard a guess. +There has been a series of little circumstances which have thrown out +all our calculations as to Lucy being properly watched. But these shall +not occur again. Here we stay until all be well--or ill." Quincey held +out his hand. "Count me in," he said. "You and the Dutchman will tell me +what to do, and I'll do it." + +When she woke late in the afternoon, Lucy's first movement was to feel +in her breast, and, to my surprise, produced the paper which Van Helsing +had given me to read. The careful Professor had replaced it where it had +come from, lest on waking she should be alarmed. Her eye then lit on Van +Helsing and on me too, and gladdened. Then she looked around the room, +and seeing where she was, shuddered; she gave a loud cry, and put her +poor thin hands before her pale face. We both understood what that +meant--that she had realised to the full her mother's death; so we tried +what we could to comfort her. Doubtless sympathy eased her somewhat, but +she was very low in thought and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for +a long time. We told her that either or both of us would now remain with +her all the time, and that seemed to comfort her. Towards dusk she fell +into a doze. Here a very odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep she +took the paper from her breast and tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped +over and took the pieces from her. All the same, however, she went on +with the action of tearing, as though the material were still in her +hands; finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though scattering +the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered as +if in thought, but he said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_19 September._--All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid +to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it. The Professor and +I took it in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment +unattended. Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I knew +that all night long he patrolled round and round the house. + +When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucy's +strength. She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little +nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good. At times she +slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her, between +sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep she looked stronger, although more +haggard, and her breathing was softer; her open mouth showed the pale +gums drawn back from the teeth, which thus looked positively longer and +sharper than usual; when she woke the softness of her eyes evidently +changed the expression, for she looked her own self, although a dying +one. In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him. +Quincey went off to meet him at the station. + +When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full +and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more +colour to the pale cheeks. When he saw her, Arthur was simply choking +with emotion, and none of us could speak. In the hours that had passed, +the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had +grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible +were shortened. Arthur's presence, however, seemed to act as a +stimulant; she rallied a little, and spoke to him more brightly than she +had done since we arrived. He too pulled himself together, and spoke as +cheerily as he could, so that the best was made of everything. + +It was now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with +her. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering +this on Lucy's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I +fear that to-morrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too +great; the poor child cannot rally. God help us all. + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_17 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"It seems _an age_ since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote. You +will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when you have read all my +budget of news. Well, I got my husband back all right; when we arrived +at Exeter there was a carriage waiting for us, and in it, though he had +an attack of gout, Mr. Hawkins. He took us to his house, where there +were rooms for us all nice and comfortable, and we dined together. After +dinner Mr. Hawkins said:-- + +"'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity; and may every +blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with +love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here +with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child; all are gone, and in +my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and +the old man clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one. + +"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my +bedroom and the drawing-room I can see the great elms of the cathedral +close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow +stone of the cathedral and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and +cawing and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of +rooks--and humans. I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging things and +housekeeping. Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all day; for, now that +Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to tell him all about the +clients. + +"How is your dear mother getting on? I wish I could run up to town for a +day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not go yet, with so much on my +shoulders; and Jonathan wants looking after still. He is beginning to +put some flesh on his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the +long illness; even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in a sudden +way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him back to his usual +placidity. However, thank God, these occasions grow less frequent as the +days go on, and they will in time pass away altogether, I trust. And now +I have told you my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, +and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, +and is it to be a public or a private wedding? Tell me all about it, +dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests +you which will not be dear to me. Jonathan asks me to send his +'respectful duty,' but I do not think that is good enough from the +junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker; and so, as you +love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses +of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead. Good-bye, my dearest +Lucy, and all blessings on you. + +"Yours, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Report from Patrick Hennessey, M. D., M. R. C. S. L. K. Q. C. P. I., +etc., etc., to John Seward, M. D._ + +"_20 September._ + +"My dear Sir,-- + +"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the conditions of +everything left in my charge.... With regard to patient, Renfield, there +is more to say. He has had another outbreak, which might have had a +dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately happened, was unattended +with any unhappy results. This afternoon a carrier's cart with two men +made a call at the empty house whose grounds abut on ours--the house to +which, you will remember, the patient twice ran away. The men stopped at +our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers. I was +myself looking out of the study window, having a smoke after dinner, and +saw one of them come up to the house. As he passed the window of +Renfield's room, the patient began to rate him from within, and called +him all the foul names he could lay his tongue to. The man, who seemed a +decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling him to "shut up for a +foul-mouthed beggar," whereon our man accused him of robbing him and +wanting to murder him and said that he would hinder him if he were to +swing for it. I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, +so he contented himself after looking the place over and making up his +mind as to what kind of a place he had got to by saying: 'Lor' bless +yer, sir, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin' madhouse. I +pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the house with a wild +beast like that.' Then he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him +where the gate of the empty house was; he went away, followed by threats +and curses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I could +make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a +well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind had +ever occurred. I found him, to my astonishment, quite composed and most +genial in his manner. I tried to get him to talk of the incident, but he +blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe +that he was completely oblivious of the affair. It was, I am sorry to +say, however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an +hour I heard of him again. This time he had broken out through the +window of his room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the +attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I feared he was intent +on some mischief. My fear was justified when I saw the same cart which +had passed before coming down the road, having on it some great wooden +boxes. The men were wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the +face, as if with violent exercise. Before I could get up to him the +patient rushed at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to +knock his head against the ground. If I had not seized him just at the +moment I believe he would have killed the man there and then. The other +fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt-end of his +heavy whip. It was a terrible blow; but he did not seem to mind it, but +seized him also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and +fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no light weight, and the others +were both burly men. At first he was silent in his fighting; but as we +began to master him, and the attendants were putting a strait-waistcoat +on him, he began to shout: 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me! +they shan't murder me by inches! I'll fight for my Lord and Master!' and +all sorts of similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable +difficulty that they got him back to the house and put him in the padded +room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken. However, I set +it all right; and he is going on well. + +"The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of actions for +damages, and promised to rain all the penalties of the law on us. Their +threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for +the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman. They said that if it +had not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying and +raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made short work of +him. They gave as another reason for their defeat the extraordinary +state of drouth to which they had been reduced by the dusty nature of +their occupation and the reprehensible distance from the scene of their +labours of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their +drift, and after a stiff glass of grog, or rather more of the same, and +with each a sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore +that they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of +meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent. I took their +names and addresses, in case they might be needed. They are as +follows:--Jack Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, King George's Road, Great +Walworth, and Thomas Snelling, Peter Farley's Row, Guide Court, Bethnal +Green. They are both in the employment of Harris & Sons, Moving and +Shipment Company, Orange Master's Yard, Soho. + +"I shall report to you any matter of interest occurring here, and shall +wire you at once if there is anything of importance. + +"Believe me, dear Sir, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"PATRICK HENNESSEY." + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra_. + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_18 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly. +Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had both come to so love him +that it really seems as though we had lost a father. I never knew either +father or mother, so that the dear old man's death is a real blow to me. +Jonathan is greatly distressed. It is not only that he feels sorrow, +deep sorrow, for the dear, good man who has befriended him all his life, +and now at the end has treated him like his own son and left him a +fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is wealth beyond the +dream of avarice, but Jonathan feels it on another account. He says the +amount of responsibility which it puts upon him makes him nervous. He +begins to doubt himself. I try to cheer him up, and _my_ belief in _him_ +helps him to have a belief in himself. But it is here that the grave +shock that he experienced tells upon him the most. Oh, it is too hard +that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his--a nature which +enabled him by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to master +in a few years--should be so injured that the very essence of its +strength is gone. Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my troubles in +the midst of your own happiness; but, Lucy dear, I must tell some one, +for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan +tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in. I dread coming +up to London, as we must do the day after to-morrow; for poor Mr. +Hawkins left in his will that he was to be buried in the grave with his +father. As there are no relations at all, Jonathan will have to be chief +mourner. I shall try to run over to see you, dearest, if only for a few +minutes. Forgive me for troubling you. With all blessings, + +"Your loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 September._--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry +to-night. I am too miserable, too low-spirited, too sick of the world +and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard +this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death. And he has +been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late--Lucy's mother +and Arthur's father, and now.... Let me get on with my work. + +I duly relieved Van Helsing in his watch over Lucy. We wanted Arthur to +go to rest also, but he refused at first. It was only when I told him +that we should want him to help us during the day, and that we must not +all break down for want of rest, lest Lucy should suffer, that he agreed +to go. Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he said; +"come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much +mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You +must not be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. +Come to the drawing-room, where there is a big fire, and there are two +sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will +be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we +sleep." Arthur went off with him, casting back a longing look on Lucy's +face, which lay in her pillow, almost whiter than the lawn. She lay +quite still, and I looked round the room to see that all was as it +should be. I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, +as in the other, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the +window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk +handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of +the same odorous flowers. Lucy was breathing somewhat stertorously, and +her face was at its worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums. Her +teeth, in the dim, uncertain light, seemed longer and sharper than they +had been in the morning. In particular, by some trick of the light, the +canine teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest. I sat down by her, +and presently she moved uneasily. At the same moment there came a sort +of dull flapping or buffeting at the window. I went over to it softly, +and peeped out by the corner of the blind. There was a full moonlight, +and I could see that the noise was made by a great bat, which wheeled +round--doubtless attracted by the light, although so dim--and every now +and again struck the window with its wings. When I came back to my seat, +I found that Lucy had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic +flowers from her throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and sat +watching her. + +Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had prescribed. +She took but a little, and that languidly. There did not seem to be with +her now the unconscious struggle for life and strength that had hitherto +so marked her illness. It struck me as curious that the moment she +became conscious she pressed the garlic flowers close to her. It was +certainly odd that whenever she got into that lethargic state, with the +stertorous breathing, she put the flowers from her; but that when she +waked she clutched them close. There was no possibility of making any +mistake about this, for in the long hours that followed, she had many +spells of sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times. + +At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Arthur had then fallen +into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on. When he saw Lucy's face +I could hear the sissing indraw of his breath, and he said to me in a +sharp whisper: "Draw up the blind; I want light!" Then he bent down, +and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her carefully. He +removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat. As +he did so he started back, and I could hear his ejaculation, "Mein +Gott!" as it was smothered in his throat. I bent over and looked, too, +and as I noticed some queer chill came over me. + +The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared. + +For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with his face +at its sternest. Then he turned to me and said calmly:-- + +"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark +me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor boy, and +let him come and see the last; he trusts us, and we have promised him." + +I went to the dining-room and waked him. He was dazed for a moment, but +when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters +he thought he was late, and expressed his fear. I assured him that Lucy +was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that both Van +Helsing and I feared that the end was near. He covered his face with his +hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he remained, +perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders +shook with grief. I took him by the hand and raised him up. "Come," I +said, "my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude: it will be best +and easiest for her." + +When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with +his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making +everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed Lucy's +hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples. When we +came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered +softly:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!" He was stooping to +kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back. "No," he whispered, "not +yet! Hold her hand; it will comfort her more." + +So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best, +with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes. Then +gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a little bit her +breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired child's. + +And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in +the night. Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale +gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever. In a +sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which +were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, +such as I had never heard from her lips:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Arthur bent +eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, +had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by +the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which +I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost +across the room. + +"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" And +he stood between them like a lion at bay. + +Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to do +or say; and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realised +the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting. + +I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as +of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champed +together. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily. + +Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and +putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown +one; drawing it to her, she kissed it. "My true friend," she said, in a +faint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend, and his! Oh, +guard him, and give me peace!" + +"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his +hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and said +to him: "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the +forehead, and only once." + +Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted. + +Lucy's eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took +Arthur's arm, and drew him away. + +And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it +ceased. + +"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!" + +I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, where he +sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way that +nearly broke me down to see. + +I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy, and +his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body. +Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had +recovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost their +deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working +of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as +might be. + + "We thought her dying whilst she slept, + And sleeping when she died." + +I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:-- + +"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!" + +He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:-- + +"Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!" + +When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:-- + +"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and +her mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastly +formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff were +afflicted--or blessed--with something of his own obsequious suavity. +Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to +me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out +from the death-chamber:-- + +"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege to +attend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to our +establishment!" + +I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possible from +the disordered state of things in the household. There were no relatives +at hand; and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend at his +father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should have been +bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it upon +ourselves to examine papers, etc. He insisted upon looking over Lucy's +papers himself. I asked him why, for I feared that he, being a +foreigner, might not be quite aware of English legal requirements, and +so might in ignorance make some unnecessary trouble. He answered me:-- + +"I know; I know. You forget that I am a lawyer as well as a doctor. But +this is not altogether for the law. You knew that, when you avoided the +coroner. I have more than him to avoid. There may be papers more--such +as this." + +As he spoke he took from his pocket-book the memorandum which had been +in Lucy's breast, and which she had torn in her sleep. + +"When you find anything of the solicitor who is for the late Mrs. +Westenra, seal all her papers, and write him to-night. For me, I watch +here in the room and in Miss Lucy's old room all night, and I myself +search for what may be. It is not well that her very thoughts go into +the hands of strangers." + +I went on with my part of the work, and in another half hour had found +the name and address of Mrs. Westenra's solicitor and had written to +him. All the poor lady's papers were in order; explicit directions +regarding the place of burial were given. I had hardly sealed the +letter, when, to my surprise, Van Helsing walked into the room, +saying:-- + +"Can I help you, friend John? I am free, and if I may, my service is to +you." + +"Have you got what you looked for?" I asked, to which he replied:-- + +"I did not look for any specific thing. I only hoped to find, and find I +have, all that there was--only some letters and a few memoranda, and a +diary new begun. But I have them here, and we shall for the present say +nothing of them. I shall see that poor lad to-morrow evening, and, with +his sanction, I shall use some." + +When we had finished the work in hand, he said to me:-- + +"And now, friend John, I think we may to bed. We want sleep, both you +and I, and rest to recuperate. To-morrow we shall have much to do, but +for the to-night there is no need of us. Alas!" + +Before turning in we went to look at poor Lucy. The undertaker had +certainly done his work well, for the room was turned into a small +_chapelle ardente_. There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, +and death was made as little repulsive as might be. The end of the +winding-sheet was laid over the face; when the Professor bent over and +turned it gently back, we both started at the beauty before us, the tall +wax candles showing a sufficient light to note it well. All Lucy's +loveliness had come back to her in death, and the hours that had passed, +instead of leaving traces of "decay's effacing fingers," had but +restored the beauty of life, till positively I could not believe my eyes +that I was looking at a corpse. + +The Professor looked sternly grave. He had not loved her as I had, and +there was no need for tears in his eyes. He said to me: "Remain till I +return," and left the room. He came back with a handful of wild garlic +from the box waiting in the hall, but which had not been opened, and +placed the flowers amongst the others on and around the bed. Then he +took from his neck, inside his collar, a little gold crucifix, and +placed it over the mouth. He restored the sheet to its place, and we +came away. + +I was undressing in my own room, when, with a premonitory tap at the +door, he entered, and at once began to speak:-- + +"To-morrow I want you to bring me, before night, a set of post-mortem +knives." + +"Must we make an autopsy?" I asked. + +"Yes and no. I want to operate, but not as you think. Let me tell you +now, but not a word to another. I want to cut off her head and take out +her heart. Ah! you a surgeon, and so shocked! You, whom I have seen with +no tremble of hand or heart, do operations of life and death that make +the rest shudder. Oh, but I must not forget, my dear friend John, that +you loved her; and I have not forgotten it, for it is I that shall +operate, and you must only help. I would like to do it to-night, but for +Arthur I must not; he will be free after his father's funeral to-morrow, +and he will want to see her--to see _it_. Then, when she is coffined +ready for the next day, you and I shall come when all sleep. We shall +unscrew the coffin-lid, and shall do our operation: and then replace +all, so that none know, save we alone." + +"But why do it at all? The girl is dead. Why mutilate her poor body +without need? And if there is no necessity for a post-mortem and nothing +to gain by it--no good to her, to us, to science, to human +knowledge--why do it? Without such it is monstrous." + +For answer he put his hand on my shoulder, and said, with infinite +tenderness:-- + +"Friend John, I pity your poor bleeding heart; and I love you the more +because it does so bleed. If I could, I would take on myself the burden +that you do bear. But there are things that you know not, but that you +shall know, and bless me for knowing, though they are not pleasant +things. John, my child, you have been my friend now many years, and yet +did you ever know me to do any without good cause? I may err--I am but +man; but I believe in all I do. Was it not for these causes that you +send for me when the great trouble came? Yes! Were you not amazed, nay +horrified, when I would not let Arthur kiss his love--though she was +dying--and snatched him away by all my strength? Yes! And yet you saw +how she thanked me, with her so beautiful dying eyes, her voice, too, so +weak, and she kiss my rough old hand and bless me? Yes! And did you not +hear me swear promise to her, that so she closed her eyes grateful? Yes! + +"Well, I have good reason now for all I want to do. You have for many +years trust me; you have believe me weeks past, when there be things so +strange that you might have well doubt. Believe me yet a little, friend +John. If you trust me not, then I must tell what I think; and that is +not perhaps well. And if I work--as work I shall, no matter trust or no +trust--without my friend trust in me, I work with heavy heart and feel, +oh! so lonely when I want all help and courage that may be!" He paused a +moment and went on solemnly: "Friend John, there are strange and +terrible days before us. Let us not be two, but one, that so we work to +a good end. Will you not have faith in me?" + +I took his hand, and promised him. I held my door open as he went away, +and watched him go into his room and close the door. As I stood without +moving, I saw one of the maids pass silently along the passage--she had +her back towards me, so did not see me--and go into the room where Lucy +lay. The sight touched me. Devotion is so rare, and we are so grateful +to those who show it unasked to those we love. Here was a poor girl +putting aside the terrors which she naturally had of death to go watch +alone by the bier of the mistress whom she loved, so that the poor clay +might not be lonely till laid to eternal rest.... + + * * * * * + +I must have slept long and soundly, for it was broad daylight when Van +Helsing waked me by coming into my room. He came over to my bedside and +said:-- + +"You need not trouble about the knives; we shall not do it." + +"Why not?" I asked. For his solemnity of the night before had greatly +impressed me. + +"Because," he said sternly, "it is too late--or too early. See!" Here he +held up the little golden crucifix. "This was stolen in the night." + +"How, stolen," I asked in wonder, "since you have it now?" + +"Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from the +woman who robbed the dead and the living. Her punishment will surely +come, but not through me; she knew not altogether what she did and thus +unknowing, she only stole. Now we must wait." + +He went away on the word, leaving me with a new mystery to think of, a +new puzzle to grapple with. + +The forenoon was a dreary time, but at noon the solicitor came: Mr. +Marquand, of Wholeman, Sons, Marquand & Lidderdale. He was very genial +and very appreciative of what we had done, and took off our hands all +cares as to details. During lunch he told us that Mrs. Westenra had for +some time expected sudden death from her heart, and had put her affairs +in absolute order; he informed us that, with the exception of a certain +entailed property of Lucy's father's which now, in default of direct +issue, went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate, +real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood. When he had +told us so much he went on:-- + +"Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition, and +pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter either +penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a matrimonial +alliance. Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we almost came into +collision, for she asked us if we were or were not prepared to carry out +her wishes. Of course, we had then no alternative but to accept. We were +right in principle, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred we should +have proved, by the logic of events, the accuracy of our judgment. +Frankly, however, I must admit that in this case any other form of +disposition would have rendered impossible the carrying out of her +wishes. For by her predeceasing her daughter the latter would have come +into possession of the property, and, even had she only survived her +mother by five minutes, her property would, in case there were no +will--and a will was a practical impossibility in such a case--have been +treated at her decease as under intestacy. In which case Lord Godalming, +though so dear a friend, would have had no claim in the world; and the +inheritors, being remote, would not be likely to abandon their just +rights, for sentimental reasons regarding an entire stranger. I assure +you, my dear sirs, I am rejoiced at the result, perfectly rejoiced." + +He was a good fellow, but his rejoicing at the one little part--in which +he was officially interested--of so great a tragedy, was an +object-lesson in the limitations of sympathetic understanding. + +He did not remain long, but said he would look in later in the day and +see Lord Godalming. His coming, however, had been a certain comfort to +us, since it assured us that we should not have to dread hostile +criticism as to any of our acts. Arthur was expected at five o'clock, so +a little before that time we visited the death-chamber. It was so in +very truth, for now both mother and daughter lay in it. The undertaker, +true to his craft, had made the best display he could of his goods, and +there was a mortuary air about the place that lowered our spirits at +once. Van Helsing ordered the former arrangement to be adhered to, +explaining that, as Lord Godalming was coming very soon, it would be +less harrowing to his feelings to see all that was left of his _fiancée_ +quite alone. The undertaker seemed shocked at his own stupidity and +exerted himself to restore things to the condition in which we left them +the night before, so that when Arthur came such shocks to his feelings +as we could avoid were saved. + +Poor fellow! He looked desperately sad and broken; even his stalwart +manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his +much-tried emotions. He had, I knew, been very genuinely and devotedly +attached to his father; and to lose him, and at such a time, was a +bitter blow to him. With me he was warm as ever, and to Van Helsing he +was sweetly courteous; but I could not help seeing that there was some +constraint with him. The Professor noticed it, too, and motioned me to +bring him upstairs. I did so, and left him at the door of the room, as I +felt he would like to be quite alone with her, but he took my arm and +led me in, saying huskily:-- + +"You loved her too, old fellow; she told me all about it, and there was +no friend had a closer place in her heart than you. I don't know how to +thank you for all you have done for her. I can't think yet...." + +Here he suddenly broke down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and +laid his head on my breast, crying:-- + +"Oh, Jack! Jack! What shall I do! The whole of life seems gone from me +all at once, and there is nothing in the wide world for me to live for." + +I comforted him as well as I could. In such cases men do not need much +expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the +shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man's +heart. I stood still and silent till his sobs died away, and then I said +softly to him:-- + +"Come and look at her." + +Together we moved over to the bed, and I lifted the lawn from her face. +God! how beautiful she was. Every hour seemed to be enhancing her +loveliness. It frightened and amazed me somewhat; and as for Arthur, he +fell a-trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as with an ague. At +last, after a long pause, he said to me in a faint whisper:-- + +"Jack, is she really dead?" + +I assured him sadly that it was so, and went on to suggest--for I felt +that such a horrible doubt should not have life for a moment longer than +I could help--that it often happened that after death faces became +softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty; that this was +especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or prolonged +suffering. It seemed to quite do away with any doubt, and, after +kneeling beside the couch for a while and looking at her lovingly and +long, he turned aside. I told him that that must be good-bye, as the +coffin had to be prepared; so he went back and took her dead hand in his +and kissed it, and bent over and kissed her forehead. He came away, +fondly looking back over his shoulder at her as he came. + +I left him in the drawing-room, and told Van Helsing that he had said +good-bye; so the latter went to the kitchen to tell the undertaker's men +to proceed with the preparations and to screw up the coffin. When he +came out of the room again I told him of Arthur's question, and he +replied:-- + +"I am not surprised. Just now I doubted for a moment myself!" + +We all dined together, and I could see that poor Art was trying to make +the best of things. Van Helsing had been silent all dinner-time; but +when we had lit our cigars he said-- + +"Lord----"; but Arthur interrupted him:-- + +"No, no, not that, for God's sake! not yet at any rate. Forgive me, sir: +I did not mean to speak offensively; it is only because my loss is so +recent." + +The Professor answered very sweetly:-- + +"I only used that name because I was in doubt. I must not call you +'Mr.,' and I have grown to love you--yes, my dear boy, to love you--as +Arthur." + +Arthur held out his hand, and took the old man's warmly. + +"Call me what you will," he said. "I hope I may always have the title of +a friend. And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for +your goodness to my poor dear." He paused a moment, and went on: "I know +that she understood your goodness even better than I do; and if I was +rude or in any way wanting at that time you acted so--you remember"--the +Professor nodded--"you must forgive me." + +He answered with a grave kindness:-- + +"I know it was hard for you to quite trust me then, for to trust such +violence needs to understand; and I take it that you do not--that you +cannot--trust me now, for you do not yet understand. And there may be +more times when I shall want you to trust when you cannot--and may +not--and must not yet understand. But the time will come when your trust +shall be whole and complete in me, and when you shall understand as +though the sunlight himself shone through. Then you shall bless me from +first to last for your own sake, and for the sake of others and for her +dear sake to whom I swore to protect." + +"And, indeed, indeed, sir," said Arthur warmly, "I shall in all ways +trust you. I know and believe you have a very noble heart, and you are +Jack's friend, and you were hers. You shall do what you like." + +The Professor cleared his throat a couple of times, as though about to +speak, and finally said:-- + +"May I ask you something now?" + +"Certainly." + +"You know that Mrs. Westenra left you all her property?" + +"No, poor dear; I never thought of it." + +"And as it is all yours, you have a right to deal with it as you will. I +want you to give me permission to read all Miss Lucy's papers and +letters. Believe me, it is no idle curiosity. I have a motive of which, +be sure, she would have approved. I have them all here. I took them +before we knew that all was yours, so that no strange hand might touch +them--no strange eye look through words into her soul. I shall keep +them, if I may; even you may not see them yet, but I shall keep them +safe. No word shall be lost; and in the good time I shall give them back +to you. It's a hard thing I ask, but you will do it, will you not, for +Lucy's sake?" + +Arthur spoke out heartily, like his old self:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, you may do what you will. I feel that in saying this I +am doing what my dear one would have approved. I shall not trouble you +with questions till the time comes." + +The old Professor stood up as he said solemnly:-- + +"And you are right. There will be pain for us all; but it will not be +all pain, nor will this pain be the last. We and you too--you most of +all, my dear boy--will have to pass through the bitter water before we +reach the sweet. But we must be brave of heart and unselfish, and do our +duty, and all will be well!" + +I slept on a sofa in Arthur's room that night. Van Helsing did not go to +bed at all. He went to and fro, as if patrolling the house, and was +never out of sight of the room where Lucy lay in her coffin, strewn with +the wild garlic flowers, which sent, through the odour of lily and rose, +a heavy, overpowering smell into the night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_22 September._--In the train to Exeter. Jonathan sleeping. + +It seems only yesterday that the last entry was made, and yet how much +between then, in Whitby and all the world before me, Jonathan away and +no news of him; and now, married to Jonathan, Jonathan a solicitor, a +partner, rich, master of his business, Mr. Hawkins dead and buried, and +Jonathan with another attack that may harm him. Some day he may ask me +about it. Down it all goes. I am rusty in my shorthand--see what +unexpected prosperity does for us--so it may be as well to freshen it up +again with an exercise anyhow.... + +The service was very simple and very solemn. There were only ourselves +and the servants there, one or two old friends of his from Exeter, his +London agent, and a gentleman representing Sir John Paxton, the +President of the Incorporated Law Society. Jonathan and I stood hand in +hand, and we felt that our best and dearest friend was gone from us.... + +We came back to town quietly, taking a 'bus to Hyde Park Corner. +Jonathan thought it would interest me to go into the Row for a while, so +we sat down; but there were very few people there, and it was +sad-looking and desolate to see so many empty chairs. It made us think +of the empty chair at home; so we got up and walked down Piccadilly. +Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in old days +before I went to school. I felt it very improper, for you can't go on +for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other girls without the +pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit; but it was Jonathan, and he +was my husband, and we didn't know anybody who saw us--and we didn't +care if they did--so on we walked. I was looking at a very beautiful +girl, in a big cart-wheel hat, sitting in a victoria outside Guiliano's, +when I felt Jonathan clutch my arm so tight that he hurt me, and he said +under his breath: "My God!" I am always anxious about Jonathan, for I +fear that some nervous fit may upset him again; so I turned to him +quickly, and asked him what it was that disturbed him. + +He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and +half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and +black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the pretty +girl. He was looking at her so hard that he did not see either of us, +and so I had a good view of him. His face was not a good face; it was +hard, and cruel, and sensual, and his big white teeth, that looked all +the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like an animal's. +Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I +feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty. I asked +Jonathan why he was disturbed, and he answered, evidently thinking that +I knew as much about it as he did: "Do you see who it is?" + +"No, dear," I said; "I don't know him; who is it?" His answer seemed to +shock and thrill me, for it was said as if he did not know that it was +to me, Mina, to whom he was speaking:-- + +"It is the man himself!" + +The poor dear was evidently terrified at something--very greatly +terrified; I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to +support him he would have sunk down. He kept staring; a man came out of +the shop with a small parcel, and gave it to the lady, who then drove +off. The dark man kept his eyes fixed on her, and when the carriage +moved up Piccadilly he followed in the same direction, and hailed a +hansom. Jonathan kept looking after him, and said, as if to himself:-- + +"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God, if this be +so! Oh, my God! my God! If I only knew! if I only knew!" He was +distressing himself so much that I feared to keep his mind on the +subject by asking him any questions, so I remained silent. I drew him +away quietly, and he, holding my arm, came easily. We walked a little +further, and then went in and sat for a while in the Green Park. It was +a hot day for autumn, and there was a comfortable seat in a shady place. +After a few minutes' staring at nothing, Jonathan's eyes closed, and he +went quietly into a sleep, with his head on my shoulder. I thought it +was the best thing for him, so did not disturb him. In about twenty +minutes he woke up, and said to me quite cheerfully:-- + +"Why, Mina, have I been asleep! Oh, do forgive me for being so rude. +Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere." He had evidently forgotten +all about the dark stranger, as in his illness he had forgotten all that +this episode had reminded him of. I don't like this lapsing into +forgetfulness; it may make or continue some injury to the brain. I must +not ask him, for fear I shall do more harm than good; but I must somehow +learn the facts of his journey abroad. The time is come, I fear, when I +must open that parcel, and know what is written. Oh, Jonathan, you will, +I know, forgive me if I do wrong, but it is for your own dear sake. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--A sad home-coming in every way--the house empty of the dear +soul who was so good to us; Jonathan still pale and dizzy under a slight +relapse of his malady; and now a telegram from Van Helsing, whoever he +may be:-- + +"You will be grieved to hear that Mrs. Westenra died five days ago, and +that Lucy died the day before yesterday. They were both buried to-day." + +Oh, what a wealth of sorrow in a few words! Poor Mrs. Westenra! poor +Lucy! Gone, gone, never to return to us! And poor, poor Arthur, to have +lost such sweetness out of his life! God help us all to bear our +troubles. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_22 September._--It is all over. Arthur has gone back to Ring, and has +taken Quincey Morris with him. What a fine fellow is Quincey! I believe +in my heart of hearts that he suffered as much about Lucy's death as any +of us; but he bore himself through it like a moral Viking. If America +can go on breeding men like that, she will be a power in the world +indeed. Van Helsing is lying down, having a rest preparatory to his +journey. He goes over to Amsterdam to-night, but says he returns +to-morrow night; that he only wants to make some arrangements which can +only be made personally. He is to stop with me then, if he can; he says +he has work to do in London which may take him some time. Poor old +fellow! I fear that the strain of the past week has broken down even his +iron strength. All the time of the burial he was, I could see, putting +some terrible restraint on himself. When it was all over, we were +standing beside Arthur, who, poor fellow, was speaking of his part in +the operation where his blood had been transfused to his Lucy's veins; I +could see Van Helsing's face grow white and purple by turns. Arthur was +saying that he felt since then as if they two had been really married +and that she was his wife in the sight of God. None of us said a word of +the other operations, and none of us ever shall. Arthur and Quincey went +away together to the station, and Van Helsing and I came on here. The +moment we were alone in the carriage he gave way to a regular fit of +hysterics. He has denied to me since that it was hysterics, and insisted +that it was only his sense of humour asserting itself under very +terrible conditions. He laughed till he cried, and I had to draw down +the blinds lest any one should see us and misjudge; and then he cried, +till he laughed again; and laughed and cried together, just as a woman +does. I tried to be stern with him, as one is to a woman under the +circumstances; but it had no effect. Men and women are so different in +manifestations of nervous strength or weakness! Then when his face grew +grave and stern again I asked him why his mirth, and why at such a time. +His reply was in a way characteristic of him, for it was logical and +forceful and mysterious. He said:-- + +"Ah, you don't comprehend, friend John. Do not think that I am not sad, +though I laugh. See, I have cried even when the laugh did choke me. But +no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh he come +just the same. Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your +door and say, 'May I come in?' is not the true laughter. No! he is a +king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person; he choose no +time of suitability. He say, 'I am here.' Behold, in example I grieve my +heart out for that so sweet young girl; I give my blood for her, though +I am old and worn; I give my time, my skill, my sleep; I let my other +sufferers want that so she may have all. And yet I can laugh at her very +grave--laugh when the clay from the spade of the sexton drop upon her +coffin and say 'Thud! thud!' to my heart, till it send back the blood +from my cheek. My heart bleed for that poor boy--that dear boy, so of +the age of mine own boy had I been so blessed that he live, and with his +hair and eyes the same. There, you know now why I love him so. And yet +when he say things that touch my husband-heart to the quick, and make my +father-heart yearn to him as to no other man--not even to you, friend +John, for we are more level in experiences than father and son--yet even +at such moment King Laugh he come to me and shout and bellow in my ear, +'Here I am! here I am!' till the blood come dance back and bring some of +the sunshine that he carry with him to my cheek. Oh, friend John, it is +a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and +troubles; and yet when King Laugh come he make them all dance to the +tune he play. Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and +tears that burn as they fall--all dance together to the music that he +make with that smileless mouth of him. And believe me, friend John, that +he is good to come, and kind. Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn +tight with strain that pull us different ways. Then tears come; and, +like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain +become too great, and we break. But King Laugh he come like the +sunshine, and he ease off the strain again; and we bear to go on with +our labour, what it may be." + +I did not like to wound him by pretending not to see his idea; but, as I +did not yet understand the cause of his laughter, I asked him. As he +answered me his face grew stern, and he said in quite a different +tone:-- + +"Oh, it was the grim irony of it all--this so lovely lady garlanded with +flowers, that looked so fair as life, till one by one we wondered if she +were truly dead; she laid in that so fine marble house in that lonely +churchyard, where rest so many of her kin, laid there with the mother +who loved her, and whom she loved; and that sacred bell going 'Toll! +toll! toll!' so sad and slow; and those holy men, with the white +garments of the angel, pretending to read books, and yet all the time +their eyes never on the page; and all of us with the bowed head. And all +for what? She is dead; so! Is it not?" + +"Well, for the life of me, Professor," I said, "I can't see anything to +laugh at in all that. Why, your explanation makes it a harder puzzle +than before. But even if the burial service was comic, what about poor +Art and his trouble? Why, his heart was simply breaking." + +"Just so. Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins had +made her truly his bride?" + +"Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him." + +"Quite so. But there was a difficulty, friend John. If so that, then +what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist, +and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though +no wits, all gone--even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife, +am bigamist." + +"I don't see where the joke comes in there either!" I said; and I did +not feel particularly pleased with him for saying such things. He laid +his hand on my arm, and said:-- + +"Friend John, forgive me if I pain. I showed not my feeling to others +when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust. +If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; +if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so +now, when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him--for +he go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time--maybe you would +perhaps pity me the most of all." + +I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why. + +"Because I know!" + +And now we are all scattered; and for many a long day loneliness will +sit over our roofs with brooding wings. Lucy lies in the tomb of her +kin, a lordly death-house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming +London; where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill, +and where wild flowers grow of their own accord. + +So I can finish this diary; and God only knows if I shall ever begin +another. If I do, or if I even open this again, it will be to deal with +different people and different themes; for here at the end, where the +romance of my life is told, ere I go back to take up the thread of my +life-work, I say sadly and without hope, + + "FINIS." + + +_"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + A HAMPSTEAD MYSTERY. + + +The neighbourhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with a +series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what +was known to the writers of headlines as "The Kensington Horror," or +"The Stabbing Woman," or "The Woman in Black." During the past two or +three days several cases have occurred of young children straying from +home or neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath. In all +these cases the children were too young to give any properly +intelligible account of themselves, but the consensus of their excuses +is that they had been with a "bloofer lady." It has always been late in +the evening when they have been missed, and on two occasions the +children have not been found until early in the following morning. It is +generally supposed in the neighbourhood that, as the first child missed +gave as his reason for being away that a "bloofer lady" had asked him to +come for a walk, the others had picked up the phrase and used it as +occasion served. This is the more natural as the favourite game of the +little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles. A +correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to +be the "bloofer lady" is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists +might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the +reality and the picture. It is only in accordance with general +principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady" should be the popular +rôle at these _al fresco_ performances. Our correspondent naïvely says +that even Ellen Terry could not be so winningly attractive as some of +these grubby-faced little children pretend--and even imagine +themselves--to be. + +There is, however, possibly a serious side to the question, for some of +the children, indeed all who have been missed at night, have been +slightly torn or wounded in the throat. The wounds seem such as might be +made by a rat or a small dog, and although of not much importance +individually, would tend to show that whatever animal inflicts them has +a system or method of its own. The police of the division have been +instructed to keep a sharp look-out for straying children, especially +when very young, in and around Hampstead Heath, and for any stray dog +which may be about. + + + _"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + _Extra Special._ + + THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR. + + ANOTHER CHILD INJURED. + + _The "Bloofer Lady."_ + +We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last +night, was only discovered late in the morning under a furze bush at the +Shooter's Hill side of Hampstead Heath, which is, perhaps, less +frequented than the other parts. It has the same tiny wound in the +throat as has been noticed in other cases. It was terribly weak, and +looked quite emaciated. It too, when partially restored, had the common +story to tell of being lured away by the "bloofer lady." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_23 September_.--Jonathan is better after a bad night. I am so glad that +he has plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the terrible +things; and oh, I am rejoiced that he is not now weighed down with the +responsibility of his new position. I knew he would be true to himself, +and now how proud I am to see my Jonathan rising to the height of his +advancement and keeping pace in all ways with the duties that come upon +him. He will be away all day till late, for he said he could not lunch +at home. My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal, +and lock myself up in my room and read it.... + + +_24 September_.--I hadn't the heart to write last night; that terrible +record of Jonathan's upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, +whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth +in it at all. Did he get his brain fever, and then write all those +terrible things, or had he some cause for it all? I suppose I shall +never know, for I dare not open the subject to him.... And yet that man +we saw yesterday! He seemed quite certain of him.... Poor fellow! I +suppose it was the funeral upset him and sent his mind back on some +train of thought.... He believes it all himself. I remember how on our +wedding-day he said: "Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, mad or sane." There seems to be +through it all some thread of continuity.... That fearful Count was +coming to London.... If it should be, and he came to London, with his +teeming millions.... There may be a solemn duty; and if it come we must +not shrink from it.... I shall be prepared. I shall get my typewriter +this very hour and begin transcribing. Then we shall be ready for other +eyes if required. And if it be wanted; then, perhaps, if I am ready, +poor Jonathan may not be upset, for I can speak for him and never let +him be troubled or worried with it at all. If ever Jonathan quite gets +over the nervousness he may want to tell me of it all, and I can ask him +questions and find out things, and see how I may comfort him. + + +_Letter, Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_24 September._ + +(_Confidence_) + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I pray you to pardon my writing, in that I am so far friend as that I +sent to you sad news of Miss Lucy Westenra's death. By the kindness of +Lord Godalming, I am empowered to read her letters and papers, for I am +deeply concerned about certain matters vitally important. In them I find +some letters from you, which show how great friends you were and how you +love her. Oh, Madam Mina, by that love, I implore you, help me. It is +for others' good that I ask--to redress great wrong, and to lift much +and terrible troubles--that may be more great than you can know. May it +be that I see you? You can trust me. I am friend of Dr. John Seward and +of Lord Godalming (that was Arthur of Miss Lucy). I must keep it private +for the present from all. I should come to Exeter to see you at once if +you tell me I am privilege to come, and where and when. I implore your +pardon, madam. I have read your letters to poor Lucy, and know how good +you are and how your husband suffer; so I pray you, if it may be, +enlighten him not, lest it may harm. Again your pardon, and forgive me. + +"VAN HELSING." + + +_Telegram, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September._--Come to-day by quarter-past ten train if you can catch +it. Can see you any time you call. + +"WILHELMINA HARKER." + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL. + +_25 September._--I cannot help feeling terribly excited as the time +draws near for the visit of Dr. Van Helsing, for somehow I expect that +it will throw some light upon Jonathan's sad experience; and as he +attended poor dear Lucy in her last illness, he can tell me all about +her. That is the reason of his coming; it is concerning Lucy and her +sleep-walking, and not about Jonathan. Then I shall never know the real +truth now! How silly I am. That awful journal gets hold of my +imagination and tinges everything with something of its own colour. Of +course it is about Lucy. That habit came back to the poor dear, and that +awful night on the cliff must have made her ill. I had almost forgotten +in my own affairs how ill she was afterwards. She must have told him +of her sleep-walking adventure on the cliff, and that I knew all about +it; and now he wants me to tell him what she knows, so that he may +understand. I hope I did right in not saying anything of it to Mrs. +Westenra; I should never forgive myself if any act of mine, were it even +a negative one, brought harm on poor dear Lucy. I hope, too, Dr. Van +Helsing will not blame me; I have had so much trouble and anxiety of +late that I feel I cannot bear more just at present. + +I suppose a cry does us all good at times--clears the air as other rain +does. Perhaps it was reading the journal yesterday that upset me, and +then Jonathan went away this morning to stay away from me a whole day +and night, the first time we have been parted since our marriage. I do +hope the dear fellow will take care of himself, and that nothing will +occur to upset him. It is two o'clock, and the doctor will be here soon +now. I shall say nothing of Jonathan's journal unless he asks me. I am +so glad I have type-written out my own journal, so that, in case he asks +about Lucy, I can hand it to him; it will save much questioning. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--He has come and gone. Oh, what a strange meeting, and how it +all makes my head whirl round! I feel like one in a dream. Can it be all +possible, or even a part of it? If I had not read Jonathan's journal +first, I should never have accepted even a possibility. Poor, poor, dear +Jonathan! How he must have suffered. Please the good God, all this may +not upset him again. I shall try to save him from it; but it may be even +a consolation and a help to him--terrible though it be and awful in its +consequences--to know for certain that his eyes and ears and brain did +not deceive him, and that it is all true. It may be that it is the doubt +which haunts him; that when the doubt is removed, no matter +which--waking or dreaming--may prove the truth, he will be more +satisfied and better able to bear the shock. Dr. Van Helsing must be a +good man as well as a clever one if he is Arthur's friend and Dr. +Seward's, and if they brought him all the way from Holland to look after +Lucy. I feel from having seen him that he _is_ good and kind and of a +noble nature. When he comes to-morrow I shall ask him about Jonathan; +and then, please God, all this sorrow and anxiety may lead to a good +end. I used to think I would like to practise interviewing; Jonathan's +friend on "The Exeter News" told him that memory was everything in such +work--that you must be able to put down exactly almost every word +spoken, even if you had to refine some of it afterwards. Here was a rare +interview; I shall try to record it _verbatim_. + +It was half-past two o'clock when the knock came. I took my courage _à +deux mains_ and waited. In a few minutes Mary opened the door, and +announced "Dr. Van Helsing." + +I rose and bowed, and he came towards me; a man of medium weight, +strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and +a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise +of the head strikes one at once as indicative of thought and power; the +head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, +clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large, resolute, mobile +mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive +nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big, bushy brows come down and the +mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost +straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart; +such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, +but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set +widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods. He +said to me:-- + +"Mrs. Harker, is it not?" I bowed assent. + +"That was Miss Mina Murray?" Again I assented. + +"It is Mina Murray that I came to see that was friend of that poor dear +child Lucy Westenra. Madam Mina, it is on account of the dead I come." + +"Sir," I said, "you could have no better claim on me than that you were +a friend and helper of Lucy Westenra." And I held out my hand. He took +it and said tenderly:-- + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I knew that the friend of that poor lily girl must be +good, but I had yet to learn----" He finished his speech with a courtly +bow. I asked him what it was that he wanted to see me about, so he at +once began:-- + +"I have read your letters to Miss Lucy. Forgive me, but I had to begin +to inquire somewhere, and there was none to ask. I know that you were +with her at Whitby. She sometimes kept a diary--you need not look +surprised, Madam Mina; it was begun after you had left, and was in +imitation of you--and in that diary she traces by inference certain +things to a sleep-walking in which she puts down that you saved her. In +great perplexity then I come to you, and ask you out of your so much +kindness to tell me all of it that you can remember." + +"I can tell you, I think, Dr. Van Helsing, all about it." + +"Ah, then you have good memory for facts, for details? It is not always +so with young ladies." + +"No, doctor, but I wrote it all down at the time. I can show it to you +if you like." + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I will be grateful; you will do me much favour." I +could not resist the temptation of mystifying him a bit--I suppose it is +some of the taste of the original apple that remains still in our +mouths--so I handed him the shorthand diary. He took it with a grateful +bow, and said:-- + +"May I read it?" + +"If you wish," I answered as demurely as I could. He opened it, and for +an instant his face fell. Then he stood up and bowed. + +"Oh, you so clever woman!" he said. "I knew long that Mr. Jonathan was a +man of much thankfulness; but see, his wife have all the good things. +And will you not so much honour me and so help me as to read it for me? +Alas! I know not the shorthand." By this time my little joke was over, +and I was almost ashamed; so I took the typewritten copy from my +workbasket and handed it to him. + +"Forgive me," I said: "I could not help it; but I had been thinking that +it was of dear Lucy that you wished to ask, and so that you might not +have time to wait--not on my account, but because I know your time must +be precious--I have written it out on the typewriter for you." + +He took it and his eyes glistened. "You are so good," he said. "And may +I read it now? I may want to ask you some things when I have read." + +"By all means," I said, "read it over whilst I order lunch; and then you +can ask me questions whilst we eat." He bowed and settled himself in a +chair with his back to the light, and became absorbed in the papers, +whilst I went to see after lunch chiefly in order that he might not be +disturbed. When I came back, I found him walking hurriedly up and down +the room, his face all ablaze with excitement. He rushed up to me and +took me by both hands. + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "how can I say what I owe to you? This paper +is as sunshine. It opens the gate to me. I am daze, I am dazzle, with so +much light, and yet clouds roll in behind the light every time. But that +you do not, cannot, comprehend. Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so +clever woman. Madam"--he said this very solemnly--"if ever Abraham Van +Helsing can do anything for you or yours, I trust you will let me know. +It will be pleasure and delight if I may serve you as a friend; as a +friend, but all I have ever learned, all I can ever do, shall be for you +and those you love. There are darknesses in life, and there are lights; +you are one of the lights. You will have happy life and good life, and +your husband will be blessed in you." + +"But, doctor, you praise me too much, and--and you do not know me." + +"Not know you--I, who am old, and who have studied all my life men and +women; I, who have made my specialty the brain and all that belongs to +him and all that follow from him! And I have read your diary that you +have so goodly written for me, and which breathes out truth in every +line. I, who have read your so sweet letter to poor Lucy of your +marriage and your trust, not know you! Oh, Madam Mina, good women tell +all their lives, and by day and by hour and by minute, such things that +angels can read; and we men who wish to know have in us something of +angels' eyes. Your husband is noble nature, and you are noble too, for +you trust, and trust cannot be where there is mean nature. And your +husband--tell me of him. Is he quite well? Is all that fever gone, and +is he strong and hearty?" I saw here an opening to ask him about +Jonathan, so I said:-- + +"He was almost recovered, but he has been greatly upset by Mr. Hawkins's +death." He interrupted:-- + +"Oh, yes, I know, I know. I have read your last two letters." I went +on:-- + +"I suppose this upset him, for when we were in town on Thursday last he +had a sort of shock." + +"A shock, and after brain fever so soon! That was not good. What kind of +a shock was it?" + +"He thought he saw some one who recalled something terrible, something +which led to his brain fever." And here the whole thing seemed to +overwhelm me in a rush. The pity for Jonathan, the horror which he +experienced, the whole fearful mystery of his diary, and the fear that +has been brooding over me ever since, all came in a tumult. I suppose I +was hysterical, for I threw myself on my knees and held up my hands to +him, and implored him to make my husband well again. He took my hands +and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me; he held my +hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetness:-- + +"My life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have not +had much time for friendships; but since I have been summoned to here by +my friend John Seward I have known so many good people and seen such +nobility that I feel more than ever--and it has grown with my advancing +years--the loneliness of my life. Believe, me, then, that I come here +full of respect for you, and you have given me hope--hope, not in what I +am seeking of, but that there are good women still left to make life +happy--good women, whose lives and whose truths may make good lesson for +the children that are to be. I am glad, glad, that I may here be of some +use to you; for if your husband suffer, he suffer within the range of my +study and experience. I promise you that I will gladly do _all_ for him +that I can--all to make his life strong and manly, and your life a happy +one. Now you must eat. You are overwrought and perhaps over-anxious. +Husband Jonathan would not like to see you so pale; and what he like not +where he love, is not to his good. Therefore for his sake you must eat +and smile. You have told me all about Lucy, and so now we shall not +speak of it, lest it distress. I shall stay in Exeter to-night, for I +want to think much over what you have told me, and when I have thought I +will ask you questions, if I may. And then, too, you will tell me of +husband Jonathan's trouble so far as you can, but not yet. You must eat +now; afterwards you shall tell me all." + +After lunch, when we went back to the drawing-room, he said to me:-- + +"And now tell me all about him." When it came to speaking to this great +learned man, I began to fear that he would think me a weak fool, and +Jonathan a madman--that journal is all so strange--and I hesitated to go +on. But he was so sweet and kind, and he had promised to help, and I +trusted him, so I said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, what I have to tell you is so queer that you must not +laugh at me or at my husband. I have been since yesterday in a sort of +fever of doubt; you must be kind to me, and not think me foolish that I +have even half believed some very strange things." He reassured me by +his manner as well as his words when he said:-- + +"Oh, my dear, if you only know how strange is the matter regarding which +I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little +of any one's belief, no matter how strange it be. I have tried to keep +an open mind; and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close +it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that +make one doubt if they be mad or sane." + +"Thank you, thank you, a thousand times! You have taken a weight off my +mind. If you will let me, I shall give you a paper to read. It is long, +but I have typewritten it out. It will tell you my trouble and +Jonathan's. It is the copy of his journal when abroad, and all that +happened. I dare not say anything of it; you will read for yourself and +judge. And then when I see you, perhaps, you will be very kind and tell +me what you think." + +"I promise," he said as I gave him the papers; "I shall in the morning, +so soon as I can, come to see you and your husband, if I may." + +"Jonathan will be here at half-past eleven, and you must come to lunch +with us and see him then; you could catch the quick 3:34 train, which +will leave you at Paddington before eight." He was surprised at my +knowledge of the trains off-hand, but he does not know that I have made +up all the trains to and from Exeter, so that I may help Jonathan in +case he is in a hurry. + +So he took the papers with him and went away, and I sit here +thinking--thinking I don't know what. + + * * * * * + +_Letter (by hand), Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_25 September, 6 o'clock._ + +"Dear Madam Mina,-- + +"I have read your husband's so wonderful diary. You may sleep without +doubt. Strange and terrible as it is, it is _true_! I will pledge my +life on it. It may be worse for others; but for him and you there is no +dread. He is a noble fellow; and let me tell you from experience of men, +that one who would do as he did in going down that wall and to that +room--ay, and going a second time--is not one to be injured in +permanence by a shock. His brain and his heart are all right; this I +swear, before I have even seen him; so be at rest. I shall have much to +ask him of other things. I am blessed that to-day I come to see you, for +I have learn all at once so much that again I am dazzle--dazzle more +than ever, and I must think. + +"Yours the most faithful, + +"ABRAHAM VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September, 6:30 p. m._ + +"My dear Dr. Van Helsing,-- + +"A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which has taken a great weight +off my mind. And yet, if it be true, what terrible things there are in +the world, and what an awful thing if that man, that monster, be really +in London! I fear to think. I have this moment, whilst writing, had a +wire from Jonathan, saying that he leaves by the 6:25 to-night from +Launceston and will be here at 10:18, so that I shall have no fear +to-night. Will you, therefore, instead of lunching with us, please come +to breakfast at eight o'clock, if this be not too early for you? You can +get away, if you are in a hurry, by the 10:30 train, which will bring +you to Paddington by 2:35. Do not answer this, as I shall take it that, +if I do not hear, you will come to breakfast. + +"Believe me, + +"Your faithful and grateful friend, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_26 September._--I thought never to write in this diary again, but the +time has come. When I got home last night Mina had supper ready, and +when we had supped she told me of Van Helsing's visit, and of her having +given him the two diaries copied out, and of how anxious she has been +about me. She showed me in the doctor's letter that all I wrote down was +true. It seems to have made a new man of me. It was the doubt as to the +reality of the whole thing that knocked me over. I felt impotent, and in +the dark, and distrustful. But, now that I _know_, I am not afraid, even +of the Count. He has succeeded after all, then, in his design in getting +to London, and it was he I saw. He has got younger, and how? Van Helsing +is the man to unmask him and hunt him out, if he is anything like what +Mina says. We sat late, and talked it all over. Mina is dressing, and I +shall call at the hotel in a few minutes and bring him over.... + +He was, I think, surprised to see me. When I came into the room where he +was, and introduced myself, he took me by the shoulder, and turned my +face round to the light, and said, after a sharp scrutiny:-- + +"But Madam Mina told me you were ill, that you had had a shock." It was +so funny to hear my wife called "Madam Mina" by this kindly, +strong-faced old man. I smiled, and said:-- + +"I _was_ ill, I _have_ had a shock; but you have cured me already." + +"And how?" + +"By your letter to Mina last night. I was in doubt, and then everything +took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust, even the +evidence of my own senses. Not knowing what to trust, I did not know +what to do; and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been +the groove of my life. The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted +myself. Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt everything, even +yourself. No, you don't; you couldn't with eyebrows like yours." He +seemed pleased, and laughed as he said:-- + +"So! You are physiognomist. I learn more here with each hour. I am with +so much pleasure coming to you to breakfast; and, oh, sir, you will +pardon praise from an old man, but you are blessed in your wife." I +would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day, so I simply nodded +and stood silent. + +"She is one of God's women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and +other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its +light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an +egoist--and that, let me tell you, is much in this age, so sceptical and +selfish. And you, sir--I have read all the letters to poor Miss Lucy, +and some of them speak of you, so I know you since some days from the +knowing of others; but I have seen your true self since last night. You +will give me your hand, will you not? And let us be friends for all our +lives." + +We shook hands, and he was so earnest and so kind that it made me quite +choky. + +"And now," he said, "may I ask you for some more help? I have a great +task to do, and at the beginning it is to know. You can help me here. +Can you tell me what went before your going to Transylvania? Later on I +may ask more help, and of a different kind; but at first this will do." + +"Look here, sir," I said, "does what you have to do concern the Count?" + +"It does," he said solemnly. + +"Then I am with you heart and soul. As you go by the 10:30 train, you +will not have time to read them; but I shall get the bundle of papers. +You can take them with you and read them in the train." + +After breakfast I saw him to the station. When we were parting he +said:-- + +"Perhaps you will come to town if I send to you, and take Madam Mina +too." + +"We shall both come when you will," I said. + +I had got him the morning papers and the London papers of the previous +night, and while we were talking at the carriage window, waiting for the +train to start, he was turning them over. His eyes suddenly seemed to +catch something in one of them, "The Westminster Gazette"--I knew it by +the colour--and he grew quite white. He read something intently, +groaning to himself: "Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! so soon!" I do not +think he remembered me at the moment. Just then the whistle blew, and +the train moved off. This recalled him to himself, and he leaned out of +the window and waved his hand, calling out: "Love to Madam Mina; I shall +write so soon as ever I can." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_26 September._--Truly there is no such thing as finality. Not a week +since I said "Finis," and yet here I am starting fresh again, or rather +going on with the same record. Until this afternoon I had no cause to +think of what is done. Renfield had become, to all intents, as sane as +he ever was. He was already well ahead with his fly business; and he had +just started in the spider line also; so he had not been of any trouble +to me. I had a letter from Arthur, written on Sunday, and from it I +gather that he is bearing up wonderfully well. Quincey Morris is with +him, and that is much of a help, for he himself is a bubbling well of +good spirits. Quincey wrote me a line too, and from him I hear that +Arthur is beginning to recover something of his old buoyancy; so as to +them all my mind is at rest. As for myself, I was settling down to my +work with the enthusiasm which I used to have for it, so that I might +fairly have said that the wound which poor Lucy left on me was becoming +cicatrised. Everything is, however, now reopened; and what is to be the +end God only knows. I have an idea that Van Helsing thinks he knows, +too, but he will only let out enough at a time to whet curiosity. He +went to Exeter yesterday, and stayed there all night. To-day he came +back, and almost bounded into the room at about half-past five o'clock, +and thrust last night's "Westminster Gazette" into my hand. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked as he stood back and folded his +arms. + +I looked over the paper, for I really did not know what he meant; but he +took it from me and pointed out a paragraph about children being decoyed +away at Hampstead. It did not convey much to me, until I reached a +passage where it described small punctured wounds on their throats. An +idea struck me, and I looked up. "Well?" he said. + +"It is like poor Lucy's." + +"And what do you make of it?" + +"Simply that there is some cause in common. Whatever it was that injured +her has injured them." I did not quite understand his answer:-- + +"That is true indirectly, but not directly." + +"How do you mean, Professor?" I asked. I was a little inclined to take +his seriousness lightly--for, after all, four days of rest and freedom +from burning, harrowing anxiety does help to restore one's spirits--but +when I saw his face, it sobered me. Never, even in the midst of our +despair about poor Lucy, had he looked more stern. + +"Tell me!" I said. "I can hazard no opinion. I do not know what to +think, and I have no data on which to found a conjecture." + +"Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to +what poor Lucy died of; not after all the hints given, not only by +events, but by me?" + +"Of nervous prostration following on great loss or waste of blood." + +"And how the blood lost or waste?" I shook my head. He stepped over and +sat down beside me, and went on:-- + +"You are clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold; +but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears +hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to +you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, +and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But +there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's +eyes, because they know--or think they know--some things which other men +have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to +explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to +explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, +which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend +to be young--like the fine ladies at the opera. I suppose now you do not +believe in corporeal transference. No? Nor in materialisation. No? Nor +in astral bodies. No? Nor in the reading of thought. No? Nor in +hypnotism----" + +"Yes," I said. "Charcot has proved that pretty well." He smiled as he +went on: "Then you are satisfied as to it. Yes? And of course then you +understand how it act, and can follow the mind of the great +Charcot--alas that he is no more!--into the very soul of the patient +that he influence. No? Then, friend John, am I to take it that you +simply accept fact, and are satisfied to let from premise to conclusion +be a blank? No? Then tell me--for I am student of the brain--how you +accept the hypnotism and reject the thought reading. Let me tell you, my +friend, that there are things done to-day in electrical science which +would have been deemed unholy by the very men who discovered +electricity--who would themselves not so long before have been burned +as wizards. There are always mysteries in life. Why was it that +Methuselah lived nine hundred years, and 'Old Parr' one hundred and +sixty-nine, and yet that poor Lucy, with four men's blood in her poor +veins, could not live even one day? For, had she live one more day, we +could have save her. Do you know all the mystery of life and death? Do +you know the altogether of comparative anatomy and can say wherefore the +qualities of brutes are in some men, and not in others? Can you tell me +why, when other spiders die small and soon, that one great spider lived +for centuries in the tower of the old Spanish church and grew and grew, +till, on descending, he could drink the oil of all the church lamps? Can +you tell me why in the Pampas, ay and elsewhere, there are bats that +come at night and open the veins of cattle and horses and suck dry their +veins; how in some islands of the Western seas there are bats which hang +on the trees all day, and those who have seen describe as like giant +nuts or pods, and that when the sailors sleep on the deck, because that +it is hot, flit down on them, and then--and then in the morning are +found dead men, white as even Miss Lucy was?" + +"Good God, Professor!" I said, starting up. "Do you mean to tell me that +Lucy was bitten by such a bat; and that such a thing is here in London +in the nineteenth century?" He waved his hand for silence, and went +on:-- + +"Can you tell me why the tortoise lives more long than generations of +men; why the elephant goes on and on till he have seen dynasties; and +why the parrot never die only of bite of cat or dog or other complaint? +Can you tell me why men believe in all ages and places that there are +some few who live on always if they be permit; that there are men and +women who cannot die? We all know--because science has vouched for the +fact--that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of +years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of +the world. Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to die +and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it, and the +corn reaped and be cut and sown and reaped and cut again, and then men +come and take away the unbroken seal and that there lie the Indian +fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as before?" Here +I interrupted him. I was getting bewildered; he so crowded on my mind +his list of nature's eccentricities and possible impossibilities that my +imagination was getting fired. I had a dim idea that he was teaching me +some lesson, as long ago he used to do in his study at Amsterdam; but +he used then to tell me the thing, so that I could have the object of +thought in mind all the time. But now I was without this help, yet I +wanted to follow him, so I said:-- + +"Professor, let me be your pet student again. Tell me the thesis, so +that I may apply your knowledge as you go on. At present I am going in +my mind from point to point as a mad man, and not a sane one, follows an +idea. I feel like a novice lumbering through a bog in a mist, jumping +from one tussock to another in the mere blind effort to move on without +knowing where I am going." + +"That is good image," he said. "Well, I shall tell you. My thesis is +this: I want you to believe." + +"To believe what?" + +"To believe in things that you cannot. Let me illustrate. I heard once +of an American who so defined faith: 'that faculty which enables us to +believe things which we know to be untrue.' For one, I follow that man. +He meant that we shall have an open mind, and not let a little bit of +truth check the rush of a big truth, like a small rock does a railway +truck. We get the small truth first. Good! We keep him, and we value +him; but all the same we must not let him think himself all the truth in +the universe." + +"Then you want me not to let some previous conviction injure the +receptivity of my mind with regard to some strange matter. Do I read +your lesson aright?" + +"Ah, you are my favourite pupil still. It is worth to teach you. Now +that you are willing to understand, you have taken the first step to +understand. You think then that those so small holes in the children's +throats were made by the same that made the hole in Miss Lucy?" + +"I suppose so." He stood up and said solemnly:-- + +"Then you are wrong. Oh, would it were so! but alas! no. It is worse, +far, far worse." + +"In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what do you mean?" I cried. + +He threw himself with a despairing gesture into a chair, and placed his +elbows on the table, covering his face with his hands as he spoke:-- + +"They were made by Miss Lucy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +For a while sheer anger mastered me; it was as if he had during her life +struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to +him:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?" He raised his head and looked at me, and +somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once. "Would I were!" he +said. "Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my +friend, why, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell +you so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all +my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, +now so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a +fearful death? Ah no!" + +"Forgive me," said I. He went on:-- + +"My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the breaking to you, +for I know you have loved that so sweet lady. But even yet I do not +expect you to believe. It is so hard to accept at once any abstract +truth, that we may doubt such to be possible when we have always +believed the 'no' of it; it is more hard still to accept so sad a +concrete truth, and of such a one as Miss Lucy. To-night I go to prove +it. Dare you come with me?" + +This staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth; Byron +excepted from the category, jealousy. + + "And prove the very truth he most abhorred." + +He saw my hesitation, and spoke:-- + +"The logic is simple, no madman's logic this time, jumping from tussock +to tussock in a misty bog. If it be not true, then proof will be relief; +at worst it will not harm. If it be true! Ah, there is the dread; yet +very dread should help my cause, for in it is some need of belief. Come, +I tell you what I propose: first, that we go off now and see that child +in the hospital. Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where the papers +say the child is, is friend of mine, and I think of yours since you were +in class at Amsterdam. He will let two scientists see his case, if he +will not let two friends. We shall tell him nothing, but only that we +wish to learn. And then----" + +"And then?" He took a key from his pocket and held it up. "And then we +spend the night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is +the key that lock the tomb. I had it from the coffin-man to give to +Arthur." My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful +ordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what +heart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon was +passing.... + +We found the child awake. It had had a sleep and taken some food, and +altogether was going on well. Dr. Vincent took the bandage from its +throat, and showed us the punctures. There was no mistaking the +similarity to those which had been on Lucy's throat. They were smaller, +and the edges looked fresher; that was all. We asked Vincent to what he +attributed them, and he replied that it must have been a bite of some +animal, perhaps a rat; but, for his own part, he was inclined to think +that it was one of the bats which are so numerous on the northern +heights of London. "Out of so many harmless ones," he said, "there may +be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant species. Some +sailor may have brought one home, and it managed to escape; or even from +the Zoölogical Gardens a young one may have got loose, or one be bred +there from a vampire. These things do occur, you know. Only ten days ago +a wolf got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a +week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the +Heath and in every alley in the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare +came along, since when it has been quite a gala-time with them. Even +this poor little mite, when he woke up to-day, asked the nurse if he +might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted +to play with the 'bloofer lady.'" + +"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child home +you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it. These fancies +to stray are most dangerous; and if the child were to remain out another +night, it would probably be fatal. But in any case I suppose you will +not let it away for some days?" + +"Certainly not, not for a week at least; longer if the wound is not +healed." + +Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned on, and +the sun had dipped before we came out. When Van Helsing saw how dark it +was, he said:-- + +"There is no hurry. It is more late than I thought. Come, let us seek +somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our way." + +We dined at "Jack Straw's Castle" along with a little crowd of +bicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o'clock we +started from the inn. It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps +made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual +radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we were to go, for he +went on unhesitatingly; but, as for me, I was in quite a mixup as to +locality. As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at +last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse +police going their usual suburban round. At last we reached the wall of +the churchyard, which we climbed over. With some little difficulty--for +it was very dark, and the whole place seemed so strange to us--we found +the Westenra tomb. The Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, +and standing back, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to +precede him. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the +courtliness of giving preference on such a ghastly occasion. My +companion followed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after +carefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a spring, +one. In the latter case we should have been in a bad plight. Then he +fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece of candle, +proceeded to make a light. The tomb in the day-time, and when wreathed +with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough; but now, some +days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites +turning to rust and their greens to browns; when the spider and the +beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance; when time-discoloured +stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished +brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a +candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been +imagined. It conveyed irresistibly the idea that life--animal life--was +not the only thing which could pass away. + +Van Helsing went about his work systematically. Holding his candle so +that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm +dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he +made assurance of Lucy's coffin. Another search in his bag, and he took +out a turnscrew. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked. + +"To open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced." Straightway he began +taking out the screws, and finally lifted off the lid, showing the +casing of lead beneath. The sight was almost too much for me. It seemed +to be as much an affront to the dead as it would have been to have +stripped off her clothing in her sleep whilst living; I actually took +hold of his hand to stop him. He only said: "You shall see," and again +fumbling in his bag, took out a tiny fret-saw. Striking the turnscrew +through the lead with a swift downward stab, which made me wince, he +made a small hole, which was, however, big enough to admit the point of +the saw. I had expected a rush of gas from the week-old corpse. We +doctors, who have had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to +such things, and I drew back towards the door. But the Professor never +stopped for a moment; he sawed down a couple of feet along one side of +the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side. Taking the +edge of the loose flange, he bent it back towards the foot of the +coffin, and holding up the candle into the aperture, motioned to me to +look. + +I drew near and looked. The coffin was empty. + +It was certainly a surprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but +Van Helsing was unmoved. He was now more sure than ever of his ground, +and so emboldened to proceed in his task. "Are you satisfied now, friend +John?" he asked. + +I felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake within me as +I answered him:-- + +"I am satisfied that Lucy's body is not in that coffin; but that only +proves one thing." + +"And what is that, friend John?" + +"That it is not there." + +"That is good logic," he said, "so far as it goes. But how do you--how +can you--account for it not being there?" + +"Perhaps a body-snatcher," I suggested. "Some of the undertaker's people +may have stolen it." I felt that I was speaking folly, and yet it was +the only real cause which I could suggest. The Professor sighed. "Ah +well!" he said, "we must have more proof. Come with me." + +He put on the coffin-lid again, gathered up all his things and placed +them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle also in the +bag. We opened the door, and went out. Behind us he closed the door and +locked it. He handed me the key, saying: "Will you keep it? You had +better be assured." I laughed--it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am +bound to say--as I motioned him to keep it. "A key is nothing," I said; +"there may be duplicates; and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock +of that kind." He said nothing, but put the key in his pocket. Then he +told me to watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at +the other. I took up my place behind a yew-tree, and I saw his dark +figure move until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my +sight. + +It was a lonely vigil. Just after I had taken my place I heard a distant +clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two. I was chilled and +unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking me on such an errand +and with myself for coming. I was too cold and too sleepy to be keenly +observant, and not sleepy enough to betray my trust so altogether I had +a dreary, miserable time. + +Suddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a white +streak, moving between two dark yew-trees at the side of the churchyard +farthest from the tomb; at the same time a dark mass moved from the +Professor's side of the ground, and hurriedly went towards it. Then I +too moved; but I had to go round headstones and railed-off tombs, and I +stumbled over graves. The sky was overcast, and somewhere far off an +early cock crew. A little way off, beyond a line of scattered +juniper-trees, which marked the pathway to the church, a white, dim +figure flitted in the direction of the tomb. The tomb itself was hidden +by trees, and I could not see where the figure disappeared. I heard the +rustle of actual movement where I had first seen the white figure, and +coming over, found the Professor holding in his arms a tiny child. When +he saw me he held it out to me, and said:-- + +"Are you satisfied now?" + +"No," I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive. + +"Do you not see the child?" + +"Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here? And is it wounded?" I +asked. + +"We shall see," said the Professor, and with one impulse we took our way +out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child. + +When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump of +trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child's throat. It was +without a scratch or scar of any kind. + +"Was I right?" I asked triumphantly. + +"We were just in time," said the Professor thankfully. + +We had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so consulted +about it. If we were to take it to a police-station we should have to +give some account of our movements during the night; at least, we should +have had to make some statement as to how we had come to find the child. +So finally we decided that we would take it to the Heath, and when we +heard a policeman coming, would leave it where he could not fail to find +it; we would then seek our way home as quickly as we could. All fell out +well. At the edge of Hampstead Heath we heard a policeman's heavy +tramp, and laying the child on the pathway, we waited and watched until +he saw it as he flashed his lantern to and fro. We heard his exclamation +of astonishment, and then we went away silently. By good chance we got a +cab near the "Spaniards," and drove to town. + +I cannot sleep, so I make this entry. But I must try to get a few hours' +sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon. He insists that I shall +go with him on another expedition. + + * * * * * + +_27 September._--It was two o'clock before we found a suitable +opportunity for our attempt. The funeral held at noon was all completed, +and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken themselves lazily +away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump of alder-trees, we saw +the sexton lock the gate after him. We knew then that we were safe till +morning did we desire it; but the Professor told me that we should not +want more than an hour at most. Again I felt that horrid sense of the +reality of things, in which any effort of imagination seemed out of +place; and I realised distinctly the perils of the law which we were +incurring in our unhallowed work. Besides, I felt it was all so useless. +Outrageous as it was to open a leaden coffin, to see if a woman dead +nearly a week were really dead, it now seemed the height of folly to +open the tomb again, when we knew, from the evidence of our own +eyesight, that the coffin was empty. I shrugged my shoulders, however, +and rested silent, for Van Helsing had a way of going on his own road, +no matter who remonstrated. He took the key, opened the vault, and again +courteously motioned me to precede. The place was not so gruesome as +last night, but oh, how unutterably mean-looking when the sunshine +streamed in. Van Helsing walked over to Lucy's coffin, and I followed. +He bent over and again forced back the leaden flange; and then a shock +of surprise and dismay shot through me. + +There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her +funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever; and I +could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red, nay redder than +before; and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom. + +"Is this a juggle?" I said to him. + +"Are you convinced now?" said the Professor in response, and as he spoke +he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder, pulled back the +dead lips and showed the white teeth. + +"See," he went on, "see, they are even sharper than before. With this +and this"--and he touched one of the canine teeth and that below +it--"the little children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend +John?" Once more, argumentative hostility woke within me. I _could_ not +accept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested; so, with an attempt to +argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said:-- + +"She may have been placed here since last night." + +"Indeed? That is so, and by whom?" + +"I do not know. Some one has done it." + +"And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time would not +look so." I had no answer for this, so was silent. Van Helsing did not +seem to notice my silence; at any rate, he showed neither chagrin nor +triumph. He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman, raising +the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening the lips and +examining the teeth. Then he turned to me and said:-- + +"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded; here is +some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by the vampire +when she was in a trance, sleep-walking--oh, you start; you do not know +that, friend John, but you shall know it all later--and in trance could +he best come to take more blood. In trance she died, and in trance she +is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ from all other. Usually when +the Un-Dead sleep at home"--as he spoke he made a comprehensive sweep of +his arm to designate what to a vampire was "home"--"their face show what +they are, but this so sweet that was when she not Un-Dead she go back to +the nothings of the common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so +it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep." This turned my blood +cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I was accepting Van Helsing's +theories; but if she were really dead, what was there of terror in the +idea of killing her? He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in +my face, for he said almost joyously:-- + +"Ah, you believe now?" + +I answered: "Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing to +accept. How will you do this bloody work?" + +"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall +drive a stake through her body." It made me shudder to think of so +mutilating the body of the woman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling +was not so strong as I had expected. I was, in fact, beginning to +shudder at the presence of this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing +called it, and to loathe it. Is it possible that love is all subjective, +or all objective? + +I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he stood as +if wrapped in thought. Presently he closed the catch of his bag with a +snap, and said:-- + +"I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is best. If I +did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment, what is +to be done; but there are other things to follow, and things that are +thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know. This is +simple. She have yet no life taken, though that is of time; and to act +now would be to take danger from her for ever. But then we may have to +want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this? If you, who saw the +wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child's at +the hospital; if you, who saw the coffin empty last night and full +to-day with a woman who have not change only to be more rose and more +beautiful in a whole week, after she die--if you know of this and know +of the white figure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, +and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how, then, can I expect +Arthur, who know none of those things, to believe? He doubted me when I +took him from her kiss when she was dying. I know he has forgiven me +because in some mistaken idea I have done things that prevent him say +good-bye as he ought; and he may think that in some more mistaken idea +this woman was buried alive; and that in most mistake of all we have +killed her. He will then argue back that it is we, mistaken ones, that +have killed her by our ideas; and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet +he never can be sure; and that is the worst of all. And he will +sometimes think that she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint +his dreams with horrors of what she must have suffered; and again, he +will think that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all, +an Un-Dead. No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now, since +I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I know that he +must pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweet. He, poor fellow, +must have one hour that will make the very face of heaven grow black to +him; then we can act for good all round and send him peace. My mind is +made up. Let us go. You return home for to-night to your asylum, and see +that all be well. As for me, I shall spend the night here in this +churchyard in my own way. To-morrow night you will come to me to the +Berkeley Hotel at ten of the clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, +and also that so fine young man of America that gave his blood. Later we +shall all have work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and +there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set." + +So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of the +churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to Piccadilly. + + +_Note left by Van Helsing in his portmanteau, Berkeley Hotel directed to +John Seward, M. D._ + +(Not delivered.) + +"_27 September._ + +"Friend John,-- + +"I write this in case anything should happen. I go alone to watch in +that churchyard. It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss Lucy, shall not +leave to-night, that so on the morrow night she may be more eager. +Therefore I shall fix some things she like not--garlic and a +crucifix--and so seal up the door of the tomb. She is young as Un-Dead, +and will heed. Moreover, these are only to prevent her coming out; they +may not prevail on her wanting to get in; for then the Un-Dead is +desperate, and must find the line of least resistance, whatsoever it may +be. I shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after the sunrise, +and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn it. For Miss +Lucy or from her, I have no fear; but that other to whom is there that +she is Un-Dead, he have now the power to seek her tomb and find shelter. +He is cunning, as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all +along he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and +we lost; and in many ways the Un-Dead are strong. He have always the +strength in his hand of twenty men; even we four who gave our strength +to Miss Lucy it also is all to him. Besides, he can summon his wolf and +I know not what. So if it be that he come thither on this night he shall +find me; but none other shall--until it be too late. But it may be that +he will not attempt the place. There is no reason why he should; his +hunting ground is more full of game than the churchyard where the +Un-Dead woman sleep, and the one old man watch. + +"Therefore I write this in case.... Take the papers that are with this, +the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and then find this +great Un-Dead, and cut off his head and burn his heart or drive a stake +through it, so that the world may rest from him. + +"If it be so, farewell. + +"VAN HELSING." + + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 September._--It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do for +one. Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's monstrous +ideas; but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on +common sense. I have no doubt that he believes it all. I wonder if his +mind can have become in any way unhinged. Surely there must be _some_ +rational explanation of all these mysterious things. Is it possible that +the Professor can have done it himself? He is so abnormally clever that +if he went off his head he would carry out his intent with regard to +some fixed idea in a wonderful way. I am loath to think it, and indeed +it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van +Helsing was mad; but anyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some +light on the mystery. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, morning._.... Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, +Arthur and Quincey came into Van Helsing's room; he told us all that he +wanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if all +our wills were centred in his. He began by saying that he hoped we would +all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be done +there. You were doubtless surprised at my letter?" This query was +directly addressed to Lord Godalming. + +"I was. It rather upset me for a bit. There has been so much trouble +around my house of late that I could do without any more. I have been +curious, too, as to what you mean. Quincey and I talked it over; but the +more we talked, the more puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself +that I'm about up a tree as to any meaning about anything." + +"Me too," said Quincey Morris laconically. + +"Oh," said the Professor, "then you are nearer the beginning, both of +you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back before he can +even get so far as to begin." + +It was evident that he recognised my return to my old doubting frame of +mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other two, he said +with intense gravity:-- + +"I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It is, I +know, much to ask; and when you know what it is I propose to do you will +know, and only then, how much. Therefore may I ask that you promise me +in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be angry with me for a +time--I must not disguise from myself the possibility that such may +be--you shall not blame yourselves for anything." + +"That's frank anyhow," broke in Quincey. "I'll answer for the Professor. +I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest; and that's good +enough for me." + +"I thank you, sir," said Van Helsing proudly. "I have done myself the +honour of counting you one trusting friend, and such endorsement is dear +to me." He held out a hand, which Quincey took. + +Then Arthur spoke out:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to 'buy a pig in a poke,' as they +say in Scotland, and if it be anything in which my honour as a gentleman +or my faith as a Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. +If you can assure me that what you intend does not violate either of +these two, then I give my consent at once; though for the life of me, I +cannot understand what you are driving at." + +"I accept your limitation," said Van Helsing, "and all I ask of you is +that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine, you will first +consider it well and be satisfied that it does not violate your +reservations." + +"Agreed!" said Arthur; "that is only fair. And now that the +_pourparlers_ are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?" + +"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the churchyard at +Kingstead." + +Arthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way:-- + +"Where poor Lucy is buried?" The Professor bowed. Arthur went on: "And +when there?" + +"To enter the tomb!" Arthur stood up. + +"Professor, are you in earnest; or it is some monstrous joke? Pardon me, +I see that you are in earnest." He sat down again, but I could see that +he sat firmly and proudly, as one who is on his dignity. There was +silence until he asked again:-- + +"And when in the tomb?" + +"To open the coffin." + +"This is too much!" he said, angrily rising again. "I am willing to be +patient in all things that are reasonable; but in this--this desecration +of the grave--of one who----" He fairly choked with indignation. The +Professor looked pityingly at him. + +"If I could spare you one pang, my poor friend," he said, "God knows I +would. But this night our feet must tread in thorny paths; or later, and +for ever, the feet you love must walk in paths of flame!" + +Arthur looked up with set white face and said:-- + +"Take care, sir, take care!" + +"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?" said Van Helsing. +"And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose. Shall I go +on?" + +"That's fair enough," broke in Morris. + +After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort:-- + +"Miss Lucy is dead; is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong to +her. But if she be not dead----" + +Arthur jumped to his feet. + +"Good God!" he cried. "What do you mean? Has there been any mistake; has +she been buried alive?" He groaned in anguish that not even hope could +soften. + +"I did not say she was alive, my child; I did not think it. I go no +further than to say that she might be Un-Dead." + +"Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare, or what +is it?" + +"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they +may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the verge of one. But +I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?" + +"Heavens and earth, no!" cried Arthur in a storm of passion. "Not for +the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead body. Dr. +Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to you that you should +torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl do that you should want to +cast such dishonour on her grave? Are you mad that speak such things, or +am I mad to listen to them? Don't dare to think more of such a +desecration; I shall not give my consent to anything you do. I have a +duty to do in protecting her grave from outrage; and, by God, I shall do +it!" + +Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated, and +said, gravely and sternly:-- + +"My Lord Godalming, I, too, have a duty to do, a duty to others, a duty +to you, a duty to the dead; and, by God, I shall do it! All I ask you +now is that you come with me, that you look and listen; and if when +later I make the same request you do not be more eager for its +fulfilment even than I am, then--then I shall do my duty, whatever it +may seem to me. And then, to follow of your Lordship's wishes I shall +hold myself at your disposal to render an account to you, when and where +you will." His voice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of +pity:-- + +"But, I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long life of +acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did wring +my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now. Believe me that if +the time comes for you to change your mind towards me, one look from +you will wipe away all this so sad hour, for I would do what a man can +to save you from sorrow. Just think. For why should I give myself so +much of labour and so much of sorrow? I have come here from my own land +to do what I can of good; at the first to please my friend John, and +then to help a sweet young lady, whom, too, I came to love. For her--I +am ashamed to say so much, but I say it in kindness--I gave what you +gave; the blood of my veins; I gave it, I, who was not, like you, her +lover, but only her physician and her friend. I gave to her my nights +and days--before death, after death; and if my death can do her good +even now, when she is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely." He +said this with a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected +by it. He took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice:-- + +"Oh, it is hard to think of it, and I cannot understand; but at least I +shall go with you and wait." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +It was just a quarter before twelve o'clock when we got into the +churchyard over the low wall. The night was dark with occasional gleams +of moonlight between the rents of the heavy clouds that scudded across +the sky. We all kept somehow close together, with Van Helsing slightly +in front as he led the way. When we had come close to the tomb I looked +well at Arthur, for I feared that the proximity to a place laden with so +sorrowful a memory would upset him; but he bore himself well. I took it +that the very mystery of the proceeding was in some way a counteractant +to his grief. The Professor unlocked the door, and seeing a natural +hesitation amongst us for various reasons, solved the difficulty by +entering first himself. The rest of us followed, and he closed the door. +He then lit a dark lantern and pointed to the coffin. Arthur stepped +forward hesitatingly; Van Helsing said to me:-- + +"You were with me here yesterday. Was the body of Miss Lucy in that +coffin?" + +"It was." The Professor turned to the rest saying:-- + +"You hear; and yet there is no one who does not believe with me." He +took his screwdriver and again took off the lid of the coffin. Arthur +looked on, very pale but silent; when the lid was removed he stepped +forward. He evidently did not know that there was a leaden coffin, or, +at any rate, had not thought of it. When he saw the rent in the lead, +the blood rushed to his face for an instant, but as quickly fell away +again, so that he remained of a ghastly whiteness; he was still silent. +Van Helsing forced back the leaden flange, and we all looked in and +recoiled. + +The coffin was empty! + +For several minutes no one spoke a word. The silence was broken by +Quincey Morris:-- + +"Professor, I answered for you. Your word is all I want. I wouldn't ask +such a thing ordinarily--I wouldn't so dishonour you as to imply a +doubt; but this is a mystery that goes beyond any honour or dishonour. +Is this your doing?" + +"I swear to you by all that I hold sacred that I have not removed nor +touched her. What happened was this: Two nights ago my friend Seward and +I came here--with good purpose, believe me. I opened that coffin, which +was then sealed up, and we found it, as now, empty. We then waited, and +saw something white come through the trees. The next day we came here in +day-time, and she lay there. Did she not, friend John?" + +"Yes." + +"That night we were just in time. One more so small child was missing, +and we find it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves. Yesterday I came +here before sundown, for at sundown the Un-Dead can move. I waited here +all the night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing. It was most probable +that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors garlic, +which the Un-Dead cannot bear, and other things which they shun. Last +night there was no exodus, so to-night before the sundown I took away my +garlic and other things. And so it is we find this coffin empty. But +bear with me. So far there is much that is strange. Wait you with me +outside, unseen and unheard, and things much stranger are yet to be. +So"--here he shut the dark slide of his lantern--"now to the outside." +He opened the door, and we filed out, he coming last and locking the +door behind him. + +Oh! but it seemed fresh and pure in the night air after the terror of +that vault. How sweet it was to see the clouds race by, and the passing +gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing and +passing--like the gladness and sorrow of a man's life; how sweet it was +to breathe the fresh air, that had no taint of death and decay; how +humanising to see the red lighting of the sky beyond the hill, and to +hear far away the muffled roar that marks the life of a great city. Each +in his own way was solemn and overcome. Arthur was silent, and was, I +could see, striving to grasp the purpose and the inner meaning of the +mystery. I was myself tolerably patient, and half inclined again to +throw aside doubt and to accept Van Helsing's conclusions. Quincey +Morris was phlegmatic in the way of a man who accepts all things, and +accepts them in the spirit of cool bravery, with hazard of all he has to +stake. Not being able to smoke, he cut himself a good-sized plug of +tobacco and began to chew. As to Van Helsing, he was employed in a +definite way. First he took from his bag a mass of what looked like +thin, wafer-like biscuit, which was carefully rolled up in a white +napkin; next he took out a double-handful of some whitish stuff, like +dough or putty. He crumbled the wafer up fine and worked it into the +mass between his hands. This he then took, and rolling it into thin +strips, began to lay them into the crevices between the door and its +setting in the tomb. I was somewhat puzzled at this, and being close, +asked him what it was that he was doing. Arthur and Quincey drew near +also, as they too were curious. He answered:-- + +"I am closing the tomb, so that the Un-Dead may not enter." + +"And is that stuff you have put there going to do it?" asked Quincey. +"Great Scott! Is this a game?" + +"It is." + +"What is that which you are using?" This time the question was by +Arthur. Van Helsing reverently lifted his hat as he answered:-- + +"The Host. I brought it from Amsterdam. I have an Indulgence." It was an +answer that appalled the most sceptical of us, and we felt individually +that in the presence of such earnest purpose as the Professor's, a +purpose which could thus use the to him most sacred of things, it was +impossible to distrust. In respectful silence we took the places +assigned to us close round the tomb, but hidden from the sight of any +one approaching. I pitied the others, especially Arthur. I had myself +been apprenticed by my former visits to this watching horror; and yet I, +who had up to an hour ago repudiated the proofs, felt my heart sink +within me. Never did tombs look so ghastly white; never did cypress, or +yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of funereal gloom; never did tree +or grass wave or rustle so ominously; never did bough creak so +mysteriously; and never did the far-away howling of dogs send such a +woeful presage through the night. + +There was a long spell of silence, a big, aching void, and then from the +Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!" He pointed; and far down the avenue of yews +we saw a white figure advance--a dim white figure, which held something +dark at its breast. The figure stopped, and at the moment a ray of +moonlight fell upon the masses of driving clouds and showed in startling +prominence a dark-haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave. +We could not see the face, for it was bent down over what we saw to be a +fair-haired child. There was a pause and a sharp little cry, such as a +child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreams. We +were starting forward, but the Professor's warning hand, seen by us as +he stood behind a yew-tree, kept us back; and then as we looked the +white figure moved forwards again. It was now near enough for us to see +clearly, and the moonlight still held. My own heart grew cold as ice, +and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognised the features of +Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was +turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous +wantonness. Van Helsing stepped out, and, obedient to his gesture, we +all advanced too; the four of us ranged in a line before the door of the +tomb. Van Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide; by the +concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips +were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her +chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe. + +We shuddered with horror. I could see by the tremulous light that even +Van Helsing's iron nerve had failed. Arthur was next to me, and if I had +not seized his arm and held him up, he would have fallen. + +When Lucy--I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her +shape--saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives +when taken unawares; then her eyes ranged over us. Lucy's eyes in form +and colour; but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of +the pure, gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love +passed into hate and loathing; had she then to be killed, I could have +done it with savage delight. As she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy +light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile. Oh, God, +how it made me shudder to see it! With a careless motion, she flung to +the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had +clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls +over a bone. The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning. There +was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from Arthur; when +she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell +back and hid his face in his hands. + +She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, +said:-- + +"Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are +hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!" + +There was something diabolically sweet in her tones--something of the +tingling of glass when struck--which rang through the brains even of us +who heard the words addressed to another. As for Arthur, he seemed under +a spell; moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms. She +was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between +them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a +suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter +the tomb. + +When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if +arrested by some irresistible force. Then she turned, and her face was +shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had now no +quiver from Van Helsing's iron nerves. Never did I see such baffled +malice on a face; and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by +mortal eyes. The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw +out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of +the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, +blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of +the Greeks and Japanese. If ever a face meant death--if looks could +kill--we saw it at that moment. + +And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained +between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of +entry. Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur:-- + +"Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?" + +Arthur threw himself on his knees, and hid his face in his hands, as he +answered:-- + +"Do as you will, friend; do as you will. There can be no horror like +this ever any more;" and he groaned in spirit. Quincey and I +simultaneously moved towards him, and took his arms. We could hear the +click of the closing lantern as Van Helsing held it down; coming close +to the tomb, he began to remove from the chinks some of the sacred +emblem which he had placed there. We all looked on in horrified +amazement as we saw, when he stood back, the woman, with a corporeal +body as real at that moment as our own, pass in through the interstice +where scarce a knife-blade could have gone. We all felt a glad sense of +relief when we saw the Professor calmly restoring the strings of putty +to the edges of the door. + +When this was done, he lifted the child and said: + +"Come now, my friends; we can do no more till to-morrow. There is a +funeral at noon, so here we shall all come before long after that. The +friends of the dead will all be gone by two, and when the sexton lock +the gate we shall remain. Then there is more to do; but not like this of +to-night. As for this little one, he is not much harm, and by to-morrow +night he shall be well. We shall leave him where the police will find +him, as on the other night; and then to home." Coming close to Arthur, +he said:-- + +"My friend Arthur, you have had a sore trial; but after, when you look +back, you will see how it was necessary. You are now in the bitter +waters, my child. By this time to-morrow you will, please God, have +passed them, and have drunk of the sweet waters; so do not mourn +overmuch. Till then I shall not ask you to forgive me." + +Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other +on the way. We had left the child in safety, and were tired; so we all +slept with more or less reality of sleep. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, night._--A little before twelve o'clock we three--Arthur, +Quincey Morris, and myself--called for the Professor. It was odd to +notice that by common consent we had all put on black clothes. Of +course, Arthur wore black, for he was in deep mourning, but the rest of +us wore it by instinct. We got to the churchyard by half-past one, and +strolled about, keeping out of official observation, so that when the +gravediggers had completed their task and the sexton under the belief +that every one had gone, had locked the gate, we had the place all to +ourselves. Van Helsing, instead of his little black bag, had with him a +long leather one, something like a cricketing bag; it was manifestly of +fair weight. + +When we were alone and had heard the last of the footsteps die out up +the road, we silently, and as if by ordered intention, followed the +Professor to the tomb. He unlocked the door, and we entered, closing it +behind us. Then he took from his bag the lantern, which he lit, and also +two wax candles, which, when lighted, he stuck, by melting their own +ends, on other coffins, so that they might give light sufficient to work +by. When he again lifted the lid off Lucy's coffin we all looked--Arthur +trembling like an aspen--and saw that the body lay there in all its +death-beauty. But there was no love in my own heart, nothing but +loathing for the foul Thing which had taken Lucy's shape without her +soul. I could see even Arthur's face grow hard as he looked. Presently +he said to Van Helsing:-- + +"Is this really Lucy's body, or only a demon in her shape?" + +"It is her body, and yet not it. But wait a while, and you all see her +as she was, and is." + +She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there; the pointed teeth, +the bloodstained, voluptuous mouth--which it made one shudder to +see--the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a +devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity. Van Helsing, with his usual +methodicalness, began taking the various contents from his bag and +placing them ready for use. First he took out a soldering iron and some +plumbing solder, and then a small oil-lamp, which gave out, when lit in +a corner of the tomb, gas which burned at fierce heat with a blue +flame; then his operating knives, which he placed to hand; and last a +round wooden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick and about +three feet long. One end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and +was sharpened to a fine point. With this stake came a heavy hammer, such +as in households is used in the coal-cellar for breaking the lumps. To +me, a doctor's preparations for work of any kind are stimulating and +bracing, but the effect of these things on both Arthur and Quincey was +to cause them a sort of consternation. They both, however, kept their +courage, and remained silent and quiet. + +When all was ready, Van Helsing said:-- + +"Before we do anything, let me tell you this; it is out of the lore and +experience of the ancients and of all those who have studied the powers +of the Un-Dead. When they become such, there comes with the change the +curse of immortality; they cannot die, but must go on age after age +adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world; for all that +die from the preying of the Un-Dead becomes themselves Un-Dead, and prey +on their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the +ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met +that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die; or again, last night +when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, +have become _nosferatu_, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would +all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have fill us with horror. +The career of this so unhappy dear lady is but just begun. Those +children whose blood she suck are not as yet so much the worse; but if +she live on, Un-Dead, more and more they lose their blood and by her +power over them they come to her; and so she draw their blood with that +so wicked mouth. But if she die in truth, then all cease; the tiny +wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their plays +unknowing ever of what has been. But of the most blessed of all, when +this now Un-Dead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor +lady whom we love shall again be free. Instead of working wickedness by +night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she +shall take her place with the other Angels. So that, my friend, it will +be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow that sets her free. +To this I am willing; but is there none amongst us who has a better +right? Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in the silence of the +night when sleep is not: 'It was my hand that sent her to the stars; it +was the hand of him that loved her best; the hand that of all she would +herself have chosen, had it been to her to choose?' Tell me if there be +such a one amongst us?" + +We all looked at Arthur. He saw, too, what we all did, the infinite +kindness which suggested that his should be the hand which would restore +Lucy to us as a holy, and not an unholy, memory; he stepped forward and +said bravely, though his hand trembled, and his face was as pale as +snow:-- + +"My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I thank you. Tell me +what I am to do, and I shall not falter!" Van Helsing laid a hand on his +shoulder, and said:-- + +"Brave lad! A moment's courage, and it is done. This stake must be +driven through her. It will be a fearful ordeal--be not deceived in +that--but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more +than your pain was great; from this grim tomb you will emerge as though +you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only +think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for +you all the time." + +"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me what I am to do." + +"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place the point over the +heart, and the hammer in your right. Then when we begin our prayer for +the dead--I shall read him, I have here the book, and the others shall +follow--strike in God's name, that so all may be well with the dead that +we love and that the Un-Dead pass away." + +Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set on +action his hands never trembled nor even quivered. Van Helsing opened +his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we +could. Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could +see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with all his might. + +The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech +came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted +in wild contortions; the sharp white teeth champed together till the +lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur +never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm +rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst +the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it. His +face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; the sight of it +gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little +vault. + +And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the +teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver. Finally it lay still. The +terrible task was over. + +The hammer fell from Arthur's hand. He reeled and would have fallen had +we not caught him. The great drops of sweat sprang from his forehead, +and his breath came in broken gasps. It had indeed been an awful strain +on him; and had he not been forced to his task by more than human +considerations he could never have gone through with it. For a few +minutes we were so taken up with him that we did not look towards the +coffin. When we did, however, a murmur of startled surprise ran from one +to the other of us. We gazed so eagerly that Arthur rose, for he had +been seated on the ground, and came and looked too; and then a glad, +strange light broke over his face and dispelled altogether the gloom of +horror that lay upon it. + +There, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing that we had so dreaded +and grown to hate that the work of her destruction was yielded as a +privilege to the one best entitled to it, but Lucy as we had seen her in +her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity. True that +there were there, as we had seen them in life, the traces of care and +pain and waste; but these were all dear to us, for they marked her truth +to what we knew. One and all we felt that the holy calm that lay like +sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and +symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever. + +Van Helsing came and laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and said to +him:-- + +"And now, Arthur my friend, dear lad, am I not forgiven?" + +The reaction of the terrible strain came as he took the old man's hand +in his, and raising it to his lips, pressed it, and said:-- + +"Forgiven! God bless you that you have given my dear one her soul again, +and me peace." He put his hands on the Professor's shoulder, and laying +his head on his breast, cried for a while silently, whilst we stood +unmoving. When he raised his head Van Helsing said to him:-- + +"And now, my child, you may kiss her. Kiss her dead lips if you will, as +she would have you to, if for her to choose. For she is not a grinning +devil now--not any more a foul Thing for all eternity. No longer she is +the devil's Un-Dead. She is God's true dead, whose soul is with Him!" + +Arthur bent and kissed her, and then we sent him and Quincey out of the +tomb; the Professor and I sawed the top off the stake, leaving the point +of it in the body. Then we cut off the head and filled the mouth with +garlic. We soldered up the leaden coffin, screwed on the coffin-lid, +and gathering up our belongings, came away. When the Professor locked +the door he gave the key to Arthur. + +Outside the air was sweet, the sun shone, and the birds sang, and it +seemed as if all nature were tuned to a different pitch. There was +gladness and mirth and peace everywhere, for we were at rest ourselves +on one account, and we were glad, though it was with a tempered joy. + +Before we moved away Van Helsing said:-- + +"Now, my friends, one step of our work is done, one the most harrowing +to ourselves. But there remains a greater task: to find out the author +of all this our sorrow and to stamp him out. I have clues which we can +follow; but it is a long task, and a difficult, and there is danger in +it, and pain. Shall you not all help me? We have learned to believe, all +of us--is it not so? And since so, do we not see our duty? Yes! And do +we not promise to go on to the bitter end?" + +Each in turn, we took his hand, and the promise was made. Then said the +Professor as we moved off:-- + +"Two nights hence you shall meet with me and dine together at seven of +the clock with friend John. I shall entreat two others, two that you +know not as yet; and I shall be ready to all our work show and our plans +unfold. Friend John, you come with me home, for I have much to consult +about, and you can help me. To-night I leave for Amsterdam, but shall +return to-morrow night. And then begins our great quest. But first I +shall have much to say, so that you may know what is to do and to dread. +Then our promise shall be made to each other anew; for there is a +terrible task before us, and once our feet are on the ploughshare we +must not draw back." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +When we arrived at the Berkeley Hotel, Van Helsing found a telegram +waiting for him:-- + + "Am coming up by train. Jonathan at Whitby. Important news.--MINA + HARKER." + +The Professor was delighted. "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina," he said, +"pearl among women! She arrive, but I cannot stay. She must go to your +house, friend John. You must meet her at the station. Telegraph her _en +route_, so that she may be prepared." + +When the wire was despatched he had a cup of tea; over it he told me of +a diary kept by Jonathan Harker when abroad, and gave me a typewritten +copy of it, as also of Mrs. Harker's diary at Whitby. "Take these," he +said, "and study them well. When I have returned you will be master of +all the facts, and we can then better enter on our inquisition. Keep +them safe, for there is in them much of treasure. You will need all your +faith, even you who have had such an experience as that of to-day. What +is here told," he laid his hand heavily and gravely on the packet of +papers as he spoke, "may be the beginning of the end to you and me and +many another; or it may sound the knell of the Un-Dead who walk the +earth. Read all, I pray you, with the open mind; and if you can add in +any way to the story here told do so, for it is all-important. You have +kept diary of all these so strange things; is it not so? Yes! Then we +shall go through all these together when we meet." He then made ready +for his departure, and shortly after drove off to Liverpool Street. I +took my way to Paddington, where I arrived about fifteen minutes before +the train came in. + +The crowd melted away, after the bustling fashion common to arrival +platforms; and I was beginning to feel uneasy, lest I might miss my +guest, when a sweet-faced, dainty-looking girl stepped up to me, and, +after a quick glance, said: "Dr. Seward, is it not?" + +"And you are Mrs. Harker!" I answered at once; whereupon she held out +her hand. + +"I knew you from the description of poor dear Lucy; but----" She stopped +suddenly, and a quick blush overspread her face. + +The blush that rose to my own cheeks somehow set us both at ease, for it +was a tacit answer to her own. I got her luggage, which included a +typewriter, and we took the Underground to Fenchurch Street, after I had +sent a wire to my housekeeper to have a sitting-room and bedroom +prepared at once for Mrs. Harker. + +In due time we arrived. She knew, of course, that the place was a +lunatic asylum, but I could see that she was unable to repress a shudder +when we entered. + +She told me that, if she might, she would come presently to my study, as +she had much to say. So here I am finishing my entry in my phonograph +diary whilst I await her. As yet I have not had the chance of looking at +the papers which Van Helsing left with me, though they lie open before +me. I must get her interested in something, so that I may have an +opportunity of reading them. She does not know how precious time is, or +what a task we have in hand. I must be careful not to frighten her. Here +she is! + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After I had tidied myself, I went down to Dr. Seward's +study. At the door I paused a moment, for I thought I heard him talking +with some one. As, however, he had pressed me to be quick, I knocked at +the door, and on his calling out, "Come in," I entered. + +To my intense surprise, there was no one with him. He was quite alone, +and on the table opposite him was what I knew at once from the +description to be a phonograph. I had never seen one, and was much +interested. + +"I hope I did not keep you waiting," I said; "but I stayed at the door +as I heard you talking, and thought there was some one with you." + +"Oh," he replied with a smile, "I was only entering my diary." + +"Your diary?" I asked him in surprise. + +"Yes," he answered. "I keep it in this." As he spoke he laid his hand on +the phonograph. I felt quite excited over it, and blurted out:-- + +"Why, this beats even shorthand! May I hear it say something?" + +"Certainly," he replied with alacrity, and stood up to put it in train +for speaking. Then he paused, and a troubled look overspread his face. + +"The fact is," he began awkwardly, "I only keep my diary in it; and as +it is entirely--almost entirely--about my cases, it may be awkward--that +is, I mean----" He stopped, and I tried to help him out of his +embarrassment:-- + +"You helped to attend dear Lucy at the end. Let me hear how she died; +for all that I know of her, I shall be very grateful. She was very, very +dear to me." + +To my surprise, he answered, with a horrorstruck look in his face:-- + +"Tell you of her death? Not for the wide world!" + +"Why not?" I asked, for some grave, terrible feeling was coming over me. +Again he paused, and I could see that he was trying to invent an excuse. +At length he stammered out:-- + +"You see, I do not know how to pick out any particular part of the +diary." Even while he was speaking an idea dawned upon him, and he said +with unconscious simplicity, in a different voice, and with the naïveté +of a child: "That's quite true, upon my honour. Honest Indian!" I could +not but smile, at which he grimaced. "I gave myself away that time!" he +said. "But do you know that, although I have kept the diary for months +past, it never once struck me how I was going to find any particular +part of it in case I wanted to look it up?" By this time my mind was +made up that the diary of a doctor who attended Lucy might have +something to add to the sum of our knowledge of that terrible Being, and +I said boldly:-- + +"Then, Dr. Seward, you had better let me copy it out for you on my +typewriter." He grew to a positively deathly pallor as he said:-- + +"No! no! no! For all the world, I wouldn't let you know that terrible +story!" + +Then it was terrible; my intuition was right! For a moment I thought, +and as my eyes ranged the room, unconsciously looking for something or +some opportunity to aid me, they lit on a great batch of typewriting on +the table. His eyes caught the look in mine, and, without his thinking, +followed their direction. As they saw the parcel he realised my meaning. + +"You do not know me," I said. "When you have read those papers--my own +diary and my husband's also, which I have typed--you will know me +better. I have not faltered in giving every thought of my own heart in +this cause; but, of course, you do not know me--yet; and I must not +expect you to trust me so far." + +He is certainly a man of noble nature; poor dear Lucy was right about +him. He stood up and opened a large drawer, in which were arranged in +order a number of hollow cylinders of metal covered with dark wax, and +said:-- + +"You are quite right. I did not trust you because I did not know you. +But I know you now; and let me say that I should have known you long +ago. I know that Lucy told you of me; she told me of you too. May I make +the only atonement in my power? Take the cylinders and hear them--the +first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they will not horrify +you; then you will know me better. Dinner will by then be ready. In the +meantime I shall read over some of these documents, and shall be better +able to understand certain things." He carried the phonograph himself up +to my sitting-room and adjusted it for me. Now I shall learn something +pleasant, I am sure; for it will tell me the other side of a true love +episode of which I know one side already.... + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_29 September._--I was so absorbed in that wonderful diary of Jonathan +Harker and that other of his wife that I let the time run on without +thinking. Mrs. Harker was not down when the maid came to announce +dinner, so I said: "She is possibly tired; let dinner wait an hour," and +I went on with my work. I had just finished Mrs. Harker's diary, when +she came in. She looked sweetly pretty, but very sad, and her eyes were +flushed with crying. This somehow moved me much. Of late I have had +cause for tears, God knows! but the relief of them was denied me; and +now the sight of those sweet eyes, brightened with recent tears, went +straight to my heart. So I said as gently as I could:-- + +"I greatly fear I have distressed you." + +"Oh, no, not distressed me," she replied, "but I have been more touched +than I can say by your grief. That is a wonderful machine, but it is +cruelly true. It told me, in its very tones, the anguish of your heart. +It was like a soul crying out to Almighty God. No one must hear them +spoken ever again! See, I have tried to be useful. I have copied out the +words on my typewriter, and none other need now hear your heart beat, as +I did." + +"No one need ever know, shall ever know," I said in a low voice. She +laid her hand on mine and said very gravely:-- + +"Ah, but they must!" + +"Must! But why?" I asked. + +"Because it is a part of the terrible story, a part of poor dear Lucy's +death and all that led to it; because in the struggle which we have +before us to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all +the knowledge and all the help which we can get. I think that the +cylinders which you gave me contained more than you intended me to know; +but I can see that there are in your record many lights to this dark +mystery. You will let me help, will you not? I know all up to a certain +point; and I see already, though your diary only took me to 7 September, +how poor Lucy was beset, and how her terrible doom was being wrought +out. Jonathan and I have been working day and night since Professor Van +Helsing saw us. He is gone to Whitby to get more information, and he +will be here to-morrow to help us. We need have no secrets amongst us; +working together and with absolute trust, we can surely be stronger than +if some of us were in the dark." She looked at me so appealingly, and at +the same time manifested such courage and resolution in her bearing, +that I gave in at once to her wishes. "You shall," I said, "do as you +like in the matter. God forgive me if I do wrong! There are terrible +things yet to learn of; but if you have so far travelled on the road to +poor Lucy's death, you will not be content, I know, to remain in the +dark. Nay, the end--the very end--may give you a gleam of peace. Come, +there is dinner. We must keep one another strong for what is before us; +we have a cruel and dreadful task. When you have eaten you shall learn +the rest, and I shall answer any questions you ask--if there be anything +which you do not understand, though it was apparent to us who were +present." + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After dinner I came with Dr. Seward to his study. He +brought back the phonograph from my room, and I took my typewriter. He +placed me in a comfortable chair, and arranged the phonograph so that I +could touch it without getting up, and showed me how to stop it in case +I should want to pause. Then he very thoughtfully took a chair, with his +back to me, so that I might be as free as possible, and began to read. I +put the forked metal to my ears and listened. + +When the terrible story of Lucy's death, and--and all that followed, was +done, I lay back in my chair powerless. Fortunately I am not of a +fainting disposition. When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped up with a +horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking a case-bottle from a +cupboard, gave me some brandy, which in a few minutes somewhat restored +me. My brain was all in a whirl, and only that there came through all +the multitude of horrors, the holy ray of light that my dear, dear Lucy +was at last at peace, I do not think I could have borne it without +making a scene. It is all so wild, and mysterious, and strange that if I +had not known Jonathan's experience in Transylvania I could not have +believed. As it was, I didn't know what to believe, and so got out of my +difficulty by attending to something else. I took the cover off my +typewriter, and said to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Let me write this all out now. We must be ready for Dr. Van Helsing +when he comes. I have sent a telegram to Jonathan to come on here when +he arrives in London from Whitby. In this matter dates are everything, +and I think that if we get all our material ready, and have every item +put in chronological order, we shall have done much. You tell me that +Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris are coming too. Let us be able to tell him +when they come." He accordingly set the phonograph at a slow pace, and I +began to typewrite from the beginning of the seventh cylinder. I used +manifold, and so took three copies of the diary, just as I had done with +all the rest. It was late when I got through, but Dr. Seward went about +his work of going his round of the patients; when he had finished he +came back and sat near me, reading, so that I did not feel too lonely +whilst I worked. How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of +good men--even if there _are_ monsters in it. Before I left him I +remembered what Jonathan put in his diary of the Professor's +perturbation at reading something in an evening paper at the station at +Exeter; so, seeing that Dr. Seward keeps his newspapers, I borrowed the +files of "The Westminster Gazette" and "The Pall Mall Gazette," and took +them to my room. I remember how much "The Dailygraph" and "The Whitby +Gazette," of which I had made cuttings, helped us to understand the +terrible events at Whitby when Count Dracula landed, so I shall look +through the evening papers since then, and perhaps I shall get some new +light. I am not sleepy, and the work will help to keep me quiet. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_30 September._--Mr. Harker arrived at nine o'clock. He had got his +wife's wire just before starting. He is uncommonly clever, if one can +judge from his face, and full of energy. If this journal be true--and +judging by one's own wonderful experiences, it must be--he is also a man +of great nerve. That going down to the vault a second time was a +remarkable piece of daring. After reading his account of it I was +prepared to meet a good specimen of manhood, but hardly the quiet, +business-like gentleman who came here to-day. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--After lunch Harker and his wife went back to their own room, +and as I passed a while ago I heard the click of the typewriter. They +are hard at it. Mrs. Harker says that they are knitting together in +chronological order every scrap of evidence they have. Harker has got +the letters between the consignee of the boxes at Whitby and the +carriers in London who took charge of them. He is now reading his wife's +typescript of my diary. I wonder what they make out of it. Here it +is.... + + Strange that it never struck me that the very next house might be + the Count's hiding-place! Goodness knows that we had enough clues + from the conduct of the patient Renfield! The bundle of letters + relating to the purchase of the house were with the typescript. Oh, + if we had only had them earlier we might have saved poor Lucy! + Stop; that way madness lies! Harker has gone back, and is again + collating his material. He says that by dinner-time they will be + able to show a whole connected narrative. He thinks that in the + meantime I should see Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of + index to the coming and going of the Count. I hardly see this yet, + but when I get at the dates I suppose I shall. What a good thing + that Mrs. Harker put my cylinders into type! We never could have + found the dates otherwise.... + + I found Renfield sitting placidly in his room with his hands + folded, smiling benignly. At the moment he seemed as sane as any + one I ever saw. I sat down and talked with him on a lot of + subjects, all of which he treated naturally. He then, of his own + accord, spoke of going home, a subject he has never mentioned to my + knowledge during his sojourn here. In fact, he spoke quite + confidently of getting his discharge at once. I believe that, had I + not had the chat with Harker and read the letters and the dates of + his outbursts, I should have been prepared to sign for him after a + brief time of observation. As it is, I am darkly suspicious. All + those outbreaks were in some way linked with the proximity of the + Count. What then does this absolute content mean? Can it be that + his instinct is satisfied as to the vampire's ultimate triumph? + Stay; he is himself zoöphagous, and in his wild ravings outside the + chapel door of the deserted house he always spoke of "master." This + all seems confirmation of our idea. However, after a while I came + away; my friend is just a little too sane at present to make it + safe to probe him too deep with questions. He might begin to think, + and then--! So I came away. I mistrust these quiet moods of his; so + I have given the attendant a hint to look closely after him, and to + have a strait-waistcoat ready in case of need. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September, in train to London._--When I received Mr. Billington's +courteous message that he would give me any information in his power I +thought it best to go down to Whitby and make, on the spot, such +inquiries as I wanted. It was now my object to trace that horrid cargo +of the Count's to its place in London. Later, we may be able to deal +with it. Billington junior, a nice lad, met me at the station, and +brought me to his father's house, where they had decided that I must +stay the night. They are hospitable, with true Yorkshire hospitality: +give a guest everything, and leave him free to do as he likes. They all +knew that I was busy, and that my stay was short, and Mr. Billington had +ready in his office all the papers concerning the consignment of boxes. +It gave me almost a turn to see again one of the letters which I had +seen on the Count's table before I knew of his diabolical plans. +Everything had been carefully thought out, and done systematically and +with precision. He seemed to have been prepared for every obstacle which +might be placed by accident in the way of his intentions being carried +out. To use an Americanism, he had "taken no chances," and the absolute +accuracy with which his instructions were fulfilled, was simply the +logical result of his care. I saw the invoice, and took note of it: +"Fifty cases of common earth, to be used for experimental purposes." +Also the copy of letter to Carter Paterson, and their reply; of both of +these I got copies. This was all the information Mr. Billington could +give me, so I went down to the port and saw the coastguards, the Customs +officers and the harbour-master. They had all something to say of the +strange entry of the ship, which is already taking its place in local +tradition; but no one could add to the simple description "Fifty cases +of common earth." I then saw the station-master, who kindly put me in +communication with the men who had actually received the boxes. Their +tally was exact with the list, and they had nothing to add except that +the boxes were "main and mortal heavy," and that shifting them was dry +work. One of them added that it was hard lines that there wasn't any +gentleman "such-like as yourself, squire," to show some sort of +appreciation of their efforts in a liquid form; another put in a rider +that the thirst then generated was such that even the time which had +elapsed had not completely allayed it. Needless to add, I took care +before leaving to lift, for ever and adequately, this source of +reproach. + + * * * * * + +_30 September._--The station-master was good enough to give me a line to +his old companion the station-master at King's Cross, so that when I +arrived there in the morning I was able to ask him about the arrival of +the boxes. He, too, put me at once in communication with the proper +officials, and I saw that their tally was correct with the original +invoice. The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here +limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was +compelled to deal with the result in an _ex post facto_ manner. + +From thence I went on to Carter Paterson's central office, where I met +with the utmost courtesy. They looked up the transaction in their +day-book and letter-book, and at once telephoned to their King's Cross +office for more details. By good fortune, the men who did the teaming +were waiting for work, and the official at once sent them over, sending +also by one of them the way-bill and all the papers connected with the +delivery of the boxes at Carfax. Here again I found the tally agreeing +exactly; the carriers' men were able to supplement the paucity of the +written words with a few details. These were, I shortly found, connected +almost solely with the dusty nature of the job, and of the consequent +thirst engendered in the operators. On my affording an opportunity, +through the medium of the currency of the realm, of the allaying, at a +later period, this beneficial evil, one of the men remarked:-- + +"That 'ere 'ouse, guv'nor, is the rummiest I ever was in. Blyme! but it +ain't been touched sence a hundred years. There was dust that thick in +the place that you might have slep' on it without 'urtin' of yer bones; +an' the place was that neglected that yer might 'ave smelled ole +Jerusalem in it. But the ole chapel--that took the cike, that did! Me +and my mate, we thort we wouldn't never git out quick enough. Lor', I +wouldn't take less nor a quid a moment to stay there arter dark." + +Having been in the house, I could well believe him; but if he knew what +I know, he would, I think, have raised his terms. + +Of one thing I am now satisfied: that _all_ the boxes which arrived at +Whitby from Varna in the _Demeter_ were safely deposited in the old +chapel at Carfax. There should be fifty of them there, unless any have +since been removed--as from Dr. Seward's diary I fear. + +I shall try to see the carter who took away the boxes from Carfax when +Renfield attacked them. By following up this clue we may learn a good +deal. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Mina and I have worked all day, and we have put all the papers +into order. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal_ + +_30 September._--I am so glad that I hardly know how to contain myself. +It is, I suppose, the reaction from the haunting fear which I have had: +that this terrible affair and the reopening of his old wound might act +detrimentally on Jonathan. I saw him leave for Whitby with as brave a +face as I could, but I was sick with apprehension. The effort has, +however, done him good. He was never so resolute, never so strong, never +so full of volcanic energy, as at present. It is just as that dear, good +Professor Van Helsing said: he is true grit, and he improves under +strain that would kill a weaker nature. He came back full of life and +hope and determination; we have got everything in order for to-night. I +feel myself quite wild with excitement. I suppose one ought to pity any +thing so hunted as is the Count. That is just it: this Thing is not +human--not even beast. To read Dr. Seward's account of poor Lucy's +death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in +one's heart. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris arrived earlier than we +expected. Dr. Seward was out on business, and had taken Jonathan with +him, so I had to see them. It was to me a painful meeting, for it +brought back all poor dear Lucy's hopes of only a few months ago. Of +course they had heard Lucy speak of me, and it seemed that Dr. Van +Helsing, too, has been quite "blowing my trumpet," as Mr. Morris +expressed it. Poor fellows, neither of them is aware that I know all +about the proposals they made to Lucy. They did not quite know what to +say or do, as they were ignorant of the amount of my knowledge; so they +had to keep on neutral subjects. However, I thought the matter over, and +came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do would be to post +them in affairs right up to date. I knew from Dr. Seward's diary that +they had been at Lucy's death--her real death--and that I need not fear +to betray any secret before the time. So I told them, as well as I +could, that I had read all the papers and diaries, and that my husband +and I, having typewritten them, had just finished putting them in order. +I gave them each a copy to read in the library. When Lord Godalming got +his and turned it over--it does make a pretty good pile--he said:-- + +"Did you write all this, Mrs. Harker?" + +I nodded, and he went on:-- + +"I don't quite see the drift of it; but you people are all so good and +kind, and have been working so earnestly and so energetically, that all +I can do is to accept your ideas blindfold and try to help you. I have +had one lesson already in accepting facts that should make a man humble +to the last hour of his life. Besides, I know you loved my poor Lucy--" +Here he turned away and covered his face with his hands. I could hear +the tears in his voice. Mr. Morris, with instinctive delicacy, just laid +a hand for a moment on his shoulder, and then walked quietly out of the +room. I suppose there is something in woman's nature that makes a man +free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or +emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood; for when +Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat down on the sofa and +gave way utterly and openly. I sat down beside him and took his hand. I +hope he didn't think it forward of me, and that if he ever thinks of it +afterwards he never will have such a thought. There I wrong him; I +_know_ he never will--he is too true a gentleman. I said to him, for I +could see that his heart was breaking:-- + +"I loved dear Lucy, and I know what she was to you, and what you were to +her. She and I were like sisters; and now she is gone, will you not let +me be like a sister to you in your trouble? I know what sorrows you have +had, though I cannot measure the depth of them. If sympathy and pity can +help in your affliction, won't you let me be of some little service--for +Lucy's sake?" + +In an instant the poor dear fellow was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed +to me that all that he had of late been suffering in silence found a +vent at once. He grew quite hysterical, and raising his open hands, beat +his palms together in a perfect agony of grief. He stood up and then sat +down again, and the tears rained down his cheeks. I felt an infinite +pity for him, and opened my arms unthinkingly. With a sob he laid his +head on my shoulder and cried like a wearied child, whilst he shook with +emotion. + +We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above +smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked; I felt this big +sorrowing man's head resting on me, as though it were that of the baby +that some day may lie on my bosom, and I stroked his hair as though he +were my own child. I never thought at the time how strange it all was. + +After a little bit his sobs ceased, and he raised himself with an +apology, though he made no disguise of his emotion. He told me that for +days and nights past--weary days and sleepless nights--he had been +unable to speak with any one, as a man must speak in his time of +sorrow. There was no woman whose sympathy could be given to him, or with +whom, owing to the terrible circumstance with which his sorrow was +surrounded, he could speak freely. "I know now how I suffered," he said, +as he dried his eyes, "but I do not know even yet--and none other can +ever know--how much your sweet sympathy has been to me to-day. I shall +know better in time; and believe me that, though I am not ungrateful +now, my gratitude will grow with my understanding. You will let me be +like a brother, will you not, for all our lives--for dear Lucy's sake?" + +"For dear Lucy's sake," I said as we clasped hands. "Ay, and for your +own sake," he added, "for if a man's esteem and gratitude are ever worth +the winning, you have won mine to-day. If ever the future should bring +to you a time when you need a man's help, believe me, you will not call +in vain. God grant that no such time may ever come to you to break the +sunshine of your life; but if it should ever come, promise me that you +will let me know." He was so earnest, and his sorrow was so fresh, that +I felt it would comfort him, so I said:-- + +"I promise." + +As I came along the corridor I saw Mr. Morris looking out of a window. +He turned as he heard my footsteps. "How is Art?" he said. Then noticing +my red eyes, he went on: "Ah, I see you have been comforting him. Poor +old fellow! he needs it. No one but a woman can help a man when he is in +trouble of the heart; and he had no one to comfort him." + +He bore his own trouble so bravely that my heart bled for him. I saw the +manuscript in his hand, and I knew that when he read it he would realise +how much I knew; so I said to him:-- + +"I wish I could comfort all who suffer from the heart. Will you let me +be your friend, and will you come to me for comfort if you need it? You +will know, later on, why I speak." He saw that I was in earnest, and +stooping, took my hand, and raising it to his lips, kissed it. It seemed +but poor comfort to so brave and unselfish a soul, and impulsively I +bent over and kissed him. The tears rose in his eyes, and there was a +momentary choking in his throat; he said quite calmly:-- + +"Little girl, you will never regret that true-hearted kindness, so long +as ever you live!" Then he went into the study to his friend. + +"Little girl!"--the very words he had used to Lucy, and oh, but he +proved himself a friend! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_30 September._--I got home at five o'clock, and found that Godalming +and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied the transcript +of the various diaries and letters which Harker and his wonderful wife +had made and arranged. Harker had not yet returned from his visit to the +carriers' men, of whom Dr. Hennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave +us a cup of tea, and I can honestly say that, for the first time since I +have lived in it, this old house seemed like _home_. When we had +finished, Mrs. Harker said:-- + +"Dr. Seward, may I ask a favour? I want to see your patient, Mr. +Renfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your diary +interests me so much!" She looked so appealing and so pretty that I +could not refuse her, and there was no possible reason why I should; so +I took her with me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a +lady would like to see him; to which he simply answered: "Why?" + +"She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in it," I +answered. "Oh, very well," he said; "let her come in, by all means; but +just wait a minute till I tidy up the place." His method of tidying was +peculiar: he simply swallowed all the flies and spiders in the boxes +before I could stop him. It was quite evident that he feared, or was +jealous of, some interference. When he had got through his disgusting +task, he said cheerfully: "Let the lady come in," and sat down on the +edge of his bed with his head down, but with his eyelids raised so that +he could see her as she entered. For a moment I thought that he might +have some homicidal intent; I remembered how quiet he had been just +before he attacked me in my own study, and I took care to stand where I +could seize him at once if he attempted to make a spring at her. She +came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command +the respect of any lunatic--for easiness is one of the qualities mad +people most respect. She walked over to him, smiling pleasantly, and +held out her hand. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Renfield," said she. "You see, I know you, for Dr. +Seward has told me of you." He made no immediate reply, but eyed her all +over intently with a set frown on his face. This look gave way to one +of wonder, which merged in doubt; then, to my intense astonishment, he +said:-- + +"You're not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you? You can't be, +you know, for she's dead." Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied:-- + +"Oh no! I have a husband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever +saw Dr. Seward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker." + +"Then what are you doing here?" + +"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward." + +"Then don't stay." + +"But why not?" I thought that this style of conversation might not be +pleasant to Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in:-- + +"How did you know I wanted to marry any one?" His reply was simply +contemptuous, given in a pause in which he turned his eyes from Mrs. +Harker to me, instantly turning them back again:-- + +"What an asinine question!" + +"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield," said Mrs. Harker, at once +championing me. He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as +he had shown contempt to me:-- + +"You will, of course, understand, Mrs. Harker, that when a man is so +loved and honoured as our host is, everything regarding him is of +interest in our little community. Dr. Seward is loved not only by his +household and his friends, but even by his patients, who, being some of +them hardly in mental equilibrium, are apt to distort causes and +effects. Since I myself have been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I +cannot but notice that the sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates +lean towards the errors of _non causa_ and _ignoratio elenchi_." I +positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my own pet +lunatic--the most pronounced of his type that I had ever met +with--talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a polished +gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which had touched +some chord in his memory. If this new phase was spontaneous, or in any +way due to her unconscious influence, she must have some rare gift or +power. + +We continued to talk for some time; and, seeing that he was seemingly +quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me questioningly as she +began, to lead him to his favourite topic. I was again astonished, for +he addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of the +completest sanity; he even took himself as an example when he mentioned +certain things. + +"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief. Indeed, +it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on my being +put under control. I used to fancy that life was a positive and +perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of live things, no +matter how low in the scale of creation, one might indefinitely prolong +life. At times I held the belief so strongly that I actually tried to +take human life. The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I +tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by +the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his +blood--relying, of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is +the life.' Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has +vulgarised the truism to the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, +doctor?" I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to +either think or say; it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat up +his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my watch, I +saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, so I told Mrs. +Harker that it was time to leave. She came at once, after saying +pleasantly to Mr. Renfield: "Good-bye, and I hope I may see you often, +under auspices pleasanter to yourself," to which, to my astonishment, he +replied:-- + +"Good-bye, my dear. I pray God I may never see your sweet face again. +May He bless and keep you!" + +When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys behind +me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy first took +ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self than he has been for +many a long day. + +Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness of a +boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying:-- + +"Ah, friend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come +here to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I have +much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine husband? And +Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too? Good!" + +As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of how my own +diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's suggestion; at +which the Professor interrupted me:-- + +"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain--a brain that a man +should have were he much gifted--and a woman's heart. The good God +fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good +combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made that woman of help +to us; after to-night she must not have to do with this so terrible +affair. It is not good that she run a risk so great. We men are +determined--nay, are we not pledged?--to destroy this monster; but it is +no part for a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her +in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer--both in +waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams. And, besides, +she is young woman and not so long married; there may be other things to +think of some time, if not now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she +must consult with us; but to-morrow she say good-bye to this work, and +we go alone." I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we +had found in his absence: that the house which Dracula had bought was +the very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern seemed +to come on him. "Oh that we had known it before!" he said, "for then we +might have reached him in time to save poor Lucy. However, 'the milk +that is spilt cries not out afterwards,' as you say. We shall not think +of that, but go on our way to the end." Then he fell into a silence that +lasted till we entered my own gateway. Before we went to prepare for +dinner he said to Mrs. Harker:-- + +"I am told, Madam Mina, by my friend John that you and your husband have +put up in exact order all things that have been, up to this moment." + +"Not up to this moment, Professor," she said impulsively, "but up to +this morning." + +"But why not up to now? We have seen hitherto how good light all the +little things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet no one who +has told is the worse for it." + +Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets, she +said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it must go in. It +is my record of to-day. I too have seen the need of putting down at +present everything, however trivial; but there is little in this except +what is personal. Must it go in?" The Professor read it over gravely, +and handed it back, saying:-- + +"It need not go in if you do not wish it; but I pray that it may. It can +but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your friends, more +honour you--as well as more esteem and love." She took it back with +another blush and a bright smile. + +And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are complete +and in order. The Professor took away one copy to study after dinner, +and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock. The rest of us +have already read everything; so when we meet in the study we shall all +be informed as to facts, and can arrange our plan of battle with this +terrible and mysterious enemy. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 September._--When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after +dinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a sort of +board or committee. Professor Van Helsing took the head of the table, to +which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the room. He made me sit +next to him on his right, and asked me to act as secretary; Jonathan sat +next to me. Opposite us were Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. +Morris--Lord Godalming being next the Professor, and Dr. Seward in the +centre. The Professor said:-- + +"I may, I suppose, take it that we are all acquainted with the facts +that are in these papers." We all expressed assent, and he went on:-- + +"Then it were, I think good that I tell you something of the kind of +enemy with which we have to deal. I shall then make known to you +something of the history of this man, which has been ascertained for me. +So we then can discuss how we shall act, and can take our measure +according. + +"There are such beings as vampires; some of us have evidence that they +exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the +teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane +peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic. Were it not that +through long years I have train myself to keep an open mind, I could not +have believe until such time as that fact thunder on my ear. 'See! see! +I prove; I prove.' Alas! Had I known at the first what now I know--nay, +had I even guess at him--one so precious life had been spared to many of +us who did love her. But that is gone; and we must so work, that other +poor souls perish not, whilst we can save. The _nosferatu_ do not die +like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger; and being +stronger, have yet more power to work evil. This vampire which is +amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men; he is of +cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages; he have +still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the +divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are +for him at command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in +callous, and the heart of him is not; he can, within limitations, appear +at will when, and where, and in any of the forms that are to him; he +can, within his range, direct the elements; the storm, the fog, the +thunder; he can command all the meaner things: the rat, and the owl, and +the bat--the moth, and the fox, and the wolf; he can grow and become +small; and he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to +begin our strike to destroy him? How shall we find his where; and having +found it, how can we destroy? My friends, this is much; it is a terrible +task that we undertake, and there may be consequence to make the brave +shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must surely win; and then +where end we? Life is nothings; I heed him not. But to fail here, is not +mere life or death. It is that we become as him; that we henceforward +become foul things of the night like him--without heart or conscience, +preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love best. To us for +ever are the gates of heaven shut; for who shall open them to us again? +We go on for all time abhorred by all; a blot on the face of God's +sunshine; an arrow in the side of Him who died for man. But we are face +to face with duty; and in such case must we shrink? For me, I say, no; +but then I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair places, his +song of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind. You others are +young. Some have seen sorrow; but there are fair days yet in store. What +say you?" + +Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand. I feared, oh so +much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him when I +saw his hand stretch out; but it was life to me to feel its touch--so +strong, so self-reliant, so resolute. A brave man's hand can speak for +itself; it does not even need a woman's love to hear its music. + +When the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my eyes, and I +in his; there was no need for speaking between us. + +"I answer for Mina and myself," he said. + +"Count me in, Professor," said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically as usual. + +"I am with you," said Lord Godalming, "for Lucy's sake, if for no other +reason." + +Dr. Seward simply nodded. The Professor stood up and, after laying his +golden crucifix on the table, held out his hand on either side. I took +his right hand, and Lord Godalming his left; Jonathan held my right with +his left and stretched across to Mr. Morris. So as we all took hands our +solemn compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not even +occur to me to draw back. We resumed our places, and Dr. Van Helsing +went on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the serious work +had begun. It was to be taken as gravely, and in as businesslike a way, +as any other transaction of life:-- + +"Well, you know what we have to contend against; but we, too, are not +without strength. We have on our side power of combination--a power +denied to the vampire kind; we have sources of science; we are free to +act and think; and the hours of the day and the night are ours equally. +In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are +free to use them. We have self-devotion in a cause, and an end to +achieve which is not a selfish one. These things are much. + +"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us are +restrict, and how the individual cannot. In fine, let us consider the +limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one in particular. + +"All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions. These do not +at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and death--nay +of more than either life or death. Yet must we be satisfied; in the +first place because we have to be--no other means is at our control--and +secondly, because, after all, these things--tradition and +superstition--are everything. Does not the belief in vampires rest for +others--though not, alas! for us--on them? A year ago which of us would +have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, +sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth century? We even scouted a belief +that we saw justified under our very eyes. Take it, then, that the +vampire, and the belief in his limitations and his cure, rest for the +moment on the same base. For, let me tell you, he is known everywhere +that men have been. In old Greece, in old Rome; he flourish in Germany +all over, in France, in India, even in the Chernosese; and in China, so +far from us in all ways, there even is he, and the peoples fear him at +this day. He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the +devil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, the Magyar. So far, then, we +have all we may act upon; and let me tell you that very much of the +beliefs are justified by what we have seen in our own so unhappy +experience. The vampire live on, and cannot die by mere passing of the +time; he can flourish when that he can fatten on the blood of the +living. Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can even grow +younger; that his vital faculties grow strenuous, and seem as though +they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty. But he +cannot flourish without this diet; he eat not as others. Even friend +Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him to eat, never! +He throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect, as again +Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of his hand--witness again +Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him +from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather +from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog; he can be as +bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John +saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at +the window of Miss Lucy. He can come in mist which he create--that noble +ship's captain proved him of this; but, from what we know, the distance +he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself. He +come on moonlight rays as elemental dust--as again Jonathan saw those +sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small--we ourselves saw +Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a hairbreadth space at the +tomb door. He can, when once he find his way, come out from anything or +into anything, no matter how close it be bound or even fused up with +fire--solder you call it. He can see in the dark--no small power this, +in a world which is one half shut from the light. Ah, but hear me +through. He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay; he is even +more prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell. +He cannot go where he lists; he who is not of nature has yet to obey +some of nature's laws--why we know not. He may not enter anywhere at the +first, unless there be some one of the household who bid him to come; +though afterwards he can come as he please. His power ceases, as does +that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times +can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is +bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset. +These things are we told, and in this record of ours we have proof by +inference. Thus, whereas he can do as he will within his limit, when he +have his earth-home, his coffin-home, his hell-home, the place +unhallowed, as we saw when he went to the grave of the suicide at +Whitby; still at other time he can only change when the time come. It is +said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood +of the tide. Then there are things which so afflict him that he has no +power, as the garlic that we know of; and as for things sacred, as this +symbol, my crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to +them he is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and +silent with respect. There are others, too, which I shall tell you of, +lest in our seeking we may need them. The branch of wild rose on his +coffin keep him that he move not from it; a sacred bullet fired into the +coffin kill him so that he be true dead; and as for the stake through +him, we know already of its peace; or the cut-off head that giveth rest. +We have seen it with our eyes. + +"Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can confine +him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know. But he is +clever. I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to +make his record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he +has been. He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his +name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of +Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man; for in that time, +and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most +cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the +forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his +grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says +Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who +were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They +learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake +Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the +records are such words as 'stregoica'--witch, 'ordog,' and +'pokol'--Satan and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is +spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well. There have been +from the loins of this very one great men and good women, and their +graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness can dwell. For it +is not the least of its terrors that this evil thing is rooted deep in +all good; in soil barren of holy memories it cannot rest." + +Whilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the window, +and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room. There was a little +pause, and then the Professor went on:-- + +"And now we must settle what we do. We have here much data, and we must +proceed to lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry of Jonathan +that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all of which +were delivered at Carfax; we also know that at least some of these boxes +have been removed. It seems to me, that our first step should be to +ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond that wall +where we look to-day; or whether any more have been removed. If the +latter, we must trace----" + +Here we were interrupted in a very startling way. Outside the house came +the sound of a pistol-shot; the glass of the window was shattered with a +bullet, which, ricochetting from the top of the embrasure, struck the +far wall of the room. I am afraid I am at heart a coward, for I shrieked +out. The men all jumped to their feet; Lord Godalming flew over to the +window and threw up the sash. As he did so we heard Mr. Morris's voice +without:-- + +"Sorry! I fear I have alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about +it." A minute later he came in and said:-- + +"It was an idiotic thing of me to do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. +Harker, most sincerely; I fear I must have frightened you terribly. But +the fact is that whilst the Professor was talking there came a big bat +and sat on the window-sill. I have got such a horror of the damned +brutes from recent events that I cannot stand them, and I went out to +have a shot, as I have been doing of late of evenings, whenever I have +seen one. You used to laugh at me for it then, Art." + +"Did you hit it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing. + +"I don't know; I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood." Without +saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began to resume his +statement:-- + +"We must trace each of these boxes; and when we are ready, we must +either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to +speak, sterilise the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it. +Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours of +noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most weak. + +"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. +You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part to-night, you +no more must question. We shall tell you all in good time. We are men +and are able to bear; but you must be our star and our hope, and we +shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we +are." + +All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved; but it did not seem to me +good that they should brave danger and, perhaps, lessen their +safety--strength being the best safety--through care of me; but their +minds were made up, and, though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, +I could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me. + +Mr. Morris resumed the discussion:-- + +"As there is no time to lose, I vote we have a look at his house right +now. Time is everything with him; and swift action on our part may save +another victim." + +I own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action came so +close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear that if I +appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even leave +me out of their counsels altogether. They have now gone off to Carfax, +with means to get into the house. + +Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep; as if a woman can +sleep when those she loves are in danger! I shall lie down and pretend +to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he returns. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October, 4 a. m._--Just as we were about to leave the house, an +urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see +him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me. +I told the messenger to say that I would attend to his wishes in the +morning; I was busy just at the moment. The attendant added:-- + +"He seems very importunate, sir. I have never seen him so eager. I don't +know but what, if you don't see him soon, he will have one of his +violent fits." I knew the man would not have said this without some +cause, so I said: "All right; I'll go now"; and I asked the others to +wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and see my "patient." + +"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your +diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on _our_ +case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is +disturbed." + +"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming. + +"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and +we all went down the passage together. + +We found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more +rational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him. There was an +unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything I had ever +met with in a lunatic; and he took it for granted that his reasons would +prevail with others entirely sane. We all four went into the room, but +none of the others at first said anything. His request was that I would +at once release him from the asylum and send him home. This he backed up +with arguments regarding his complete recovery, and adduced his own +existing sanity. "I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, +perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have +not introduced me." I was so much astonished, that the oddness of +introducing a madman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment; and, +besides, there was a certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of +the habit of equality, that I at once made the introduction: "Lord +Godalming; Professor Van Helsing; Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas; Mr. +Renfield." He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn:-- + +"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the +Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no +more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his +youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much +patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great +state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have +far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold +alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a +vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true +place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at +meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of +conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics +by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, +conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to +one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by +the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective +places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at +least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. +And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as +well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to +be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last +appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own +charm. + +I think we were all staggered. For my own part, I was under the +conviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and history, +that his reason had been restored; and I felt under a strong impulse to +tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity, and would see about the +necessary formalities for his release in the morning. I thought it +better to wait, however, before making so grave a statement, for of old +I knew the sudden changes to which this particular patient was liable. +So I contented myself with making a general statement that he appeared +to be improving very rapidly; that I would have a longer chat with him +in the morning, and would then see what I could do in the direction of +meeting his wishes. This did not at all satisfy him, for he said +quickly:-- + +"But I fear, Dr. Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish. I desire to +go at once--here--now--this very hour--this very moment, if I may. Time +presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman it is of +the essence of the contract. I am sure it is only necessary to put +before so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward so simple, yet so +momentous a wish, to ensure its fulfilment." He looked at me keenly, and +seeing the negative in my face, turned to the others, and scrutinised +them closely. Not meeting any sufficient response, he went on:-- + +"Is it possible that I have erred in my supposition?" + +"You have," I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt, brutally. +There was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly:-- + +"Then I suppose I must only shift my ground of request. Let me ask for +this concession--boon, privilege, what you will. I am content to implore +in such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of others. I +am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons; but you may, I +assure you, take it from me that they are good ones, sound and +unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty. Could you look, +sir, into my heart, you would approve to the full the sentiments which +animate me. Nay, more, you would count me amongst the best and truest of +your friends." Again he looked at us all keenly. I had a growing +conviction that this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was +but yet another form or phase of his madness, and so determined to let +him go on a little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like +all lunatics, give himself away in the end. Van Helsing was gazing at +him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting +with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone +which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it +afterwards--for it was as of one addressing an equal:-- + +"Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be free +to-night? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me--a stranger, +without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open mind--Dr. +Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own responsibility, the +privilege you seek." He shook his head sadly, and with a look of +poignant regret on his face. The Professor went on:-- + +"Come, sir, bethink yourself. You claim the privilege of reason in the +highest degree, since you seek to impress us with your complete +reasonableness. You do this, whose sanity we have reason to doubt, since +you are not yet released from medical treatment for this very defect. If +you will not help us in our effort to choose the wisest course, how can +we perform the duty which you yourself put upon us? Be wise, and help +us; and if we can we shall aid you to achieve your wish." He still shook +his head as he said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I have nothing to say. Your argument is complete, and +if I were free to speak I should not hesitate a moment; but I am not my +own master in the matter. I can only ask you to trust me. If I am +refused, the responsibility does not rest with me." I thought it was now +time to end the scene, which was becoming too comically grave, so I went +towards the door, simply saying:-- + +"Come, my friends, we have work to do. Good-night." + +As, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the patient. He +moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I feared that he was +about to make another homicidal attack. My fears, however, were +groundless, for he held up his two hands imploringly, and made his +petition in a moving manner. As he saw that the very excess of his +emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old +relations, he became still more demonstrative. I glanced at Van Helsing, +and saw my conviction reflected in his eyes; so I became a little more +fixed in my manner, if not more stern, and motioned to him that his +efforts were unavailing. I had previously seen something of the same +constantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some request of +which at the time he had thought much, such, for instance, as when he +wanted a cat; and I was prepared to see the collapse into the same +sullen acquiescence on this occasion. My expectation was not realised, +for, when he found that his appeal would not be successful, he got into +quite a frantic condition. He threw himself on his knees, and held up +his hands, wringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a +torrent of entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his +whole face and form expressive of the deepest emotion:-- + +"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out +of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; +send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a +strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go +out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am +speaking from the depths of my heart--of my very soul. You don't know +whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. +By all you hold sacred--by all you hold dear--by your love that is +lost--by your hope that lives--for the sake of the Almighty, take me out +of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you +understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and +earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting +for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!" + +I thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get, and so +would bring on a fit; so I took him by the hand and raised him up. + +"Come," I said sternly, "no more of this; we have had quite enough +already. Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly." + +He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several moments. Then, +without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on the side of the +bed. The collapse had come, as on former occasion, just as I had +expected. + +When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in a +quiet, well-bred voice:-- + +"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later +on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, 5 a. m._--I went with the party to the search with an easy +mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well. I am +so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work. +Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful business at +all; but now that her work is done, and that it is due to her energy and +brains and foresight that the whole story is put together in such a way +that every point tells, she may well feel that her part is finished, and +that she can henceforth leave the rest to us. We were, I think, all a +little upset by the scene with Mr. Renfield. When we came away from his +room we were silent till we got back to the study. Then Mr. Morris said +to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the +sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had some +serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a +chance." Lord Godalming and I were silent, but Dr. Van Helsing added:-- + +"Friend John, you know more of lunatics than I do, and I'm glad of it, +for I fear that if it had been to me to decide I would before that last +hysterical outburst have given him free. But we live and learn, and in +our present task we must take no chance, as my friend Quincey would say. +All is best as they are." Dr. Seward seemed to answer them both in a +dreamy kind of way:-- + +"I don't know but that I agree with you. If that man had been an +ordinary lunatic I would have taken my chance of trusting him; but he +seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way that I am +afraid of doing anything wrong by helping his fads. I can't forget how +he prayed with almost equal fervour for a cat, and then tried to tear my +throat out with his teeth. Besides, he called the Count 'lord and +master,' and he may want to get out to help him in some diabolical way. +That horrid thing has the wolves and the rats and his own kind to help +him, so I suppose he isn't above trying to use a respectable lunatic. He +certainly did seem earnest, though. I only hope we have done what is +best. These things, in conjunction with the wild work we have in hand, +help to unnerve a man." The Professor stepped over, and laying his hand +on his shoulder, said in his grave, kindly way:-- + +"Friend John, have no fear. We are trying to do our duty in a very sad +and terrible case; we can only do as we deem best. What else have we to +hope for, except the pity of the good God?" Lord Godalming had slipped +away for a few minutes, but now he returned. He held up a little silver +whistle, as he remarked:-- + +"That old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote on +call." Having passed the wall, we took our way to the house, taking care +to keep in the shadows of the trees on the lawn when the moonlight shone +out. When we got to the porch the Professor opened his bag and took out +a lot of things, which he laid on the step, sorting them into four +little groups, evidently one for each. Then he spoke:-- + +"My friends, we are going into a terrible danger, and we need arms of +many kinds. Our enemy is not merely spiritual. Remember that he has the +strength of twenty men, and that, though our necks or our windpipes are +of the common kind--and therefore breakable or crushable--his are not +amenable to mere strength. A stronger man, or a body of men more strong +in all than him, can at certain times hold him; but they cannot hurt him +as we can be hurt by him. We must, therefore, guard ourselves from his +touch. Keep this near your heart"--as he spoke he lifted a little silver +crucifix and held it out to me, I being nearest to him--"put these +flowers round your neck"--here he handed to me a wreath of withered +garlic blossoms--"for other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this +knife; and for aid in all, these so small electric lamps, which you can +fasten to your breast; and for all, and above all at the last, this, +which we must not desecrate needless." This was a portion of Sacred +Wafer, which he put in an envelope and handed to me. Each of the others +was similarly equipped. "Now," he said, "friend John, where are the +skeleton keys? If so that we can open the door, we need not break house +by the window, as before at Miss Lucy's." + +Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical dexterity as a +surgeon standing him in good stead. Presently he got one to suit; after +a little play back and forward the bolt yielded, and, with a rusty +clang, shot back. We pressed on the door, the rusty hinges creaked, and +it slowly opened. It was startlingly like the image conveyed to me in +Dr. Seward's diary of the opening of Miss Westenra's tomb; I fancy that +the same idea seemed to strike the others, for with one accord they +shrank back. The Professor was the first to move forward, and stepped +into the open door. + +"_In manus tuas, Domine!_" he said, crossing himself as he passed over +the threshold. We closed the door behind us, lest when we should have +lit our lamps we should possibly attract attention from the road. The +Professor carefully tried the lock, lest we might not be able to open it +from within should we be in a hurry making our exit. Then we all lit our +lamps and proceeded on our search. + +The light from the tiny lamps fell in all sorts of odd forms, as the +rays crossed each other, or the opacity of our bodies threw great +shadows. I could not for my life get away from the feeling that there +was some one else amongst us. I suppose it was the recollection, so +powerfully brought home to me by the grim surroundings, of that terrible +experience in Transylvania. I think the feeling was common to us all, +for I noticed that the others kept looking over their shoulders at every +sound and every new shadow, just as I felt myself doing. + +The whole place was thick with dust. The floor was seemingly inches +deep, except where there were recent footsteps, in which on holding down +my lamp I could see marks of hobnails where the dust was cracked. The +walls were fluffy and heavy with dust, and in the corners were masses of +spider's webs, whereon the dust had gathered till they looked like old +tattered rags as the weight had torn them partly down. On a table in the +hall was a great bunch of keys, with a time-yellowed label on each. They +had been used several times, for on the table were several similar rents +in the blanket of dust, similar to that exposed when the Professor +lifted them. He turned to me and said:-- + +"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know +it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an +idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to +get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings +found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. +"This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small +map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence +regarding the purchase. With a little trouble we found the key on the +bunch and opened the door. We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for +as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale +through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we +encountered. None of the others had met the Count at all at close +quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of +his existence in his rooms or, when he was gloated with fresh blood, in +a ruined building open to the air; but here the place was small and +close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul. There was +an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler +air. But as to the odour itself, how shall I describe it? It was not +alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the +pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had +become itself corrupt. Faugh! it sickens me to think of it. Every breath +exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and +intensified its loathsomeness. + +Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our +enterprise to an end; but this was no ordinary case, and the high and +terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength which rose +above merely physical considerations. After the involuntary shrinking +consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set about our +work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses. + +We made an accurate examination of the place, the Professor saying as we +began:-- + +"The first thing is to see how many of the boxes are left; we must then +examine every hole and corner and cranny and see if we cannot get some +clue as to what has become of the rest." A glance was sufficient to show +how many remained, for the great earth chests were bulky, and there was +no mistaking them. + +There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty! Once I got a fright, +for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of the vaulted +door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and for an instant my +heart stood still. Somewhere, looking out from the shadow, I seemed to +see the high lights of the Count's evil face, the ridge of the nose, the +red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor. It was only for a moment, for, +as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I saw a face, but it was only the +shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I turned my lamp in the direction, +and stepped into the passage. There was no sign of any one; and as there +were no corners, no doors, no aperture of any kind, but only the solid +walls of the passage, there could be no hiding-place even for _him_. I +took it that fear had helped imagination, and said nothing. + +A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a corner, which +he was examining. We all followed his movements with our eyes, for +undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and we saw a whole mass +of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars. We all instinctively drew +back. The whole place was becoming alive with rats. + +For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was +seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great +iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, +and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the +huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver +whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered +from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a +minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house. +Unconsciously we had all moved towards the door, and as we moved I +noticed that the dust had been much disturbed: the boxes which had been +taken out had been brought this way. But even in the minute that had +elapsed the number of the rats had vastly increased. They seemed to +swarm over the place all at once, till the lamplight, shining on their +moving dark bodies and glittering, baleful eyes, made the place look +like a bank of earth set with fireflies. The dogs dashed on, but at the +threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then, simultaneously lifting +their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion. The rats were +multiplying in thousands, and we moved out. + +Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in, placed him +on the floor. The instant his feet touched the ground he seemed to +recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies. They fled before +him so fast that before he had shaken the life out of a score, the other +dogs, who had by now been lifted in the same manner, had but small prey +ere the whole mass had vanished. + +With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had departed, for +the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they made sudden darts at +their prostrate foes, and turned them over and over and tossed them in +the air with vicious shakes. We all seemed to find our spirits rise. +Whether it was the purifying of the deadly atmosphere by the opening of +the chapel door, or the relief which we experienced by finding ourselves +in the open I know not; but most certainly the shadow of dread seemed to +slip from us like a robe, and the occasion of our coming lost something +of its grim significance, though we did not slacken a whit in our +resolution. We closed the outer door and barred and locked it, and +bringing the dogs with us, began our search of the house. We found +nothing throughout except dust in extraordinary proportions, and all +untouched save for my own footsteps when I had made my first visit. +Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of uneasiness, and even when +we returned to the chapel they frisked about as though they had been +rabbit-hunting in a summer wood. + +The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the front. +Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall-door from the bunch, and +locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into his pocket +when he had done. + +"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful. No harm has +come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained how +many boxes are missing. More than all do I rejoice that this, our +first--and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous--step has been +accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina or +troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds and +smells of horror which she might never forget. One lesson, too, we have +learned, if it be allowable to argue _a particulari_: that the brute +beasts which are to the Count's command are yet themselves not amenable +to his spiritual power; for look, these rats that would come to his +call, just as from his castle top he summon the wolves to your going and +to that poor mother's cry, though they come to him, they run pell-mell +from the so little dogs of my friend Arthur. We have other matters +before us, other dangers, other fears; and that monster--he has not used +his power over the brute world for the only or the last time to-night. +So be it that he has gone elsewhere. Good! It has given us opportunity +to cry 'check' in some ways in this chess game, which we play for the +stake of human souls. And now let us go home. The dawn is close at hand, +and we have reason to be content with our first night's work. It may be +ordained that we have many nights and days to follow, if full of peril; +but we must go on, and from no danger shall we shrink." + +The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who +was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound +from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, +after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain. + +I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so +softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than +usual. I hope the meeting to-night has not upset her. I am truly +thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of our +deliberations. It is too great a strain for a woman to bear. I did not +think so at first, but I know better now. Therefore I am glad that it is +settled. There may be things which would frighten her to hear; and yet +to conceal them from her might be worse than to tell her if once she +suspected that there was any concealment. Henceforth our work is to be a +sealed book to her, till at least such time as we can tell her that all +is finished, and the earth free from a monster of the nether world. I +daresay it will be difficult to begin to keep silence after such +confidence as ours; but I must be resolute, and to-morrow I shall keep +dark over to-night's doings, and shall refuse to speak of anything that +has happened. I rest on the sofa, so as not to disturb her. + + * * * * * + +_1 October, later._--I suppose it was natural that we should have all +overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had no +rest at all. Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I slept +till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call two or +three times before she awoke. Indeed, she was so sound asleep that for a +few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with a sort of +blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad dream. She +complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest till later in the +day. We now know of twenty-one boxes having been removed, and if it be +that several were taken in any of these removals we may be able to trace +them all. Such will, of course, immensely simplify our labour, and the +sooner the matter is attended to the better. I shall look up Thomas +Snelling to-day. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--It was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor +walking into my room. He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and it +is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of the +brooding weight off his mind. After going over the adventure of the +night he suddenly said:-- + +"Your patient interests me much. May it be that with you I visit him +this morning? Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it may +be. It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk philosophy, +and reason so sound." I had some work to do which pressed, so I told him +that if he would go alone I would be glad, as then I should not have to +keep him waiting; so I called an attendant and gave him the necessary +instructions. Before the Professor left the room I cautioned him against +getting any false impression from my patient. "But," he answered, "I +want him to talk of himself and of his delusion as to consuming live +things. He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your diary of yesterday, that +he had once had such a belief. Why do you smile, friend John?" + +"Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here." I laid my hand on the +type-written matter. "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very +statement of how he _used_ to consume life, his mouth was actually +nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before Mrs. +Harker entered the room." Van Helsing smiled in turn. "Good!" he said. +"Your memory is true, friend John. I should have remembered. And yet it +is this very obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease +such a fascinating study. Perhaps I may gain more knowledge out of the +folly of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise. +Who knows?" I went on with my work, and before long was through that in +hand. It seemed that the time had been very short indeed, but there was +Van Helsing back in the study. "Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he +stood at the door. + +"Not at all," I answered. "Come in. My work is finished, and I am free. +I can go with you now, if you like. + +"It is needless; I have seen him!" + +"Well?" + +"I fear that he does not appraise me at much. Our interview was short. +When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the centre, with +his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture of sullen +discontent. I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and with such a +measure of respect as I could assume. He made no reply whatever. "Don't +you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well +enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself +and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed +Dutchmen!" Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable +sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at +all. Thus departed for this time my chance of much learning from this so +clever lunatic; so I shall go, if I may, and cheer myself with a few +happy words with that sweet soul Madam Mina. Friend John, it does +rejoice me unspeakable that she is no more to be pained, no more to be +worried with our terrible things. Though we shall much miss her help, it +is better so." + +"I agree with you with all my heart," I answered earnestly, for I did +not want him to weaken in this matter. "Mrs. Harker is better out of it. +Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have +been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, +and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time +infallibly have wrecked her." + +So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs. Harker and Harker; Quincey +and Art are all out following up the clues as to the earth-boxes. I +shall finish my round of work and we shall meet to-night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_1 October._--It is strange to me to be kept in the dark as I am to-day; +after Jonathan's full confidence for so many years, to see him +manifestly avoid certain matters, and those the most vital of all. This +morning I slept late after the fatigues of yesterday, and though +Jonathan was late too, he was the earlier. He spoke to me before he went +out, never more sweetly or tenderly, but he never mentioned a word of +what had happened in the visit to the Count's house. And yet he must +have known how terribly anxious I was. Poor dear fellow! I suppose it +must have distressed him even more than it did me. They all agreed that +it was best that I should not be drawn further into this awful work, and +I acquiesced. But to think that he keeps anything from me! And now I am +crying like a silly fool, when I _know_ it comes from my husband's great +love and from the good, good wishes of those other strong men. + +That has done me good. Well, some day Jonathan will tell me all; and +lest it should ever be that he should think for a moment that I kept +anything from him, I still keep my journal as usual. Then if he has +feared of my trust I shall show it to him, with every thought of my +heart put down for his dear eyes to read. I feel strangely sad and +low-spirited to-day. I suppose it is the reaction from the terrible +excitement. + +Last night I went to bed when the men had gone, simply because they told +me to. I didn't feel sleepy, and I did feel full of devouring anxiety. I +kept thinking over everything that has been ever since Jonathan came to +see me in London, and it all seems like a horrible tragedy, with fate +pressing on relentlessly to some destined end. Everything that one does +seems, no matter how right it may be, to bring on the very thing which +is most to be deplored. If I hadn't gone to Whitby, perhaps poor dear +Lucy would be with us now. She hadn't taken to visiting the churchyard +till I came, and if she hadn't come there in the day-time with me she +wouldn't have walked there in her sleep; and if she hadn't gone there at +night and asleep, that monster couldn't have destroyed her as he did. +Oh, why did I ever go to Whitby? There now, crying again! I wonder what +has come over me to-day. I must hide it from Jonathan, for if he knew +that I had been crying twice in one morning--I, who never cried on my +own account, and whom he has never caused to shed a tear--the dear +fellow would fret his heart out. I shall put a bold face on, and if I do +feel weepy, he shall never see it. I suppose it is one of the lessons +that we poor women have to learn.... + +I can't quite remember how I fell asleep last night. I remember hearing +the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like praying +on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is somewhere +under this. And then there was silence over everything, silence so +profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out of the window. +All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by the moonlight +seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a thing seemed to be +stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate; so that a thin +streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness +across the grass towards the house, seemed to have a sentience and a +vitality of its own. I think that the digression of my thoughts must +have done me good, for when I got back to bed I found a lethargy +creeping over me. I lay a while, but could not quite sleep, so I got out +and looked out of the window again. The mist was spreading, and was now +close up to the house, so that I could see it lying thick against the +wall, as though it were stealing up to the windows. The poor man was +more loud than ever, and though I could not distinguish a word he said, +I could in some way recognise in his tones some passionate entreaty on +his part. Then there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the +attendants were dealing with him. I was so frightened that I crept into +bed, and pulled the clothes over my head, putting my fingers in my ears. +I was not then a bit sleepy, at least so I thought; but I must have +fallen asleep, for, except dreams, I do not remember anything until the +morning, when Jonathan woke me. I think that it took me an effort and a +little time to realise where I was, and that it was Jonathan who was +bending over me. My dream was very peculiar, and was almost typical of +the way that waking thoughts become merged in, or continued in, dreams. + +I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come back. I +was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my feet, and my +hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at the +usual pace. And so I slept uneasily and thought. Then it began to dawn +upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold. I put back the +clothes from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was dim +around. The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but turned down, +came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which had evidently +grown thicker and poured into the room. Then it occurred to me that I +had shut the window before I had come to bed. I would have got out to +make certain on the point, but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my +limbs and even my will. I lay still and endured; that was all. I closed +my eyes, but could still see through my eyelids. (It is wonderful what +tricks our dreams play us, and how conveniently we can imagine.) The +mist grew thicker and thicker and I could see now how it came in, for I +could see it like smoke--or with the white energy of boiling +water--pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of +the door. It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became +concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the top +of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red eye. Things +began to whirl through my brain just as the cloudy column was now +whirling in the room, and through it all came the scriptural words "a +pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night." Was it indeed some such +spiritual guidance that was coming to me in my sleep? But the pillar was +composed of both the day and the night-guiding, for the fire was in the +red eye, which at the thought got a new fascination for me; till, as I +looked, the fire divided, and seemed to shine on me through the fog like +two red eyes, such as Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering +when, on the cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's +Church. Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan +had seen those awful women growing into reality through the whirling mist +in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all became +black darkness. The last conscious effort which imagination made was to +show me a livid white face bending over me out of the mist. I must be +careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one's reason if there were +too much of them. I would get Dr. Van Helsing or Dr. Seward to prescribe +something for me which would make me sleep, only that I fear to alarm +them. Such a dream at the present time would become woven into their +fears for me. To-night I shall strive hard to sleep naturally. If I do +not, I shall to-morrow night get them to give me a dose of chloral; that +cannot hurt me for once, and it will give me a good night's sleep. Last +night tired me more than if I had not slept at all. + + * * * * * + +_2 October 10 p. m._--Last night I slept, but did not dream. I must have +slept soundly, for I was not waked by Jonathan coming to bed; but the +sleep has not refreshed me, for to-day I feel terribly weak and +spiritless. I spent all yesterday trying to read, or lying down dozing. +In the afternoon Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me. Poor man, he was +very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and bade God bless +me. Some way it affected me much; I am crying when I think of him. This +is a new weakness, of which I must be careful. Jonathan would be +miserable if he knew I had been crying. He and the others were out till +dinner-time, and they all came in tired. I did what I could to brighten +them up, and I suppose that the effort did me good, for I forgot how +tired I was. After dinner they sent me to bed, and all went off to smoke +together, as they said, but I knew that they wanted to tell each other +of what had occurred to each during the day; I could see from Jonathan's +manner that he had something important to communicate. I was not so +sleepy as I should have been; so before they went I asked Dr. Seward to +give me a little opiate of some kind, as I had not slept well the night +before. He very kindly made me up a sleeping draught, which he gave to +me, telling me that it would do me no harm, as it was very mild.... I +have taken it, and am waiting for sleep, which still keeps aloof. I hope +I have not done wrong, for as sleep begins to flirt with me, a new fear +comes: that I may have been foolish in thus depriving myself of the +power of waking. I might want it. Here comes sleep. Good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, evening._--I found Thomas Snelling in his house at Bethnal +Green, but unhappily he was not in a condition to remember anything. The +very prospect of beer which my expected coming had opened to him had +proved too much, and he had begun too early on his expected debauch. I +learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor soul, that he +was only the assistant to Smollet, who of the two mates was the +responsible person. So off I drove to Walworth, and found Mr. Joseph +Smollet at home and in his shirtsleeves, taking a late tea out of a +saucer. He is a decent, intelligent fellow, distinctly a good, reliable +type of workman, and with a headpiece of his own. He remembered all +about the incident of the boxes, and from a wonderful dog's-eared +notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle about the +seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries in thick, +half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the boxes. There +were, he said, six in the cartload which he took from Carfax and left at +197, Chicksand Street, Mile End New Town, and another six which he +deposited at Jamaica Lane, Bermondsey. If then the Count meant to +scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were +chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more +fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that +he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now +fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern +shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to +be left out of his diabolical scheme--let alone the City itself and the +very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west. I went back +to Smollet, and asked him if he could tell us if any other boxes had +been taken from Carfax. + +He replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, you've treated me wery 'an'some"--I had given him half a +sovereign--"an' I'll tell yer all I know. I heard a man by the name of +Bloxam say four nights ago in the 'Are an' 'Ounds, in Pincher's Alley, +as 'ow he an' his mate 'ad 'ad a rare dusty job in a old 'ouse at +Purfect. There ain't a-many such jobs as this 'ere, an' I'm thinkin' +that maybe Sam Bloxam could tell ye summut." I asked if he could tell me +where to find him. I told him that if he could get me the address it +would be worth another half-sovereign to him. So he gulped down the rest +of his tea and stood up, saying that he was going to begin the search +then and there. At the door he stopped, and said:-- + +"Look 'ere, guv'nor, there ain't no sense in me a-keepin' you 'ere. I +may find Sam soon, or I mayn't; but anyhow he ain't like to be in a way +to tell ye much to-night. Sam is a rare one when he starts on the booze. +If you can give me a envelope with a stamp on it, and put yer address on +it, I'll find out where Sam is to be found and post it ye to-night. But +ye'd better be up arter 'im soon in the mornin', or maybe ye won't ketch +'im; for Sam gets off main early, never mind the booze the night afore." + +This was all practical, so one of the children went off with a penny to +buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and to keep the change. When she +came back, I addressed the envelope and stamped it, and when Smollet had +again faithfully promised to post the address when found, I took my way +to home. We're on the track anyhow. I am tired to-night, and want sleep. +Mina is fast asleep, and looks a little too pale; her eyes look as +though she had been crying. Poor dear, I've no doubt it frets her to be +kept in the dark, and it may make her doubly anxious about me and the +others. But it is best as it is. It is better to be disappointed and +worried in such a way now than to have her nerve broken. The doctors +were quite right to insist on her being kept out of this dreadful +business. I must be firm, for on me this particular burden of silence +must rest. I shall not ever enter on the subject with her under any +circumstances. Indeed, it may not be a hard task, after all, for she +herself has become reticent on the subject, and has not spoken of the +Count or his doings ever since we told her of our decision. + + * * * * * + +_2 October, evening._--A long and trying and exciting day. By the first +post I got my directed envelope with a dirty scrap of paper enclosed, on +which was written with a carpenter's pencil in a sprawling hand:-- + +"Sam Bloxam, Korkrans, 4, Poters Cort, Bartel Street, Walworth. Arsk for +the depite." + +I got the letter in bed, and rose without waking Mina. She looked heavy +and sleepy and pale, and far from well. I determined not to wake her, +but that, when I should return from this new search, I would arrange for +her going back to Exeter. I think she would be happier in our own home, +with her daily tasks to interest her, than in being here amongst us and +in ignorance. I only saw Dr. Seward for a moment, and told him where I +was off to, promising to come back and tell the rest so soon as I should +have found out anything. I drove to Walworth and found, with some +difficulty, Potter's Court. Mr. Smollet's spelling misled me, as I asked +for Poter's Court instead of Potter's Court. However, when I had found +the court, I had no difficulty in discovering Corcoran's lodging-house. +When I asked the man who came to the door for the "depite," he shook his +head, and said: "I dunno 'im. There ain't no such a person 'ere; I never +'eard of 'im in all my bloomin' days. Don't believe there ain't nobody +of that kind livin' ere or anywheres." I took out Smollet's letter, and +as I read it it seemed to me that the lesson of the spelling of the name +of the court might guide me. "What are you?" I asked. + +"I'm the depity," he answered. I saw at once that I was on the right +track; phonetic spelling had again misled me. A half-crown tip put the +deputy's knowledge at my disposal, and I learned that Mr. Bloxam, who +had slept off the remains of his beer on the previous night at +Corcoran's, had left for his work at Poplar at five o'clock that +morning. He could not tell me where the place of work was situated, but +he had a vague idea that it was some kind of a "new-fangled ware'us"; +and with this slender clue I had to start for Poplar. It was twelve +o'clock before I got any satisfactory hint of such a building, and this +I got at a coffee-shop, where some workmen were having their dinner. One +of these suggested that there was being erected at Cross Angel Street a +new "cold storage" building; and as this suited the condition of a +"new-fangled ware'us," I at once drove to it. An interview with a surly +gatekeeper and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the +coin of the realm, put me on the track of Bloxam; he was sent for on my +suggesting that I was willing to pay his day's wages to his foreman for +the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter. He was +a smart enough fellow, though rough of speech and bearing. When I had +promised to pay for his information and given him an earnest, he told me +that he had made two journeys between Carfax and a house in Piccadilly, +and had taken from this house to the latter nine great boxes--"main +heavy ones"--with a horse and cart hired by him for this purpose. I +asked him if he could tell me the number of the house in Piccadilly, to +which he replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, I forgits the number, but it was only a few doors from a +big white church or somethink of the kind, not long built. It was a +dusty old 'ouse, too, though nothin' to the dustiness of the 'ouse we +tooked the bloomin' boxes from." + +"How did you get into the houses if they were both empty?" + +"There was the old party what engaged me a-waitin' in the 'ouse at +Purfleet. He 'elped me to lift the boxes and put them in the dray. Curse +me, but he was the strongest chap I ever struck, an' him a old feller, +with a white moustache, one that thin you would think he couldn't throw +a shadder." + +How this phrase thrilled through me! + +"Why, 'e took up 'is end o' the boxes like they was pounds of tea, and +me a-puffin' an' a-blowin' afore I could up-end mine anyhow--an' I'm no +chicken, neither." + +"How did you get into the house in Piccadilly?" I asked. + +"He was there too. He must 'a' started off and got there afore me, for +when I rung of the bell he kem an' opened the door 'isself an' 'elped me +to carry the boxes into the 'all." + +"The whole nine?" I asked. + +"Yus; there was five in the first load an' four in the second. It was +main dry work, an' I don't so well remember 'ow I got 'ome." I +interrupted him:-- + +"Were the boxes left in the hall?" + +"Yus; it was a big 'all, an' there was nothin' else in it." I made one +more attempt to further matters:-- + +"You didn't have any key?" + +"Never used no key nor nothink. The old gent, he opened the door 'isself +an' shut it again when I druv off. I don't remember the last time--but +that was the beer." + +"And you can't remember the number of the house?" + +"No, sir. But ye needn't have no difficulty about that. It's a 'igh 'un +with a stone front with a bow on it, an' 'igh steps up to the door. I +know them steps, 'avin' 'ad to carry the boxes up with three loafers +what come round to earn a copper. The old gent give them shillin's, an' +they seein' they got so much, they wanted more; but 'e took one of them +by the shoulder and was like to throw 'im down the steps, till the lot +of them went away cussin'." I thought that with this description I could +find the house, so, having paid my friend for his information, I started +off for Piccadilly. I had gained a new painful experience; the Count +could, it was evident, handle the earth-boxes himself. If so, time was +precious; for, now that he had achieved a certain amount of +distribution, he could, by choosing his own time, complete the task +unobserved. At Piccadilly Circus I discharged my cab, and walked +westward; beyond the Junior Constitutional I came across the house +described, and was satisfied that this was the next of the lairs +arranged by Dracula. The house looked as though it had been long +untenanted. The windows were encrusted with dust, and the shutters were +up. All the framework was black with time, and from the iron the paint +had mostly scaled away. It was evident that up to lately there had been +a large notice-board in front of the balcony; it had, however, been +roughly torn away, the uprights which had supported it still remaining. +Behind the rails of the balcony I saw there were some loose boards, +whose raw edges looked white. I would have given a good deal to have +been able to see the notice-board intact, as it would, perhaps, have +given some clue to the ownership of the house. I remembered my +experience of the investigation and purchase of Carfax, and I could not +but feel that if I could find the former owner there might be some means +discovered of gaining access to the house. + +There was at present nothing to be learned from the Piccadilly side, and +nothing could be done; so I went round to the back to see if anything +could be gathered from this quarter. The mews were active, the +Piccadilly houses being mostly in occupation. I asked one or two of the +grooms and helpers whom I saw around if they could tell me anything +about the empty house. One of them said that he heard it had lately been +taken, but he couldn't say from whom. He told me, however, that up to +very lately there had been a notice-board of "For Sale" up, and that +perhaps Mitchell, Sons, & Candy, the house agents, could tell me +something, as he thought he remembered seeing the name of that firm on +the board. I did not wish to seem too eager, or to let my informant know +or guess too much, so, thanking him in the usual manner, I strolled +away. It was now growing dusk, and the autumn night was closing in, so I +did not lose any time. Having learned the address of Mitchell, Sons, & +Candy from a directory at the Berkeley, I was soon at their office in +Sackville Street. + +The gentleman who saw me was particularly suave in manner, but +uncommunicative in equal proportion. Having once told me that the +Piccadilly house--which throughout our interview he called a +"mansion"--was sold, he considered my business as concluded. When I +asked who had purchased it, he opened his eyes a thought wider, and +paused a few seconds before replying:-- + +"It is sold, sir." + +"Pardon me," I said, with equal politeness, "but I have a special reason +for wishing to know who purchased it." + +Again he paused longer, and raised his eyebrows still more. "It is sold, +sir," was again his laconic reply. + +"Surely," I said, "you do not mind letting me know so much." + +"But I do mind," he answered. "The affairs of their clients are +absolutely safe in the hands of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy." This was +manifestly a prig of the first water, and there was no use arguing with +him. I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so I said:-- + +"Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian of their +confidence. I am myself a professional man." Here I handed him my card. +"In this instance I am not prompted by curiosity; I act on the part of +Lord Godalming, who wishes to know something of the property which was, +he understood, lately for sale." These words put a different complexion +on affairs. He said:-- + +"I would like to oblige you if I could, Mr. Harker, and especially would +I like to oblige his lordship. We once carried out a small matter of +renting some chambers for him when he was the Honourable Arthur +Holmwood. If you will let me have his lordship's address I will consult +the House on the subject, and will, in any case, communicate with his +lordship by to-night's post. It will be a pleasure if we can so far +deviate from our rules as to give the required information to his +lordship." + +I wanted to secure a friend, and not to make an enemy, so I thanked him, +gave the address at Dr. Seward's and came away. It was now dark, and I +was tired and hungry. I got a cup of tea at the Aërated Bread Company +and came down to Purfleet by the next train. + +I found all the others at home. Mina was looking tired and pale, but she +made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerful, it wrung my heart to +think that I had had to keep anything from her and so caused her +inquietude. Thank God, this will be the last night of her looking on at +our conferences, and feeling the sting of our not showing our +confidence. It took all my courage to hold to the wise resolution of +keeping her out of our grim task. She seems somehow more reconciled; or +else the very subject seems to have become repugnant to her, for when +any accidental allusion is made she actually shudders. I am glad we +made our resolution in time, as with such a feeling as this, our growing +knowledge would be torture to her. + +I could not tell the others of the day's discovery till we were alone; +so after dinner--followed by a little music to save appearances even +amongst ourselves--I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bed. +The dear girl was more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me +as though she would detain me; but there was much to be talked of and I +came away. Thank God, the ceasing of telling things has made no +difference between us. + +When I came down again I found the others all gathered round the fire in +the study. In the train I had written my diary so far, and simply read +it off to them as the best means of letting them get abreast of my own +information; when I had finished Van Helsing said:-- + +"This has been a great day's work, friend Jonathan. Doubtless we are on +the track of the missing boxes. If we find them all in that house, then +our work is near the end. But if there be some missing, we must search +until we find them. Then shall we make our final _coup_, and hunt the +wretch to his real death." We all sat silent awhile and all at once Mr. +Morris spoke:-- + +"Say! how are we going to get into that house?" + +"We got into the other," answered Lord Godalming quickly. + +"But, Art, this is different. We broke house at Carfax, but we had night +and a walled park to protect us. It will be a mighty different thing to +commit burglary in Piccadilly, either by day or night. I confess I don't +see how we are going to get in unless that agency duck can find us a key +of some sort; perhaps we shall know when you get his letter in the +morning." Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked +about the room. By-and-by he stopped and said, turning from one to +another of us:-- + +"Quincey's head is level. This burglary business is getting serious; we +got off once all right; but we have now a rare job on hand--unless we +can find the Count's key basket." + +As nothing could well be done before morning, and as it would be at +least advisable to wait till Lord Godalming should hear from Mitchell's, +we decided not to take any active step before breakfast time. For a good +while we sat and smoked, discussing the matter in its various lights and +bearings; I took the opportunity of bringing this diary right up to the +moment. I am very sleepy and shall go to bed.... + +Just a line. Mina sleeps soundly and her breathing is regular. Her +forehead is puckered up into little wrinkles, as though she thinks even +in her sleep. She is still too pale, but does not look so haggard as she +did this morning. To-morrow will, I hope, mend all this; she will be +herself at home in Exeter. Oh, but I am sleepy! + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--I am puzzled afresh about Renfield. His moods change so +rapidly that I find it difficult to keep touch of them, and as they +always mean something more than his own well-being, they form a more +than interesting study. This morning, when I went to see him after his +repulse of Van Helsing, his manner was that of a man commanding destiny. +He was, in fact, commanding destiny--subjectively. He did not really +care for any of the things of mere earth; he was in the clouds and +looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor mortals. I +thought I would improve the occasion and learn something, so I asked +him:-- + +"What about the flies these times?" He smiled on me in quite a superior +sort of way--such a smile as would have become the face of Malvolio--as +he answered me:-- + +"The fly, my dear sir, has one striking feature; its wings are typical +of the aërial powers of the psychic faculties. The ancients did well +when they typified the soul as a butterfly!" + +I thought I would push his analogy to its utmost logically, so I said +quickly:-- + +"Oh, it is a soul you are after now, is it?" His madness foiled his +reason, and a puzzled look spread over his face as, shaking his head +with a decision which I had but seldom seen in him, he said:-- + +"Oh, no, oh no! I want no souls. Life is all I want." Here he brightened +up; "I am pretty indifferent about it at present. Life is all right; I +have all I want. You must get a new patient, doctor, if you wish to +study zoöphagy!" + +This puzzled me a little, so I drew him on:-- + +"Then you command life; you are a god, I suppose?" He smiled with an +ineffably benign superiority. + +"Oh no! Far be it from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the +Deity. I am not even concerned in His especially spiritual doings. If I +may state my intellectual position I am, so far as concerns things +purely terrestrial, somewhat in the position which Enoch occupied +spiritually!" This was a poser to me. I could not at the moment recall +Enoch's appositeness; so I had to ask a simple question, though I felt +that by so doing I was lowering myself in the eyes of the lunatic:-- + +"And why with Enoch?" + +"Because he walked with God." I could not see the analogy, but did not +like to admit it; so I harked back to what he had denied:-- + +"So you don't care about life and you don't want souls. Why not?" I put +my question quickly and somewhat sternly, on purpose to disconcert him. +The effort succeeded; for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into his +old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon me as +he replied:-- + +"I don't want any souls, indeed, indeed! I don't. I couldn't use them if +I had them; they would be no manner of use to me. I couldn't eat them +or----" He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his +face, like a wind-sweep on the surface of the water. "And doctor, as to +life, what is it after all? When you've got all you require, and you +know that you will never want, that is all. I have friends--good +friends--like you, Dr. Seward"; this was said with a leer of +inexpressible cunning. "I know that I shall never lack the means of +life!" + +I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some +antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as +he--a dogged silence. After a short time I saw that for the present it +was useless to speak to him. He was sulky, and so I came away. + +Later in the day he sent for me. Ordinarily I would not have come +without special reason, but just at present I am so interested in him +that I would gladly make an effort. Besides, I am glad to have anything +to help to pass the time. Harker is out, following up clues; and so are +Lord Godalming and Quincey. Van Helsing sits in my study poring over the +record prepared by the Harkers; he seems to think that by accurate +knowledge of all details he will light upon some clue. He does not wish +to be disturbed in the work, without cause. I would have taken him with +me to see the patient, only I thought that after his last repulse he +might not care to go again. There was also another reason: Renfield +might not speak so freely before a third person as when he and I were +alone. + +I found him sitting out in the middle of the floor on his stool, a pose +which is generally indicative of some mental energy on his part. When I +came in, he said at once, as though the question had been waiting on his +lips:-- + +"What about souls?" It was evident then that my surmise had been +correct. Unconscious cerebration was doing its work, even with the +lunatic. I determined to have the matter out. "What about them +yourself?" I asked. He did not reply for a moment but looked all round +him, and up and down, as though he expected to find some inspiration for +an answer. + +"I don't want any souls!" he said in a feeble, apologetic way. The +matter seemed preying on his mind, and so I determined to use it--to "be +cruel only to be kind." So I said:-- + +"You like life, and you want life?" + +"Oh yes! but that is all right; you needn't worry about that!" + +"But," I asked, "how are we to get the life without getting the soul +also?" This seemed to puzzle him, so I followed it up:-- + +"A nice time you'll have some time when you're flying out there, with +the souls of thousands of flies and spiders and birds and cats buzzing +and twittering and miauing all round you. You've got their lives, you +know, and you must put up with their souls!" Something seemed to affect +his imagination, for he put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes, +screwing them up tightly just as a small boy does when his face is being +soaped. There was something pathetic in it that touched me; it also gave +me a lesson, for it seemed that before me was a child--only a child, +though the features were worn, and the stubble on the jaws was white. It +was evident that he was undergoing some process of mental disturbance, +and, knowing how his past moods had interpreted things seemingly foreign +to himself, I thought I would enter into his mind as well as I could and +go with him. The first step was to restore confidence, so I asked him, +speaking pretty loud so that he would hear me through his closed ears:-- + +"Would you like some sugar to get your flies round again?" He seemed to +wake up all at once, and shook his head. With a laugh he replied:-- + +"Not much! flies are poor things, after all!" After a pause he added, +"But I don't want their souls buzzing round me, all the same." + +"Or spiders?" I went on. + +"Blow spiders! What's the use of spiders? There isn't anything in them +to eat or"--he stopped suddenly, as though reminded of a forbidden +topic. + +"So, so!" I thought to myself, "this is the second time he has suddenly +stopped at the word 'drink'; what does it mean?" Renfield seemed himself +aware of having made a lapse, for he hurried on, as though to distract +my attention from it:-- + +"I don't take any stock at all in such matters. 'Rats and mice and such +small deer,' as Shakespeare has it, 'chicken-feed of the larder' they +might be called. I'm past all that sort of nonsense. You might as well +ask a man to eat molecules with a pair of chop-sticks, as to try to +interest me about the lesser carnivora, when I know of what is before +me." + +"I see," I said. "You want big things that you can make your teeth meet +in? How would you like to breakfast on elephant?" + +"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!" He was getting too wide +awake, so I thought I would press him hard. "I wonder," I said +reflectively, "what an elephant's soul is like!" + +The effect I desired was obtained, for he at once fell from his +high-horse and became a child again. + +"I don't want an elephant's soul, or any soul at all!" he said. For a +few moments he sat despondently. Suddenly he jumped to his feet, with +his eyes blazing and all the signs of intense cerebral excitement. "To +hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about +souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, +without thinking of souls!" He looked so hostile that I thought he was +in for another homicidal fit, so I blew my whistle. The instant, +however, that I did so he became calm, and said apologetically:-- + +"Forgive me, Doctor; I forgot myself. You do not need any help. I am so +worried in my mind that I am apt to be irritable. If you only knew the +problem I have to face, and that I am working out, you would pity, and +tolerate, and pardon me. Pray do not put me in a strait-waistcoat. I +want to think and I cannot think freely when my body is confined. I am +sure you will understand!" He had evidently self-control; so when the +attendants came I told them not to mind, and they withdrew. Renfield +watched them go; when the door was closed he said, with considerable +dignity and sweetness:-- + +"Dr. Seward, you have been very considerate towards me. Believe me that +I am very, very grateful to you!" I thought it well to leave him in this +mood, and so I came away. There is certainly something to ponder over in +this man's state. Several points seem to make what the American +interviewer calls "a story," if one could only get them in proper order. +Here they are:-- + +Will not mention "drinking." + +Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything. + +Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future. + +Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being +haunted by their souls. + +Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind +that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence--the +burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to! + +And the assurance--? + +Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of +terror afoot! + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I went after my round to Van Helsing and told him my +suspicion. He grew very grave; and, after thinking the matter over for a +while asked me to take him to Renfield. I did so. As we came to the door +we heard the lunatic within singing gaily, as he used to do in the time +which now seems so long ago. When we entered we saw with amazement that +he had spread out his sugar as of old; the flies, lethargic with the +autumn, were beginning to buzz into the room. We tried to make him talk +of the subject of our previous conversation, but he would not attend. He +went on with his singing, just as though we had not been present. He had +got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book. We had to come +away as ignorant as we went in. + +His is a curious case indeed; we must watch him to-night. + + +_Letter, Mitchell, Sons and Candy to Lord Godalming._ + +_"1 October._ + +"My Lord, + +"We are at all times only too happy to meet your wishes. We beg, with +regard to the desire of your Lordship, expressed by Mr. Harker on your +behalf, to supply the following information concerning the sale and +purchase of No. 347, Piccadilly. The original vendors are the executors +of the late Mr. Archibald Winter-Suffield. The purchaser is a foreign +nobleman, Count de Ville, who effected the purchase himself paying the +purchase money in notes 'over the counter,' if your Lordship will pardon +us using so vulgar an expression. Beyond this we know nothing whatever +of him. + +"We are, my Lord, + +"Your Lordship's humble servants, + +"MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 October._--I placed a man in the corridor last night, and told him to +make an accurate note of any sound he might hear from Renfield's room, +and gave him instructions that if there should be anything strange he +was to call me. After dinner, when we had all gathered round the fire +in the study--Mrs. Harker having gone to bed--we discussed the attempts +and discoveries of the day. Harker was the only one who had any result, +and we are in great hopes that his clue may be an important one. + +Before going to bed I went round to the patient's room and looked in +through the observation trap. He was sleeping soundly, and his heart +rose and fell with regular respiration. + +This morning the man on duty reported to me that a little after midnight +he was restless and kept saying his prayers somewhat loudly. I asked him +if that was all; he replied that it was all he heard. There was +something about his manner so suspicious that I asked him point blank if +he had been asleep. He denied sleep, but admitted to having "dozed" for +a while. It is too bad that men cannot be trusted unless they are +watched. + +To-day Harker is out following up his clue, and Art and Quincey are +looking after horses. Godalming thinks that it will be well to have +horses always in readiness, for when we get the information which we +seek there will be no time to lose. We must sterilise all the imported +earth between sunrise and sunset; we shall thus catch the Count at his +weakest, and without a refuge to fly to. Van Helsing is off to the +British Museum looking up some authorities on ancient medicine. The old +physicians took account of things which their followers do not accept, +and the Professor is searching for witch and demon cures which may be +useful to us later. + +I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity in +strait-waistcoats. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--We have met again. We seem at last to be on the track, and our +work of to-morrow may be the beginning of the end. I wonder if +Renfield's quiet has anything to do with this. His moods have so +followed the doings of the Count, that the coming destruction of the +monster may be carried to him in some subtle way. If we could only get +some hint as to what passed in his mind, between the time of my argument +with him to-day and his resumption of fly-catching, it might afford us a +valuable clue. He is now seemingly quiet for a spell.... Is he?---- That +wild yell seemed to come from his room.... + + * * * * * + +The attendant came bursting into my room and told me that Renfield had +somehow met with some accident. He had heard him yell; and when he went +to him found him lying on his face on the floor, all covered with blood. +I must go at once.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well +as I can remember it, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that I +can recall must be forgotten; in all calmness I must proceed. + +When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his +left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it +became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries; +there seemed none of that unity of purpose between the parts of the body +which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see +that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the +floor--indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood +originated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as +we turned him over:-- + +"I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and +the whole side of his face are paralysed." How such a thing could have +happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure. He seemed quite +bewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said:-- + +"I can't understand the two things. He could mark his face like that by +beating his own head on the floor. I saw a young woman do it once at the +Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her. And I suppose he +might have broke his neck by falling out of bed, if he got in an awkward +kink. But for the life of me I can't imagine how the two things +occurred. If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his head; and if his +face was like that before the fall out of bed, there would be marks of +it." I said to him:-- + +"Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here at once. I want +him without an instant's delay." The man ran off, and within a few +minutes the Professor, in his dressing gown and slippers, appeared. When +he saw Renfield on the ground, he looked keenly at him a moment, and +then turned to me. I think he recognised my thought in my eyes, for he +said very quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant:-- + +"Ah, a sad accident! He will need very careful watching, and much +attention. I shall stay with you myself; but I shall first dress myself. +If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you." + +The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that +he had suffered some terrible injury. Van Helsing returned with +extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He had +evidently been thinking and had his mind made up; for, almost before he +looked at the patient, he whispered to me:-- + +"Send the attendant away. We must be alone with him when he becomes +conscious, after the operation." So I said:-- + +"I think that will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can at +present. You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing will operate. +Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere." + +The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient. +The wounds of the face was superficial; the real injury was a depressed +fracture of the skull, extending right up through the motor area. The +Professor thought a moment and said:-- + +"We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as far +as can be; the rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of +his injury. The whole motor area seems affected. The suffusion of the +brain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be +too late." As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door. I +went over and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur and +Quincey in pajamas and slippers: the former spoke:-- + +"I heard your man call up Dr. Van Helsing and tell him of an accident. +So I woke Quincey or rather called for him as he was not asleep. Things +are moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us +these times. I've been thinking that to-morrow night will not see things +as they have been. We'll have to look back--and forward a little more +than we have done. May we come in?" I nodded, and held the door open +till they had entered; then I closed it again. When Quincey saw the +attitude and state of the patient, and noted the horrible pool on the +floor, he said softly:-- + +"My God! what has happened to him? Poor, poor devil!" I told him +briefly, and added that we expected he would recover consciousness after +the operation--for a short time, at all events. He went at once and sat +down on the edge of the bed, with Godalming beside him; we all watched +in patience. + +"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best +spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove +the blood clot; for it is evident that the hæmorrhage is increasing." + +The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness. I had a +horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I gathered +that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. I dreaded +the words that Renfield might speak. I was positively afraid to think; +but the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have read of men +who have heard the death-watch. The poor man's breathing came in +uncertain gasps. Each instant he seemed as though he would open his eyes +and speak; but then would follow a prolonged stertorous breath, and he +would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I was to sick +beds and death, this suspense grew, and grew upon me. I could almost +hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging through my +temples sounded like blows from a hammer. The silence finally became +agonising. I looked at my companions, one after another, and saw from +their flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equal +torture. There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overhead +some dread bell would peal out powerfully when we should least expect +it. + +At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was +sinking fast; he might die at any moment. I looked up at the Professor +and caught his eyes fixed on mine. His face was sternly set as he +spoke:-- + +"There is no time to lose. His words may be worth many lives; I have +been thinking so, as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake! +We shall operate just above the ear." + +Without another word he made the operation. For a few moments the +breathing continued to be stertorous. Then there came a breath so +prolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest. +Suddenly his eyes opened, and became fixed in a wild, helpless stare. +This was continued for a few moments; then it softened into a glad +surprise, and from the lips came a sigh of relief. He moved +convulsively, and as he did so, said:-- + +"I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait-waistcoat. I +have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot +move. What's wrong with my face? it feels all swollen, and it smarts +dreadfully." He tried to turn his head; but even with the effort his +eyes seemed to grow glassy again so I gently put it back. Then Van +Helsing said in a quiet grave tone:-- + +"Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield." As he heard the voice his face +brightened, through its mutilation, and he said:-- + +"That is Dr. Van Helsing. How good it is of you to be here. Give me some +water, my lips are dry; and I shall try to tell you. I dreamed"--he +stopped and seemed fainting, I called quietly to Quincey--"The +brandy--it is in my study--quick!" He flew and returned with a glass, +the decanter of brandy and a carafe of water. We moistened the parched +lips, and the patient quickly revived. It seemed, however, that his poor +injured brain had been working in the interval, for, when he was quite +conscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonised confusion which I +shall never forget, and said:-- + +"I must not deceive myself; it was no dream, but all a grim reality." +Then his eyes roved round the room; as they caught sight of the two +figures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed he went on:-- + +"If I were not sure already, I would know from them." For an instant his +eyes closed--not with pain or sleep but voluntarily, as though he were +bringing all his faculties to bear; when he opened them he said, +hurriedly, and with more energy than he had yet displayed:-- + +"Quick, Doctor, quick. I am dying! I feel that I have but a few minutes; +and then I must go back to death--or worse! Wet my lips with brandy +again. I have something that I must say before I die; or before my poor +crushed brain dies anyhow. Thank you! It was that night after you left +me, when I implored you to let me go away. I couldn't speak then, for I +felt my tongue was tied; but I was as sane then, except in that way, as +I am now. I was in an agony of despair for a long time after you left +me; it seemed hours. Then there came a sudden peace to me. My brain +seemed to become cool again, and I realised where I was. I heard the +dogs bark behind our house, but not where He was!" As he spoke, Van +Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out and met mine and +gripped it hard. He did not, however, betray himself; he nodded slightly +and said: "Go on," in a low voice. Renfield proceeded:-- + +"He came up to the window in the mist, as I had seen him often before; +but he was solid then--not a ghost, and his eyes were fierce like a +man's when angry. He was laughing with his red mouth; the sharp white +teeth glinted in the moonlight when he turned to look back over the belt +of trees, to where the dogs were barking. I wouldn't ask him to come in +at first, though I knew he wanted to--just as he had wanted all along. +Then he began promising me things--not in words but by doing them." He +was interrupted by a word from the Professor:-- + +"How?" + +"By making them happen; just as he used to send in the flies when the +sun was shining. Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their +wings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on their +backs." Van Helsing nodded to him as he whispered to me unconsciously:-- + +"The _Acherontia Aitetropos of the Sphinges_--what you call the +'Death's-head Moth'?" The patient went on without stopping. + +"Then he began to whisper: 'Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, +millions of them, and every one a life; and dogs to eat them, and cats +too. All lives! all red blood, with years of life in it; and not merely +buzzing flies!' I laughed at him, for I wanted to see what he could do. +Then the dogs howled, away beyond the dark trees in His house. He +beckoned me to the window. I got up and looked out, and He raised his +hands, and seemed to call out without using any words. A dark mass +spread over the grass, coming on like the shape of a flame of fire; and +then He moved the mist to the right and left, and I could see that there +were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red--like His, only +smaller. He held up his hand, and they all stopped; and I thought he +seemed to be saying: 'All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more +and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship +me!' And then a red cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close +over my eyes; and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening +the sash and saying to Him: 'Come in, Lord and Master!' The rats were +all gone, but He slid into the room through the sash, though it was only +open an inch wide--just as the Moon herself has often come in through +the tiniest crack and has stood before me in all her size and +splendour." + +His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again, and +he continued; but it seemed as though his memory had gone on working in +the interval for his story was further advanced. I was about to call him +back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me: "Let him go on. Do +not interrupt him; he cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all +if once he lost the thread of his thought." He proceeded:-- + +"All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, not +even a blow-fly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him. +When he slid in through the window, though it was shut, and did not even +knock, I got mad with him. He sneered at me, and his white face looked +out of the mist with his red eyes gleaming, and he went on as though he +owned the whole place, and I was no one. He didn't even smell the same +as he went by me. I couldn't hold him. I thought that, somehow, Mrs. +Harker had come into the room." + +The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behind +him so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better. +They were both silent, but the Professor started and quivered; his face, +however, grew grimmer and sterner still. Renfield went on without +noticing:-- + +"When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon she wasn't the same; +it was like tea after the teapot had been watered." Here we all moved, +but no one said a word; he went on:-- + +"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look the +same. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood +in them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of it +at the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad +to know that He had been taking the life out of her." I could feel that +the rest quivered, as I did, but we remained otherwise still. "So when +He came to-night I was ready for Him. I saw the mist stealing in, and I +grabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength; and +as I knew I was a madman--at times anyhow--I resolved to use my power. +Ay, and He felt it too, for He had to come out of the mist to struggle +with me. I held tight; and I thought I was going to win, for I didn't +mean Him to take any more of her life, till I saw His eyes. They burned +into me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, and +when I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down. There +was a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed +to steal away under the door." His voice was becoming fainter and his +breath more stertorous. Van Helsing stood up instinctively. + +"We know the worst now," he said. "He is here, and we know his purpose. +It may not be too late. Let us be armed--the same as we were the other +night, but lose no time; there is not an instant to spare." There was no +need to put our fear, nay our conviction, into words--we shared them in +common. We all hurried and took from our rooms the same things that we +had when we entered the Count's house. The Professor had his ready, and +as we met in the corridor he pointed to them significantly as he said:-- + +"They never leave me; and they shall not till this unhappy business is +over. Be wise also, my friends. It is no common enemy that we deal with. +Alas! alas! that that dear Madam Mina should suffer!" He stopped; his +voice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated in +my own heart. + +Outside the Harkers' door we paused. Art and Quincey held back, and the +latter said:-- + +"Should we disturb her?" + +"We must," said Van Helsing grimly. "If the door be locked, I shall +break it in." + +"May it not frighten her terribly? It is unusual to break into a lady's +room!" + +Van Helsing said solemnly, "You are always right; but this is life and +death. All chambers are alike to the doctor; and even were they not they +are all as one to me to-night. Friend John, when I turn the handle, if +the door does not open, do you put your shoulder down and shove; and you +too, my friends. Now!" + +He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threw +ourselves against it; with a crash it burst open, and we almost fell +headlong into the room. The Professor did actually fall, and I saw +across him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I saw +appalled me. I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my neck, +and my heart seemed to stand still. + +The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind the room +was light enough to see. On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan +Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor. +Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad +figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. +His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw we all recognised +the Count--in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left +hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms +at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, +forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared +with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which +was shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible +resemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to +compel it to drink. As we burst into the room, the Count turned his +face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap +into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils +of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the +white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, +champed together like those of a wild beast. With a wrench, which threw +his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned +and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, +and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred +Wafer. The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside +the tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, +lifting our crucifixes, advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a +great black cloud sailed across the sky; and when the gaslight sprang up +under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as we +looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its bursting +open, had swung back to its old position. Van Helsing, Art, and I moved +forward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time had drawn her breath and with +it had given a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so despairing that it +seems to me now that it will ring in my ears till my dying day. For a +few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and disarray. Her face was +ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which smeared +her lips and cheeks and chin; from her throat trickled a thin stream of +blood; her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her +poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the +Count's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate wail +which made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression of an +endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and drew the coverlet gently +over her body, whilst Art, after looking at her face for an instant +despairingly, ran out of the room. Van Helsing whispered to me:-- + +"Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce. We can +do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a few moments till she recovers +herself; I must wake him!" He dipped the end of a towel in cold water +and with it began to flick him on the face, his wife all the while +holding her face between her hands and sobbing in a way that was +heart-breaking to hear. I raised the blind, and looked out of the +window. There was much moonshine; and as I looked I could see Quincey +Morris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great +yew-tree. It puzzled me to think why he was doing this; but at the +instant I heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial +consciousness, and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might well +be, was a look of wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and +then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he +started up. His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to +him with her arms stretched out, as though to embrace him; instantly, +however, she drew them in again, and putting her elbows together, held +her hands before her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook. + +"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out. "Dr. Seward, Dr. +Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is wrong? Mina, dear, +what is it? What does that blood mean? My God, my God! has it come to +this!" and, raising himself to his knees, he beat his hands wildly +together. "Good God help us! help her! oh, help her!" With a quick +movement he jumped from bed, and began to pull on his clothes,--all the +man in him awake at the need for instant exertion. "What has happened? +Tell me all about it!" he cried without pausing. "Dr. Van Helsing, you +love Mina, I know. Oh, do something to save her. It cannot have gone too +far yet. Guard her while I look for _him_!" His wife, through her terror +and horror and distress, saw some sure danger to him: instantly +forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of him and cried out:-- + +"No! no! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enough +to-night, God knows, without the dread of his harming you. You must stay +with me. Stay with these friends who will watch over you!" Her +expression became frantic as she spoke; and, he yielding to her, she +pulled him down sitting on the bed side, and clung to him fiercely. + +Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both. The Professor held up his +little golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness:-- + +"Do not fear, my dear. We are here; and whilst this is close to you no +foul thing can approach. You are safe for to-night; and we must be calm +and take counsel together." She shuddered and was silent, holding down +her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his white +night-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where +the thin open wound in her neck had sent forth drops. The instant she +saw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking +sobs:-- + +"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it +should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have +most cause to fear." To this he spoke out resolutely:-- + +"Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not +hear it of you; and I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my +deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, +if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out +his arms and folded her to his breast; and for a while she lay there +sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked +damply above his quivering nostrils; his mouth was set as steel. After a +while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then he said to +me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his nervous +power to the utmost:-- + +"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it. Too well I know the broad +fact; tell me all that has been." I told him exactly what had happened, +and he listened with seeming impassiveness; but his nostrils twitched +and his eyes blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had +held his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to +the open wound in his breast. It interested me, even at that moment, to +see, that, whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over +the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled +hair. Just as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at the door. +They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing looked at me +questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of +their coming to divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappy husband +and wife from each other and from themselves; so on nodding acquiescence +to him he asked them what they had seen or done. To which Lord Godalming +answered:-- + +"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our rooms. I +looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had gone. He had, +however----" He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping figure on +the bed. Van Helsing said gravely:-- + +"Go on, friend Arthur. We want here no more concealments. Our hope now +is in knowing all. Tell freely!" So Art went on:-- + +"He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few +seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the manuscript had been +burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes; the +cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax +had helped the flames." Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is the +other copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he +went on: "I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I looked +into Renfield's room; but there was no trace there except----!" Again he +paused. "Go on," said Harker hoarsely; so he bowed his head and +moistening his lips with his tongue, added: "except that the poor fellow +is dead." Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of +us she said solemnly:-- + +"God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping back +something; but, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing. +Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked:-- + +"And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?" + +"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at present I +can't say. I thought it well to know if possible where the Count would +go when he left the house. I did not see him; but I saw a bat rise from +Renfield's window, and flap westward. I expected to see him in some +shape go back to Carfax; but he evidently sought some other lair. He +will not be back to-night; for the sky is reddening in the east, and the +dawn is close. We must work to-morrow!" + +He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of perhaps +a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that I could +hear the sound of our hearts beating; then Van Helsing said, placing his +hand very tenderly on Mrs. Harker's head:-- + +"And now, Madam Mina--poor, dear, dear Madam Mina--tell us exactly what +happened. God knows that I do not want that you be pained; but it is +need that we know all. For now more than ever has all work to be done +quick and sharp, and in deadly earnest. The day is close to us that must +end all, if it may be so; and now is the chance that we may live and +learn." + +The poor, dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves +as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and +lower still on his breast. Then she raised her head proudly, and held +out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his, and, after stooping and +kissing it reverently, held it fast. The other hand was locked in that +of her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her protectingly. +After a pause in which she was evidently ordering her thoughts, she +began:-- + +"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, but for a +long time it did not act. I seemed to become more wakeful, and myriads +of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mind--all of them +connected with death, and vampires; with blood, and pain, and trouble." +Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and said +lovingly: "Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me +through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me +to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I +need your help. Well, I saw I must try to help the medicine to its work +with my will, if it was to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to +sleep. Sure enough sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no +more. Jonathan coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when +next I remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I +had before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this; you will find +it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague +terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some presence. +I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so soundly that it +seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping draught, and not I. I +tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I +looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me: beside +the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist--or rather as if the mist +had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared--stood a +tall, thin man, all in black. I knew him at once from the description of +the others. The waxen face; the high aquiline nose, on which the light +fell in a thin white line; the parted red lips, with the sharp white +teeth showing between; and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the +sunset on the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby. I knew, too, the +red scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant +my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was +paralysed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper, +pointing as he spoke to Jonathan:-- + +"'Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out +before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or +say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulder +and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did +so, 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well +be quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have +appeased my thirst!' I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not +want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that +such is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity +me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned +again. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as if +he were the injured one, and went on:-- + +"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How long +this horrible thing lasted I know not; but it seemed that a long time +must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away. I +saw it drip with the fresh blood!" The remembrance seemed for a while to +overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her +husband's sustaining arm. With a great effort she recovered herself and +went on:-- + +"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would play +your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and +frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in part already, +and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path. They +should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they +played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, and intrigued +for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were +born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now +to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin; my bountiful +wine-press for a while; and shall be later on my companion and my +helper. You shall be avenged in turn; for not one of them but shall +minister to your needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what you +have done. You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to my +call. When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or sea to +do my bidding; and to that end this!' With that he pulled open his +shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When +the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding +them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to +the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the---- Oh +my God! my God! what have I done? What have I done to deserve such a +fate, I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my +days. God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril; +and in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub her +lips as though to cleanse them from pollution. + +As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to quicken, +and everything became more and more clear. Harker was still and quiet; +but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look +which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first +red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out +against the whitening hair. + +We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappy +pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action. + +Of this I am sure: the sun rises to-day on no more miserable house in +all the great round of its daily course. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_3 October._--As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary. It +is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and +take something to eat; for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed +that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best will be, God +knows, required to-day. I must keep writing at every chance, for I dare +not stop to think. All, big and little, must go down; perhaps at the end +the little things may teach us most. The teaching, big or little, could +not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we are to-day. However, +we must trust and hope. Poor Mina told me just now, with the tears +running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and trial that our +faith is tested--that we must keep on trusting; and that God will aid us +up to the end. The end! oh my God! what end?... To work! To work! + +When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor +Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr. Seward +told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room below +they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a heap. His face was +all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the neck were broken. + +Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if he had +heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down--he confessed to +half dozing--when he heard loud voices in the room, and then Renfield +had called out loudly several times, "God! God! God!" after that there +was a sound of falling, and when he entered the room he found him lying +on the floor, face down, just as the doctors had seen him. Van Helsing +asked if he had heard "voices" or "a voice," and he said he could not +say; that at first it had seemed to him as if there were two, but as +there was no one in the room it could have been only one. He could swear +to it, if required, that the word "God" was spoken by the patient. Dr. +Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish to go into +the matter; the question of an inquest had to be considered, and it +would never do to put forward the truth, as no one would believe it. As +it was, he thought that on the attendant's evidence he could give a +certificate of death by misadventure in falling from bed. In case the +coroner should demand it, there would be a formal inquest, necessarily +to the same result. + +When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our next +step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full +confidence; that nothing of any sort--no matter how painful--should be +kept from her. She herself agreed as to its wisdom, and it was pitiful +to see her so brave and yet so sorrowful, and in such a depth of +despair. "There must be no concealment," she said, "Alas! we have had +too much already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that can +give me more pain than I have already endured--than I suffer now! +Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!" +Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said, suddenly +but quietly:-- + +"But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid; not for yourself, but for +others from yourself, after what has happened?" Her face grew set in its +lines, but her eyes shone with the devotion of a martyr as she +answered:-- + +"Ah no! for my mind is made up!" + +"To what?" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still; for each in +our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she meant. Her answer +came with direct simplicity, as though she were simply stating a fact:-- + +"Because if I find in myself--and I shall watch keenly for it--a sign of +harm to any that I love, I shall die!" + +"You would not kill yourself?" he asked, hoarsely. + +"I would; if there were no friend who loved me, who would save me such a +pain, and so desperate an effort!" She looked at him meaningly as she +spoke. He was sitting down; but now he rose and came close to her and +put his hand on her head as he said solemnly: + +"My child, there is such an one if it were for your good. For myself I +could hold it in my account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, +even at this moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my +child----" For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his +throat; he gulped it down and went on:-- + +"There are here some who would stand between you and death. You must not +die. You must not die by any hand; but least of all by your own. Until +the other, who has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not +die; for if he is still with the quick Un-Dead, your death would make +you even as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to +live, though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death +himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy; by the day, or the +night; in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you that you +do not die--nay, nor think of death--till this great evil be past." The +poor dear grew white as death, and shock and shivered, as I have seen a +quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide. We were all +silent; we could do nothing. At length she grew more calm and turning to +him said, sweetly, but oh! so sorrowfully, as she held out her hand:-- + +"I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will let me live, I shall +strive to do so; till, if it may be in His good time, this horror may +have passed away from me." She was so good and brave that we all felt +that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her, and we +began to discuss what we were to do. I told her that she was to have all +the papers in the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we +might hereafter use; and was to keep the record as she had done before. +She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do--if "pleased" could +be used in connection with so grim an interest. + +As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was +prepared with an exact ordering of our work. + +"It is perhaps well," he said, "that at our meeting after our visit to +Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth-boxes that lay +there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our purpose, and +would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such an +effort with regard to the others; but now he does not know our +intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such a +power exists to us as can sterilise his lairs, so that he cannot use +them as of old. We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as +to their disposition that, when we have examined the house in +Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them. To-day, then, is ours; +and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning +guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must +retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations +of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear +through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he +must open the door like a mortal. And so we have this day to hunt out +all his lairs and sterilise them. So we shall, if we have not yet catch +him and destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching +and the destroying shall be, in time, sure." Here I started up for I +could not contain myself at the thought that the minutes and seconds so +preciously laden with Mina's life and happiness were flying from us, +since whilst we talked action was impossible. But Van Helsing held up +his hand warningly. "Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the +quickest way home is the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all +act and act with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in +all probable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly. +The Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will have +deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper that he +write on; he will have his book of cheques. There are many belongings +that he must have somewhere; why not in this place so central, so quiet, +where he come and go by the front or the back at all hour, when in the +very vast of the traffic there is none to notice. We shall go there and +search that house; and when we learn what it holds, then we do what our +friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt 'stop the earths' and so we +run down our old fox--so? is it not?" + +"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious, +precious time!" The Professor did not move, but simply said:-- + +"And how are we to get into that house in Piccadilly?" + +"Any way!" I cried. "We shall break in if need be." + +"And your police; where will they be, and what will they say?" + +I was staggered; but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a good +reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could:-- + +"Don't wait more than need be; you know, I am sure, what torture I am +in." + +"Ah, my child, that I do; and indeed there is no wish of me to add to +your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the world be at +movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and thought, and it +seems to me that the simplest way is the best of all. Now we wish to get +into the house, but we have no key; is it not so?" I nodded. + +"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and could +not still get it; and think there was to you no conscience of the +housebreaker, what would you do?" + +"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the +lock for me." + +"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?" + +"Oh, no! not if they knew the man was properly employed." + +"Then," he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, "all that is in doubt is +the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your policemen as to +whether or no that employer has a good conscience or a bad one. Your +police must indeed be zealous men and clever--oh, so clever!--in reading +the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter. No, no, my +friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty house in this +your London, or of any city in the world; and if you do it as such +things are rightly done, and at the time such things are rightly done, +no one will interfere. I have read of a gentleman who owned a so fine +house in London, and when he went for months of summer to Switzerland +and lock up his house, some burglar came and broke window at back and +got in. Then he went and made open the shutters in front and walk out +and in through the door, before the very eyes of the police. Then he +have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice; +and when the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of +that other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell him +that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take all away +within a certain time. And your police and other authority help him all +they can. And when that owner come back from his holiday in Switzerland +he find only an empty hole where his house had been. This was all done +_en règle_; and in our work we shall be _en règle_ too. We shall not go +so early that the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem +it strange; but we shall go after ten o'clock, when there are many +about, and such things would be done were we indeed owners of the +house." + +I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Mina's +face became relaxed a thought; there was hope in such good counsel. Van +Helsing went on:-- + +"When once within that house we may find more clues; at any rate some of +us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places where there be +more earth-boxes--at Bermondsey and Mile End." + +Lord Godalming stood up. "I can be of some use here," he said. "I shall +wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most +convenient." + +"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to have all +ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don't you think that one +of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byway of +Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes? +It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south or east; and +even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are going to." + +"Friend Quincey is right!" said the Professor. "His head is what you +call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we go to +do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may." + +Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to see +that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the +terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale--almost +ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in +somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last, lest it should give +her needless pain; but it made my blood run cold in my veins to think of +what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood. As +yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper; but the time as yet +was short, and there was time for fear. + +When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of the +disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt. It was +finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should destroy the +Count's lair close at hand. In case he should find it out too soon, we +should thus be still ahead of him in our work of destruction; and his +presence in his purely material shape, and at his weakest, might give us +some new clue. + +As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that, +after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in Piccadilly; +that the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming +and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed them. +It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the Count +might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we might be +able to cope with him then and there. At any rate, we might be able to +follow him in force. To this plan I strenuously objected, and so far as +my going was concerned, for I said that I intended to stay and protect +Mina, I thought that my mind was made up on the subject; but Mina would +not listen to my objection. She said that there might be some law matter +in which I could be useful; that amongst the Count's papers might be +some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania; +and that, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to +cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for Mina's +resolution was fixed; she said that it was the last hope for _her_ that +we should all work together. "As for me," she said, "I have no fear. +Things have been as bad as they can be; and whatever may happen must +have in it some element of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if +He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any one present." So I +started up crying out: "Then in God's name let us come at once, for we +are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier than we +think." + +"Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand. + +"But why?" I asked. + +"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last night he +banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?" + +Did I forget! shall I ever--can I ever! Can any of us ever forget that +terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance; but +the pain overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and +shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had not intended to recall her +frightful experience. He had simply lost sight of her and her part in +the affair in his intellectual effort. When it struck him what he said, +he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her. "Oh, +Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I of all who so +reverence you should have said anything so forgetful. These stupid old +lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so; but you will +forget it, will you not?" He bent low beside her as he spoke; she took +his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely:-- + +"No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember; and with it I +have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all +together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is ready, and we +must all eat that we may be strong." + +Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful and +encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of +us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:-- + +"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we +all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's +lair; armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured +him. "Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case _quite_ safe +here until the sunset; and before then we shall return--if---- We shall +return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attack. I +have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing +of things of which we know, so that He may not enter. Now let me guard +yourself. On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the +name of the Father, the Son, and----" + +There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear. As he +had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it--had burned +into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. My poor +darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as +her nerves received the pain of it; and the two so overwhelmed her that +her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream. But the +words to her thought came quickly; the echo of the scream had not ceased +to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her +knees on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair +over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out:-- + +"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must +bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day." They +all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless +grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our +sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away +their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said +gravely; so gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some +way inspired, and was stating things outside himself:-- + +"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, +as He most surely shall, on the Judgment Day, to redress all wrongs of +the earth and of His children that He has placed thereon. And oh, Madam +Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that +red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, +and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as +we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the +burden that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did +in obedience to His Will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of +His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other +through stripes and shame; through tears and blood; through doubts and +fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man." + +There was hope in his words, and comfort; and they made for resignation. +Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old +man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then without a word we all +knelt down together, and, all holding hands, swore to be true to each +other. We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the +head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved; and we prayed for help +and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us. + +It was then time to start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which +neither of us shall forget to our dying day; and we set out. + +To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a +vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible +land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant +many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so +the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks. + +We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on +the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic +surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such +fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been made up, and had there +not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded +with our task. We found no papers, or any sign of use in the house; and +in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them last. +Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before them:-- + +"And now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilise this +earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far +distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has +been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more +holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to +God." As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and +very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth smelled +musty and close; but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention +was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his box a piece of the +Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down +the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked. + +One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left +them as we had found them to all appearance; but in each was a portion +of the Host. + +When we closed the door behind us, the Professor said solemnly:-- + +"So much is already done. If it may be that with all the others we can +be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may shine on Madam +Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!" + +As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our +train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly, and in the +window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her, and nodded to +tell that our work there was successfully accomplished. She nodded in +reply to show that she understood. The last I saw, she was waving her +hand in farewell. It was with a heavy heart that we sought the station +and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the +platform. + +I have written this in the train. + + * * * * * + +_Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock._--Just before we reached Fenchurch Street +Lord Godalming said to me:-- + +"Quincey and I will find a locksmith. You had better not come with us in +case there should be any difficulty; for under the circumstances it +wouldn't seem so bad for us to break into an empty house. But you are a +solicitor and the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you +should have known better." I demurred as to my not sharing any danger +even of odium, but he went on: "Besides, it will attract less attention +if there are not too many of us. My title will make it all right with +the locksmith, and with any policeman that may come along. You had +better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park, +somewhere in sight of the house; and when you see the door opened and +the smith has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the +lookout for you, and shall let you in." + +"The advice is good!" said Van Helsing, so we said no more. Godalming +and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another. At the corner +of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into the Green +Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was +centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst +its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours. We sat down on a bench +within good view, and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little +attention as possible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we +waited for the coming of the others. + +At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in leisurely +fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris; and down from the box descended +a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of tools. Morris paid +the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away. Together the two +ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he wanted done. +The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it on one of the spikes +of the rail, saying something to a policeman who just then sauntered +along. The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the man kneeling down +placed his bag beside him. After searching through it, he took out a +selection of tools which he produced to lay beside him in orderly +fashion. Then he stood up, looked into the keyhole, blew into it, and +turning to his employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and +the man lifted a good-sized bunch of keys; selecting one of them, he +began to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling +about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once the +door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two others +entered the hall. We sat still; my own cigar burnt furiously, but Van +Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited patiently as we saw the +workman come out and bring in his bag. Then he held the door partly +open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he fitted a key to the lock. +This he finally handed to Lord Godalming, who took out his purse and +gave him something. The man touched his hat, took his bag, put on his +coat and departed; not a soul took the slightest notice of the whole +transaction. + +When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and knocked at +the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom stood +Lord Godalming lighting a cigar. + +"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in. It did +indeed smell vilely--like the old chapel at Carfax--and with our +previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using the +place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all keeping together +in case of attack; for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy to deal +with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be in the +house. In the dining-room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found +eight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine, which we sought! +Our work was not over, and would never be until we should have found the +missing box. First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out +across a narrow stone-flagged yard at the blank face of a stable, +pointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no +windows in it, so we were not afraid of being over-looked. We did not +lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we had +brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as we had +treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us that the +Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to search for +any of his effects. + +After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement to attic, +we came to the conclusion that the dining-room contained any effects +which might belong to the Count; and so we proceeded to minutely examine +them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the great dining-room +table. There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great bundle; +deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and Bermondsey; +note-paper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were covered up in thin +wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There were also a clothes +brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin--the latter containing +dirty water which was reddened as if with blood. Last of all was a +little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes, probably those belonging to +the other houses. When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming +and Quincey Morris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the +houses in the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great +bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest of us +are, with what patience we can, waiting their return--or the coming of +the Count. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--The time seemed terrible long whilst we were waiting for +the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep +our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent +purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. +The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. +Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful +face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. To-day he is a drawn, +haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning +eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in +fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for, if +all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period; he will then, +in a kind of way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I +thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his----! The Professor knows +this well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind active. What he +has been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interest. So +well as I can remember, here it is:-- + +"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands, all +the papers relating to this monster; and the more I have studied, the +greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out. All through there +are signs of his advance; not only of his power, but of his knowledge of +it. As I learned from the researches of my friend Arminus of Buda-Pesth, +he was in life a most wonderful man. Soldier, statesman, and +alchemist--which latter was the highest development of the +science-knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond +compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse. He dared even to +attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time +that he did not essay. Well, in him the brain powers survived the +physical death; though it would seem that memory was not all complete. +In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is +growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of +man's stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well; and if it had not +been that we have crossed his path he would be yet--he may be yet if we +fail--the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must +lead through Death, not Life." + +Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my darling! +But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him!" + +"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but +surely; that big child-brain of his is working. Well for us, it is, as +yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain +things he would long ago have been beyond our power. However, he means +to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait +and to go slow. _Festina lente_ may well be his motto." + +"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "Oh, do be more plain to +me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain." + +The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke:-- + +"Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late, this +monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How he has been +making use of the zoöphagous patient to effect his entry into friend +John's home; for your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when +and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto by +an inmate. But these are not his most important experiments. Do we not +see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others. He +knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great +child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he +might not himself move the box. So he began to help; and then, when he +found that this be all-right, he try to move them all alone. And so he +progress, and he scatter these graves of him; and none but he know where +they are hidden. He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So +that he only use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his +form, they do him equal well; and none may know these are his +hiding-place! But, my child, do not despair; this knowledge come to him +just too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilise as for him; +and before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no place where he +can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we might be sure. Is +there not more at stake for us than for him? Then why we not be even +more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be +well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us. To-day is our +day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance. See! there are +five of us when those absent ones return." + +Whilst he was speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door, the +double postman's knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved out to the +hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us to +keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The boy handed in a +despatch. The Professor closed the door again, and, after looking at the +direction, opened it and read aloud. + +"Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and +hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the round and may want +to see you: Mina." + +There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice:-- + +"Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!" Van Helsing turned to him +quickly and said:-- + +"God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice +as yet; for what we wish for at the moment may be our undoings." + +"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this +brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!" + +"Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing. "God does not purchase +souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep +faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your +devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her pain would be +doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not fear any of us, we are +all devoted to this cause, and to-day shall see the end. The time is +coming for action; to-day this Vampire is limit to the powers of man, +and till sunset he may not change. It will take him time to arrive +here--see, it is twenty minutes past one--and there are yet some times +before he can hither come, be he never so quick. What we must hope for +is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first." + +About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram, there +came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an ordinary +knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made +the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. We looked at each other, and +together moved out into the hall; we each held ready to use our various +armaments--the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right. Van +Helsing pulled back the latch, and, holding the door half open, stood +back, having both hands ready for action. The gladness of our hearts +must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we +saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed +the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the +hall:-- + +"It is all right. We found both places; six boxes in each and we +destroyed them all!" + +"Destroyed?" asked the Professor. + +"For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said:-- + +"There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn't turn up +by five o'clock, we must start off; for it won't do to leave Mrs. Harker +alone after sunset." + +"He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been +consulting his pocket-book. "_Nota bene_, in Madam's telegram he went +south from Carfax, that means he went to cross the river, and he could +only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one +o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is as yet only +suspicious; and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would +suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a +short time before him. That he is not here already shows that he went to +Mile End next. This took him some time; for he would then have to be +carried over the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not +have long to wait now. We should have ready some plan of attack, so that +we may throw away no chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your +arms! Be ready!" He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could +hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door. + +I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a +dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and +adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always +been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been +accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be +renewed instinctively. With a swift glance around the room, he at once +laid out our plan of attack, and, without speaking a word, with a +gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing, Harker, and I were +just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could +guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door. +Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to +move in front of the window. We waited in a suspense that made the +seconds pass with nightmare slowness. The slow, careful steps came along +the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise--at least +he feared it. + +Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room, winning a way past +us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There was something +so panther-like in the movement--something so unhuman, that it seemed +to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was +Harker, who, with a quick movement, threw himself before the door +leading into the room in the front of the house. As the Count saw us, a +horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth long +and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of +lion-like disdain. His expression again changed as, with a single +impulse, we all advanced upon him. It was a pity that we had not some +better organised plan of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what +we were to do. I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would +avail us anything. Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had +ready his great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The +blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's +leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had shorne +through his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat, +making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of gold +fell out. The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that for a +moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife +aloft again for another stroke. Instinctively I moved forward with a +protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I +felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise that I +saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously +by each one of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of +hate and baffled malignity--of anger and hellish rage--which came over +the Count's face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast +of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the +pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next instant, with a sinuous +dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere his blow could fall, and, grasping +a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room, threw +himself at the window. Amid the crash and glitter of the falling glass, +he tumbled into the flagged area below. Through the sound of the +shivering glass I could hear the "ting" of the gold, as some of the +sovereigns fell on the flagging. + +We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up +the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door. +There he turned and spoke to us:-- + +"You think to baffle me, you--with your pale faces all in a row, like +sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You think +you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is +just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your +girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and +others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my +jackals when I want to feed. Bah!" With a contemptuous sneer, he passed +quickly through the door, and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he +fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut. The first of us +to speak was the Professor, as, realising the difficulty of following +him through the stable, we moved toward the hall. + +"We have learnt something--much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he +fears us; he fear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His +very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take that money? You +follow quick. You are hunters of wild beast, and understand it so. For +me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use to him, if so that he +return." As he spoke he put the money remaining into his pocket; took +the title-deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the +remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with +a match. + +Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker had +lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had, however, +bolted the stable door; and by the time they had forced it open there +was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back +of the house; but the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart. + +It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We had to +recognise that our game was up; with heavy hearts we agreed with the +Professor when he said:-- + +"Let us go back to Madam Mina--poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do +just now is done; and we can there, at least, protect her. But we need +not despair. There is but one more earth-box, and we must try to find +it; when that is done all may yet be well." I could see that he spoke as +bravely as he could to comfort Harker. The poor fellow was quite broken +down; now and again he gave a low groan which he could not suppress--he +was thinking of his wife. + +With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker +waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her +bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her own became as +pale as death: for a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were +in secret prayer; and then she said cheerfully:-- + +"I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling!" As she spoke, +she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed it--"Lay your +poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well, dear! God will protect +us if He so will it in His good intent." The poor fellow groaned. There +was no place for words in his sublime misery. + +We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered us +all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to hungry +people--for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast--or the sense +of companionship may have helped us; but anyhow we were all less +miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope. True to +our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed; and +although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to +threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion to her was +manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness. When we came to the +part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly, she clung to +her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could +protect him from any harm that might come. She said nothing, however, +till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought right up +to the present time. Then without letting go her husband's hand she +stood up amongst us and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the +scene; of that sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty +of her youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which +she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our +teeth--remembering whence and how it came; her loving kindness against +our grim hate; her tender faith against all our fears and doubting; and +we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and +purity and faith, was outcast from God. + +"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips it was +so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you all my true, +true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all this +dreadful time. I know that you must fight--that you must destroy even as +you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter; +but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this +misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when +he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have +spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too, though it may +not hold your hands from his destruction." + +As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together, as +though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core. +Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer, till his +knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain which I knew she +must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes that were more appealing +than ever. As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing +his hand from hers as he spoke:-- + +"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that +earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send +his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!" + +"Oh, hush! oh, hush! in the name of the good God. Don't say such things, +Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just +think, my dear--I have been thinking all this long, long day of it--that +... perhaps ... some day ... I, too, may need such pity; and that some +other like you--and with equal cause for anger--may deny it to me! Oh, +my husband! my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought +had there been another way; but I pray that God may not have treasured +your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a very loving and +sorely stricken man. Oh, God, let these poor white hairs go in evidence +of what he has suffered, who all his life has done no wrong, and on whom +so many sorrows have come." + +We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and we wept +openly. She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed. +Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and putting his arms +round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress. Van Helsing beckoned +to us and we stole out of the room, leaving the two loving hearts alone +with their God. + +Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming +of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace. +She tried to school herself to the belief, and, manifestly for her +husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle; and was, +I think and believe, not without its reward. Van Helsing had placed at +hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency. +When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should +sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the +poor stricken lady. The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us +shall be off to bed as soon as we can. Godalming has already turned in, +for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done I, too, shall go +to bed. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_3-4 October, close to midnight._--I thought yesterday would never end. +There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind belief +that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any change must +now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed what our next step +was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All we knew was that one +earth-box remained, and that the Count alone knew where it was. If he +chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years; and in the +meantime!--the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of it even now. +This I know: that if ever there was a woman who was all perfection, that +one is my poor wronged darling. I love her a thousand times more for her +sweet pity of last night, a pity that made my own hate of the monster +seem despicable. Surely God will not permit the world to be the poorer +by the loss of such a creature. This is hope to me. We are all drifting +reefwards now, and faith is our only anchor. Thank God! Mina is +sleeping, and sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be +like, with such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so +calm, within my seeing, since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came +over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of March. +I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red sunset on her +face, but somehow now I think it has a deeper meaning. I am not sleepy +myself, though I am weary--weary to death. However, I must try to sleep; +for there is to-morrow to think of, and there is no rest for me +until.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awaked by Mina, who was +sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could see easily, +for we did not leave the room in darkness; she had placed a warning hand +over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear:-- + +"Hush! there is someone in the corridor!" I got up softly, and crossing +the room, gently opened the door. + +Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake. He +raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me:-- + +"Hush! go back to bed; it is all right. One of us will be here all +night. We don't mean to take any chances!" + +His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina. +She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor, pale +face as she put her arms round me and said softly:-- + +"Oh, thank God for good brave men!" With a sigh she sank back again to +sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again. + + * * * * * + +_4 October, morning._--Once again during the night I was wakened by +Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming +dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas flame was +like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:-- + +"Go, call the Professor. I want to see him at once." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured +without my knowing it. He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I +shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest; the time is getting close." I +went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing +me, he sprang to his feet. + +"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm. + +"No," I replied; "but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once." + +"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room. + +In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his +dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at +the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a smile--a +positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as he +said:-- + +"Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See! friend Jonathan, +we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day!" Then +turning to her, he said, cheerfully: "And what am I do for you? For at +this hour you do not want me for nothings." + +"I want you to hypnotise me!" she said. "Do it before the dawn, for I +feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is +short!" Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed. + +Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her, +from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn. Mina +gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat +like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually +her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of +her bosom could one know that she was alive. The Professor made a few +more passes and then stopped, and I could see that his forehead was +covered with great beads of perspiration. Mina opened her eyes; but she +did not seem the same woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and +her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to +impose silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. +They came on tip-toe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the +foot of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The +stillness was broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone +which would not break the current of her thoughts:-- + +"Where are you?" The answer came in a neutral way:-- + +"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own." For several +minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood +staring at her fixedly; the rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room +was growing lighter; without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van +Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed +just upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse +itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke again:-- + +"Where are you now?" The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it +were as though she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the +same tone when reading her shorthand notes. + +"I do not know. It is all strange to me!" + +"What do you see?" + +"I can see nothing; it is all dark." + +"What do you hear?" I could detect the strain in the Professor's patient +voice. + +"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can +hear them on the outside." + +"Then you are on a ship?" We all looked at each other, trying to glean +something each from the other. We were afraid to think. The answer came +quick:-- + +"Oh, yes!" + +"What else do you hear?" + +"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the +creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan +falls into the rachet." + +"What are you doing?" + +"I am still--oh, so still. It is like death!" The voice faded away into +a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again. + +By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of +day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid her +head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a sleeping child for a few +moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder to see +us all around her. "Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said. +She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling, though she +was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the +conversation, and she said:-- + +"Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late!" Mr. +Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor's calm +voice called them back:-- + +"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor +whilst she spoke. There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in +your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek? God be +thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead us we +know not. We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of men, +since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking +forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen! Alas, but +that sentence is a puddle; is it not? We can know now what was in the +Count's mind, when he seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce +knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear +me, ESCAPE! He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men +following like dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He +have take his last earth-box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He +think to escape, but no! we follow him. Tally Ho! as friend Arthur would +say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily; oh! so wily, and +we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a +little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters +between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he +would--unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or +slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to +us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need, +and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with +us." Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:-- + +"But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?" He +took her hand and patted it as he replied:-- + +"Ask me nothings as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all +questions." He would say no more, and we separated to dress. + +After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her gravely for +a minute and then said sorrowfully:-- + +"Because my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him +even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!" She grew paler as +she asked faintly:-- + +"Why?" + +"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you are +but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark +upon your throat." + +I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY, SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING + + +This to Jonathan Harker. + +You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our +search--if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we +seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her to-day. +This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him +here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, +for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away; he have gone back +to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of +fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and +that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the +money; for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun +go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that +he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him. +But there was not of time. When that fail he make straight for his last +resource--his last earth-work I might say did I wish _double entente_. +He is clever, oh, so clever! he know that his game here was finish; and +so he decide he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came, +and he go in it. We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound; +when we have discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will +comfort you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope +when you think it over: that all is not lost. This very creature that we +pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London; and yet in +one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is +finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. +But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong +together. Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is +but begun, and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high +to watch over His children. Therefore be of much comfort till we return. + +VAN HELSING. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 October._--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the +phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the +certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort; +and comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that his horrible +danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to +believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem +like a long-forgotten dream. Here in the crisp autumn air in the bright +sunlight---- + +Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on +the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst that lasts, +there can be no disbelief. And afterwards the very memory of it will +keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle, so we have been +over all the diaries again and again. Somehow, although the reality +seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less. There is +something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting. +Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may +be! I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other +yet of the future. It is better to wait till we see the Professor and +the others after their investigations. + +The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run +for me again. It is now three o'clock. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, 5 p. m._--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van +Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan +Harker, Mina Harker. + +Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to +discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape:-- + +"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure that +he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea, since +by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne +ignotum pro magnifico_; and so with heavy hearts we start to find what +ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He was in sailing ship, since +Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in +your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go, by suggestion of +Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail, +however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound ship go +out with the tide. She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail from +Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence on to other parts and up the +Danube. 'Soh!' said I, 'this is the ship whereon is the Count.' So off +we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office of wood +so small that the man look bigger than the office. From him we inquire +of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much, and he red face +and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same; and when Quincey +give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up, and +put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing, he +still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us, and ask +many men who are rough and hot; these be better fellows too when they +have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom, and of +others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but +nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know. + +"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five +o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with high nose +and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning. That he be all in +black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the +time. That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what ship +sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some took him to the office and +then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at shore end of +gang-plank, and ask that the captain come to him. The captain come, when +told that he will be pay well; and though he swear much at the first he +agree to term. Then the thin man go and some one tell him where horse +and cart can be hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself +driving cart on which a great box; this he himself lift down, though it +take several to put it on truck for the ship. He give much talk to +captain as to how and where his box is to be place; but the captain like +it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him that if he like he +can come and see where it shall be. But he say 'no'; that he come not +yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the captain tell him that he +had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will leave the +place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then the thin +man smile and say that of course he must go when he think fit; but he +will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear again, +polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he +will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the +sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues tell +him that he doesn't want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and also +with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after asking +where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase ship +forms, he departed. + +"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared,' as they said, for +they had something else to think of--well with blood again; for it soon +became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as +was expected. A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it grew, +and grew; till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around her. +The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and +blood; but he could do nothing. The water rose and rose; and he began to +fear that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly mood, +when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank again and +asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain replied +that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and +blood--were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and went down +with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and stood awhile +on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him. +Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away, and +all was clear again. My friends of the thirst and the language that was +of bloom and blood laughed, as they told how the captain's swears +exceeded even his usual polyglot, and was more than ever full of +picturesque, when on questioning other mariners who were on movement up +and down on the river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any +of fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However, the ship +went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the +river mouth. She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea. + +"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for +our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way to the +Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she never so quick; and when +we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there. Our best hope +is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset; for then +he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There +are days for us, in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about +where he go; for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us +invoices and all papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in +Varna, and to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present +his credentials; and so our merchant friend will have done his part. +When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and +have inquiry made at Varna, we say 'no'; for what is to be done is not +for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone and in our own +way." + +When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain +that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied: "We have the +best proof of that: your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance this +morning." I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should +pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that +he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing passion, +at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more +forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some +of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst +men:-- + +"Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary! For your sake in the first, +and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done much harm +already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short +time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in +darkness and not knowing. All this have I told these others; you, my +dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or +in that of your husband. I have told them how the measure of leaving his +own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life +of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the +work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do +what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have +been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of +nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in +some wondrous way. The very place, where he have been alive, Un-Dead for +all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical +world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither. +There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters +of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless, +there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of +occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in +himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike +time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain, +more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in +strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and +thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which +is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from, +and are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have +infect you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for +good of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do +no more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and +so in time, death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction, +shall make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together +that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the +world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, +whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one +soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem +more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if +we fall, we fall in good cause." He paused and I said:-- + +"But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely? Since he has been driven +from England, will he not avoid it, as a tiger does the village from +which he has been hunted?" + +"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall +adopt him. Your man-eater, as they of India call the tiger who has once +tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other prey, but prowl +unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from our village is a +tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay, in himself he +is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life, he go +over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be +beaten back, but did he stay? No! He come again, and again, and again. +Look at his persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was to +him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What +does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise for +him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task. He +find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers. He +study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old +ways, the politic, the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a new +land and a new people who have come to be since he was. His glimpse that +he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it help +him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he was at +the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone! from a +ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater +world of thought is open to him. He that can smile at death, as we know +him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole +peoples. Oh, if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil, +what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours. But we +are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence, and our +efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believe not +even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest +strength. It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons +to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even our own souls +for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind, and for the +honour and glory of God." + +After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing +be definitely settled; that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to +think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow, at breakfast, we are to +meet again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another, we +shall decide on some definite cause of action. + + * * * * * + +I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting +presence were removed from me. Perhaps ... + +My surmise was not finished, could not be; for I caught sight in the +mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still +unclean. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 October._--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for +each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was more +general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience +again. + +It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let +any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way--even by +death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment. More +than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder whether +the whole of the past days had not been a dream. It was only when I +caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that I was +brought back to reality. Even now, when I am gravely revolving the +matter, it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all our +trouble is still existent. Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her +trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again, when something +recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar. We are to +meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of +action. I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct +rather than reason: we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear +that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I _know_ +that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can +guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not, or +cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing, and +he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is some of +that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work. The +Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called "the +Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be a poison that distils +itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is +a mystery we should not wonder at anything! One thing I know: that if my +instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a +terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us. The same +power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think +further; for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman! + +Van Helsing is coming to my study a little before the others. I shall +try to open the subject with him. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of +things. I could see that he had something on his mind which he wanted to +say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject. After beating +about the bush a little, he said suddenly:-- + +"Friend John, there is something that you and I must talk of alone, just +at the first at any rate. Later, we may have to take the others into our +confidence"; then he stopped, so I waited; he went on:-- + +"Madam Mina, our poor, dear Madam Mina is changing." A cold shiver ran +through me to find my worst fears thus endorsed. Van Helsing +continued:-- + +"With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be warned +before things go too far. Our task is now in reality more difficult than +ever, and this new trouble makes every hour of the direst importance. I +can see the characteristics of the vampire coming in her face. It is now +but very, very slight; but it is to be seen if we have eyes to notice +without to prejudge. Her teeth are some sharper, and at times her eyes +are more hard. But these are not all, there is to her the silence now +often; as so it was with Miss Lucy. She did not speak, even when she +wrote that which she wished to be known later. Now my fear is this. If +it be that she can, by our hypnotic trance, tell what the Count see and +hear, is it not more true that he who have hypnotise her first, and who +have drink of her very blood and make her drink of his, should, if he +will, compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?" I nodded +acquiescence; he went on:-- + +"Then, what we must do is to prevent this; we must keep her ignorant of +our intent, and so she cannot tell what she know not. This is a painful +task! Oh, so painful that it heart-break me to think of; but it must be. +When to-day we meet, I must tell her that for reason which we will not +to speak she must not more be of our council, but be simply guarded by +us." He wiped his forehead, which had broken out in profuse perspiration +at the thought of the pain which he might have to inflict upon the poor +soul already so tortured. I knew that it would be some sort of comfort +to him if I told him that I also had come to the same conclusion; for at +any rate it would take away the pain of doubt. I told him, and the +effect was as I expected. + +It is now close to the time of our general gathering. Van Helsing has +gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful part of it. I +really believe his purpose is to be able to pray alone. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was +experienced by both Van Helsing and myself. Mrs. Harker had sent a +message by her husband to say that she would not join us at present, as +she thought it better that we should be free to discuss our movements +without her presence to embarrass us. The Professor and I looked at each +other for an instant, and somehow we both seemed relieved. For my own +part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker realised the danger herself, it was +much pain as well as much danger averted. Under the circumstances we +agreed, by a questioning look and answer, with finger on lip, to +preserve silence in our suspicions, until we should have been able to +confer alone again. We went at once into our Plan of Campaign. Van +Helsing roughly put the facts before us first:-- + +"The _Czarina Catherine_ left the Thames yesterday morning. It will take +her at the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to +reach Varna; but we can travel overland to the same place in three days. +Now, if we allow for two days less for the ship's voyage, owing to such +weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to bear; and if +we allow a whole day and night for any delays which may occur to us, +then we have a margin of nearly two weeks. Thus, in order to be quite +safe, we must leave here on 17th at latest. Then we shall at any rate +be in Varna a day before the ship arrives, and able to make such +preparations as may be necessary. Of course we shall all go armed--armed +against evil things, spiritual as well as physical." Here Quincey Morris +added:-- + +"I understand that the Count comes from a wolf country, and it may be +that he shall get there before us. I propose that we add Winchesters to +our armament. I have a kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any +trouble of that sort around. Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack +after us at Tobolsk? What wouldn't we have given then for a repeater +apiece!" + +"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be. Quincey's head is +level at all times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more +dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man. In the meantime we +can do nothing here; and as I think that Varna is not familiar to any of +us, why not go there more soon? It is as long to wait here as there. +To-night and to-morrow we can get ready, and then, if all be well, we +four can set out on our journey." + +"We four?" said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to another of +us. + +"Of course!" answered the Professor quickly, "you must remain to take +care of your so sweet wife!" Harker was silent for awhile and then said +in a hollow voice:-- + +"Let us talk of that part of it in the morning. I want to consult with +Mina." I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not +to disclose our plans to her; but he took no notice. I looked at him +significantly and coughed. For answer he put his finger on his lips and +turned away. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, afternoon._--For some time after our meeting this morning I +could not think. The new phases of things leave my mind in a state of +wonder which allows no room for active thought. Mina's determination not +to take any part in the discussion set me thinking; and as I could not +argue the matter with her, I could only guess. I am as far as ever from +a solution now. The way the others received it, too, puzzled me; the +last time we talked of the subject we agreed that there was to be no +more concealment of anything amongst us. Mina is sleeping now, calmly +and sweetly like a little child. Her lips are curved and her face beams +with happiness. Thank God, there are such moments still for her. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--How strange it all is. I sat watching Mina's happy sleep, and +came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be. As the +evening drew on, and the earth took its shadows from the sun sinking +lower, the silence of the room grew more and more solemn to me. All at +once Mina opened her eyes, and looking at me tenderly, said:-- + +"Jonathan, I want you to promise me something on your word of honour. A +promise made to me, but made holily in God's hearing, and not to be +broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter +tears. Quick, you must make it to me at once." + +"Mina," I said, "a promise like that, I cannot make at once. I may have +no right to make it." + +"But, dear one," she said, with such spiritual intensity that her eyes +were like pole stars, "it is I who wish it; and it is not for myself. +You can ask Dr. Van Helsing if I am not right; if he disagrees you may +do as you will. Nay, more, if you all agree, later, you are absolved +from the promise." + +"I promise!" I said, and for a moment she looked supremely happy; though +to me all happiness for her was denied by the red scar on her forehead. +She said:-- + +"Promise me that you will not tell me anything of the plans formed for +the campaign against the Count. Not by word, or inference, or +implication; not at any time whilst this remains to me!" and she +solemnly pointed to the scar. I saw that she was in earnest, and said +solemnly:-- + +"I promise!" and as I said it I felt that from that instant a door had +been shut between us. + + * * * * * + +_Later, midnight._--Mina has been bright and cheerful all the evening. +So much so that all the rest seemed to take courage, as if infected +somewhat with her gaiety; as a result even I myself felt as if the pall +of gloom which weighs us down were somewhat lifted. We all retired +early. Mina is now sleeping like a little child; it is a wonderful thing +that her faculty of sleep remains to her in the midst of her terrible +trouble. Thank God for it, for then at least she can forget her care. +Perhaps her example may affect me as her gaiety did to-night. I shall +try it. Oh! for a dreamless sleep. + + * * * * * + +_6 October, morning._--Another surprise. Mina woke me early, about the +same time as yesterday, and asked me to bring Dr. Van Helsing. I thought +that it was another occasion for hypnotism, and without question went +for the Professor. He had evidently expected some such call, for I found +him dressed in his room. His door was ajar, so that he could hear the +opening of the door of our room. He came at once; as he passed into the +room, he asked Mina if the others might come, too. + +"No," she said quite simply, "it will not be necessary. You can tell +them just as well. I must go with you on your journey." + +Dr. Van Helsing was as startled as I was. After a moment's pause he +asked:-- + +"But why?" + +"You must take me with you. I am safer with you, and you shall be safer, +too." + +"But why, dear Madam Mina? You know that your safety is our solemnest +duty. We go into danger, to which you are, or may be, more liable than +any of us from--from circumstances--things that have been." He paused, +embarrassed. + +As she replied, she raised her finger and pointed to her forehead:-- + +"I know. That is why I must go. I can tell you now, whilst the sun is +coming up; I may not be able again. I know that when the Count wills me +I must go. I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by +wile; by any device to hoodwink--even Jonathan." God saw the look that +she turned on me as she spoke, and if there be indeed a Recording Angel +that look is noted to her everlasting honour. I could only clasp her +hand. I could not speak; my emotion was too great for even the relief of +tears. She went on:-- + +"You men are brave and strong. You are strong in your numbers, for you +can defy that which would break down the human endurance of one who had +to guard alone. Besides, I may be of service, since you can hypnotise me +and so learn that which even I myself do not know." Dr. Van Helsing said +very gravely:-- + +"Madam Mina, you are, as always, most wise. You shall with us come; and +together we shall do that which we go forth to achieve." When he had +spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her. She had fallen +back on her pillow asleep; she did not even wake when I had pulled up +the blind and let in the sunlight which flooded the room. Van Helsing +motioned to me to come with him quietly. We went to his room, and within +a minute Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris were with us also. +He told them what Mina had said, and went on:-- + +"In the morning we shall leave for Varna. We have now to deal with a +new factor: Madam Mina. Oh, but her soul is true. It is to her an agony +to tell us so much as she has done; but it is most right, and we are +warned in time. There must be no chance lost, and in Varna we must be +ready to act the instant when that ship arrives." + +"What shall we do exactly?" asked Mr. Morris laconically. The Professor +paused before replying:-- + +"We shall at the first board that ship; then, when we have identified +the box, we shall place a branch of the wild rose on it. This we shall +fasten, for when it is there none can emerge; so at least says the +superstition. And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was +man's faith in the early, and it have its root in faith still. Then, +when we get the opportunity that we seek, when none are near to see, we +shall open the box, and--and all will be well." + +"I shall not wait for any opportunity," said Morris. "When I see the box +I shall open it and destroy the monster, though there were a thousand +men looking on, and if I am to be wiped out for it the next moment!" I +grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a piece of steel. +I think he understood my look; I hope he did. + +"Good boy," said Dr. Van Helsing. "Brave boy. Quincey is all man. God +bless him for it. My child, believe me none of us shall lag behind or +pause from any fear. I do but say what we may do--what we must do. But, +indeed, indeed we cannot say what we shall do. There are so many things +which may happen, and their ways and their ends are so various that +until the moment we may not say. We shall all be armed, in all ways; and +when the time for the end has come, our effort shall not be lack. Now +let us to-day put all our affairs in order. Let all things which touch +on others dear to us, and who on us depend, be complete; for none of us +can tell what, or when, or how, the end may be. As for me, my own +affairs are regulate; and as I have nothing else to do, I shall go make +arrangements for the travel. I shall have all tickets and so forth for +our journey." + +There was nothing further to be said, and we parted. I shall now settle +up all my affairs of earth, and be ready for whatever may come.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It is all done; my will is made, and all complete. Mina if she +survive is my sole heir. If it should not be so, then the others who +have been so good to us shall have remainder. + +It is now drawing towards the sunset; Mina's uneasiness calls my +attention to it. I am sure that there is something on her mind which the +time of exact sunset will reveal. These occasions are becoming harrowing +times for us all, for each sunrise and sunset opens up some new +danger--some new pain, which, however, may in God's will be means to a +good end. I write all these things in the diary since my darling must +not hear them now; but if it may be that she can see them again, they +shall be ready. + +She is calling to me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_11 October, Evening._--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this, as he +says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record kept. + +I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs. +Harker a little before the time of sunset. We have of late come to +understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar freedom; +when her old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing +or restraining her, or inciting her to action. This mood or condition +begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise or sunset, and lasts +till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds are still aglow with +the rays streaming above the horizon. At first there is a sort of +negative condition, as if some tie were loosened, and then the absolute +freedom quickly follows; when, however, the freedom ceases the +change-back or relapse comes quickly, preceded only by a spell of +warning silence. + +To-night, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the +signs of an internal struggle. I put it down myself to her making a +violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so. A very few +minutes, however, gave her complete control of herself; then, motioning +her husband to sit beside her on the sofa where she was half reclining, +she made the rest of us bring chairs up close. Taking her husband's hand +in hers began:-- + +"We are all here together in freedom, for perhaps the last time! I know, +dear; I know that you will always be with me to the end." This was to +her husband whose hand had, as we could see, tightened upon hers. "In +the morning we go out upon our task, and God alone knows what may be in +store for any of us. You are going to be so good to me as to take me +with you. I know that all that brave earnest men can do for a poor weak +woman, whose soul perhaps is lost--no, no, not yet, but is at any rate +at stake--you will do. But you must remember that I am not as you are. +There is a poison in my blood, in my soul, which may destroy me; which +must destroy me, unless some relief comes to us. Oh, my friends, you +know as well as I do, that my soul is at stake; and though I know there +is one way out for me, you must not and I must not take it!" She looked +appealingly to us all in turn, beginning and ending with her husband. + +"What is that way?" asked Van Helsing in a hoarse voice. "What is that +way, which we must not--may not--take?" + +"That I may die now, either by my own hand or that of another, before +the greater evil is entirely wrought. I know, and you know, that were I +once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit, even as you +did my poor Lucy's. Were death, or the fear of death, the only thing +that stood in the way I would not shrink to die here, now, amidst the +friends who love me. But death is not all. I cannot believe that to die +in such a case, when there is hope before us and a bitter task to be +done, is God's will. Therefore, I, on my part, give up here the +certainty of eternal rest, and go out into the dark where may be the +blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" We were all +silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a prelude. The +faces of the others were set and Harker's grew ashen grey; perhaps he +guessed better than any of us what was coming. She continued:-- + +"This is what I can give into the hotch-pot." I could not but note the +quaint legal phrase which she used in such a place, and with all +seriousness. "What will each of you give? Your lives I know," she went +on quickly, "that is easy for brave men. Your lives are God's, and you +can give them back to Him; but what will you give to me?" She looked +again questioningly, but this time avoided her husband's face. Quincey +seemed to understand; he nodded, and her face lit up. "Then I shall tell +you plainly what I want, for there must be no doubtful matter in this +connection between us now. You must promise me, one and all--even you, +my beloved husband--that, should the time come, you will kill me." + +"What is that time?" The voice was Quincey's, but it was low and +strained. + +"When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better that +I die that I may live. When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, +without a moment's delay, drive a stake through me and cut off my head; +or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!" + +Quincey was the first to rise after the pause. He knelt down before her +and taking her hand in his said solemnly:-- + +"I'm only a rough fellow, who hasn't, perhaps, lived as a man should to +win such a distinction, but I swear to you by all that I hold sacred and +dear that, should the time ever come, I shall not flinch from the duty +that you have set us. And I promise you, too, that I shall make all +certain, for if I am only doubtful I shall take it that the time has +come!" + +"My true friend!" was all she could say amid her fast-falling tears, as, +bending over, she kissed his hand. + +"I swear the same, my dear Madam Mina!" said Van Helsing. + +"And I!" said Lord Godalming, each of them in turn kneeling to her to +take the oath. I followed, myself. Then her husband turned to her +wan-eyed and with a greenish pallor which subdued the snowy whiteness of +his hair, and asked:-- + +"And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?" + +"You too, my dearest," she said, with infinite yearning of pity in her +voice and eyes. "You must not shrink. You are nearest and dearest and +all the world to me; our souls are knit into one, for all life and all +time. Think, dear, that there have been times when brave men have killed +their wives and their womenkind, to keep them from falling into the +hands of the enemy. Their hands did not falter any the more because +those that they loved implored them to slay them. It is men's duty +towards those whom they love, in such times of sore trial! And oh, my +dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it be at +the hand of him that loves me best. Dr. Van Helsing, I have not +forgotten your mercy in poor Lucy's case to him who loved"--she stopped +with a flying blush, and changed her phrase--"to him who had best right +to give her peace. If that time shall come again, I look to you to make +it a happy memory of my husband's life that it was his loving hand which +set me free from the awful thrall upon me." + +"Again I swear!" came the Professor's resonant voice. Mrs. Harker +smiled, positively smiled, as with a sigh of relief she leaned back and +said:-- + +"And now one word of warning, a warning which you must never forget: +this time, if it ever come, may come quickly and unexpectedly, and in +such case you must lose no time in using your opportunity. At such a +time I myself might be--nay! if the time ever comes, _shall be_--leagued +with your enemy against you." + +"One more request;" she became very solemn as she said this, "it is not +vital and necessary like the other, but I want you to do one thing for +me, if you will." We all acquiesced, but no one spoke; there was no need +to speak:-- + +"I want you to read the Burial Service." She was interrupted by a deep +groan from her husband; taking his hand in hers, she held it over her +heart, and continued: "You must read it over me some day. Whatever may +be the issue of all this fearful state of things, it will be a sweet +thought to all or some of us. You, my dearest, will I hope read it, for +then it will be in your voice in my memory for ever--come what may!" + +"But oh, my dear one," he pleaded, "death is afar off from you." + +"Nay," she said, holding up a warning hand. "I am deeper in death at +this moment than if the weight of an earthly grave lay heavy upon me!" + +"Oh, my wife, must I read it?" he said, before he began. + +"It would comfort me, my husband!" was all she said; and he began to +read when she had got the book ready. + +"How can I--how could any one--tell of that strange scene, its +solemnity, its gloom, its sadness, its horror; and, withal, its +sweetness. Even a sceptic, who can see nothing but a travesty of bitter +truth in anything holy or emotional, would have been melted to the heart +had he seen that little group of loving and devoted friends kneeling +round that stricken and sorrowing lady; or heard the tender passion of +her husband's voice, as in tones so broken with emotion that often he +had to pause, he read the simple and beautiful service from the Burial +of the Dead. I--I cannot go on--words--and--v-voice--f-fail m-me!" + + * * * * * + +She was right in her instinct. Strange as it all was, bizarre as it may +hereafter seem even to us who felt its potent influence at the time, it +comforted us much; and the silence, which showed Mrs. Harker's coming +relapse from her freedom of soul, did not seem so full of despair to any +of us as we had dreaded. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_15 October, Varna._--We left Charing Cross on the morning of the 12th, +got to Paris the same night, and took the places secured for us in the +Orient Express. We travelled night and day, arriving here at about five +o'clock. Lord Godalming went to the Consulate to see if any telegram had +arrived for him, whilst the rest of us came on to this hotel--"the +Odessus." The journey may have had incidents; I was, however, too eager +to get on, to care for them. Until the _Czarina Catherine_ comes into +port there will be no interest for me in anything in the wide world. +Thank God! Mina is well, and looks to be getting stronger; her colour is +coming back. She sleeps a great deal; throughout the journey she slept +nearly all the time. Before sunrise and sunset, however, she is very +wakeful and alert; and it has become a habit for Van Helsing to +hypnotise her at such times. At first, some effort was needed, and he +had to make many passes; but now, she seems to yield at once, as if by +habit, and scarcely any action is needed. He seems to have power at +these particular moments to simply will, and her thoughts obey him. He +always asks her what she can see and hear. She answers to the first:-- + +"Nothing; all is dark." And to the second:-- + +"I can hear the waves lapping against the ship, and the water rushing +by. Canvas and cordage strain and masts and yards creak. The wind is +high--I can hear it in the shrouds, and the bow throws back the foam." +It is evident that the _Czarina Catherine_ is still at sea, hastening on +her way to Varna. Lord Godalming has just returned. He had four +telegrams, one each day since we started, and all to the same effect: +that the _Czarina Catherine_ had not been reported to Lloyd's from +anywhere. He had arranged before leaving London that his agent should +send him every day a telegram saying if the ship had been reported. He +was to have a message even if she were not reported, so that he might be +sure that there was a watch being kept at the other end of the wire. + +We had dinner and went to bed early. To-morrow we are to see the +Vice-Consul, and to arrange, if we can, about getting on board the ship +as soon as she arrives. Van Helsing says that our chance will be to get +on the boat between sunrise and sunset. The Count, even if he takes the +form of a bat, cannot cross the running water of his own volition, and +so cannot leave the ship. As he dare not change to man's form without +suspicion--which he evidently wishes to avoid--he must remain in the +box. If, then, we can come on board after sunrise, he is at our mercy; +for we can open the box and make sure of him, as we did of poor Lucy, +before he wakes. What mercy he shall get from us will not count for +much. We think that we shall not have much trouble with officials or the +seamen. Thank God! this is the country where bribery can do anything, +and we are well supplied with money. We have only to make sure that the +ship cannot come into port between sunset and sunrise without our being +warned, and we shall be safe. Judge Moneybag will settle this case, I +think! + + * * * * * + +_16 October._--Mina's report still the same: lapping waves and rushing +water, darkness and favouring winds. We are evidently in good time, and +when we hear of the _Czarina Catherine_ we shall be ready. As she must +pass the Dardanelles we are sure to have some report. + + * * * * * + +_17 October._--Everything is pretty well fixed now, I think, to welcome +the Count on his return from his tour. Godalming told the shippers that +he fancied that the box sent aboard might contain something stolen from +a friend of his, and got a half consent that he might open it at his own +risk. The owner gave him a paper telling the Captain to give him every +facility in doing whatever he chose on board the ship, and also a +similar authorisation to his agent at Varna. We have seen the agent, who +was much impressed with Godalming's kindly manner to him, and we are all +satisfied that whatever he can do to aid our wishes will be done. We +have already arranged what to do in case we get the box open. If the +Count is there, Van Helsing and Seward will cut off his head at once and +drive a stake through his heart. Morris and Godalming and I shall +prevent interference, even if we have to use the arms which we shall +have ready. The Professor says that if we can so treat the Count's body, +it will soon after fall into dust. In such case there would be no +evidence against us, in case any suspicion of murder were aroused. But +even if it were not, we should stand or fall by our act, and perhaps +some day this very script may be evidence to come between some of us and +a rope. For myself, I should take the chance only too thankfully if it +were to come. We mean to leave no stone unturned to carry out our +intent. We have arranged with certain officials that the instant the +_Czarina Catherine_ is seen, we are to be informed by a special +messenger. + + * * * * * + +_24 October._--A whole week of waiting. Daily telegrams to Godalming, +but only the same story: "Not yet reported." Mina's morning and evening +hypnotic answer is unvaried: lapping waves, rushing water, and creaking +masts. + +_Telegram, October 24th._ + +_Rufus Smith, Lloyd's, London, to Lord Godalming, care of H. B. M. +Vice-Consul, Varna._ + +"_Czarina Catherine_ reported this morning from Dardanelles." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_25 October._--How I miss my phonograph! To write diary with a pen is +irksome to me; but Van Helsing says I must. We were all wild with +excitement yesterday when Godalming got his telegram from Lloyd's. I +know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heard. Mrs. +Harker, alone of our party, did not show any signs of emotion. After +all, it is not strange that she did not; for we took special care not to +let her know anything about it, and we all tried not to show any +excitement when we were in her presence. In old days she would, I am +sure, have noticed, no matter how we might have tried to conceal it; but +in this way she is greatly changed during the past three weeks. The +lethargy grows upon her, and though she seems strong and well, and is +getting back some of her colour, Van Helsing and I are not satisfied. We +talk of her often; we have not, however, said a word to the others. It +would break poor Harker's heart--certainly his nerve--if he knew that we +had even a suspicion on the subject. Van Helsing examines, he tells me, +her teeth very carefully, whilst she is in the hypnotic condition, for +he says that so long as they do not begin to sharpen there is no active +danger of a change in her. If this change should come, it would be +necessary to take steps!... We both know what those steps would have to +be, though we do not mention our thoughts to each other. We should +neither of us shrink from the task--awful though it be to contemplate. +"Euthanasia" is an excellent and a comforting word! I am grateful to +whoever invented it. + +It is only about 24 hours' sail from the Dardanelles to here, at the +rate the _Czarina Catherine_ has come from London. She should therefore +arrive some time in the morning; but as she cannot possibly get in +before then, we are all about to retire early. We shall get up at one +o'clock, so as to be ready. + + * * * * * + +_25 October, Noon_.--No news yet of the ship's arrival. Mrs. Harker's +hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible +that we may get news at any moment. We men are all in a fever of +excitement, except Harker, who is calm; his hands are cold as ice, and +an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife +which he now always carries with him. It will be a bad lookout for the +Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat, driven by +that stern, ice-cold hand! + +Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about Mrs. Harker to-day. About +noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not like; although we +kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy about it. She +had been restless all the morning, so that we were at first glad to know +that she was sleeping. When, however, her husband mentioned casually +that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not wake her, we went to +her room to see for ourselves. She was breathing naturally and looked so +well and peaceful that we agreed that the sleep was better for her than +anything else. Poor girl, she has so much to forget that it is no wonder +that sleep, if it brings oblivion to her, does her good. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep +of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had +been for days. At sunset she made the usual hypnotic report. Wherever he +may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his destination. To +his doom, I trust! + + * * * * * + +_26 October._--Another day and no tidings of the _Czarina Catherine_. +She ought to be here by now. That she is still journeying _somewhere_ is +apparent, for Mrs. Harker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the +same. It is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for fog; +some of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches of fog +both to north and south of the port. We must continue our watching, as +the ship may now be signalled any moment. + + * * * * * + +_27 October, Noon._--Most strange; no news yet of the ship we wait for. +Mrs. Harker reported last night and this morning as usual: "lapping +waves and rushing water," though she added that "the waves were very +faint." The telegrams from London have been the same: "no further +report." Van Helsing is terribly anxious, and told me just now that he +fears the Count is escaping us. He added significantly:-- + +"I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina's. Souls and memories can do +strange things during trance." I was about to ask him more, but Harker +just then came in, and he held up a warning hand. We must try to-night +at sunset to make her speak more fully when in her hypnotic state. + + * * * * * + + _28 October._--Telegram. _Rufus Smith, London, to Lord Godalming, + care H. B. M. Vice Consul, Varna._ + + "_Czarina Catherine_ reported entering Galatz at one o'clock + to-day." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 October._--When the telegram came announcing the arrival in Galatz I +do not think it was such a shock to any of us as might have been +expected. True, we did not know whence, or how, or when, the bolt would +come; but I think we all expected that something strange would happen. +The delay of arrival at Varna made us individually satisfied that things +would not be just as we had expected; we only waited to learn where the +change would occur. None the less, however, was it a surprise. I suppose +that nature works on such a hopeful basis that we believe against +ourselves that things will be as they ought to be, not as we should know +that they will be. Transcendentalism is a beacon to the angels, even if +it be a will-o'-the-wisp to man. It was an odd experience and we all +took it differently. Van Helsing raised his hand over his head for a +moment, as though in remonstrance with the Almighty; but he said not a +word, and in a few seconds stood up with his face sternly set. Lord +Godalming grew very pale, and sat breathing heavily. I was myself half +stunned and looked in wonder at one after another. Quincey Morris +tightened his belt with that quick movement which I knew so well; in our +old wandering days it meant "action." Mrs. Harker grew ghastly white, so +that the scar on her forehead seemed to burn, but she folded her hands +meekly and looked up in prayer. Harker smiled--actually smiled--the +dark, bitter smile of one who is without hope; but at the same time his +action belied his words, for his hands instinctively sought the hilt of +the great Kukri knife and rested there. "When does the next train start +for Galatz?" said Van Helsing to us generally. + +"At 6:30 to-morrow morning!" We all started, for the answer came from +Mrs. Harker. + +"How on earth do you know?" said Art. + +"You forget--or perhaps you do not know, though Jonathan does and so +does Dr. Van Helsing--that I am the train fiend. At home in Exeter I +always used to make up the time-tables, so as to be helpful to my +husband. I found it so useful sometimes, that I always make a study of +the time-tables now. I knew that if anything were to take us to Castle +Dracula we should go by Galatz, or at any rate through Bucharest, so I +learned the times very carefully. Unhappily there are not many to learn, +as the only train to-morrow leaves as I say." + +"Wonderful woman!" murmured the Professor. + +"Can't we get a special?" asked Lord Godalming. Van Helsing shook his +head: "I fear not. This land is very different from yours or mine; even +if we did have a special, it would probably not arrive as soon as our +regular train. Moreover, we have something to prepare. We must think. +Now let us organize. You, friend Arthur, go to the train and get the +tickets and arrange that all be ready for us to go in the morning. Do +you, friend Jonathan, go to the agent of the ship and get from him +letters to the agent in Galatz, with authority to make search the ship +just as it was here. Morris Quincey, you see the Vice-Consul, and get +his aid with his fellow in Galatz and all he can do to make our way +smooth, so that no times be lost when over the Danube. John will stay +with Madam Mina and me, and we shall consult. For so if time be long you +may be delayed; and it will not matter when the sun set, since I am here +with Madam to make report." + +"And I," said Mrs. Harker brightly, and more like her old self than she +had been for many a long day, "shall try to be of use in all ways, and +shall think and write for you as I used to do. Something is shifting +from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have been of late!" +The three younger men looked happier at the moment as they seemed to +realise the significance of her words; but Van Helsing and I, turning to +each other, met each a grave and troubled glance. We said nothing at the +time, however. + +When the three men had gone out to their tasks Van Helsing asked Mrs. +Harker to look up the copy of the diaries and find him the part of +Harker's journal at the Castle. She went away to get it; when the door +was shut upon her he said to me:-- + +"We mean the same! speak out!" + +"There is some change. It is a hope that makes me sick, for it may +deceive us." + +"Quite so. Do you know why I asked her to get the manuscript?" + +"No!" said I, "unless it was to get an opportunity of seeing me alone." + +"You are in part right, friend John, but only in part. I want to tell +you something. And oh, my friend, I am taking a great--a terrible--risk; +but I believe it is right. In the moment when Madam Mina said those +words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration came to me. In +the trance of three days ago the Count sent her his spirit to read her +mind; or more like he took her to see him in his earth-box in the ship +with water rushing, just as it go free at rise and set of sun. He learn +then that we are here; for she have more to tell in her open life with +eyes to see and ears to hear than he, shut, as he is, in his coffin-box. +Now he make his most effort to escape us. At present he want her not. + +"He is sure with his so great knowledge that she will come at his call; +but he cut her off--take her, as he can do, out of his own power, that +so she come not to him. Ah! there I have hope that our man-brains that +have been of man so long and that have not lost the grace of God, will +come higher than his child-brain that lie in his tomb for centuries, +that grow not yet to our stature, and that do only work selfish and +therefore small. Here comes Madam Mina; not a word to her of her trance! +She know it not; and it would overwhelm her and make despair just when +we want all her hope, all her courage; when most we want all her great +brain which is trained like man's brain, but is of sweet woman and have +a special power which the Count give her, and which he may not take away +altogether--though he think not so. Hush! let me speak, and you shall +learn. Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits. I fear, as I never +feared before. We can only trust the good God. Silence! here she comes!" + +I thought that the Professor was going to break down and have hysterics, +just as he had when Lucy died, but with a great effort he controlled +himself and was at perfect nervous poise when Mrs. Harker tripped into +the room, bright and happy-looking and, in the doing of work, seemingly +forgetful of her misery. As she came in, she handed a number of sheets +of typewriting to Van Helsing. He looked over them gravely, his face +brightening up as he read. Then holding the pages between his finger and +thumb he said:-- + +"Friend John, to you with so much of experience already--and you, too, +dear Madam Mina, that are young--here is a lesson: do not fear ever to +think. A half-thought has been buzzing often in my brain, but I fear to +let him loose his wings. Here now, with more knowledge, I go back to +where that half-thought come from and I find that he be no half-thought +at all; that be a whole thought, though so young that he is not yet +strong to use his little wings. Nay, like the "Ugly Duck" of my friend +Hans Andersen, he be no duck-thought at all, but a big swan-thought that +sail nobly on big wings, when the time come for him to try them. See I +read here what Jonathan have written:-- + +"That other of his race who, in a later age, again and again, brought +his forces over The Great River into Turkey Land; who, when he was +beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come +alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, +since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph." + +"What does this tell us? Not much? no! The Count's child-thought see +nothing; therefore he speak so free. Your man-thought see nothing; my +man-thought see nothing, till just now. No! But there comes another word +from some one who speak without thought because she, too, know not what +it mean--what it _might_ mean. Just as there are elements which rest, +yet when in nature's course they move on their way and they touch--then +pouf! and there comes a flash of light, heaven wide, that blind and kill +and destroy some; but that show up all earth below for leagues and +leagues. Is it not so? Well, I shall explain. To begin, have you ever +study the philosophy of crime? 'Yes' and 'No.' You, John, yes; for it is +a study of insanity. You, no, Madam Mina; for crime touch you not--not +but once. Still, your mind works true, and argues not _a particulari ad +universale_. There is this peculiarity in criminals. It is so constant, +in all countries and at all times, that even police, who know not much +from philosophy, come to know it empirically, that _it is_. That is to +be empiric. The criminal always work at one crime--that is the true +criminal who seems predestinate to crime, and who will of none other. +This criminal has not full man-brain. He is clever and cunning and +resourceful; but he be not of man-stature as to brain. He be of +child-brain in much. Now this criminal of ours is predestinate to crime +also; he, too, have child-brain, and it is of the child to do what he +have done. The little bird, the little fish, the little animal learn not +by principle, but empirically; and when he learn to do, then there is to +him the ground to start from to do more. '_Dos pou sto_,' said +Archimedes. 'Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world!' To do once, +is the fulcrum whereby child-brain become man-brain; and until he have +the purpose to do more, he continue to do the same again every time, +just as he have done before! Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes are +opened, and that to you the lightning flash show all the leagues," for +Mrs. Harker began to clap her hands and her eyes sparkled. He went on:-- + +"Now you shall speak. Tell us two dry men of science what you see with +those so bright eyes." He took her hand and held it whilst she spoke. +His finger and thumb closed on her pulse, as I thought instinctively and +unconsciously, as she spoke:-- + +"The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would +so classify him, and _quâ_ criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind. +Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit. His past is a +clue, and the one page of it that we know--and that from his own +lips--tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call a +'tight place,' he went back to his own country from the land he had +tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself +for a new effort. He came again better equipped for his work; and won. +So he came to London to invade a new land. He was beaten, and when all +hope of success was lost, and his existence in danger, he fled back over +the sea to his home; just as formerly he had fled back over the Danube +from Turkey Land." + +"Good, good! oh, you so clever lady!" said Van Helsing, +enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand. A moment later he +said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick-room +consultation:-- + +"Seventy-two only; and in all this excitement. I have hope." Turning to +her again, he said with keen expectation:-- + +"But go on. Go on! there is more to tell if you will. Be not afraid; +John and I know. I do in any case, and shall tell you if you are right. +Speak, without fear!" + +"I will try to; but you will forgive me if I seem egotistical." + +"Nay! fear not, you must be egotist, for it is of you that we think." + +"Then, as he is criminal he is selfish; and as his intellect is small +and his action is based on selfishness, he confines himself to one +purpose. That purpose is remorseless. As he fled back over the Danube, +leaving his forces to be cut to pieces, so now he is intent on being +safe, careless of all. So his own selfishness frees my soul somewhat +from the terrible power which he acquired over me on that dreadful +night. I felt it! Oh, I felt it! Thank God, for His great mercy! My soul +is freer than it has been since that awful hour; and all that haunts me +is a fear lest in some trance or dream he may have used my knowledge for +his ends." The Professor stood up:-- + +"He has so used your mind; and by it he has left us here in Varna, +whilst the ship that carried him rushed through enveloping fog up to +Galatz, where, doubtless, he had made preparation for escaping from us. +But his child-mind only saw so far; and it may be that, as ever is in +God's Providence, the very thing that the evil-doer most reckoned on for +his selfish good, turns out to be his chiefest harm. The hunter is taken +in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says. For now that he think he +is free from every trace of us all, and that he has escaped us with so +many hours to him, then his selfish child-brain will whisper him to +sleep. He think, too, that as he cut himself off from knowing your mind, +there can be no knowledge of him to you; there is where he fail! That +terrible baptism of blood which he give you makes you free to go to him +in spirit, as you have as yet done in your times of freedom, when the +sun rise and set. At such times you go by my volition and not by his; +and this power to good of you and others, as you have won from your +suffering at his hands. This is now all the more precious that he know +it not, and to guard himself have even cut himself off from his +knowledge of our where. We, however, are not selfish, and we believe +that God is with us through all this blackness, and these many dark +hours. We shall follow him; and we shall not flinch; even if we peril +ourselves that we become like him. Friend John, this has been a great +hour; and it have done much to advance us on our way. You must be scribe +and write him all down, so that when the others return from their work +you can give it to them; then they shall know as we do." + +And so I have written it whilst we wait their return, and Mrs. Harker +has written with her typewriter all since she brought the MS. to us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_29 October._--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz. Last +night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset. Each of us +had done his work as well as he could; so far as thought, and endeavour, +and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our journey, and +for our work when we get to Galatz. When the usual time came round Mrs. +Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort; and after a longer and +more serious effort on the part of Van Helsing than has been usually +necessary, she sank into the trance. Usually she speaks on a hint; but +this time the Professor had to ask her questions, and to ask them pretty +resolutely, before we could learn anything; at last her answer came:-- + +"I can see nothing; we are still; there are no waves lapping, but only a +steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser. I can hear +men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in +the rowlocks. A gun is fired somewhere; the echo of it seems far away. +There is tramping of feet overhead, and ropes and chains are dragged +along. What is this? There is a gleam of light; I can feel the air +blowing upon me." + +Here she stopped. She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she lay +on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if lifting a +weight. Van Helsing and I looked at each other with understanding. +Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her intently, whilst +Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of his Kukri. There +was a long pause. We all knew that the time when she could speak was +passing; but we felt that it was useless to say anything. Suddenly she +sat up, and, as she opened her eyes, said sweetly:-- + +"Would none of you like a cup of tea? You must all be so tired!" We +could only make her happy, and so acquiesced. She bustled off to get +tea; when she had gone Van Helsing said:-- + +"You see, my friends. _He_ is close to land: he has left his +earth-chest. But he has yet to get on shore. In the night he may lie +hidden somewhere; but if he be not carried on shore, or if the ship do +not touch it, he cannot achieve the land. In such case he can, if it be +in the night, change his form and can jump or fly on shore, as he did +at Whitby. But if the day come before he get on shore, then, unless he +be carried he cannot escape. And if he be carried, then the customs men +may discover what the box contain. Thus, in fine, if he escape not on +shore to-night, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him. +We may then arrive in time; for if he escape not at night we shall come +on him in daytime, boxed up and at our mercy; for he dare not be his +true self, awake and visible, lest he be discovered." + +There was no more to be said, so we waited in patience until the dawn; +at which time we might learn more from Mrs. Harker. + +Early this morning we listened, with breathless anxiety, for her +response in her trance. The hypnotic stage was even longer in coming +than before; and when it came the time remaining until full sunrise was +so short that we began to despair. Van Helsing seemed to throw his whole +soul into the effort; at last, in obedience to his will she made +reply:-- + +"All is dark. I hear lapping water, level with me, and some creaking as +of wood on wood." She paused, and the red sun shot up. We must wait till +to-night. + +And so it is that we are travelling towards Galatz in an agony of +expectation. We are due to arrive between two and three in the morning; +but already, at Bucharest, we are three hours late, so we cannot +possibly get in till well after sun-up. Thus we shall have two more +hypnotic messages from Mrs. Harker; either or both may possibly throw +more light on what is happening. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Sunset has come and gone. Fortunately it came at a time when +there was no distraction; for had it occurred whilst we were at a +station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation. +Mrs. Harker yielded to the hypnotic influence even less readily than +this morning. I am in fear that her power of reading the Count's +sensations may die away, just when we want it most. It seems to me that +her imagination is beginning to work. Whilst she has been in the trance +hitherto she has confined herself to the simplest of facts. If this goes +on it may ultimately mislead us. If I thought that the Count's power +over her would die away equally with her power of knowledge it would be +a happy thought; but I am afraid that it may not be so. When she did +speak, her words were enigmatical:-- + +"Something is going out; I can feel it pass me like a cold wind. I can +hear, far off, confused sounds--as of men talking in strange tongues, +fierce-falling water, and the howling of wolves." She stopped and a +shudder ran through her, increasing in intensity for a few seconds, +till, at the end, she shook as though in a palsy. She said no more, even +in answer to the Professor's imperative questioning. When she woke from +the trance, she was cold, and exhausted, and languid; but her mind was +all alert. She could not remember anything, but asked what she had said; +when she was told, she pondered over it deeply for a long time and in +silence. + + * * * * * + +_30 October, 7 a. m._--We are near Galatz now, and I may not have time +to write later. Sunrise this morning was anxiously looked for by us all. +Knowing of the increasing difficulty of procuring the hypnotic trance, +Van Helsing began his passes earlier than usual. They produced no +effect, however, until the regular time, when she yielded with a still +greater difficulty, only a minute before the sun rose. The Professor +lost no time in his questioning; her answer came with equal quickness:-- + +"All is dark. I hear water swirling by, level with my ears, and the +creaking of wood on wood. Cattle low far off. There is another sound, a +queer one like----" She stopped and grew white, and whiter still. + +"Go on; go on! Speak, I command you!" said Van Helsing in an agonised +voice. At the same time there was despair in his eyes, for the risen sun +was reddening even Mrs. Harker's pale face. She opened her eyes, and we +all started as she said, sweetly and seemingly with the utmost +unconcern:-- + +"Oh, Professor, why ask me to do what you know I can't? I don't remember +anything." Then, seeing the look of amazement on our faces, she said, +turning from one to the other with a troubled look:-- + +"What have I said? What have I done? I know nothing, only that I was +lying here, half asleep, and heard you say go on! speak, I command you!' +It seemed so funny to hear you order me about, as if I were a bad +child!" + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, sadly, "it is proof, if proof be needed, of +how I love and honour you, when a word for your good, spoken more +earnest than ever, can seem so strange because it is to order her whom I +am proud to obey!" + +The whistles are sounding; we are nearing Galatz. We are on fire with +anxiety and eagerness. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--Mr. Morris took me to the hotel where our rooms had been +ordered by telegraph, he being the one who could best be spared, since +he does not speak any foreign language. The forces were distributed +much as they had been at Varna, except that Lord Godalming went to the +Vice-Consul, as his rank might serve as an immediate guarantee of some +sort to the official, we being in extreme hurry. Jonathan and the two +doctors went to the shipping agent to learn particulars of the arrival +of the _Czarina Catherine_. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming has returned. The Consul is away, and the +Vice-Consul sick; so the routine work has been attended to by a clerk. +He was very obliging, and offered to do anything in his power. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--At nine o'clock Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and I called +on Messrs. Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm of +Hapgood. They had received a wire from London, in answer to Lord +Godalming's telegraphed request, asking us to show them any civility in +their power. They were more than kind and courteous, and took us at once +on board the _Czarina Catherine_, which lay at anchor out in the river +harbour. There we saw the Captain, Donelson by name, who told us of his +voyage. He said that in all his life he had never had so favourable a +run. + +"Man!" he said, "but it made us afeard, for we expeckit that we should +have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to keep up the +average. It's no canny to run frae London to the Black Sea wi' a wind +ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on yer sail for his +ain purpose. An' a' the time we could no speer a thing. Gin we were nigh +a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi' us, +till when after it had lifted and we looked out, the deil a thing could +we see. We ran by Gibraltar wi'oot bein' able to signal; an' till we +came to the Dardanelles and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we +never were within hail o' aught. At first I inclined to slack off sail +and beat about till the fog was lifted; but whiles, I thocht that if the +Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it +whether we would or no. If we had a quick voyage it would be no to our +miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic; an' the Old Mon who +had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no +hinderin' him." This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition +and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said:-- + +"Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some; and +he know when he meet his match!" The skipper was not displeased with the +compliment, and went on:-- + +"When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them, +the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had +been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started +frae London. I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa +fingers when they saw him, to guard against the evil eye. Man! but the +supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot +their business pretty quick; but as just after a fog closed in on us I +felt a wee bit as they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it was +agin the big box. Well, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up for +five days I joost let the wind carry us; for if the Deil wanted to get +somewheres--well, he would fetch it up a'reet. An' if he didn't, well, +we'd keep a sharp lookout anyhow. Sure eneuch, we had a fair way and +deep water all the time; and two days ago, when the mornin' sun came +through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite Galatz. +The Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take out the +box and fling it in the river. I had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a +handspike; an' when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in +his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the +property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the +river Danube. They had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to +fling in, and as it was marked Galatz _via_ Varna, I thocht I'd let it +lie till we discharged in the port an' get rid o't althegither. We +didn't do much clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor; +but in the mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sun-up, a man came +aboard wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box +marked for one Count Dracula. Sure eneuch the matter was one ready to +his hand. He had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the +dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it. If the Deil +did have any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither +than that same!" + +"What was the name of the man who took it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing with +restrained eagerness. + +"I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and, stepping down to his +cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim." Burgen-strasse +16 was the address. We found out that this was all the Captain knew; so +with thanks we came away. + +We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi +Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez. His arguments were +pointed with specie--we doing the punctuation--and with a little +bargaining he told us what he knew. This turned out to be simple but +important. He had received a letter from Mr. de Ville of London, telling +him to receive, if possible before sunrise so as to avoid customs, a box +which would arrive at Galatz in the _Czarina Catherine_. This he was to +give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks +who traded down the river to the port. He had been paid for his work by +an English bank note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube +International Bank. When Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him to +the ship and handed over the box, so as to save porterage. That was all +he knew. + +We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him. One of his +neighbours, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he had +gone away two days before, no one knew whither. This was corroborated by +his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house +together with the rent due, in English money. This had been between ten +and eleven o'clock last night. We were at a standstill again. + +Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped out that +the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the churchyard of +St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as if by some wild +animal. Those we had been speaking with ran off to see the horror, the +women crying out "This is the work of a Slovak!" We hurried away lest we +should have been in some way drawn into the affair, and so detained. + +As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion. We were all +convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to somewhere; but where +that might be we would have to discover. With heavy hearts we came home +to the hotel to Mina. + +When we met together, the first thing was to consult as to taking Mina +again into our confidence. Things are getting desperate, and it is at +least a chance, though a hazardous one. As a preliminary step, I was +released from my promise to her. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October, evening._--They were so tired and worn out and dispirited +that there was nothing to be done till they had some rest; so I asked +them all to lie down for half an hour whilst I should enter everything +up to the moment. I feel so grateful to the man who invented the +"Traveller's" typewriter, and to Mr. Morris for getting this one for +me. I should have felt quite; astray doing the work if I had to write +with a pen.... + +It is all done; poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered, +what must he be suffering now. He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to +breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse. His brows are knit; his +face is drawn with pain. Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I can +see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his thoughts. Oh! +if I could only help at all.... I shall do what I can. + +I have asked Dr. Van Helsing, and he has got me all the papers that I +have not yet seen.... Whilst they are resting, I shall go over all +carefully, and perhaps I may arrive at some conclusion. I shall try to +follow the Professor's example, and think without prejudice on the facts +before me.... + + * * * * * + +I do believe that under God's providence I have made a discovery. I +shall get the maps and look over them.... + + * * * * * + +I am more than ever sure that I am right. My new conclusion is ready, so +I shall get our party together and read it. They can judge it; it is +well to be accurate, and every minute is precious. + + +_Mina Harker's Memorandum._ + +(Entered in her Journal.) + +_Ground of inquiry._--Count Dracula's problem is to get back to his own +place. + +(_a_) He must be _brought back_ by some one. This is evident; for had he +power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or wolf, +or bat, or in some other way. He evidently fears discovery or +interference, in the state of helplessness in which he must be--confined +as he is between dawn and sunset in his wooden box. + +(_b_) _How is he to be taken?_--Here a process of exclusions may help +us. By road, by rail, by water? + +1. _By Road._--There are endless difficulties, especially in leaving the +city. + +(_x_) There are people; and people are curious, and investigate. A hint, +a surmise, a doubt as to what might be in the box, would destroy him. + +(_y_) There are, or there may be, customs and octroi officers to pass. + +(_z_) His pursuers might follow. This is his highest fear; and in order +to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled, so far as he can, even +his victim--me! + +2. _By Rail._--There is no one in charge of the box. It would have to +take its chance of being delayed; and delay would be fatal, with enemies +on the track. True, he might escape at night; but what would he be, if +left in a strange place with no refuge that he could fly to? This is not +what he intends; and he does not mean to risk it. + +3. _By Water._--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but with most +danger in another. On the water he is powerless except at night; even +then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves. But were +he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless; and he would +indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land; but if it were +unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would +still be desperate. + +We know from the record that he was on the water; so what we have to do +is to ascertain _what_ water. + +The first thing is to realise exactly what he has done as yet; we may, +then, get a light on what his later task is to be. + +_Firstly._--We must differentiate between what he did in London as part +of his general plan of action, when he was pressed for moments and had +to arrange as best he could. + +_Secondly_ we must see, as well as we can surmise it from the facts we +know of, what he has done here. + +As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent +invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of +exit from England; his immediate and sole purpose then was to escape. +The proof of this, is the letter of instructions sent to Immanuel +Hildesheim to clear and take away the box _before sunrise_. There is +also the instruction to Petrof Skinsky. These we must only guess at; but +there must have been some letter or message, since Skinsky came to +Hildesheim. + +That, so far, his plans were successful we know. The _Czarina Catherine_ +made a phenomenally quick journey--so much so that Captain Donelson's +suspicions were aroused; but his superstition united with his canniness +played the Count's game for him, and he ran with his favouring wind +through fogs and all till he brought up blindfold at Galatz. That the +Count's arrangements were well made, has been proved. Hildesheim cleared +the box, took it off, and gave it to Skinsky. Skinsky took it--and here +we lose the trail. We only know that the box is somewhere on the water, +moving along. The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have been +avoided. + +Now we come to what the Count must have done after his arrival--_on +land_, at Galatz. + +The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise. At sunrise the Count could +appear in his own form. Here, we ask why Skinsky was chosen at all to +aid in the work? In my husband's diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing +with the Slovaks who trade down the river to the port; and the man's +remark, that the murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general +feeling against his class. The Count wanted isolation. + +My surmise is, this: that in London the Count decided to get back to his +castle by water, as the most safe and secret way. He was brought from +the castle by Szgany, and probably they delivered their cargo to Slovaks +who took the boxes to Varna, for there they were shipped for London. +Thus the Count had knowledge of the persons who could arrange this +service. When the box was on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he +came out from his box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to +arranging the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and +he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he thought, +by murdering his agent. + +I have examined the map and find that the river most suitable for the +Slovaks to have ascended is either the Pruth or the Sereth. I read in +the typescript that in my trance I heard cows low and water swirling +level with my ears and the creaking of wood. The Count in his box, then, +was on a river in an open boat--propelled probably either by oars or +poles, for the banks are near and it is working against stream. There +would be no such sound if floating down stream. + +Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but we may +possibly investigate further. Now of these two, the Pruth is the more +easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at Fundu, joined by the Bistritza +which runs up round the Borgo Pass. The loop it makes is manifestly as +close to Dracula's castle as can be got by water. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal--continued._ + +When I had done reading, Jonathan took me in his arms and kissed me. The +others kept shaking me by both hands, and Dr. Van Helsing said:-- + +"Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have been where +we were blinded. Now we are on the track once again, and this time we +may succeed. Our enemy is at his most helpless; and if we can come on +him by day, on the water, our task will be over. He has a start, but he +is powerless to hasten, as he may not leave his box lest those who carry +him may suspect; for them to suspect would be to prompt them to throw +him in the stream where he perish. This he knows, and will not. Now men, +to our Council of War; for, here and now, we must plan what each and all +shall do." + +"I shall get a steam launch and follow him," said Lord Godalming. + +"And I, horses to follow on the bank lest by chance he land," said Mr. +Morris. + +"Good!" said the Professor, "both good. But neither must go alone. There +must be force to overcome force if need be; the Slovak is strong and +rough, and he carries rude arms." All the men smiled, for amongst them +they carried a small arsenal. Said Mr. Morris:-- + +"I have brought some Winchesters; they are pretty handy in a crowd, and +there may be wolves. The Count, if you remember, took some other +precautions; he made some requisitions on others that Mrs. Harker could +not quite hear or understand. We must be ready at all points." Dr. +Seward said:-- + +"I think I had better go with Quincey. We have been accustomed to hunt +together, and we two, well armed, will be a match for whatever may come +along. You must not be alone, Art. It may be necessary to fight the +Slovaks, and a chance thrust--for I don't suppose these fellows carry +guns--would undo all our plans. There must be no chances, this time; we +shall, not rest until the Count's head and body have been separated, and +we are sure that he cannot re-incarnate." He looked at Jonathan as he +spoke, and Jonathan looked at me. I could see that the poor dear was +torn about in his mind. Of course he wanted to be with me; but then the +boat service would, most likely, be the one which would destroy the ... +the ... the ... Vampire. (Why did I hesitate to write the word?) He was +silent awhile, and during his silence Dr. Van Helsing spoke:-- + +"Friend Jonathan, this is to you for twice reasons. First, because you +are young and brave and can fight, and all energies may be needed at the +last; and again that it is your right to destroy him--that--which has +wrought such woe to you and yours. Be not afraid for Madam Mina; she +will be my care, if I may. I am old. My legs are not so quick to run as +once; and I am not used to ride so long or to pursue as need be, or to +fight with lethal weapons. But I can be of other service; I can fight in +other way. And I can die, if need be, as well as younger men. Now let +me say that what I would is this: while you, my Lord Godalming and +friend Jonathan go in your so swift little steamboat up the river, and +whilst John and Quincey guard the bank where perchance he might be +landed, I will take Madam Mina right into the heart of the enemy's +country. Whilst the old fox is tied in his box, floating on the running +stream whence he cannot escape to land--where he dares not raise the lid +of his coffin-box lest his Slovak carriers should in fear leave him to +perish--we shall go in the track where Jonathan went,--from Bistritz +over the Borgo, and find our way to the Castle of Dracula. Here, Madam +Mina's hypnotic power will surely help, and we shall find our way--all +dark and unknown otherwise--after the first sunrise when we are near +that fateful place. There is much to be done, and other places to be +made sanctify, so that that nest of vipers be obliterated." Here +Jonathan interrupted him hotly:-- + +"Do you mean to say, Professor Van Helsing, that you would bring Mina, +in her sad case and tainted as she is with that devil's illness, right +into the jaws of his death-trap? Not for the world! Not for Heaven or +Hell!" He became almost speechless for a minute, and then went on:-- + +"Do you know what the place is? Have you seen that awful den of hellish +infamy--with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every +speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo? +Have you felt the Vampire's lips upon your throat?" Here he turned to +me, and as his eyes lit on my forehead he threw up his arms with a cry: +"Oh, my God, what have we done to have this terror upon us!" and he sank +down on the sofa in a collapse of misery. The Professor's voice, as he +spoke in clear, sweet tones, which seemed to vibrate in the air, calmed +us all:-- + +"Oh, my friend, it is because I would save Madam Mina from that awful +place that I would go. God forbid that I should take her into that +place. There is work--wild work--to be done there, that her eyes may not +see. We men here, all save Jonathan, have seen with their own eyes what +is to be done before that place can be purify. Remember that we are in +terrible straits. If the Count escape us this time--and he is strong and +subtle and cunning--he may choose to sleep him for a century, and then +in time our dear one"--he took my hand--"would come to him to keep him +company, and would be as those others that you, Jonathan, saw. You have +told us of their gloating lips; you heard their ribald laugh as they +clutched the moving bag that the Count threw to them. You shudder; and +well may it be. Forgive me that I make you so much pain, but it is +necessary. My friend, is it not a dire need for the which I am giving, +possibly my life? If it were that any one went into that place to stay, +it is I who would have to go to keep them company." + +"Do as you will," said Jonathan, with a sob that shook him all over, "we +are in the hands of God!" + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked. +How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true, and +so brave! And, too, it made me think of the wonderful power of money! +What can it not do when it is properly applied; and what might it do +when basely used. I felt so thankful that Lord Godalming is rich, and +that both he and Mr. Morris, who also has plenty of money, are willing +to spend it so freely. For if they did not, our little expedition could +not start, either so promptly or so well equipped, as it will within +another hour. It is not three hours since it was arranged what part each +of us was to do; and now Lord Godalming and Jonathan have a lovely steam +launch, with steam up ready to start at a moment's notice. Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris have half a dozen good horses, well appointed. We have +all the maps and appliances of various kinds that can be had. Professor +Van Helsing and I are to leave by the 11:40 train to-night for Veresti, +where we are to get a carriage to drive to the Borgo Pass. We are +bringing a good deal of ready money, as we are to buy a carriage and +horses. We shall drive ourselves, for we have no one whom we can trust +in the matter. The Professor knows something of a great many languages, +so we shall get on all right. We have all got arms, even for me a +large-bore revolver; Jonathan would not be happy unless I was armed like +the rest. Alas! I cannot carry one arm that the rest do; the scar on my +forehead forbids that. Dear Dr. Van Helsing comforts me by telling me +that I am fully armed as there may be wolves; the weather is getting +colder every hour, and there are snow-flurries which come and go as +warnings. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It took all my courage to say good-bye to my darling. We may +never meet again. Courage, Mina! the Professor is looking at you keenly; +his look is a warning. There must be no tears now--unless it may be that +God will let them fall in gladness. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_October 30. Night._--I am writing this in the light from the furnace +door of the steam launch: Lord Godalming is firing up. He is an +experienced hand at the work, as he has had for years a launch of his +own on the Thames, and another on the Norfolk Broads. Regarding our +plans, we finally decided that Mina's guess was correct, and that if any +waterway was chosen for the Count's escape back to his Castle, the +Sereth and then the Bistritza at its junction, would be the one. We took +it, that somewhere about the 47th degree, north latitude, would be the +place chosen for the crossing the country between the river and the +Carpathians. We have no fear in running at good speed up the river at +night; there is plenty of water, and the banks are wide enough apart to +make steaming, even in the dark, easy enough. Lord Godalming tells me to +sleep for a while, as it is enough for the present for one to be on +watch. But I cannot sleep--how can I with the terrible danger hanging +over my darling, and her going out into that awful place.... My only +comfort is that we are in the hands of God. Only for that faith it would +be easier to die than to live, and so be quit of all the trouble. Mr. +Morris and Dr. Seward were off on their long ride before we started; +they are to keep up the right bank, far enough off to get on higher +lands where they can see a good stretch of river and avoid the following +of its curves. They have, for the first stages, two men to ride and lead +their spare horses--four in all, so as not to excite curiosity. When +they dismiss the men, which shall be shortly, they shall themselves look +after the horses. It may be necessary for us to join forces; if so they +can mount our whole party. One of the saddles has a movable horn, and +can be easily adapted for Mina, if required. + +It is a wild adventure we are on. Here, as we are rushing along through +the darkness, with the cold from the river seeming to rise up and strike +us; with all the mysterious voices of the night around us, it all comes +home. We seem to be drifting into unknown places and unknown ways; into +a whole world of dark and dreadful things. Godalming is shutting the +furnace door.... + + * * * * * + +_31 October._--Still hurrying along. The day has come, and Godalming is +sleeping. I am on watch. The morning is bitterly cold; the furnace heat +is grateful, though we have heavy fur coats. As yet we have passed only +a few open boats, but none of them had on board any box or package of +anything like the size of the one we seek. The men were scared every +time we turned our electric lamp on them, and fell on their knees and +prayed. + + * * * * * + +_1 November, evening._--No news all day; we have found nothing of the +kind we seek. We have now passed into the Bistritza; and if we are wrong +in our surmise our chance is gone. We have over-hauled every boat, big +and little. Early this morning, one crew took us for a Government boat, +and treated us accordingly. We saw in this a way of smoothing matters, +so at Fundu, where the Bistritza runs into the Sereth, we got a +Roumanian flag which we now fly conspicuously. With every boat which we +have over-hauled since then this trick has succeeded; we have had every +deference shown to us, and not once any objection to whatever we chose +to ask or do. Some of the Slovaks tell us that a big boat passed them, +going at more than usual speed as she had a double crew on board. This +was before they came to Fundu, so they could not tell us whether the +boat turned into the Bistritza or continued on up the Sereth. At Fundu +we could not hear of any such boat, so she must have passed there in the +night. I am feeling very sleepy; the cold is perhaps beginning to tell +upon me, and nature must have rest some time. Godalming insists that he +shall keep the first watch. God bless him for all his goodness to poor +dear Mina and me. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--It is broad daylight. That good fellow would not +wake me. He says it would have been a sin to, for I slept peacefully and +was forgetting my trouble. It seems brutally selfish to me to have slept +so long, and let him watch all night; but he was quite right. I am a new +man this morning; and, as I sit here and watch him sleeping, I can do +all that is necessary both as to minding the engine, steering, and +keeping watch. I can feel that my strength and energy are coming back to +me. I wonder where Mina is now, and Van Helsing. They should have got to +Veresti about noon on Wednesday. It would take them some time to get the +carriage and horses; so if they had started and travelled hard, they +would be about now at the Borgo Pass. God guide and help them! I am +afraid to think what may happen. If we could only go faster! but we +cannot; the engines are throbbing and doing their utmost. I wonder how +Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris are getting on. There seem to be endless +streams running down the mountains into this river, but as none of them +are very large--at present, at all events, though they are terrible +doubtless in winter and when the snow melts--the horsemen may not have +met much obstruction. I hope that before we get to Strasba we may see +them; for if by that time we have not overtaken the Count, it may be +necessary to take counsel together what to do next. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 November._--Three days on the road. No news, and no time to write it +if there had been, for every moment is precious. We have had only the +rest needful for the horses; but we are both bearing it wonderfully. +Those adventurous days of ours are turning up useful. We must push on; +we shall never feel happy till we get the launch in sight again. + + * * * * * + +_3 November._--We heard at Fundu that the launch had gone up the +Bistritza. I wish it wasn't so cold. There are signs of snow coming; and +if it falls heavy it will stop us. In such case we must get a sledge and +go on, Russian fashion. + + * * * * * + +_4 November._--To-day we heard of the launch having been detained by an +accident when trying to force a way up the rapids. The Slovak boats get +up all right, by aid of a rope and steering with knowledge. Some went up +only a few hours before. Godalming is an amateur fitter himself, and +evidently it was he who put the launch in trim again. Finally, they got +up the rapids all right, with local help, and are off on the chase +afresh. I fear that the boat is not any better for the accident; the +peasantry tell us that after she got upon smooth water again, she kept +stopping every now and again so long as she was in sight. We must push +on harder than ever; our help may be wanted soon. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_31 October._--Arrived at Veresti at noon. The Professor tells me that +this morning at dawn he could hardly hypnotise me at all, and that all I +could say was: "dark and quiet." He is off now buying a carriage and +horses. He says that he will later on try to buy additional horses, so +that we may be able to change them on the way. We have something more +than 70 miles before us. The country is lovely, and most interesting; if +only we were under different conditions, how delightful it would be to +see it all. If Jonathan and I were driving through it alone what a +pleasure it would be. To stop and see people, and learn something of +their life, and to fill our minds and memories with all the colour and +picturesqueness of the whole wild, beautiful country and the quaint +people! But, alas!-- + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Dr. Van Helsing has returned. He has got the carriage and +horses; we are to have some dinner, and to start in an hour. The +landlady is putting us up a huge basket of provisions; it seems enough +for a company of soldiers. The Professor encourages her, and whispers to +me that it may be a week before we can get any good food again. He has +been shopping too, and has sent home such a wonderful lot of fur coats +and wraps, and all sorts of warm things. There will not be any chance of +our being cold. + + * * * * * + +We shall soon be off. I am afraid to think what may happen to us. We are +truly in the hands of God. He alone knows what may be, and I pray Him, +with all the strength of my sad and humble soul, that He will watch over +my beloved husband; that whatever may happen, Jonathan may know that I +loved him and honoured him more than I can say, and that my latest and +truest thought will be always for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 November._--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The +horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go +willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many +changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to +think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic; +he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well +to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea; and +off we go. It is a lovely country; full of beauties of all imaginable +kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full +of nice qualities. They are _very, very_ superstitious. In the first +house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my +forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to +keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an +extra amount of garlic into our food; and I can't abide garlic. Ever +since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have +escaped their suspicions. We are travelling fast, and as we have no +driver with us to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal; but I daresay +that fear of the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the way. The +Professor seems tireless; all day he would not take any rest, though he +made me sleep for a long spell. At sunset time he hypnotised me, and he +says that I answered as usual "darkness, lapping water and creaking +wood"; so our enemy is still on the river. I am afraid to think of +Jonathan, but somehow I have now no fear for him, or for myself. I write +this whilst we wait in a farmhouse for the horses to be got ready. Dr. +Van Helsing is sleeping, Poor dear, he looks very tired and old and +grey, but his mouth is set as firmly as a conqueror's; even in his sleep +he is instinct with resolution. When we have well started I must make +him rest whilst I drive. I shall tell him that we have days before us, +and we must not break down when most of all his strength will be +needed.... All is ready; we are off shortly. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--I was successful, and we took turns driving all +night; now the day is on us, bright though cold. There is a strange +heaviness in the air--I say heaviness for want of a better word; I mean +that it oppresses us both. It is very cold, and only our warm furs keep +us comfortable. At dawn Van Helsing hypnotised me; he says I answered +"darkness, creaking wood and roaring water," so the river is changing as +they ascend. I do hope that my darling will not run any chance of +danger--more than need be; but we are in God's hands. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, night._--All day long driving. The country gets wilder as +we go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at Veresti seemed +so far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to gather round us +and tower in front. We both seem in good spirits; I think we make an +effort each to cheer the other; in the doing so we cheer ourselves. Dr. +Van Helsing says that by morning we shall reach the Borgo Pass. The +houses are very few here now, and the Professor says that the last horse +we got will have to go on with us, as we may not be able to change. He +got two in addition to the two we changed, so that now we have a rude +four-in-hand. The dear horses are patient and good, and they give us no +trouble. We are not worried with other travellers, and so even I can +drive. We shall get to the Pass in daylight; we do not want to arrive +before. So we take it easy, and have each a long rest in turn. Oh, what +will to-morrow bring to us? We go to seek the place where my poor +darling suffered so much. God grant that we may be guided aright, and +that He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both, +and who are in such deadly peril. As for me, I am not worthy in His +sight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deign +to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred +His wrath. + + +_Memorandum by Abraham Van Helsing._ + +_4 November._--This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D., of +Purfleet, London, in case I may not see him. It may explain. It is +morning, and I write by a fire which all the night I have kept +alive--Madam Mina aiding me. It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey +heavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all +winter as the ground is hardening to receive it. It seems to have +affected Madam Mina; she has been so heavy of head all day that she was +not like herself. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps! She who is usual +so alert, have done literally nothing all the day; she even have lost +her appetite. She make no entry into her little diary, she who write so +faithful at every pause. Something whisper to me that all is not well. +However, to-night she is more _vif_. Her long sleep all day have refresh +and restore her, for now she is all sweet and bright as ever. At sunset +I try to hypnotise her, but alas! with no effect; the power has grown +less and less with each day, and to-night it fail me altogether. Well, +God's will be done--whatever it may be, and whithersoever it may lead! + +Now to the historical, for as Madam Mina write not in her stenography, I +must, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so each day of us may not go +unrecorded. + +We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday morning. When I +saw the signs of the dawn I got ready for the hypnotism. We stopped our +carriage, and got down so that there might be no disturbance. I made a +couch with furs, and Madam Mina, lying down, yield herself as usual, but +more slow and more short time than ever, to the hypnotic sleep. As +before, came the answer: "darkness and the swirling of water." Then she +woke, bright and radiant and we go on our way and soon reach the Pass. +At this time and place, she become all on fire with zeal; some new +guiding power be in her manifested, for she point to a road and say:-- + +"This is the way." + +"How know you it?" I ask. + +"Of course I know it," she answer, and with a pause, add: "Have not my +Jonathan travelled it and wrote of his travel?" + +At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be only one +such by-road. It is used but little, and very different from the coach +road from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more wide and hard, and +more of use. + +So we came down this road; when we meet other ways--not always were we +sure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect and light snow +have fallen--the horses know and they only. I give rein to them, and +they go on so patient. By-and-by we find all the things which Jonathan +have note in that wonderful diary of him. Then we go on for long, long +hours and hours. At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep; she try, and +she succeed. She sleep all the time; till at the last, I feel myself to +suspicious grow, and attempt to wake her. But she sleep on, and I may +not wake her though I try. I do not wish to try too hard lest I harm +her; for I know that she have suffer much, and sleep at times be +all-in-all to her. I think I drowse myself, for all of sudden I feel +guilt, as though I have done something; I find myself bolt up, with the +reins in my hand, and the good horses go along jog, jog, just as ever. I +look down and find Madam Mina still sleep. It is now not far off sunset +time, and over the snow the light of the sun flow in big yellow flood, +so that we throw great long shadow on where the mountain rise so steep. +For we are going up, and up; and all is oh! so wild and rocky, as though +it were the end of the world. + +Then I arouse Madam Mina. This time she wake with not much trouble, and +then I try to put her to hypnotic sleep. But she sleep not, being as +though I were not. Still I try and try, till all at once I find her and +myself in dark; so I look round, and find that the sun have gone down. +Madam Mina laugh, and I turn and look at her. She is now quite awake, +and look so well as I never saw her since that night at Carfax when we +first enter the Count's house. I am amaze, and not at ease then; but she +is so bright and tender and thoughtful for me that I forget all fear. I +light a fire, for we have brought supply of wood with us, and she +prepare food while I undo the horses and set them, tethered in shelter, +to feed. Then when I return to the fire she have my supper ready. I go +to help her; but she smile, and tell me that she have eat already--that +she was so hungry that she would not wait. I like it not, and I have +grave doubts; but I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of it. She +help me and I eat alone; and then we wrap in fur and lie beside the +fire, and I tell her to sleep while I watch. But presently I forget all +of watching; and when I sudden remember that I watch, I find her lying +quiet, but awake, and looking at me with so bright eyes. Once, twice +more the same occur, and I get much sleep till before morning. When I +wake I try to hypnotise her; but alas! though she shut her eyes +obedient, she may not sleep. The sun rise up, and up, and up; and then +sleep come to her too late, but so heavy that she will not wake. I have +to lift her up, and place her sleeping in the carriage when I have +harnessed the horses and made all ready. Madam still sleep, and she look +in her sleep more healthy and more redder than before. And I like it +not. And I am afraid, afraid, afraid!--I am afraid of all things--even +to think but I must go on my way. The stake we play for is life and +death, or more than these, and we must not flinch. + + * * * * * + +_5 November, morning._--Let me be accurate in everything, for though you +and I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first think +that I, Van Helsing, am mad--that the many horrors and the so long +strain on nerves has at the last turn my brain. + +All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains, and +moving into a more and more wild and desert land. There are great, +frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have held +sometime her carnival. Madam Mina still sleep and sleep; and though I +did have hunger and appeased it, I could not waken her--even for food. I +began to fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon her, tainted as +she is with that Vampire baptism. "Well," said I to myself, "if it be +that she sleep all the day, it shall also be that I do not sleep at +night." As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient and +imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept. Again I waked +with a sense of guilt and of time passed, and found Madam Mina still +sleeping, and the sun low down. But all was indeed changed; the frowning +mountains seemed further away, and we were near the top of a +steep-rising hill, on summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell +of in his diary. At once I exulted and feared; for now, for good or ill, +the end was near. + +I woke Madam Mina, and again tried to hypnotise her; but alas! +unavailing till too late. Then, ere the great dark came upon us--for +even after down-sun the heavens reflected the gone sun on the snow, and +all was for a time in a great twilight--I took out the horses and fed +them in what shelter I could. Then I make a fire; and near it I make +Madam Mina, now awake and more charming than ever, sit comfortable amid +her rugs. I got ready food: but she would not eat, simply saying that +she had not hunger. I did not press her, knowing her unavailingness. But +I myself eat, for I must needs now be strong for all. Then, with the +fear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so big for her comfort, round +where Madam Mina sat; and over the ring I passed some of the wafer, and +I broke it fine so that all was well guarded. She sat still all the +time--so still as one dead; and she grew whiter and ever whiter till the +snow was not more pale; and no word she said. But when I drew near, she +clung to me, and I could know that the poor soul shook her from head to +feet with a tremor that was pain to feel. I said to her presently, when +she had grown more quiet:-- + +"Will you not come over to the fire?" for I wished to make a test of +what she could. She rose obedient, but when she have made a step she +stopped, and stood as one stricken. + +"Why not go on?" I asked. She shook her head, and, coming back, sat +down in her place. Then, looking at me with open eyes, as of one waked +from sleep, she said simply:-- + +"I cannot!" and remained silent. I rejoiced, for I knew that what she +could not, none of those that we dreaded could. Though there might be +danger to her body, yet her soul was safe! + +Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their tethers till I +came to them and quieted them. When they did feel my hands on them, they +whinnied low as in joy, and licked at my hands and were quiet for a +time. Many times through the night did I come to them, till it arrive to +the cold hour when all nature is at lowest; and every time my coming was +with quiet of them. In the cold hour the fire began to die, and I was +about stepping forth to replenish it, for now the snow came in flying +sweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the dark there was a light of +some kind, as there ever is over snow; and it seemed as though the +snow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of women with +trailing garments. All was in dead, grim silence only that the horses +whinnied and cowered, as if in terror of the worst. I began to +fear--horrible fears; but then came to me the sense of safety in that +ring wherein I stood. I began, too, to think that my imaginings were of +the night, and the gloom, and the unrest that I have gone through, and +all the terrible anxiety. It was as though my memories of all Jonathan's +horrid experience were befooling me; for the snow flakes and the mist +began to wheel and circle round, till I could get as though a shadowy +glimpse of those women that would have kissed him. And then the horses +cowered lower and lower, and moaned in terror as men do in pain. Even +the madness of fright was not to them, so that they could break away. I +feared for my dear Madam Mina when these weird figures drew near and +circled round. I looked at her, but she sat calm, and smiled at me; when +I would have stepped to the fire to replenish it, she caught me and held +me back, and whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so low +it was:-- + +"No! No! Do not go without. Here you are safe!" I turned to her, and +looking in her eyes, said:-- + +"But you? It is for you that I fear!" whereat she laughed--a laugh, low +and unreal, and said:-- + +"Fear for _me_! Why fear for me? None safer in all the world from them +than I am," and as I wondered at the meaning of her words, a puff of +wind made the flame leap up, and I see the red scar on her forehead. +Then, alas! I knew. Did I not, I would soon have learned, for the +wheeling figures of mist and snow came closer, but keeping ever without +the Holy circle. Then they began to materialise till--if God have not +take away my reason, for I saw it through my eyes--there were before me +in actual flesh the same three women that Jonathan saw in the room, when +they would have kissed his throat. I knew the swaying round forms, the +bright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous +lips. They smiled ever at poor dear Madam Mina; and as their laugh came +through the silence of the night, they twined their arms and pointed to +her, and said in those so sweet tingling tones that Jonathan said were +of the intolerable sweetness of the water-glasses:-- + +"Come, sister. Come to us. Come! Come!" In fear I turned to my poor +Madam Mina, and my heart with gladness leapt like flame; for oh! the +terror in her sweet eyes, the repulsion, the horror, told a story to my +heart that was all of hope. God be thanked she was not, yet, of them. I +seized some of the firewood which was by me, and holding out some of the +Wafer, advanced on them towards the fire. They drew back before me, and +laughed their low horrid laugh. I fed the fire, and feared them not; for +I knew that we were safe within our protections. They could not +approach, me, whilst so armed, nor Madam Mina whilst she remained within +the ring, which she could not leave no more than they could enter. The +horses had ceased to moan, and lay still on the ground; the snow fell on +them softly, and they grew whiter. I knew that there was for the poor +beasts no more of terror. + +And so we remained till the red of the dawn to fall through the +snow-gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror; but +when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again. +At the first coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in the +whirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom moved away +towards the castle, and were lost. + +Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina, intending +to hypnotise her; but she lay in a deep and sudden sleep, from which I +could not wake her. I tried to hypnotise through her sleep, but she made +no response, none at all; and the day broke. I fear yet to stir. I have +made my fire and have seen the horses, they are all dead. To-day I have +much to do here, and I keep waiting till the sun is up high; for there +may be places where I must go, where that sunlight, though snow and mist +obscure it, will be to me a safety. + +I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my terrible +work. Madam Mina still sleeps; and, God be thanked! she is calm in her +sleep.... + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 November, evening._--The accident to the launch has been a terrible +thing for us. Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago; +and by now my dear Mina would have been free. I fear to think of her, +off on the wolds near that horrid place. We have got horses, and we +follow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready. We +have our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean fight. Oh, if only +Morris and Seward were with us. We must only hope! If I write no more +Good-bye, Mina! God bless and keep you. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 November._--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashing +away from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded it in a +cluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is falling lightly +and there is a strange excitement in the air. It may be our own +feelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the howling of +wolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and there are +dangers to all of us, and from all sides. The horses are nearly ready, +and we are soon off. We ride to death of some one. God alone knows who, +or where, or what, or when, or how it may be.... + + +_Dr. Van Helsing's Memorandum._ + +_5 November, afternoon._--I am at least sane. Thank God for that mercy +at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I left +Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the castle. +The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from Veresti was +useful; though the doors were all open I broke them off the rusty +hinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close them, so that +being entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter experience served +me here. By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel, for I +knew that here my work lay. The air was oppressive; it seemed as if +there was some sulphurous fume, which at times made me dizzy. Either +there was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar off the howl of wolves. +Then I bethought me of my dear Madam Mina, and I was in terrible plight. +The dilemma had me between his horns. + +Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe from the +Vampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf! I +resolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we must +submit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death and +freedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself the +choice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in than +the grave of the Vampire! So I make my choice to go on with my work. + +I knew that there were at least three graves to find--graves that are +inhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She lay in her +Vampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I shudder as +though I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in old time, when +such things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as mine, +found at the last his heart fail him, and then his nerve. So he delay, +and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of the +wanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain on and on, till sunset +come, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the beautiful eyes of the fair +woman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a +kiss--and man is weak. And there remain one more victim in the Vampire +fold; one more to swell the grim and grisly ranks of the Un-Dead!... + +There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presence +of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age and +heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour such +as the lairs of the Count have had. Yes, I was moved--I, Van Helsing, +with all my purpose and with my motive for hate--I was moved to a +yearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties and to clog my +very soul. It may have been that the need of natural sleep, and the +strange oppression of the air were beginning to overcome me. Certain it +was that I was lapsing into sleep, the open-eyed sleep of one who yields +to a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled air a +long, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me like the sound +of a clarion. For it was the voice of my dear Madam Mina that I heard. + +Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by wrenching +away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one. I dared not +pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should +begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find in +a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sister +which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of +the mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so +exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls +some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl +with new emotion. But God be thanked, that soul-wail of my dear Madam +Mina had not died out of my ears; and, before the spell could be wrought +further upon me, I had nerved myself to my wild work. By this time I had +searched all the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell; and as +there had been only three of these Un-Dead phantoms around us in the +night, I took it that there were no more of active Un-Dead existent. +There was one great tomb more lordly than all the rest; huge it was, and +nobly proportioned. On it was but one word + + DRACULA. + +This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so many more +were due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what I knew. +Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through my +awful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished +him from it, Un-Dead, for ever. + +Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it. Had it been but one, it +had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I had +been through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweet +Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survived +through centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of the +years; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives.... + +Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work; had I not been nerved by +thoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung such a pall of +fear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble even yet, though +till all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand. Had I not seen +the repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole over it just +ere the final dissolution came, as realisation that the soul had been +won, I could not have gone further with my butchery. I could not have +endured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging of +writhing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled in terror and +left my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls, I can pity them +now and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of death +for a short moment ere fading. For, friend John, hardly had my knife +severed the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away and +crumble in to its native dust, as though the death that should have come +centuries agone had at last assert himself and say at once and loud "I +am here!" + +Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never more can +the Count enter there Un-Dead. + +When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke from her +sleep, and, seeing, me, cried out in pain that I had endured too much. + +"Come!" she said, "come away from this awful place! Let us go to meet my +husband who is, I know, coming towards us." She was looking thin and +pale and weak; but her eyes were pure and glowed with fervour. I was +glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the +fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep. + +And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go eastward to meet +our friends--and _him_--whom Madam Mina tell me that she _know_ are +coming to meet us. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_6 November._--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I +took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming. We did +not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to take +heavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility of being +left without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take some of our +provisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as we +could see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign of +habitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavy +walking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw where the +clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so deep under +the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective of the +Carpathian mountains was far below it. We saw it in all its grandeur, +perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice, and with +seemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the adjacent mountain +on any side. There was something wild and uncanny about the place. We +could hear the distant howling of wolves. They were far off, but the +sound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was +full of terror. I knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching about +that he was trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be less +exposed in case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; we +could trace it through the drifted snow. + +In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and joined +him. He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow in a rock, +with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders. He took me by the +hand and drew me in: "See!" he said, "here you will be in shelter; and +if the wolves do come I can meet them one by one." He brought in our +furs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some provisions and +forced them upon me. But I could not eat; to even try to do so was +repulsive to me, and, much as I would have liked to please him, I could +not bring myself to the attempt. He looked very sad, but did not +reproach me. Taking his field-glasses from the case, he stood on the top +of the rock, and began to search the horizon. Suddenly he called out:-- + +"Look! Madam Mina, look! look!" I sprang up and stood beside him on the +rock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow was now falling +more heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginning +to blow. However, there were times when there were pauses between the +snow flurries and I could see a long way round. From the height where we +were it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond the +white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon in +kinks and curls as it wound its way. Straight in front of us and not far +off--in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before--came a +group of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a +long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail +wagging, with each stern inequality of the road. Outlined against the +snow as they were, I could see from the men's clothes that they were +peasants or gypsies of some kind. + +On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw it, for I +felt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing close, and +well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then imprisoned +there, would take new freedom and could in any of many forms elude all +pursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor; to my consternation, +however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him below me. Round +the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found shelter in last +night. When he had completed it he stood beside me again, saying:-- + +"At least you shall be safe here from _him_!" He took the glasses from +me, and at the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us. +"See," he said, "they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, and +galloping as hard as they can." He paused and went on in a hollow +voice:-- + +"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will be +done!" Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole +landscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and once more his +glasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden cry:-- + +"Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming up from the +south. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look before the snow +blots it all out!" I took it and looked. The two men might be Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan. +At the same time I _knew_ that Jonathan was not far off; looking around +I saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding at +break-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took, +of course, to be Lord Godalming. They, too, were pursuing the party with +the cart. When I told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy, +and, after looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, he +laid his Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at the +opening of our shelter. "They are all converging," he said. "When the +time comes we shall have gypsies on all sides." I got out my revolver +ready to hand, for whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came +louder and closer. When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again. +It was strange to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us, +and beyond, the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank down +towards the far mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I could +see here and there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger +numbers--the wolves were gathering for their prey. + +Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now in +fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us in +circling eddies. At times we could not see an arm's length before us; +but at others, as the hollow-sounding wind swept by us, it seemed to +clear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off. We had of +late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that we knew +with fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that before long the +sun would set. It was hard to believe that by our watches it was less +than an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the various +bodies began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercer +and more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seemingly +had driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts, +the snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each +party, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did +not seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they +seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower +and lower on the mountain tops. + +Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behind +our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determined +that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of our +presence. + +All at once two voices shouted out to: "Halt!" One was my Jonathan's, +raised in a high key of passion; the other Mr. Morris' strong resolute +tone of quiet command. The gypsies may not have known the language, but +there was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the words were +spoken. Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant Lord Godalming +and Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris on the +other. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid-looking fellow who sat his +horse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a fierce voice gave to his +companions some word to proceed. They lashed the horses which sprang +forward; but the four men raised their Winchester rifles, and in an +unmistakable way commanded them to stop. At the same moment Dr. Van +Helsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them. +Seeing that they were surrounded the men tightened their reins and drew +up. The leader turned to them and gave a word at which every man of the +gypsy party drew what weapon he carried, knife or pistol, and held +himself in readiness to attack. Issue was joined in an instant. + +The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out in +front, and pointing first to the sun--now close down on the hill +tops--and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand. +For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their horses +and dashed towards the cart. I should have felt terrible fear at seeing +Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have been +upon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild, +surging desire to do something. Seeing the quick movement of our +parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command; his men instantly +formed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined endeavour, each one +shouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness to carry out the +order. + +In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring +of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it was +evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun +should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither the +levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, nor +the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their +attention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his +purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they +cowered, aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon the +cart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great +box, and flung it over the wheel to the ground. In the meantime, Mr. +Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring of +Szgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had, +with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and had +seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them, and +they cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at first +I thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he sprang +beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could see that +with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the blood was +spurting through his fingers. He did not delay notwithstanding this, for +as Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked one end of the chest, +attempting to prize off the lid with his great Kukri knife, he attacked +the other frantically with his bowie. Under the efforts of both men the +lid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, and +the top of the box was thrown back. + +By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters, +and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and made +no resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the +shadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow. I saw the Count +lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from +the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen +image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I +knew too well. + +As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them +turned to triumph. + +But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. +I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same +moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart. + +It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in the +drawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed from +our sight. + +I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final +dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never +could have imagined might have rested there. + +The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone +of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the +setting sun. + +The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinary +disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away as +if for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped upon the +leiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them. The wolves, +which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their wake, leaving +us alone. + +Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his +hand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through his fingers. I +flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the +two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his +head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand +in that of his own which was unstained. He must have seen the anguish of +my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said:-- + +"I am only too happy to have been of any service! Oh, God!" he cried +suddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and pointing to me, "It was +worth for this to die! Look! look!" + +The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams +fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse +the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all +as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger. The dying man +spoke:-- + +"Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not +more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!" + +And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a +gallant gentleman. + + + + + NOTE + + +Seven years ago we all went through the flames; and the happiness of +some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured. It +is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same +day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the +secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into +him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together; but +we call him Quincey. + +In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania, and went +over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid and +terrible memories. It was almost impossible to believe that the things +which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears were +living truths. Every trace of all that had been was blotted out. The +castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation. + +When we got home we were talking of the old time--which we could all +look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are both happily +married. I took the papers from the safe where they had been ever since +our return so long ago. We were struck with the fact, that in all the +mass of material of which the record is composed, there is hardly one +authentic document; nothing but a mass of typewriting, except the later +note-books of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van Helsing's memorandum. +We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as +proofs of so wild a story. Van Helsing summed it all up as he said, with +our boy on his knee:-- + +"We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy will some day +know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is. Already he knows her +sweetness and loving care; later on he will understand how some men so +loved her, that they did dare much for her sake." + +JONATHAN HARKER. + + THE END + + * * * * * + + _There's More to Follow!_ + + More stories of the sort you like; more, probably, by the author of + this one; more than 500 titles all told by writers of world-wide + reputation, in the Authors' Alphabetical List which you will find + on the _reverse side_ of the wrapper of this book. Look it over + before you lay it aside. There are books here you are sure to + want--some, possibly, that you have _always_ wanted. + + It is a _selected_ list; every book in it has achieved a certain + measure of _success_. + + The Grosset & Dunlap list is not only the greatest Index of Good + Fiction available, it represents in addition a generally accepted + Standard of Value. It will pay you to + + _Look on the Other Side of the Wrapper!_ + + _In case the wrapper is lost write to the publishers for a complete + catalog_ + + * * * * * + +DETECTIVE STORIES BY J. S. FLETCHER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +THE SECRET OF THE BARBICAN + +THE ANNEXATION SOCIETY + +THE WOLVES AND THE LAMB + +GREEN INK + +THE KING versus WARGRAVE + +THE LOST MR. LINTHWAITE + +THE MILL OF MANY WINDOWS + +THE HEAVEN-KISSED HILL + +THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER + +RAVENSDENE COURT + +THE RAYNER-SLADE AMALGAMATION + +THE SAFETY PIN + +THE SECRET WAY + +THE VALLEY OF HEADSTRONG MEN + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +in a very simply way=> in a very simple way {pg 68} + +"The Westminister Gazette," 25 September.=> "The Westminster Gazette," +25 September. {pg 165} + +It have told him=> She must have told him {pg 169} + +from md sight=> from my sight {pg}184 + +Goldaming=> Godalming {pg 226} + +I I did not want to hinder him=> I did not want to hinder him {pg 267} + +They lay in a sort of or-orderly=> They lay in a sort of orderly {pg +279} + +Translyvania=> Transylvania {pg 294} + +this mrrning from Dardanelles=> this morning from Dardanelles {pg 313} + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + +***** This file should be named 345-8.txt or 345-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/345/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20bdbdb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt @@ -0,0 +1,887 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven +Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition + Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes + +Author: Edgar Allan Poe + +Release Date: May 19, 2008 [EBook #25525] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Contents and Index of Five Volumes + + +THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE + +TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX OF THE FIVE VOLUMES + +The Raven Edition + + +Project Gutenberg Volumes: +#2147, #2148, #2149, #2150, #2151 + + + +CONTENTS + +INDEX + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME 1 + +EDGAR ALLAN POE + +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE + +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL + +THE GOLD-BUG + +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD + +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE + +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET + +THE BALLOON-HOAX + +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE + +THE OVAL PORTRAIT + +VOLUME 2 + +THE PURLOINED LETTER + +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE + +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM. + +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY + +MESMERIC REVELATION + +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR + +THE BLACK CAT. + +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER + +SILENCE—A FABLE + +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. + +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. + +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE + +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY + +THE ASSIGNATION + +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM + +THE PREMATURE BURIAL + +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM + +LANDOR'S COTTAGE + +WILLIAM WILSON + +THE TELL-TALE HEART. + +BERENICE + +ELEONORA + +VOLUME 3 +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM + +CHAPTER 1 + +CHAPTER 2 + +CHAPTER 3 + +CHAPTER 4 + +CHAPTER 5 + +CHAPTER 6 + +CHAPTER 7 + +CHAPTER 8 + +CHAPTER 9 + +CHAPTER 10 + +CHAPTER 11 + +CHAPTER 12 + +CHAPTER 13 + +CHAPTER 14 + +CHAPTER 15 + +CHAPTER 16 + +CHAPTER 17 + +CHAPTER 18 + +CHAPTER 19 + +CHAPTER 20 + +CHAPTER 21 + +CHAPTER 22 + +CHAPTER 23 + +CHAPTER 24 + +CHAPTER 25 + +Notes + +LIGEIA + +MORELLA + +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS + +THE SPECTACLES + +KING PEST. + +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK + +VOLUME 4 + +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY + +LIONIZING + +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +METZENGERSTEIN + +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER + +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. + +A PREDICAMENT + +MYSTIFICATION + +DIDDLING + +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD + +MELLONTA TAUTA + +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. + +THE OBLONG BOX. + +LOSS OF BREATH + +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. + +THE BUSINESS MAN + +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN + +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER + +THE POWER OF WORDS + +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA + +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION + +SHADOW—A PARABLE + +VOLUME 5 + +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. + +A TALE OF JERUSALEM + +THE SPHINX + +HOP-FROG + +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. + +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD + +THOU ART THE MAN + +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING + +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. + +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE + +OLD ENGLISH POETRY + +POEMS + +PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE + +THE RAVEN. + +THE BELLS. + +ULALUME + +TO HELEN + +ANNABEL LEE. + +A VALENTINE. + +AN ENIGMA + +FOR ANNIE + +TO F——. + +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD + +ELDORADO. + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + +THE SLEEPER. + +NOTES + +POEMS OF MANHOOD + +LENORE + +TO ONE IN PARADISE. + +THE COLISEUM. + +THE HAUNTED PALACE. + +THE CONQUEROR WORM. + +SILENCE + +DREAM-LAND + +HYMN + +TO ZANTE + +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" + +POEMS OF YOUTH + +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 + +LETTER TO MR. B—. + +SONNET—TO SCIENCE + +AL AARAAF + +TAMERLANE + +TO HELEN + +THE VALLEY OF UNREST + +ISRAFEL + +TO —— + +TO —— + +TO THE RIVER—— + +SONG + +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD + +A DREAM + +ROMANCE + +FAIRY-LAND + +THE LAKE —— TO—— + +EVENING STAR + +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." + +IMITATION + +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS + +DREAMS + +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +NOTES + +DOUBTFUL POEMS + +ALONE + +TO ISADORE + +THE VILLAGE STREET + +THE FOREST REVERIE + +NOTES + + + +INDEX + +PROSE +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD +THE ASSIGNATION +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. +THE BUSINESS MAN +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE +EDGAR ALLAN POE +THE BALLOON-HOAX +THE BLACK CAT. +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD +BERENICE +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY +DIDDLING +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. +ELEONORA +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING +THE GOLD-BUG +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM +HOP-FROG +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY +A TALE OF JERUSALEM +KING PEST. +LANDOR'S COTTAGE +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN +LIGEIA +LIONIZING +LOSS OF BREATH +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. +MELLONTA TAUTA +MESMERIC REVELATION +METZENGERSTEIN +MORELLA +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET +MYSTIFICATION +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD +THE OBLONG BOX. +THE OVAL PORTRAIT +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM +THE POWER OF WORDS +A PREDICAMENT +THE PREMATURE BURIAL +THE PURLOINED LETTER +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS +SHADOW—A PARABLE +SILENCE—A FABLE +THE SPECTACLES +THE SPHINX +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER +THE TELL-TALE HEART. +THOU ART THE MAN +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY +WILLIAM WILSON +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +POETRY +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE +OLD ENGLISH POETRY PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE +ANNABEL LEE. +FOR ANNIE +THE BELLS. +THE CITY IN THE SEA. +ELDORADO. +AN ENIGMA +TO F——. +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD +TO HELEN +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +THE RAVEN. +THE SLEEPER. +ULALUME +A VALENTINE. + +POEMS OF MANHOOD +THE COLISEUM. +THE CONQUEROR WORM. +DREAM-LAND +THE HAUNTED PALACE. +HYMN +LENORE +TO ONE IN PARADISE. +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" +SILENCE +TO ZANTE + +POEMS OF YOUTH +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 +LETTER TO MR. B—. +AL AARAAF +A DREAM +DREAMS +EVENING STAR +FAIRY-LAND +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." +TO HELEN +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS +IMITATION +ISRAFEL +THE LAKE —— TO—— +SONG +SONNET—TO SCIENCE +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD +TAMERLANE +TO —— +TO —— +TO THE RIVER—— +ROMANCE +THE VALLEY OF UNREST +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +DOUBTFUL POEMS +ALONE +THE FOREST REVERIE +TO ISADORE +THE VILLAGE STREET + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The +Raven Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + +***** This file should be named 25525-8.txt or 25525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/2/25525/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..22d0607 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +{ + "head": "v1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2336d6c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E036_no_id/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +8d4c1e7087aa15042751806750115365b73f4fe93a7503d29fd5b1ce45b95879ae6e2a99b54a4d5e63a5d5b1d4107fbfd264c2426ede2d9f84ec8dd6954a7166 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a09260 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9153d4d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4c4299547f3a093936d99484f4ecb1a3b40368819b77d1f03593fdce7d67ef67a8f4c620737ffb3b8108f91f496a164682659b8d991ae60fb4c44b4aaa002485 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..958ee32 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-two", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c549adc --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +06de75ec9d8d4e13d5f456b5655db0bdd2533dbab99f76c696a47e41e0cb60bb555022352a5b35876f81f2572de76448452603d56767abc723b35ef41ae782a8 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a09260 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9153d4d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E037_inconsistent_id/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4c4299547f3a093936d99484f4ecb1a3b40368819b77d1f03593fdce7d67ef67a8f4c620737ffb3b8108f91f496a164682659b8d991ae60fb4c44b4aaa002485 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef25436 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..026bdfa --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a8b71c0d51857db6b3ffce79c7c07769c79cdb759162a4feb318b795f5c8eedd0751ed0f342f3090d3f831cb56d770da702897bef9502d4b1578975dc29dbb5b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a09260 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9153d4d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_head_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4c4299547f3a093936d99484f4ecb1a3b40368819b77d1f03593fdce7d67ef67a8f4c620737ffb3b8108f91f496a164682659b8d991ae60fb4c44b4aaa002485 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b75f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e8ddfc --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +afd63d2716d71ca36614009744258b34754188a7f074b64711976dc611dbc7338b05fd3e00e37de6f5235be45498584e3e922b12d848538b11884a7a92354cfa inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b75f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e8ddfc --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_doesnt_exist/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +afd63d2716d71ca36614009744258b34754188a7f074b64711976dc611dbc7338b05fd3e00e37de6f5235be45498584e3e922b12d848538b11884a7a92354cfa inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab409c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": { "should not": "be a JSON object" }, + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10a949a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2224bac2062cfefd65652e59c9b8df88c16a64a85ae30158b958b6e78402ca44b0759c698810310186ac77d9522e514d77d93f2352f6b7fd391f8ac002bf5c2e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab409c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": { "should not": "be a JSON object" }, + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10a949a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_head_format/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2224bac2062cfefd65652e59c9b8df88c16a64a85ae30158b958b6e78402ca44b0759c698810310186ac77d9522e514d77d93f2352f6b7fd391f8ac002bf5c2e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..510cd14 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:25.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v3", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c76f0b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +d0b0c8f740287a68ea4359c975af08d534792664edd914926bdf8504eaf89928bab7d79084f1368ac3567e5b57fdf849b4d87625382f0847018099e756fd5c66 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..510cd14 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:25.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v3", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c76f0b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +d0b0c8f740287a68ea4359c975af08d534792664edd914926bdf8504eaf89928bab7d79084f1368ac3567e5b57fdf849b4d87625382f0847018099e756fd5c66 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v3/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v3/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..510cd14 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v3/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:25.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt", + "test-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v3", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v3/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v3/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c76f0b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E040_wrong_version_in_version_dir/v3/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +d0b0c8f740287a68ea4359c975af08d534792664edd914926bdf8504eaf89928bab7d79084f1368ac3567e5b57fdf849b4d87625382f0847018099e756fd5c66 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7acdf07 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,13 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/E041_no_manifest", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0813522 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a3babcced3b19747a6861865a6328e35ba6932f52ac109405729ff28a9c73305597d4289824d2abe74af09d0c39041bb138e179cd4ef6d2b5180fc2e57f958ff inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7acdf07 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,13 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/E041_no_manifest", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0813522 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E041_no_manifest/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a3babcced3b19747a6861865a6328e35ba6932f52ac109405729ff28a9c73305597d4289824d2abe74af09d0c39041bb138e179cd4ef6d2b5180fc2e57f958ff inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a09260 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9153d4d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E046_root_not_most_recent/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4c4299547f3a093936d99484f4ecb1a3b40368819b77d1f03593fdce7d67ef67a8f4c620737ffb3b8108f91f496a164682659b8d991ae60fb4c44b4aaa002485 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39048b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": { "key": "should be a datetime string" }, + "state": "should be an object", + "message": [ "should be a string" ], + "user": "should be an object" + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c80716 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +217c2b942047534e7ad60dceb646cd0060f79d18c7f60a6b99a20d206af4e3c52b9780d13e6ad5be0090ec517d979bdf3533d7da5ee57452094952967e5e27bb inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39048b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": { "key": "should be a datetime string" }, + "state": "should be an object", + "message": [ "should be a string" ], + "user": "should be an object" + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c80716 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_E050_E054_bad_version_block_values/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +217c2b942047534e7ad60dceb646cd0060f79d18c7f60a6b99a20d206af4e3c52b9780d13e6ad5be0090ec517d979bdf3533d7da5ee57452094952967e5e27bb inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d66d2ec --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:a/b/cde-1", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A log message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5e39d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +02e64028cdd0d90f75e028c2af5e617c1a351bbfd9246cd954c78218f4040884b89b13879395475006cf54c2ce796a2fe9deb5984bc4eaa03d0a488a2da8d5dc inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d66d2ec --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:a/b/cde-1", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A log message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5e39d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_no_timezone/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +02e64028cdd0d90f75e028c2af5e617c1a351bbfd9246cd954c78218f4040884b89b13879395475006cf54c2ce796a2fe9deb5984bc4eaa03d0a488a2da8d5dc inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd7bc0f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:a/b/cde-1", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:02Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A log message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bcb1c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4deac38a880cb2feb3ae4a57dc5b27e32147eb7d46f9cd5aec148dd75156ba3eb2a2d8d8c15360d40458a2073c0293a3b6bc828d805e966f59b7e811f89d63d6 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd7bc0f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:a/b/cde-1", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:02Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A log message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bcb1c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E049_created_not_to_seconds/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4deac38a880cb2feb3ae4a57dc5b27e32147eb7d46f9cd5aec148dd75156ba3eb2a2d8d8c15360d40458a2073c0293a3b6bc828d805e966f59b7e811f89d63d6 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de4802d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24F950AAC7B9EA9B3CB728228A0C82B67C39E96B4B344798870D5DAEE93E3AE5931BAAE8C7CACFEA4B629452C38026A81D138BC7AAD1AF3EF7BFD5EC646D6C28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c2013b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +1021512a944ef760c7538bd0623f48ee20eb54ba02377d33798793f489ceb45cf688e2195a8f8d6e6167992328877c4edca52cf37da586652155209730fa43c2 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de4802d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24F950AAC7B9EA9B3CB728228A0C82B67C39E96B4B344798870D5DAEE93E3AE5931BAAE8C7CACFEA4B629452C38026A81D138BC7AAD1AF3EF7BFD5EC646D6C28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c2013b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E050_manifest_digest_wrong_case/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +1021512a944ef760c7538bd0623f48ee20eb54ba02377d33798793f489ceb45cf688e2195a8f8d6e6167992328877c4edca52cf37da586652155209730fa43c2 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34e4df4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "../../file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "//file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..648dd12 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7504cfa114dee685309a25a447b68f9e24ffda6b694a07fab09bab927b55ac99928dff51bc1432289e763b866a07fe37ada6102ebe5a73520fa03a5231e6bb16 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5626abf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +one diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f719efd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +two diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34e4df4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "../../file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "//file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..648dd12 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E053_E052_invalid_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7504cfa114dee685309a25a447b68f9e24ffda6b694a07fab09bab927b55ac99928dff51bc1432289e763b866a07fe37ada6102ebe5a73520fa03a5231e6bb16 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7cfed70 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/E058_no_sidecar", + "manifest": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "v1/content/file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-05-21T19:00:00Z", + "message": "a version", + "state": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "name": "Other Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0123-0123-0123-012X" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/content/file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/content/file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce01362 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/content/file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +hello diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7cfed70 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/E058_no_sidecar", + "manifest": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "v1/content/file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-05-21T19:00:00Z", + "message": "a version", + "state": { + "e7c22b994c59d9cf2b48e549b1e24666636045930d3da7c1acb299d1c3b7f931f94aae41edda2c2b207a36e10f8bcb8d45223e54878f5b316e7ce3b6bc019629": [ + "file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "name": "Other Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0123-0123-0123-012X" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d79bbef --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E058_no_sidecar/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +61d80ef3b61ea4f3e294b61152e9f3d1b09b0299e76ccf37d0828b8ade08b5ebdcb30fbdb950b59f3f23ab527238c3fd5c3bafc338455a931f9b1a1ff2ebacbc inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a468746 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Changed!", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_E064_root_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a09260 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9153d4d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4c4299547f3a093936d99484f4ecb1a3b40368819b77d1f03593fdce7d67ef67a8f4c620737ffb3b8108f91f496a164682659b8d991ae60fb4c44b4aaa002485 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a468746 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Changed!", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a09260 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9153d4d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E060_version_inventory_digest_mismatch/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4c4299547f3a093936d99484f4ecb1a3b40368819b77d1f03593fdce7d67ef67a8f4c620737ffb3b8108f91f496a164682659b8d991ae60fb4c44b4aaa002485 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6462d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E061_invalid_sidecar/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E063_no_inv/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E063_no_inv/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E063_no_inv/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E063_no_inv/v1/file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E063_no_inv/v1/file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce01362 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E063_no_inv/v1/file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +hello diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70e5734 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,10 @@ +{"digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": {"43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": ["v1/content/a_file.txt"]}, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": {"v1": {"created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "Some content", + "state": {"43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": ["a_file.txt"]}, + "user": {"address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000", + "name": "Archivist 872465"}}}} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..384a94e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +5177ce7b5024f8f41efcf65af6c02d097004a95fe57d430cd407c013b0d836e075df59f8451ab94e494ec2088903e4ef15db0cc27f1f3cc8b9be034b86ae5955 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3f2165 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Some content", + "user": { + "name": "Archivist 872465", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ade11e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E064_different_root_and_latest_inventories/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +07105e1ed1a523e668913476c1713b430318d873f175cea39d0554324eca2d5b62fcec98b14c1619a4c8acacfdb1520348e125d51c5e9c9074f1ed08497501e9 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba3dfef --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ], + "50796c63787882a231f28345c1b03879df15d8cc327dbeeec4543bc67f9210b4497542b20da01073b252a8c1e100e6575abfea82a64ccda2415611870f6ce5d5": [ + "v2/content/file-4.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ], + "50796c63787882a231f28345c1b03879df15d8cc327dbeeec4543bc67f9210b4497542b20da01073b252a8c1e100e6575abfea82a64ccda2415611870f6ce5d5": [ + "file-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df837b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7f6c9b57be8a5d2f508e302caec4ac9890654f1fecadf60d00ea2a8f613e32e7e08b809ac1739e39ba7a465e9d6a46ca221b954b1364dc90e467c8cc166f1c23 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-1.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5626abf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-1.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +one diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f719efd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +two diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-3.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-3.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/content/file-3.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e386328 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "17e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "17e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c920561 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +375beb559fc8eaa92d6ec581f56d109de5457cfab11b9b06d6a3752397d80e343ecd13f2bfa4a091fc65b64c751fb1112e8ab0cd96fc44f42bb95b30bf9dda4f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/content/file-4.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/content/file-4.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8510665 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/content/file-4.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +four diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba3dfef --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ], + "50796c63787882a231f28345c1b03879df15d8cc327dbeeec4543bc67f9210b4497542b20da01073b252a8c1e100e6575abfea82a64ccda2415611870f6ce5d5": [ + "v2/content/file-4.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ], + "50796c63787882a231f28345c1b03879df15d8cc327dbeeec4543bc67f9210b4497542b20da01073b252a8c1e100e6575abfea82a64ccda2415611870f6ce5d5": [ + "file-4.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df837b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_E092_old_manifest_digest_incorrect/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7f6c9b57be8a5d2f508e302caec4ac9890654f1fecadf60d00ea2a8f613e32e7e08b809ac1739e39ba7a465e9d6a46ca221b954b1364dc90e467c8cc166f1c23 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..046f278 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "changed" + ], + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6cf715 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +41f8df9f72d69e58c3576727af1ccc5815f8e4568d5db8bf7c506a2e6008b858 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-1.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5626abf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-1.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +one diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f719efd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +two diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-3.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-3.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/content/file-3.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e692bd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..991e179 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +84a149de7b276668d61cc35c9859bb2c1d8ce1d57eb5b9a619ea6679cf5993220925d14868e260723ef49304bf95b9cbd63273649ffb4a4c8d61012b58c5af43 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..046f278 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "changed" + ], + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v2/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v2/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6cf715 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_algorithm_change_state_mismatch/v2/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +41f8df9f72d69e58c3576727af1ccc5815f8e4568d5db8bf7c506a2e6008b858 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a09260 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9153d4d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4c4299547f3a093936d99484f4ecb1a3b40368819b77d1f03593fdce7d67ef67a8f4c620737ffb3b8108f91f496a164682659b8d991ae60fb4c44b4aaa002485 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c727f56 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "1.txt", + "2.txt", + "3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca06b0e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +dffc968dc5ee91c9d89b62c45d487983f251f394eebc6b70abaaa6a8d4f37f2de868eca7a89e23fea5680dbba830f4bf64770e7f999c2351220035a2659d05b9 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a09260 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:51:24.084110226-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt", + "test-2.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example v2", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9153d4d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E066_inconsistent_version_state/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4c4299547f3a093936d99484f4ecb1a3b40368819b77d1f03593fdce7d67ef67a8f4c620737ffb3b8108f91f496a164682659b8d991ae60fb4c44b4aaa002485 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/extensions/extra_file b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/extensions/extra_file new file mode 100644 index 0000000..42afc89 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/extensions/extra_file @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +This an extra file that is not allowed in the extensions +directory. It should result in the object being reported +as invalid. + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/extensions/unregistered/something_in_here b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/extensions/unregistered/something_in_here new file mode 100644 index 0000000..547a60a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/extensions/unregistered/something_in_here @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +This would be a file that is something to do with the +unregistered extension that uses the directory "unregistered". + +Who knows what it might be? It could be something very very +interesting, or very very scary. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E067_file_in_extensions_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8ed16f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt", + "v1/content/bonus.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "eb1a3227cdc3fedbaec2fe38bf6c044a": [ + "v1/content/test.txt", + "v1/content/bonus.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13ba55b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ab6a8e2278fd75163a29eddfafe84e1cf96841a7c0d1ddb5143422e9ff87a96b42d807221f6911df63d23d1112bc0481e0669d44750999f5326e7328ec31236b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8ed16f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt", + "v1/content/bonus.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "eb1a3227cdc3fedbaec2fe38bf6c044a": [ + "v1/content/test.txt", + "v1/content/bonus.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13ba55b --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_E093_content_path_does_not_exist/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ab6a8e2278fd75163a29eddfafe84e1cf96841a7c0d1ddb5143422e9ff87a96b42d807221f6911df63d23d1112bc0481e0669d44750999f5326e7328ec31236b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea9e6f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6d0507 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +69861638fe8548ffa485843c64ff0e7926388c91fbc3c114ca7ad029c29770ce inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-1.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5626abf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-1.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +one diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f719efd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +two diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-3.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-3.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/content/file-3.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1609323 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "13b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "17e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "1fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "17e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "1fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "13b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..172aec9 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +dafc17d414e0c4d66dcc37db6557866f55bc59229d493241da36d6db5a89e9ae7eb078fa1eac326abef4af5c743ca06b2bee7862ab3f74a34d6892630007e72e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea9e6f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "head": "v2", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:22:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "2c8b08da5ce60398e1f19af0e5dccc744df274b826abe585eaba68c525434806": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "f6936912184481f5edd4c304ce27c5a1a827804fc7f329f43d273b8621870776": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "27dd8ed44a83ff94d557f9fd0412ed5a8cbca69ea04922d88c01184a07300a5a": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v2/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v2/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6d0507 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_algorithm_change_incorrect_digest/v2/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +69861638fe8548ffa485843c64ff0e7926388c91fbc3c114ca7ad029c29770ce inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e06166 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +updated! diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d373d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c91a7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E092_content_file_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +cb7a451c595050e0e50d979b79bce86e28728b8557a3cf4ea430114278b5411c7bad6a7ecc1f4d0250e94f9d8add3b648194d75a74c0cb14c4439f427829569e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..136ab56 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "9eacfb9289073dd9c9a8c4cdf820ac71": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c54b69 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +791db490bbbb2c5da5e4a842ef45f5a12a80c018adc5b966185d7bf61b0f66608527ba5b006902c6226e041915d81aa3d74aa856fd15343fd0eadaf28be04790 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..136ab56 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "9eacfb9289073dd9c9a8c4cdf820ac71": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c54b69 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E093_fixity_digest_mismatch/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +791db490bbbb2c5da5e4a842ef45f5a12a80c018adc5b966185d7bf61b0f66608527ba5b006902c6226e041915d81aa3d74aa856fd15343fd0eadaf28be04790 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e527be2 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/E095_conflicting_logical_paths", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "946af3bfd3b0b84ea0d99136085dcd66ee7e769371dbcd097ed35fd377116087e25d004afd68dc48e4eb0bcb6a434b04078577b531a7da1452296d1ae98d20b3": [ + "v1/content/another_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-05-13T11:00:00Z", + "message": "Invalid state has path and sub-path", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "sub-path/a_file.txt" + ], + "946af3bfd3b0b84ea0d99136085dcd66ee7e769371dbcd097ed35fd377116087e25d004afd68dc48e4eb0bcb6a434b04078577b531a7da1452296d1ae98d20b3": [ + "sub-path" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..952e308 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +de868e8d84c59d463a765c7521f7eba5f81882a7972ef9ab2c7d1c9d4bda6896b7941d8ab189fc4ef52225f5d2797e094f2e322d130c0d00367d5e0f4972e523 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/content/another_file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/content/another_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71ec368 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/content/another_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +I am another file. diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e527be2 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/E095_conflicting_logical_paths", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "946af3bfd3b0b84ea0d99136085dcd66ee7e769371dbcd097ed35fd377116087e25d004afd68dc48e4eb0bcb6a434b04078577b531a7da1452296d1ae98d20b3": [ + "v1/content/another_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-05-13T11:00:00Z", + "message": "Invalid state has path and sub-path", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "sub-path/a_file.txt" + ], + "946af3bfd3b0b84ea0d99136085dcd66ee7e769371dbcd097ed35fd377116087e25d004afd68dc48e4eb0bcb6a434b04078577b531a7da1452296d1ae98d20b3": [ + "sub-path" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..952e308 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_conflicting_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +de868e8d84c59d463a765c7521f7eba5f81882a7972ef9ab2c7d1c9d4bda6896b7941d8ab189fc4ef52225f5d2797e094f2e322d130c0d00367d5e0f4972e523 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..43adb4a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt", "file-4.txt", "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e155f0f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +d90ced96f50ba8399c424f55fbe5747255cfdfc060cafd950c9294239d72fdf0d499d21e7b662b0f223a01e11305bacf7107dca6b5c21244cfc023f4779e7b5e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5626abf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +one diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f719efd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +two diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..43adb4a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt", "file-4.txt", "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e155f0f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E095_non_unique_logical_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +d90ced96f50ba8399c424f55fbe5747255cfdfc060cafd950c9294239d72fdf0d499d21e7b662b0f223a01e11305bacf7107dca6b5c21244cfc023f4779e7b5e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08bf13a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ], + "24F950AAC7B9EA9B3CB728228A0C82B67C39E96B4B344798870D5DAEE93E3AE5931BAAE8C7CACFEA4B629452C38026A81D138BC7AAD1AF3EF7BFD5EC646D6C28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1dc41e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +65153ece978746ccac590d04fc1cca5d76ee549cb6701ac36a009f2e72bb8d2f386519f8aab88531e9d985574fcc836f63341391e2ba2569404d561db7481325 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08bf13a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ], + "24F950AAC7B9EA9B3CB728228A0C82B67C39E96B4B344798870D5DAEE93E3AE5931BAAE8C7CACFEA4B629452C38026A81D138BC7AAD1AF3EF7BFD5EC646D6C28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1dc41e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E096_manifest_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +65153ece978746ccac590d04fc1cca5d76ee549cb6701ac36a009f2e72bb8d2f386519f8aab88531e9d985574fcc836f63341391e2ba2569404d561db7481325 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..933afd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "eb1a3227cdc3fedbaec2fe38bf6c044a": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ], + "EB1A3227CDC3FEDBAEC2FE38BF6C044A": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7fd471 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +f2341a65bc091546a63c90ae63f9cf3619258cbd74d03d5811e74d581ab38c52f1cc8db065c75175d75a2b1189808a032e840263ade2f841fb8af596a530eeec inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..933afd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "eb1a3227cdc3fedbaec2fe38bf6c044a": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ], + "EB1A3227CDC3FEDBAEC2FE38BF6C044A": [ + "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7fd471 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E097_fixity_duplicate_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +f2341a65bc091546a63c90ae63f9cf3619258cbd74d03d5811e74d581ab38c52f1cc8db065c75175d75a2b1189808a032e840263ade2f841fb8af596a530eeec inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b566b74 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "5bbf5a52328e7439ae6e719dfe712200": [ + "v1/content/../content/file-1.txt" + ], + "c193497a1a06b2c72230e6146ff47080": [ + "v1/content//file-2.txt" + ], + "febe6995bad457991331348f7b9c85fa": [ + "/v1/content/file-3.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b65a131 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9d51a2ce184f399418c542822b67426dc0a904c0fb03f1c2735b6d4e2d213d1deb736c7c1df00f60642d9202313b0ee228e4e70144f087e65cc5fcb678f9c6bf inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5626abf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +one diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f719efd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +two diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b566b74 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content/file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "5bbf5a52328e7439ae6e719dfe712200": [ + "v1/content/../content/file-1.txt" + ], + "c193497a1a06b2c72230e6146ff47080": [ + "v1/content//file-2.txt" + ], + "febe6995bad457991331348f7b9c85fa": [ + "/v1/content/file-3.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b65a131 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_fixity_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9d51a2ce184f399418c542822b67426dc0a904c0fb03f1c2735b6d4e2d213d1deb736c7c1df00f60642d9202313b0ee228e4e70144f087e65cc5fcb678f9c6bf inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd6d1db --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "/v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/../content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content//file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4fef39 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +71526418e94e2939d308d54bd5c2dfd79d043a164c7b946a636eebf37d2880f3f9cc3b6a4dbe8222cc15d5c11e49e2274f0147282bb1588d819812e28f1b8997 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5626abf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-1.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +one diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f719efd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +two diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bdf67a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/content/file-3.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +three diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd6d1db --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "/v1/content/file-3.txt" + ], + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "v1/content/../content/file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "v1/content//file-2.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T10:21:21.740101149-05:00", + "state": { + "07e41ccb166d21a5327d5a2ae1bb48192b8470e1357266c9d119c294cb1e95978569472c9de64fb6d93cbd4dd0aed0bf1e7c47fd1920de17b038a08a85eb4fa1": [ + "file-1.txt" + ], + "9fef2458ee1a9277925614272adfe60872f4c1bf02eecce7276166957d1ab30f65cf5c8065a294bf1b13e3c3589ba936a3b5db911572e30dfcb200ef71ad33d5": [ + "file-2.txt" + ], + "b3b26d26c9d8cfbb884b50e798f93ac6bef275a018547b1560af3e6d38f2723785731d3ca6338682fa7ac9acb506b3c594a125ce9d3d60cd14498304cc864cf2": [ + "file-3.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Multiple files", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4fef39 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E100_E099_manifest_invalid_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +71526418e94e2939d308d54bd5c2dfd79d043a164c7b946a636eebf37d2880f3f9cc3b6a4dbe8222cc15d5c11e49e2274f0147282bb1588d819812e28f1b8997 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b2ab0e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt", "v1/content/test-copy.txt", "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eeb6b21 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3729c3bbc05605a0bc23727c6ef357ebb046b244faddaad831d8ae48b61d52f06469f56dda85d379b248456a1513b21286af594e5392a8bf86c7381d0e278bf4 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/content/test-copy.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/content/test-copy.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/content/test-copy.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/content/test.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/content/test.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038d718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/content/test.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +testing diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b2ab0e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "id": "urn:example-2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "v1/content/test.txt", "v1/content/test-copy.txt", "v1/content/test.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2021-03-31T08:22:37.241208990-05:00", + "state": { + "24f950aac7b9ea9b3cb728228a0c82b67c39e96b4b344798870d5daee93e3ae5931baae8c7cacfea4b629452c38026a81d138bc7aad1af3ef7bfd5ec646d6c28": [ + "test.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Simple example", + "user": { + "name": "tester", + "address": "mailto:tests@example.com" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eeb6b21 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E101_non_unique_content_paths/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3729c3bbc05605a0bc23727c6ef357ebb046b244faddaad831d8ae48b61d52f06469f56dda85d379b248456a1513b21286af594e5392a8bf86c7381d0e278bf4 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/inventory.json similarity index 100% rename from 1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/inventory.json rename to 1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/inventory.json diff --git a/1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/inventory.json.sha512 similarity index 100% rename from 1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/inventory.json.sha512 rename to 1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/inventory.json.sha512 diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce01362 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +hello diff --git a/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file2.txt b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13ab7f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/content/file2.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +hello again diff --git a/1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/inventory.json similarity index 100% rename from 1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/inventory.json rename to 1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/inventory.json diff --git a/1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/inventory.json.sha512 similarity index 100% rename from 1.0/bad-objects/E050_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/inventory.json.sha512 rename to 1.1/bad-objects/E107_file_in_manifest_not_used/v1/inventory.json.sha512 diff --git a/1.1/content/README.md b/1.1/content/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9046b5d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +# `content` fixtures + +Data that comprises sets of object content arranged version directories in order to test the construction of OCFL objects and their subsequent extraction. Each fixture directory `cf`N contains a readme file describing the features of the fixture. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf1/README.md b/1.1/content/cf1/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2529cbd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf1/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +# cf1 + +One version with one small file. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf1/v1/a_file.txt b/1.1/content/cf1/v1/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf1/v1/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf2/README.md b/1.1/content/cf2/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..daaf00e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf2/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +# cf2 + +Threes versions with three revisions of one small file. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf2/v1/a_file.txt b/1.1/content/cf2/v1/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf2/v1/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf2/v2/a_file.txt b/1.1/content/cf2/v2/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c38ee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf2/v2/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf2/v3/a_file.txt b/1.1/content/cf2/v3/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..829781d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf2/v3/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed again! diff --git a/1.1/content/cf3/README.md b/1.1/content/cf3/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..062c4e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf3/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +# cf3 + +Three versions of one small file that changes and then changes back to the same as v1. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf3/v1/a_file.txt b/1.1/content/cf3/v1/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf3/v1/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf3/v2/a_file.txt b/1.1/content/cf3/v2/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7d99d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf3/v2/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that has changed from my v1. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf3/v3/a_file.txt b/1.1/content/cf3/v3/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf3/v3/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/content/cf4/README.md b/1.1/content/cf4/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..448d0a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/cf4/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,12 @@ +# cf4 + +One file which contains all possible bytes (0..255) and also several different line ending combinations in order to check for possible pre-processing issues with digest creation. See . + +``` +simeon@RottenApple ~> perl -e 'open(my $fh, "> :raw :bytes", "a"); foreach $j (0...255) { print {$fh} "$j ".chr($j)."\n"; } print {$fh} "line endings: \r\n \n\r \r \n"; close($fh)' +simeon@RottenApple ~> shasum -t a; shasum -b a; shasum -p a +f7867717259f8026e014e4c56e1b4683c049e80c a +f7867717259f8026e014e4c56e1b4683c049e80c *a +f7867717259f8026e014e4c56e1b4683c049e80c ?a +``` + diff --git a/1.1/content/cf4/v1/a b/1.1/content/cf4/v1/a new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1a1aa6 Binary files /dev/null and b/1.1/content/cf4/v1/a differ diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-diff-paths/v1/a file.wxy b/1.1/content/spec-ex-diff-paths/v1/a file.wxy new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74f9e44 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-diff-paths/v1/a file.wxy @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +I am a file! diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-diff-paths/v1/another file.xyz b/1.1/content/spec-ex-diff-paths/v1/another file.xyz new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a70fd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-diff-paths/v1/another file.xyz @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +I am another file! diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1/empty.txt b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1/empty.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69de29 diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1/foo/bar.xml b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1/foo/bar.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9664aed --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1/foo/bar.xml @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ + + + Me, Myself, I + 2018-09-12 + Foo! + Dummy content for foo.xml + diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1/image.tiff b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1/image.tiff new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7bf1929 Binary files /dev/null and b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1/image.tiff differ diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1_inventory.json b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1_inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bfbc0d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v1_inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,16 @@ +{ + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:/12345/bcd987", + "type": "Object", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "Initial import", + "type": "Version", + "user": { + "address": "alice@example.com", + "name": "Alice" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2/empty.txt b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2/empty.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69de29 diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2/empty2.txt b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2/empty2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69de29 diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2/foo/bar.xml b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2/foo/bar.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9522b2d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2/foo/bar.xml @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ + + + Me, Myself, I + 2018-10-01 + Bar! + Dummy content for bar.xml + diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2_inventory.json b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2_inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfb6641 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v2_inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,16 @@ +{ + "head": "v2", + "id": "ark:/12345/bcd987", + "type": "Object", + "versions": { + "v2": { + "created": "2018-02-02T02:02:02Z", + "message": "Fix bar.xml, remove image.tiff, add empty2.txt", + "type": "Version", + "user": { + "address": "bob@example.com", + "name": "Bob" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3/empty2.txt b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3/empty2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69de29 diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3/foo/bar.xml b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3/foo/bar.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9522b2d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3/foo/bar.xml @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ + + + Me, Myself, I + 2018-10-01 + Bar! + Dummy content for bar.xml + diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3/image.tiff b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3/image.tiff new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7bf1929 Binary files /dev/null and b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3/image.tiff differ diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3_inventory.json b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3_inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e670b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-full/v3_inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,16 @@ +{ + "head": "v2", + "id": "ark:/12345/bcd987", + "type": "Object", + "versions": { + "v3": { + "created": "2018-03-03T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Reinstate image.tiff, delete empty.txt", + "type": "Version", + "user": { + "address": "cecilia@example.com", + "name": "Cecilia" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/content/spec-ex-minimal/v1/file.txt b/1.1/content/spec-ex-minimal/v1/file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74f9e44 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/content/spec-ex-minimal/v1/file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +I am a file! diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6676128 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "contentDirectory": "stuff", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/stuff/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "A file", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b7f5c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b2697591cc512b6306adc5266e766a40f445332ed1916090d7b7ef64e8efd6984fcd1171303f27763cb81b5f6cbad86d5be75361c6c6ab733d9738795006982b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6676128 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +{ + "contentDirectory": "stuff", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/stuff/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "A file", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b7f5c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b2697591cc512b6306adc5266e766a40f445332ed1916090d7b7ef64e8efd6984fcd1171303f27763cb81b5f6cbad86d5be75361c6c6ab733d9738795006982b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/stuff/a_file.txt b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/stuff/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_content_dir_called_stuff/v1/stuff/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be145c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/minimal_mixed_digests", + "manifest": { + "43A43fE8A8A082D3B5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "Example with digests using mixed case while still retaining an exact string match beween state and manifest blocks", + "state": { + "43A43fE8A8A082D3B5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1ae87c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3cdd66decd2a725d60ddf33e9d161142b08b86f3c981192c0c2728145b13be51a0f32d9b8af0654ed55ebe324e13249ca58e2638d5b0236c6bf1c14edbb1fd8e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be145c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/minimal_mixed_digests", + "manifest": { + "43A43fE8A8A082D3B5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "Example with digests using mixed case while still retaining an exact string match beween state and manifest blocks", + "state": { + "43A43fE8A8A082D3B5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1ae87c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_mixed_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3cdd66decd2a725d60ddf33e9d161142b08b86f3c981192c0c2728145b13be51a0f32d9b8af0654ed55ebe324e13249ca58e2638d5b0236c6bf1c14edbb1fd8e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f99196 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,15 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/minimal_no_content", + "manifest": { }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "One version and no content", + "state": { }, + "user": { "address": "mailto:Person_A@example.org", "name": "Person A" } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3d73e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +f8f38b77047fe6af4d5b4557d2559b787cb979470ef8c5562cb5620af94362ff7de5965caac2925c70defb79c97efef8f569c6319198cf1fbafc2bd9e294664b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f99196 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,15 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "http://example.org/minimal_no_content", + "manifest": { }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "One version and no content", + "state": { }, + "user": { "address": "mailto:Person_A@example.org", "name": "Person A" } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3d73e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_no_content/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +f8f38b77047fe6af4d5b4557d2559b787cb979470ef8c5562cb5620af94362ff7de5965caac2925c70defb79c97efef8f569c6319198cf1fbafc2bd9e294664b inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0f568c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "An version with one file", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35c7a7c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +f889cd4ba8cfd5b52c5f8c9ca99cb404586e60ee5d5b9b5508338f296776bf613719175253d9027c7e166ede7182785889b5ca59e19e441e47cde56b5bc20949 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0f568c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "An version with one file", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35c7a7c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_one_version_one_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +f889cd4ba8cfd5b52c5f8c9ca99cb404586e60ee5d5b9b5508338f296776bf613719175253d9027c7e166ede7182785889b5ca59e19e441e47cde56b5bc20949 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d593718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:00000/minimal_uppercase_digests", + "manifest": { + "43A43FE8A8A082D3B5343DFAF2FD0C8B8E370675B1F376E92E9994612C33EA255B11298269D72F797399EBB94EDEEFE53DF243643676548F584FB8603CA53A0F": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "The valid example has uppercase digests", + "state": { + "43A43FE8A8A082D3B5343DFAF2FD0C8B8E370675B1F376E92E9994612C33EA255B11298269D72F797399EBB94EDEEFE53DF243643676548F584FB8603CA53A0F": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a70a15f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +16668b244fe190017792df38a26392bfca1b20644d6ea26dc87f0a4ae1840e932b2617b94fd9ee3bb765ff93e5c13e7f507cbfadbf00d727e4933f8d1039e19d inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d593718 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:00000/minimal_uppercase_digests", + "manifest": { + "43A43FE8A8A082D3B5343DFAF2FD0C8B8E370675B1F376E92E9994612C33EA255B11298269D72F797399EBB94EDEEFE53DF243643676548F584FB8603CA53A0F": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "The valid example has uppercase digests", + "state": { + "43A43FE8A8A082D3B5343DFAF2FD0C8B8E370675B1F376E92E9994612C33EA255B11298269D72F797399EBB94EDEEFE53DF243643676548F584FB8603CA53A0F": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:a_person@example.org", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a70a15f --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/minimal_uppercase_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +16668b244fe190017792df38a26392bfca1b20644d6ea26dc87f0a4ae1840e932b2617b94fd9ee3bb765ff93e5c13e7f507cbfadbf00d727e4933f8d1039e19d inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0d7afd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "e8f239a71aabe2231faf696d92c92c20": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + }, + "sha1": { + "43c8321bda03dea62b63a5c09e9105b24ab6121b": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + }, + "sha256": { + "0b13a01dc7580ed7d4737d62ecd1a0c2067b0f3eccc327f4964fd82d582e3fd4": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + }, + "sha512": { + "a8a450d00c6ca7aa90e3e4858864fc195b6b2fe0a75c2d1e078e92eca232ce7be034a129ea9ea9cda2b0efaf11ba8f5ebdbebacb12f7992a4c37cad589e16a4d": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + }, + "blake2b-512": { + "51ff3faaf6b51b56011aea528fde0c43af07912011d1baa4fba795b899aa96e01452afc32d757777695bb9c93add6e8cb166b5e6f1c3670d9950e15570922203": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + } + }, + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:something/abc", + "manifest": { + "a8a450d00c6ca7aa90e3e4858864fc195b6b2fe0a75c2d1e078e92eca232ce7be034a129ea9ea9cda2b0efaf11ba8f5ebdbebacb12f7992a4c37cad589e16a4d": [ + "v1/content/file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2000-01-02T03:04:05Z", + "state": { + "a8a450d00c6ca7aa90e3e4858864fc195b6b2fe0a75c2d1e078e92eca232ce7be034a129ea9ea9cda2b0efaf11ba8f5ebdbebacb12f7992a4c37cad589e16a4d": [ + "file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A file", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f65395 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4a26fa30a45c11bed49d9d09410c105b1eb313c02956ad1e0f5dcb0540a7830dbcab280f075fd5c4e39dce849b17a38cde2c39d6fdabf6e36e354d446c0bb528 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/content/file.txt b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/content/file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2f9329 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/content/file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Content file here. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0d7afd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "e8f239a71aabe2231faf696d92c92c20": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + }, + "sha1": { + "43c8321bda03dea62b63a5c09e9105b24ab6121b": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + }, + "sha256": { + "0b13a01dc7580ed7d4737d62ecd1a0c2067b0f3eccc327f4964fd82d582e3fd4": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + }, + "sha512": { + "a8a450d00c6ca7aa90e3e4858864fc195b6b2fe0a75c2d1e078e92eca232ce7be034a129ea9ea9cda2b0efaf11ba8f5ebdbebacb12f7992a4c37cad589e16a4d": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + }, + "blake2b-512": { + "51ff3faaf6b51b56011aea528fde0c43af07912011d1baa4fba795b899aa96e01452afc32d757777695bb9c93add6e8cb166b5e6f1c3670d9950e15570922203": [ "v1/content/file.txt" ] + } + }, + "head": "v1", + "id": "info:something/abc", + "manifest": { + "a8a450d00c6ca7aa90e3e4858864fc195b6b2fe0a75c2d1e078e92eca232ce7be034a129ea9ea9cda2b0efaf11ba8f5ebdbebacb12f7992a4c37cad589e16a4d": [ + "v1/content/file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2000-01-02T03:04:05Z", + "state": { + "a8a450d00c6ca7aa90e3e4858864fc195b6b2fe0a75c2d1e078e92eca232ce7be034a129ea9ea9cda2b0efaf11ba8f5ebdbebacb12f7992a4c37cad589e16a4d": [ + "file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A file", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f65395 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/ocfl_object_all_fixity_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4a26fa30a45c11bed49d9d09410c105b1eb313c02956ad1e0f5dcb0540a7830dbcab280f075fd5c4e39dce849b17a38cde2c39d6fdabf6e36e354d446c0bb528 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..929e404 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,107 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "184f84e28cbe75e050e9c25ea7f2e939": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "2673a7b11a70bc7ff960ad8127b4adeb": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "c289c8ccd4bab6e385f5afdd89b5bda2": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ], + "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "66709b068a2faead97113559db78ccd44712cbf2": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "a6357c99ecc5752931e133227581e914968f3b9c": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "b9c7ccc6154974288132b63c15db8d2750716b49": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ], + "da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ] + } + }, + "head": "v3", + "id": "ark:/12345/bcd987", + "manifest": { + "4d27c86b026ff709b02b05d126cfef7ec3aed5f83f5e98df7d7592f7a44bd1dc7f29509cff06b884158baa36a2bbeda11ab8a64b56585a70f5ce1fa96e26eb53": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "7dcc352f96c56dc5b094b2492c2866afeb12136a78f0143431ae247d02f02497bbd733e0536d34ec9703eba14c6017ea9f5738322c1d43169f8c77785947ac31": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "Initial import", + "state": { + "7dcc352f96c56dc5b094b2492c2866afeb12136a78f0143431ae247d02f02497bbd733e0536d34ec9703eba14c6017ea9f5738322c1d43169f8c77785947ac31": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "image.tiff" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:alice@example.com", + "name": "Alice" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2018-02-02T02:02:02Z", + "message": "Fix bar.xml, remove image.tiff, add empty2.txt", + "state": { + "4d27c86b026ff709b02b05d126cfef7ec3aed5f83f5e98df7d7592f7a44bd1dc7f29509cff06b884158baa36a2bbeda11ab8a64b56585a70f5ce1fa96e26eb53": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty.txt", + "empty2.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:bob@example.com", + "name": "Bob" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2018-03-03T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Reinstate image.tiff, delete empty.txt", + "state": { + "4d27c86b026ff709b02b05d126cfef7ec3aed5f83f5e98df7d7592f7a44bd1dc7f29509cff06b884158baa36a2bbeda11ab8a64b56585a70f5ce1fa96e26eb53": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty2.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "image.tiff" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:cecilia@example.com", + "name": "Cecilia" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd6b761 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9c79b29388b177feead576b156376e9180fcab81710fcdd3cac95b79d822c3b09b30d115619a861eb3d74c2933ef3689ba4660a6bc31001da1e87db281d09f66 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/content/empty.txt b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/content/empty.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69de29 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/content/foo/bar.xml b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/content/foo/bar.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9664aed --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/content/foo/bar.xml @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ + + + Me, Myself, I + 2018-09-12 + Foo! + Dummy content for foo.xml + diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/content/image.tiff b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/content/image.tiff new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7bf1929 Binary files /dev/null and b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/content/image.tiff differ diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b83aeb7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "184f84e28cbe75e050e9c25ea7f2e939": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "c289c8ccd4bab6e385f5afdd89b5bda2": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ], + "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "66709b068a2faead97113559db78ccd44712cbf2": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "b9c7ccc6154974288132b63c15db8d2750716b49": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ], + "da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ] + } + }, + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:/12345/bcd987", + "manifest": { + "7dcc352f96c56dc5b094b2492c2866afeb12136a78f0143431ae247d02f02497bbd733e0536d34ec9703eba14c6017ea9f5738322c1d43169f8c77785947ac31": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "Initial import", + "state": { + "7dcc352f96c56dc5b094b2492c2866afeb12136a78f0143431ae247d02f02497bbd733e0536d34ec9703eba14c6017ea9f5738322c1d43169f8c77785947ac31": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "image.tiff" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:alice@example.com", + "name": "Alice" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2e50bb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +f024161dc62bb142cd378c961b4735a290696acc2a1be04f39d679847d0583aa20776ea89676d2c1dcdc8cacc3f4900a3664fde47f4301ccd7397f6ecff0aafb inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/content/foo/bar.xml b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/content/foo/bar.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9522b2d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/content/foo/bar.xml @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ + + + Me, Myself, I + 2018-10-01 + Bar! + Dummy content for bar.xml + diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b43170 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "184f84e28cbe75e050e9c25ea7f2e939": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "2673a7b11a70bc7ff960ad8127b4adeb": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "c289c8ccd4bab6e385f5afdd89b5bda2": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ], + "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "66709b068a2faead97113559db78ccd44712cbf2": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "a6357c99ecc5752931e133227581e914968f3b9c": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "b9c7ccc6154974288132b63c15db8d2750716b49": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ], + "da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ] + } + }, + "head": "v2", + "id": "ark:/12345/bcd987", + "manifest": { + "4d27c86b026ff709b02b05d126cfef7ec3aed5f83f5e98df7d7592f7a44bd1dc7f29509cff06b884158baa36a2bbeda11ab8a64b56585a70f5ce1fa96e26eb53": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "7dcc352f96c56dc5b094b2492c2866afeb12136a78f0143431ae247d02f02497bbd733e0536d34ec9703eba14c6017ea9f5738322c1d43169f8c77785947ac31": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "Initial import", + "state": { + "7dcc352f96c56dc5b094b2492c2866afeb12136a78f0143431ae247d02f02497bbd733e0536d34ec9703eba14c6017ea9f5738322c1d43169f8c77785947ac31": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "image.tiff" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:alice@example.com", + "name": "Alice" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2018-02-02T02:02:02Z", + "message": "Fix bar.xml, remove image.tiff, add empty2.txt", + "state": { + "4d27c86b026ff709b02b05d126cfef7ec3aed5f83f5e98df7d7592f7a44bd1dc7f29509cff06b884158baa36a2bbeda11ab8a64b56585a70f5ce1fa96e26eb53": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty.txt", + "empty2.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:bob@example.com", + "name": "Bob" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1caed1d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +5da35df75d022565a1be009c9b25b3279c2adfea398fb2250dfc6135100c035eef2b61366f014646723200da60b26365bf0db233ca29b3325c90c09baad34de9 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v3/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v3/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..929e404 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v3/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,107 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "184f84e28cbe75e050e9c25ea7f2e939": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "2673a7b11a70bc7ff960ad8127b4adeb": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "c289c8ccd4bab6e385f5afdd89b5bda2": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ], + "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "66709b068a2faead97113559db78ccd44712cbf2": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "a6357c99ecc5752931e133227581e914968f3b9c": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "b9c7ccc6154974288132b63c15db8d2750716b49": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ], + "da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ] + } + }, + "head": "v3", + "id": "ark:/12345/bcd987", + "manifest": { + "4d27c86b026ff709b02b05d126cfef7ec3aed5f83f5e98df7d7592f7a44bd1dc7f29509cff06b884158baa36a2bbeda11ab8a64b56585a70f5ce1fa96e26eb53": [ + "v2/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "7dcc352f96c56dc5b094b2492c2866afeb12136a78f0143431ae247d02f02497bbd733e0536d34ec9703eba14c6017ea9f5738322c1d43169f8c77785947ac31": [ + "v1/content/foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "v1/content/empty.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "v1/content/image.tiff" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2018-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "message": "Initial import", + "state": { + "7dcc352f96c56dc5b094b2492c2866afeb12136a78f0143431ae247d02f02497bbd733e0536d34ec9703eba14c6017ea9f5738322c1d43169f8c77785947ac31": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "image.tiff" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:alice@example.com", + "name": "Alice" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2018-02-02T02:02:02Z", + "message": "Fix bar.xml, remove image.tiff, add empty2.txt", + "state": { + "4d27c86b026ff709b02b05d126cfef7ec3aed5f83f5e98df7d7592f7a44bd1dc7f29509cff06b884158baa36a2bbeda11ab8a64b56585a70f5ce1fa96e26eb53": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty.txt", + "empty2.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:bob@example.com", + "name": "Bob" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2018-03-03T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Reinstate image.tiff, delete empty.txt", + "state": { + "4d27c86b026ff709b02b05d126cfef7ec3aed5f83f5e98df7d7592f7a44bd1dc7f29509cff06b884158baa36a2bbeda11ab8a64b56585a70f5ce1fa96e26eb53": [ + "foo/bar.xml" + ], + "cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e": [ + "empty2.txt" + ], + "ffccf6baa21809716f31563fafb9f333c09c336bb7400088f17e4ff307f98fc9b14a577f92f3285913b7f53a6d5cf004503cf839aada1c885ac69336cbfb862e": [ + "image.tiff" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:cecilia@example.com", + "name": "Cecilia" + } + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v3/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v3/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd6b761 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/spec-ex-full/v3/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +9c79b29388b177feead576b156376e9180fcab81710fcdd3cac95b79d822c3b09b30d115619a861eb3d74c2933ef3689ba4660a6bc31001da1e87db281d09f66 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dd8894 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,109 @@ +{ + "id": "info:bb123cd4567", + "head": "v4", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ], + "242a60b18a716f1e88ebbb3a546a119009671dc210317be1cca206650db471c8d84769d495b4e169bfe8200b4d6d60520aa75fe99e401bd7738107b7b0ca0bcd": [ + "v3/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ], + "c70fa23f7447d5a8008ed7324f69d624b6fa376e2373b82f2163d214f27e6f07607ffca505824a78138b491243a84e5ca9b818ed67975427c3a7b0258410efc9": [ + "v4/content/my_content/dunwich.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2020-01-02T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Second version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/a_second_copy_of_dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2020-01-03T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Third version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "242a60b18a716f1e88ebbb3a546a119009671dc210317be1cca206650db471c8d84769d495b4e169bfe8200b4d6d60520aa75fe99e401bd7738107b7b0ca0bcd": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2020-01-04T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Ia! Ia! cthulhu fhtagn!", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "242a60b18a716f1e88ebbb3a546a119009671dc210317be1cca206650db471c8d84769d495b4e169bfe8200b4d6d60520aa75fe99e401bd7738107b7b0ca0bcd": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ], + "c70fa23f7447d5a8008ed7324f69d624b6fa376e2373b82f2163d214f27e6f07607ffca505824a78138b491243a84e5ca9b818ed67975427c3a7b0258410efc9": [ + "my_content/dunwich.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b7cc8e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7329bc7ea440369b5a0e97ab30fb84803bb9b82a93b89bbf828ff823068265f66e15cce68f60f42693360212291518d1f0f834138c1de0aec33fe3182797c64f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51ee313 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15973 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Dracula + +Author: Bram Stoker + +Release Date: August 16, 2013 [EBook #345] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + DRACULA + + + + + + DRACULA + + _by_ + + Bram Stoker + + [Illustration: colophon] + + NEW YORK + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + _Publishers_ + + Copyright, 1897, in the United States of America, according + to Act of Congress, by Bram Stoker + + [_All rights reserved._] + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES + AT + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + + + TO + + MY DEAR FRIEND + + HOMMY-BEG + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + Page + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 1 + +CHAPTER II + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 14 + +CHAPTER III + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 26 + +CHAPTER IV + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 38 + +CHAPTER V + +Letters--Lucy and Mina 51 + +CHAPTER VI + +Mina Murray's Journal 59 + +CHAPTER VII + +Cutting from "The Dailygraph," 8 August 71 + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mina Murray's Journal 84 + +CHAPTER IX + +Mina Murray's Journal 98 + +CHAPTER X + +Mina Murray's Journal 111 + +CHAPTER XI + +Lucy Westenra's Diary 124 + +CHAPTER XII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 136 + +CHAPTER XIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 152 + +CHAPTER XIV + +Mina Harker's Journal 167 + +CHAPTER XV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 181 + +CHAPTER XVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 194 + +CHAPTER XVII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 204 + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 216 + +CHAPTER XIX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 231 + +CHAPTER XX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 243 + +CHAPTER XXI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 256 + +CHAPTER XXII + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 269 + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 281 + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Dr. Seward's Phonograph Diary, spoken by Van Helsing 294 + +CHAPTER XXV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 308 + +CHAPTER XXVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 322 + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Mina Harker's Journal 338 + + + + +DRACULA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + +(_Kept in shorthand._) + + +_3 May. Bistritz._--Left Munich at 8:35 P. M., on 1st May, arriving at +Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an +hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I +got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the +streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived +late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The +impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the +East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is +here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish +rule. + +We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. +Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or +rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was +very good but thirsty. (_Mem._, get recipe for Mina.) I asked the +waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and that, as it was a +national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the +Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I +don't know how I should be able to get on without it. + +Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the +British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library +regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the +country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a +nobleman of that country. I find that the district he named is in the +extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, +Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian +mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe. I was +not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the +Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare +with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post +town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter +here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my +travels with Mina. + +In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: +Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the +descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the +East and North. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended +from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered +the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. I +read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the +horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of +imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (_Mem._, I +must ask the Count all about them.) + +I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had +all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my +window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been +the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was +still thirsty. Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous +knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. +I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour +which they said was "mamaliga," and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a +very excellent dish, which they call "impletata." (_Mem._, get recipe +for this also.) I had to hurry breakfast, for the train started a little +before eight, or rather it ought to have done so, for after rushing to +the station at 7:30 I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour +before we began to move. It seems to me that the further east you go the +more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China? + +All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of +beauty of every kind. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the +top of steep hills such as we see in old missals; sometimes we ran by +rivers and streams which seemed from the wide stony margin on each side +of them to be subject to great floods. It takes a lot of water, and +running strong, to sweep the outside edge of a river clear. At every +station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts +of attire. Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I +saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets and round hats +and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque. The women +looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy +about the waist. They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, +and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something +fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of course there +were petticoats under them. The strangest figures we saw were the +Slovaks, who were more barbarian than the rest, with their big cow-boy +hats, great baggy dirty-white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous +heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass +nails. They wore high boots, with their trousers tucked into them, and +had long black hair and heavy black moustaches. They are very +picturesque, but do not look prepossessing. On the stage they would be +set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands. They are, +however, I am told, very harmless and rather wanting in natural +self-assertion. + +It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a +very interesting old place. Being practically on the frontier--for the +Borgo Pass leads from it into Bukovina--it has had a very stormy +existence, and it certainly shows marks of it. Fifty years ago a series +of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate +occasions. At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent +a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war +proper being assisted by famine and disease. + +Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I +found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of +course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. I was +evidently expected, for when I got near the door I faced a +cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress--white +undergarment with long double apron, front, and back, of coloured stuff +fitting almost too tight for modesty. When I came close she bowed and +said, "The Herr Englishman?" "Yes," I said, "Jonathan Harker." She +smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirt-sleeves, +who had followed her to the door. He went, but immediately returned with +a letter:-- + + "My Friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting + you. Sleep well to-night. At three to-morrow the diligence will + start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo + Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust + that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you + will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. + +"Your friend, + +"DRACULA." + + +_4 May._--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, +directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on +making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and +pretended that he could not understand my German. This could not be +true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he +answered my questions exactly as if he did. He and his wife, the old +lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of +way. He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that +was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could +tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, +and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak +further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask +any one else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means +comforting. + +Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a +very hysterical way: + +"Must you go? Oh! young Herr, must you go?" She was in such an excited +state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and +mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all. I +was just able to follow her by asking many questions. When I told her +that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, +she asked again: + +"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. +She shook her head as she said again: + +"Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?" On +my saying that I did not understand, she went on: + +"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when +the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have +full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" +She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but +without effect. Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not +to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very +ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business +to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it. I therefore +tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked +her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go. She then rose and +dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me. I +did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been +taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it +seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a +state of mind. She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the +rosary round my neck, and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out +of the room. I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting +for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still +round my neck. Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly +traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I +am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual. If this book should +ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. Here comes the +coach! + + * * * * * + +_5 May. The Castle._--The grey of the morning has passed, and the sun is +high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or +hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are +mixed. I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, +naturally I write till sleep comes. There are many odd things to put +down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I +left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they +called "robber steak"--bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red +pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple +style of the London cat's meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which +produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not +disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else. + +When I got on the coach the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him +talking with the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every +now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting +on the bench outside the door--which they call by a name meaning +"word-bearer"--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them +pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for +there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my polyglot +dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not +cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"--Satan, "pokol"--hell, +"stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both of which mean the same +thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is +either were-wolf or vampire. (_Mem._, I must ask the Count about these +superstitions) + +When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time +swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and +pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a +fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he would not answer at +first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a +charm or guard against the evil eye. This was not very pleasant for me, +just starting for an unknown place to meet an unknown man; but every one +seemed so kind-hearted, and so sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I +could not but be touched. I shall never forget the last glimpse which I +had of the inn-yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing +themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of +rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the +centre of the yard. Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered +the whole front of the box-seat--"gotza" they call them--cracked his big +whip over his four small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on +our journey. + +I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty of the +scene as we drove along, although had I known the language, or rather +languages, which my fellow-passengers were speaking, I might not have +been able to throw them off so easily. Before us lay a green sloping +land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned +with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the +road. There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom--apple, +plum, pear, cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under +the trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out amongst these +green hills of what they call here the "Mittel Land" ran the road, +losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut out by the +straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the +hillsides like tongues of flame. The road was rugged, but still we +seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste. I could not understand then +what the haste meant, but the driver was evidently bent on losing no +time in reaching Borgo Prund. I was told that this road is in summertime +excellent, but that it had not yet been put in order after the winter +snows. In this respect it is different from the general run of roads in +the Carpathians, for it is an old tradition that they are not to be kept +in too good order. Of old the Hospadars would not repair them, lest the +Turk should think that they were preparing to bring in foreign troops, +and so hasten the war which was always really at loading point. + +Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes +of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves. Right +and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon +them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, +deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where +grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and +pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where +the snowy peaks rose grandly. Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the +mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again +the white gleam of falling water. One of my companions touched my arm as +we swept round the base of a hill and opened up the lofty, snow-covered +peak of a mountain, which seemed, as we wound on our serpentine way, to +be right before us:-- + +"Look! Isten szek!"--"God's seat!"--and he crossed himself reverently. + +As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind +us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us. This was +emphasised by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the +sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink. Here and there +we passed Cszeks and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but I noticed +that goitre was painfully prevalent. By the roadside were many crosses, +and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves. Here and there +was a peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine, who did not even +turn round as we approached, but seemed in the self-surrender of +devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the outer world. There were +many things new to me: for instance, hay-ricks in the trees, and here +and there very beautiful masses of weeping birch, their white stems +shining like silver through the delicate green of the leaves. Now and +again we passed a leiter-wagon--the ordinary peasant's cart--with its +long, snake-like vertebra, calculated to suit the inequalities of the +road. On this were sure to be seated quite a group of home-coming +peasants, the Cszeks with their white, and the Slovaks with their +coloured, sheepskins, the latter carrying lance-fashion their long +staves, with axe at end. As the evening fell it began to get very cold, +and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the +gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which +ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the +Pass, the dark firs stood out here and there against the background of +late-lying snow. Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods +that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of +greyness, which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a +peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and +grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset +threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the +Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes the +hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could +only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, +but the driver would not hear of it. "No, no," he said; "you must not +walk here; the dogs are too fierce"; and then he added, with what he +evidently meant for grim pleasantry--for he looked round to catch the +approving smile of the rest--"and you may have enough of such matters +before you go to sleep." The only stop he would make was a moment's +pause to light his lamps. + +When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the +passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as +though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses unmercifully +with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on +to further exertions. Then through the darkness I could see a sort of +patch of grey light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the +hills. The excitement of the passengers grew greater; the crazy coach +rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a +stormy sea. I had to hold on. The road grew more level, and we appeared +to fly along. Then the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each +side and to frown down upon us; we were entering on the Borgo Pass. One +by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed +upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial; these were +certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good +faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that strange mixture of +fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at +Bistritz--the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye. +Then, as we flew along, the driver leaned forward, and on each side the +passengers, craning over the edge of the coach, peered eagerly into the +darkness. It was evident that something very exciting was either +happening or expected, but though I asked each passenger, no one would +give me the slightest explanation. This state of excitement kept on for +some little time; and at last we saw before us the Pass opening out on +the eastern side. There were dark, rolling clouds overhead, and in the +air the heavy, oppressive sense of thunder. It seemed as though the +mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got +into the thunderous one. I was now myself looking out for the conveyance +which was to take me to the Count. Each moment I expected to see the +glare of lamps through the blackness; but all was dark. The only light +was the flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our +hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud. We could see now the sandy +road lying white before us, but there was on it no sign of a vehicle. +The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock +my own disappointment. I was already thinking what I had best do, when +the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something which I +could hardly hear, it was spoken so quietly and in so low a tone; I +thought it was "An hour less than the time." Then turning to me, he said +in German worse than my own:-- + +"There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He will +now come on to Bukovina, and return to-morrow or the next day; better +the next day." Whilst he was speaking the horses began to neigh and +snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up. Then, +amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a universal crossing +of themselves, a calèche, with four horses, drove up behind us, overtook +us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see from the flash of our +lamps, as the rays fell on them, that the horses were coal-black and +splendid animals. They were driven by a tall man, with a long brown +beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide his face from us. I +could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red +in the lamplight, as he turned to us. He said to the driver:-- + +"You are early to-night, my friend." The man stammered in reply:-- + +"The English Herr was in a hurry," to which the stranger replied:-- + +"That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot +deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift." As he +spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with +very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my +companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore":-- + + "Denn die Todten reiten schnell"-- + ("For the dead travel fast.") + +The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a +gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time +putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. "Give me the Herr's +luggage," said the driver; and with exceeding alacrity my bags were +handed out and put in the calèche. Then I descended from the side of the +coach, as the calèche was close alongside, the driver helping me with a +hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel; his strength must have been +prodigious. Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we +swept into the darkness of the Pass. As I looked back I saw the steam +from the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected +against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves. Then +the driver cracked his whip and called to his horses, and off they swept +on their way to Bukovina. As they sank into the darkness I felt a +strange chill, and a lonely feeling came over me; but a cloak was thrown +over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the driver said in +excellent German:-- + +"The night is chill, mein Herr, and my master the Count bade me take all +care of you. There is a flask of slivovitz (the plum brandy of the +country) underneath the seat, if you should require it." I did not take +any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the same. I felt a +little strangely, and not a little frightened. I think had there been +any alternative I should have taken it, instead of prosecuting that +unknown night journey. The carriage went at a hard pace straight along, +then we made a complete turn and went along another straight road. It +seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground +again; and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was +so. I would have liked to have asked the driver what this all meant, but +I really feared to do so, for I thought that, placed as I was, any +protest would have had no effect in case there had been an intention to +delay. By-and-by, however, as I was curious to know how time was +passing, I struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch; it was +within a few minutes of midnight. This gave me a sort of shock, for I +suppose the general superstition about midnight was increased by my +recent experiences. I waited with a sick feeling of suspense. + +Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road--a +long, agonised wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by +another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which +now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed +to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp +it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to +strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly, and they +quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from +sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each +side of us began a louder and a sharper howling--that of wolves--which +affected both the horses and myself in the same way--for I was minded to +jump from the calèche and run, whilst they reared again and plunged +madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them +from bolting. In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to +the sound, and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able +to descend and to stand before them. He petted and soothed them, and +whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse-tamers +doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became +quite manageable again, though they still trembled. The driver again +took his seat, and shaking his reins, started off at a great pace. This +time, after going to the far side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a +narrow roadway which ran sharply to the right. + +Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the +roadway till we passed as through a tunnel; and again great frowning +rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in shelter, we +could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled through the +rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. +It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall, +so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket. The +keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew +fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer +and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. I +grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, +however, was not in the least disturbed; he kept turning his head to +left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. + +Suddenly, away on our left, I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The +driver saw it at the same moment; he at once checked the horses, and, +jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness. I did not know +what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer; but while +I wondered the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a word took +his seat, and we resumed our journey. I think I must have fallen asleep +and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be repeated +endlessly, and now looking back, it is like a sort of awful nightmare. +Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the darkness +around us I could watch the driver's motions. He went rapidly to where +the blue flame arose--it must have been very faint, for it did not seem +to illumine the place around it at all--and gathering a few stones, +formed them into some device. Once there appeared a strange optical +effect: when he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, +for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. This startled me, but +as the effect was only momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me +straining through the darkness. Then for a time there were no blue +flames, and we sped onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the +wolves around us, as though they were following in a moving circle. + +At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he +had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble worse +than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause +for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether; but just +then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the +jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw +around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, +with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more +terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled. +For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man +feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand +their true import. + +All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had +some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared, and +looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see; +but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side; and they +had perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for +it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the +ring and to aid his approach. I shouted and beat the side of the +calèche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from that side, so as +to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came there, I know +not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and +looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway. As he swept his +long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves +fell back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across +the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness. + +When I could see again the driver was climbing into the calèche, and the +wolves had disappeared. This was all so strange and uncanny that a +dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time +seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost complete +darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. We kept on +ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main +always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the +driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a +vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, +and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit +sky. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +_5 May._--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully +awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In +the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark +ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than +it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight. + +When the calèche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand +to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious +strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have +crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps, and placed +them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and +studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of +massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was +massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and +weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the +reins; the horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one +of the dark openings. + +I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell +or knocker there was no sign; through these frowning walls and dark +window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The +time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon +me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? +What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a +customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to +explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor's +clerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor--for just before leaving +London I got word that my examination was successful; and I am now a +full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if +I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I +expected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with +the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and again felt +in the morning after a day of overwork. But my flesh answered the +pinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awake +and among the Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and to +wait the coming of the morning. + +Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching +behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming +light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of +massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise +of long disuse, and the great door swung back. + +Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white +moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck +of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver +lamp, in which the flame burned without chimney or globe of any kind, +throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the +open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with a courtly +gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange intonation:-- + +"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!" He made no +motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his +gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that +I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and +holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, +an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed as cold as +ice--more like the hand of a dead than a living man. Again he said:-- + +"Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the +happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so much akin to +that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that +for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was +speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:-- + +"Count Dracula?" He bowed in a courtly way as he replied:-- + +"I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in; +the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest." As he was +speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, +took my luggage; he had carried it in before I could forestall him. I +protested but he insisted:-- + +"Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not +available. Let me see to your comfort myself." He insisted on carrying +my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and +along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang +heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced +to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper, +and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, +flamed and flared. + +The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing +the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit +by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing +through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a +welcome sight; for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with +another log fire,--also added to but lately, for the top logs were +fresh--which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The Count himself +left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he closed the +door:-- + +"You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your +toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come +into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared." + +The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have +dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal state, +I discovered that I was half famished with hunger; so making a hasty +toilet, I went into the other room. + +I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of the +great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of +his hand to the table, and said:-- + +"I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse +me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup." + +I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me. +He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile, he handed +it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of +pleasure. + +"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant +sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to +come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in +whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy +and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is +discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall +be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take +your instructions in all matters." + +The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I +fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese +and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was +my supper. During the time I was eating it the Count asked me many +questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had +experienced. + +By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn +up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, +at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an +opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked +physiognomy. + +His face was a strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bridge of the +thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and +hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His +eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy +hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I +could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather +cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over +the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a +man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops +extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm +though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. + +Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees +in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeing +them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather +coarse--broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in +the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp +point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not +repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a +horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could +not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a +grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his +protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the +fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the +window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a +strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from +down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes +gleamed, and he said:-- + +"Listen to them--the children of the night. What music they make!" +Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he +added:-- + +"Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the +hunter." Then he rose and said:-- + +"But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow you +shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon; +so sleep well and dream well!" With a courteous bow, he opened for me +himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom.... + +I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, +which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the +sake of those dear to me! + + * * * * * + +_7 May._--It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the +last twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my +own accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had +supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the +pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the table, on which +was written:-- + +"I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.--D." I set to and +enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, so that I +might let the servants know I had finished; but I could not find one. +There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, considering the +extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The table service +is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it must be of immense value. +The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and sofas and the hangings of +my bed are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have +been of fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, +though in excellent order. I saw something like them in Hampton Court, +but there they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of +the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my +table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I +could either shave or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant +anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. +Some time after I had finished my meal--I do not know whether to call it +breakfast or dinner, for it was between five and six o'clock when I had +it--I looked about for something to read, for I did not like to go about +the castle until I had asked the Count's permission. There was +absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing +materials; so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of +library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found it locked. + +In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English +books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and +newspapers. A table in the centre was littered with English magazines +and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The books +were of the most varied kind--history, geography, politics, political +economy, botany, geology, law--all relating to England and English life +and customs and manners. There were even such books of reference as the +London Directory, the "Red" and "Blue" books, Whitaker's Almanac, the +Army and Navy Lists, and--it somehow gladdened my heart to see it--the +Law List. + +Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Count +entered. He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a good +night's rest. Then he went on:-- + +"I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much that +will interest you. These companions"--and he laid his hand on some of +the books--"have been good friends to me, and for some years past, ever +since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many, many hours +of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your great England; and to +know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of +your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of +humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes +it what it is. But alas! as yet I only know your tongue through books. +To you, my friend, I look that I know it to speak." + +"But, Count," I said, "you know and speak English thoroughly!" He bowed +gravely. + +"I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet I +fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I know +the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them." + +"Indeed," I said, "you speak excellently." + +"Not so," he answered. "Well, I know that, did I move and speak in your +London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is not +enough for me. Here I am noble; I am _boyar_; the common people know me, +and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one; men +know him not--and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am +like the rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or pause in his +speaking if he hear my words, 'Ha, ha! a stranger!' I have been so long +master that I would be master still--or at least that none other should +be master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of my friend Peter +Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in London. You +shall, I trust, rest here with me awhile, so that by our talking I may +learn the English intonation; and I would that you tell me when I make +error, even of the smallest, in my speaking. I am sorry that I had to be +away so long to-day; but you will, I know, forgive one who has so many +important affairs in hand." + +Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might +come into that room when I chose. He answered: "Yes, certainly," and +added:-- + +"You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are +locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is reason that +all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with +my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand." I said I was sure of +this, and then he went on:-- + +"We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are +not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from +what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of +what strange things there may be." + +This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he wanted to +talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding +things that had already happened to me or come within my notice. +Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by +pretending not to understand; but generally he answered all I asked most +frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked +him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as, for +instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue +flames. He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a +certain night of the year--last night, in fact, when all evil spirits +are supposed to have unchecked sway--a blue flame is seen over any place +where treasure has been concealed. "That treasure has been hidden," he +went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be +but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by the +Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil +in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, +patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the +Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out +to meet them--men and women, the aged and the children too--and waited +their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep +destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader +was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been +sheltered in the friendly soil." + +"But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when +there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?" +The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, +sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:-- + +"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only +appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he +can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he +would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of who +marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight +even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to +find these places again?" + +"There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where even +to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters. + +"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you +have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went into my +own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in +order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as I +passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp +lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit +in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa, +reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's Guide. When I +came in he cleared the books and papers from the table; and with him I +went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested in +everything, and asked me a myriad questions about the place and its +surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the +subject of the neighbourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much +more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered:-- + +"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there +I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan--nay, pardon me, I +fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first--my friend +Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He will be +in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law with my +other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!" + +We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at +Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the +necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to +Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a +place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which I +inscribe here:-- + +"At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as seemed to +be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place +was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of ancient structure, +built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of +years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with +rust. + +"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old _Quatre +Face_, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of +the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded by +the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which +make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or +small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear and +flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large and of all +periods back, I should say, to mediæval times, for one part is of stone +immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily barred with +iron. It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an old chapel or +church. I could not enter it, as I had not the key of the door leading +to it from the house, but I have taken with my kodak views of it from +various points. The house has been added to, but in a very straggling +way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must +be very great. There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very +large house only recently added to and formed into a private lunatic +asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds." + +When I had finished, he said:-- + +"I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and to +live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable in a +day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice +also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles love +not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. I seek not +gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and +sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I am no longer young; +and my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead, is not +attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken; the +shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken +battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow, and would +be alone with my thoughts when I may." Somehow his words and his look +did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his +smile look malignant and saturnine. + +Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my papers +together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of +the books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally at +England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at it I found in +certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I noticed +that one was near London on the east side, manifestly where his new +estate was situated; the other two were Exeter, and Whitby on the +Yorkshire coast. + +It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned. "Aha!" he +said; "still at your books? Good! But you must not work always. Come; I +am informed that your supper is ready." He took my arm, and we went into +the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on the table. The +Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on his being away from +home. But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted whilst I ate. +After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the Count stayed with +me, chatting and asking questions on every conceivable subject, hour +after hour. I felt that it was getting very late indeed, but I did not +say anything, for I felt under obligation to meet my host's wishes in +every way. I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified +me; but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes over one at +the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. +They say that people who are near death die generally at the change to +the dawn or at the turn of the tide; any one who has when tired, and +tied as it were to his post, experienced this change in the atmosphere +can well believe it. All at once we heard the crow of a cock coming up +with preternatural shrillness through the clear morning air; Count +Dracula, jumping to his feet, said:-- + +"Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so +long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of +England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by +us," and, with a courtly bow, he quickly left me. + +I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little to +notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the +warm grey of quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again, and have +written of this day. + + * * * * * + +_8 May._--I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too +diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for +there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I +cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had +never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling on +me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk to I +could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak with, +and he!--I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. Let +me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me to bear up, and +imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am lost. Let me say +at once how I stand--or seem to. + +I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could +not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window, +and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, +and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good-morning." I started, for +it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass +covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, +but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count's +salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. +This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I +could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in +the mirror! The whole room behind me was displayed; but there was no +sign of a man in it, except myself. This was startling, and, coming on +the top of so many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague +feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at +the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was +trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half +round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my face, his +eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at +my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which +held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed +so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there. + +"Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself. It is more +dangerous than you think in this country." Then seizing the shaving +glass, he went on: "And this is the wretched thing that has done the +mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it!" and +opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung +out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones +of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very +annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or +the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal. + +When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could +not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is strange that +as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very +peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle. I +went out on the stairs, and found a room looking towards the South. The +view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every opportunity +of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A +stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without +touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree +tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and +there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through +the forests. + +But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I +explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and +bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there +an available exit. + +The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me. +I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of +every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my +helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I look back after a +few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much +as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me +that I was helpless I sat down quietly--as quietly as I have ever done +anything in my life--and began to think over what was best to be done. I +am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of +one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making my ideas known to +the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it +himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive +me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only +plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes +open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, +or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and +shall need, all my brains to get through. + +I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below +shut, and knew that the Count had returned. He did not come at once into +the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making +the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along +thought--that there were no servants in the house. When later I saw him +through the chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in the +dining-room, I was assured of it; for if he does himself all these +menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. +This gave me a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it +must have been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that +brought me here. This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it +mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his +hand in silence. How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the +coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the +crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless +that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! for it is a +comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing +which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous +should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there +is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, +a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Some +time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my +mind about it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count +Dracula, as it may help me to understand. To-night he may talk of +himself, if I turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, +however, not to awake his suspicion. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few +questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject +wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of +battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he +afterwards explained by saying that to a _boyar_ the pride of his house +and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their +fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said "we," +and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could put +down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most +fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He +grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his great +white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands as +though he would crush it by main strength. One thing he said which I +shall put down as nearly as I can; for it tells in its way the story of +his race:-- + +"We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood +of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, +in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from +Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their +Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, +and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the +were-wolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found +the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, +till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those +old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the devils in the +desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as +Attila, whose blood is in these veins?" He held up his arms. "Is it a +wonder that we were a conquering race; that we were proud; that when the +Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his +thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when +Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he found us +here when he reached the frontier; that the Honfoglalas was completed +there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were +claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries +was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkey-land; ay, and more +than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for, as the Turks say, +'water sleeps, and enemy is sleepless.' Who more gladly than we +throughout the Four Nations received the 'bloody sword,' or at its +warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was +redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the +flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who +was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat +the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that +his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the +Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, +indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and +again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, +when he was beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had +to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being +slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They +said that he thought only of himself. Bah! what good are peasants +without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart to +conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohács, we threw off the +Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for +our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the +Szekelys--and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains, and +their swords--can boast a record that mushroom growths like the +Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over. +Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace; and +the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told." + +It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. (_Mem._, this +diary seems horribly like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," for +everything has to break off at cockcrow--or like the ghost of Hamlet's +father.) + + * * * * * + +_12 May._--Let me begin with facts--bare, meagre facts, verified by +books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not +confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own +observation, or my memory of them. Last evening when the Count came from +his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the +doing of certain kinds of business. I had spent the day wearily over +books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the +matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn. There was a certain +method in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put them down in +sequence; the knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to me. + +First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more. I +told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not be +wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as only +one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to militate +against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to +ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one man to +attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case +local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking +solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not by any +chance mislead him, so he said:-- + +"I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from under +the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far from +London, buys for me through your good self my place at London. Good! Now +here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange that I have +sought the services of one so far off from London instead of some one +resident there, that my motive was that no local interest might be +served save my wish only; and as one of London residence might, perhaps, +have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus afield to +seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest. Now, suppose +I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to Newcastle, or +Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it not be that it could with more +ease be done by consigning to one in these ports?" I answered that +certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of +agency one for the other, so that local work could be done locally on +instruction from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing +himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by +him without further trouble. + +"But," said he, "I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it not so?" + +"Of course," I replied; and "such is often done by men of business, who +do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person." + +"Good!" he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making +consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of +difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded +against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability, +and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made a +wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of or +foresee. For a man who was never in the country, and who did not +evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were +wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had +spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books +available, he suddenly stood up and said:-- + +"Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter +Hawkins, or to any other?" It was with some bitterness in my heart that +I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of +sending letters to anybody. + +"Then write now, my young friend," he said, laying a heavy hand on my +shoulder: "write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will +please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now." + +"Do you wish me to stay so long?" I asked, for my heart grew cold at the +thought. + +"I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, +employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, +it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not +stinted. Is it not so?" + +What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins's interest, not +mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, while Count +Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing +which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I +could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his +mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but +in his own smooth, resistless way:-- + +"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things +other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please your +friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to getting +home to them. Is it not so?" As he spoke he handed me three sheets of +note-paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest foreign +post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, +with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood +as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for +he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only formal notes +now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for +to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle the Count, if he +did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a +book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to +some books on his table. Then he took up my two and placed them with his +own, and put by his writing materials, after which, the instant the door +had closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which +were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so, for +under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way +I could. + +One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The +Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the third was to +Coutts & Co., London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth, +bankers, Buda-Pesth. The second and fourth were unsealed. I was just +about to look at them when I saw the door-handle move. I sank back in my +seat, having just had time to replace the letters as they had been and +to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter in his +hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped +them carefully, and then turning to me, said:-- + +"I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this +evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish." At the door he +turned, and after a moment's pause said:-- + +"Let me advise you, my dear young friend--nay, let me warn you with all +seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any +chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has +many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be +warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then +haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be +safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then"--He finished his +speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were +washing them. I quite understood; my only doubt was as to whether any +dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom +and mystery which seemed closing around me. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no +doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is +not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed--I imagine that +my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain. + +When he left me I went to my room. After a little while, not hearing any +sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could look out +towards the South. There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, +inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow darkness +of the courtyard. Looking out on this, I felt that I was indeed in +prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air, though it were of +the night. I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. +It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and am full of all +sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is ground for my +terrible fear in this accursed place! I looked out over the beautiful +expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was almost as light as +day. In the soft light the distant hills became melted, and the shadows +in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness. The mere beauty seemed +to cheer me; there was peace and comfort in every breath I drew. As I +leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a storey +below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of +the rooms, that the windows of the Count's own room would look out. The +window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though +weatherworn, was still complete; but it was evidently many a day since +the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework, and looked +carefully out. + +What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not +see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his +back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had +so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and +somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest +and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to +repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the +window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, +_face down_ with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At +first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the +moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept looking, and it could +be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the +stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus +using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable +speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall. + +What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the +semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering +me; I am in fear--in awful fear--and there is no escape for me; I am +encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of.... + + * * * * * + +_15 May._--Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion. +He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good +deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head +had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without +avail--the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I +knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to +explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and +taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had +expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went down the +stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could +pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains; but the +door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's +room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and +escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs +and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two +small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in +them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, +however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it +seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, +and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came +from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door +rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have +again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that +I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right +than the rooms I knew and a storey lower down. From the windows I could +see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the +windows of the end room looking out both west and south. On the latter +side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle +was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was +quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or +bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, +impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the +west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged +mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with +mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and +crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle +occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of +comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the +yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to +see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over +all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My +lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was +glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place +which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better +than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the +presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I +found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak +table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much +thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my +diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is +nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my +senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own +which mere "modernity" cannot kill. + + * * * * * + +_Later: the Morning of 16 May._--God preserve my sanity, for to this I +am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. +Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not +go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it +is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this +hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I +can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his +purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way +lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which +have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant +when he made Hamlet say:-- + + "My tablets! quick, my tablets! + 'Tis meet that I put it down," etc., + +for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock +had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. +The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me. + +The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens +me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold upon +me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say! + +When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book and +pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count's warning came into my mind, +but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me, +and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The soft +moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom +which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the +gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat +and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for +their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great +couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay, I could look +at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring for +the dust, composed myself for sleep. I suppose I must have fallen +asleep; I hope so, but I fear, for all that followed was startlingly +real--so real that now sitting here in the broad, full sunlight of the +morning, I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep. + +I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I +came into it; I could see along the floor, in the brilliant moonlight, +my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of +dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by +their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming +when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they threw +no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some +time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline +noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes that seemed to be +almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was +fair, as fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes +like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it +in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the +moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like +pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something +about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some +deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would +kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some +day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth. +They whispered together, and then they all three laughed--such a +silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have +come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, +tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. +The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her +on. One said:-- + +"Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to +begin." The other added:-- + +"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all." I lay quiet, +looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. +The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement +of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent +the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter +underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood. + +I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under +the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply +gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling +and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips +like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining +on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp +teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of +my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. Then she +paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked +her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the +skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that +is to tickle it approaches nearer--nearer. I could feel the soft, +shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, +and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. +I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited--waited with beating +heart. + +But at that instant, another sensation swept through me as quick as +lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his +being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I +saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with +giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the +white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with +passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to +the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light +in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His +face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; +the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar +of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman +from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating +them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the +wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to +cut through the air and then ring round the room he said:-- + +"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when +I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware +how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me." The fair girl, +with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:-- + +"You yourself never loved; you never love!" On this the other women +joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the +room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure +of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, +and said in a soft whisper:-- + +"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it +not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall +kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work +to be done." + +"Are we to have nothing to-night?" said one of them, with a low laugh, +as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and which +moved as though there were some living thing within it. For answer he +nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my +ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a +half-smothered child. The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with +horror; but as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful +bag. There was no door near them, and they could not have passed me +without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the rays of the +moonlight and pass out through the window, for I could see outside the +dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely faded away. + +Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +I awoke in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must +have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but +could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were +certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by +in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am +rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and +many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been +evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, from some cause or +another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof. Of one +thing I am glad: if it was that the Count carried me here and undressed +me, he must have been hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I +am sure this diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not +have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look round this +room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of +sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who +were--who _are_--waiting to suck my blood. + + * * * * * + +_18 May._--I have been down to look at that room again in daylight, for +I _must_ know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the +stairs I found it closed. It had been so forcibly driven against the +jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered. I could see that the bolt +of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the inside. +I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise. + + * * * * * + +_19 May._--I am surely in the toils. Last night the Count asked me in +the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying that my work here +was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days, +another that I was starting on the next morning from the time of the +letter, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at +Bistritz. I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present state +of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I +am so absolutely in his power; and to refuse would be to excite his +suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and +that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only chance is to +prolong my opportunities. Something may occur which will give me a +chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something of that gathering wrath +which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from him. He explained +to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that my writing now would +ensure ease of mind to my friends; and he assured me with so much +impressiveness that he would countermand the later letters, which would +be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would admit of my +prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have been to create new +suspicion. I therefore pretended to fall in with his views, and asked +him what dates I should put on the letters. He calculated a minute, and +then said:-- + +"The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June +29." + +I know now the span of my life. God help me! + + * * * * * + +_28 May._--There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being able to +send word home. A band of Szgany have come to the castle, and are +encamped in the courtyard. These Szgany are gipsies; I have notes of +them in my book. They are peculiar to this part of the world, though +allied to the ordinary gipsies all the world over. There are thousands +of them in Hungary and Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. +They attach themselves as a rule to some great noble or _boyar_, and +call themselves by his name. They are fearless and without religion, +save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany +tongue. + +I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to have them +posted. I have already spoken them through my window to begin +acquaintanceship. They took their hats off and made obeisance and many +signs, which, however, I could not understand any more than I could +their spoken language.... + + * * * * * + +I have written the letters. Mina's is in shorthand, and I simply ask Mr. +Hawkins to communicate with her. To her I have explained my situation, +but without the horrors which I may only surmise. It would shock and +frighten her to death were I to expose my heart to her. Should the +letters not carry, then the Count shall not yet know my secret or the +extent of my knowledge.... + + * * * * * + +I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars of my window +with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to have them posted. The +man who took them pressed them to his heart and bowed, and then put them +in his cap. I could do no more. I stole back to the study, and began to +read. As the Count did not come in, I have written here.... + + * * * * * + +The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his smoothest +voice as he opened two letters:-- + +"The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not whence they +come, I shall, of course, take care. See!"--he must have looked at +it--"one is from you, and to my friend Peter Hawkins; the other"--here +he caught sight of the strange symbols as he opened the envelope, and +the dark look came into his face, and his eyes blazed wickedly--"the +other is a vile thing, an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is +not signed. Well! so it cannot matter to us." And he calmly held letter +and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed. Then he +went on:-- + +"The letter to Hawkins--that I shall, of course, send on, since it is +yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend, that +unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it again?" He held +out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow handed me a clean +envelope. I could only redirect it and hand it to him in silence. When +he went out of the room I could hear the key turn softly. A minute later +I went over and tried it, and the door was locked. + +When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room, his +coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the sofa. He was very +courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been +sleeping, he said:-- + +"So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. There is the surest rest. I +may not have the pleasure to talk to-night, since there are many labours +to me; but you will sleep, I pray." I passed to my room and went to bed, +and, strange to say, slept without dreaming. Despair has its own calms. + + * * * * * + +_31 May._--This morning when I woke I thought I would provide myself +with some paper and envelopes from my bag and keep them in my pocket, so +that I might write in case I should get an opportunity, but again a +surprise, again a shock! + +Every scrap of paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my memoranda, +relating to railways and travel, my letter of credit, in fact all that +might be useful to me were I once outside the castle. I sat and pondered +awhile, and then some thought occurred to me, and I made search of my +portmanteau and in the wardrobe where I had placed my clothes. + +The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and +rug; I could find no trace of them anywhere. This looked like some new +scheme of villainy.... + + * * * * * + +_17 June._--This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed +cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding +and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard. +With joy I hurried to the window, and saw drive into the yard two great +leiter-wagons, each drawn by eight sturdy horses, and at the head of +each pair a Slovak, with his wide hat, great nail-studded belt, dirty +sheepskin, and high boots. They had also their long staves in hand. I +ran to the door, intending to descend and try and join them through the +main hall, as I thought that way might be opened for them. Again a +shock: my door was fastened on the outside. + +Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me +stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, +and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they +laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised +entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away. +The leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick +rope; these were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks +handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved. When +they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one corner of the +yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the Szgany, and spitting on +it for luck, lazily went each to his horse's head. Shortly afterwards, I +heard the cracking of their whips die away in the distance. + + * * * * * + +_24 June, before morning._--Last night the Count left me early, and +locked himself into his own room. As soon as I dared I ran up the +winding stair, and looked out of the window, which opened south. I +thought I would watch for the Count, for there is something going on. +The Szgany are quartered somewhere in the castle and are doing work of +some kind. I know it, for now and then I hear a far-away muffled sound +as of mattock and spade, and, whatever it is, it must be the end of some +ruthless villainy. + +I had been at the window somewhat less than half an hour, when I saw +something coming out of the Count's window. I drew back and watched +carefully, and saw the whole man emerge. It was a new shock to me to +find that he had on the suit of clothes which I had worn whilst +travelling here, and slung over his shoulder the terrible bag which I +had seen the women take away. There could be no doubt as to his quest, +and in my garb, too! This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he will +allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may both leave +evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages posting my own +letters, and that any wickedness which he may do shall by the local +people be attributed to me. + +It makes me rage to think that this can go on, and whilst I am shut up +here, a veritable prisoner, but without that protection of the law which +is even a criminal's right and consolation. + +I thought I would watch for the Count's return, and for a long time sat +doggedly at the window. Then I began to notice that there were some +quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were +like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in +clusters in a nebulous sort of way. I watched them with a sense of +soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me. I leaned back in the +embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy more +fully the aërial gambolling. + +Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far +below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight. Louder it seemed to +ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to +the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to +awake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, +and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I +was becoming hypnotised! Quicker and quicker danced the dust; the +moonbeams seemed to quiver as they went by me into the mass of gloom +beyond. More and more they gathered till they seemed to take dim phantom +shapes. And then I started, broad awake and in full possession of my +senses, and ran screaming from the place. The phantom shapes, which were +becoming gradually materialised from the moonbeams, were those of the +three ghostly women to whom I was doomed. I fled, and felt somewhat +safer in my own room, where there was no moonlight and where the lamp +was burning brightly. + +When a couple of hours had passed I heard something stirring in the +Count's room, something like a sharp wail quickly suppressed; and then +there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me. With a +beating heart, I tried the door; but I was locked in my prison, and +could do nothing. I sat down and simply cried. + +As I sat I heard a sound in the courtyard without--the agonised cry of a +woman. I rushed to the window, and throwing it up, peered out between +the bars. There, indeed, was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her +hands over her heart as one distressed with running. She was leaning +against a corner of the gateway. When she saw my face at the window she +threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace:-- + +"Monster, give me my child!" + +She threw herself on her knees, and raising up her hands, cried the same +words in tones which wrung my heart. Then she tore her hair and beat her +breast, and abandoned herself to all the violences of extravagant +emotion. Finally, she threw herself forward, and, though I could not see +her, I could hear the beating of her naked hands against the door. + +Somewhere high overhead, probably on the tower, I heard the voice of the +Count calling in his harsh, metallic whisper. His call seemed to be +answered from far and wide by the howling of wolves. Before many minutes +had passed a pack of them poured, like a pent-up dam when liberated, +through the wide entrance into the courtyard. + +There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but +short. Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips. + +I could not pity her, for I knew now what had become of her child, and +she was better dead. + +What shall I do? what can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful +thing of night and gloom and fear? + + * * * * * + +_25 June, morning._--No man knows till he has suffered from the night +how sweet and how dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. When the +sun grew so high this morning that it struck the top of the great +gateway opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me +as if the dove from the ark had lighted there. My fear fell from me as +if it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth. I must +take action of some sort whilst the courage of the day is upon me. Last +night one of my post-dated letters went to post, the first of that fatal +series which is to blot out the very traces of my existence from the +earth. + +Let me not think of it. Action! + +It has always been at night-time that I have been molested or +threatened, or in some way in danger or in fear. I have not yet seen the +Count in the daylight. Can it be that he sleeps when others wake, that +he may be awake whilst they sleep? If I could only get into his room! +But there is no possible way. The door is always locked, no way for me. + +Yes, there is a way, if one dares to take it. Where his body has gone +why may not another body go? I have seen him myself crawl from his +window. Why should not I imitate him, and go in by his window? The +chances are desperate, but my need is more desperate still. I shall risk +it. At the worst it can only be death; and a man's death is not a +calf's, and the dreaded Hereafter may still be open to me. God help me +in my task! Good-bye, Mina, if I fail; good-bye, my faithful friend and +second father; good-bye, all, and last of all Mina! + + * * * * * + +_Same day, later._--I have made the effort, and God, helping me, have +come safely back to this room. I must put down every detail in order. I +went whilst my courage was fresh straight to the window on the south +side, and at once got outside on the narrow ledge of stone which runs +around the building on this side. The stones are big and roughly cut, +and the mortar has by process of time been washed away between them. I +took off my boots, and ventured out on the desperate way. I looked down +once, so as to make sure that a sudden glimpse of the awful depth would +not overcome me, but after that kept my eyes away from it. I knew pretty +well the direction and distance of the Count's window, and made for it +as well as I could, having regard to the opportunities available. I did +not feel dizzy--I suppose I was too excited--and the time seemed +ridiculously short till I found myself standing on the window-sill and +trying to raise up the sash. I was filled with agitation, however, when +I bent down and slid feet foremost in through the window. Then I looked +around for the Count, but, with surprise and gladness, made a discovery. +The room was empty! It was barely furnished with odd things, which +seemed to have never been used; the furniture was something the same +style as that in the south rooms, and was covered with dust. I looked +for the key, but it was not in the lock, and I could not find it +anywhere. The only thing I found was a great heap of gold in one +corner--gold of all kinds, Roman, and British, and Austrian, and +Hungarian, and Greek and Turkish money, covered with a film of dust, as +though it had lain long in the ground. None of it that I noticed was +less than three hundred years old. There were also chains and ornaments, +some jewelled, but all of them old and stained. + +At one corner of the room was a heavy door. I tried it, for, since I +could not find the key of the room or the key of the outer door, which +was the main object of my search, I must make further examination, or +all my efforts would be in vain. It was open, and led through a stone +passage to a circular stairway, which went steeply down. I descended, +minding carefully where I went, for the stairs were dark, being only lit +by loopholes in the heavy masonry. At the bottom there was a dark, +tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour, the +odour of old earth newly turned. As I went through the passage the smell +grew closer and heavier. At last I pulled open a heavy door which stood +ajar, and found myself in an old, ruined chapel, which had evidently +been used as a graveyard. The roof was broken, and in two places were +steps leading to vaults, but the ground had recently been dug over, and +the earth placed in great wooden boxes, manifestly those which had been +brought by the Slovaks. There was nobody about, and I made search for +any further outlet, but there was none. Then I went over every inch of +the ground, so as not to lose a chance. I went down even into the +vaults, where the dim light struggled, although to do so was a dread to +my very soul. Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments +of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a +discovery. + +There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a +pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep, I +could not say which--for the eyes were open and stony, but without the +glassiness of death--and the cheeks had the warmth of life through all +their pallor; the lips were as red as ever. But there was no sign of +movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart. I bent over him, +and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain. He could not have lain +there long, for the earthy smell would have passed away in a few hours. +By the side of the box was its cover, pierced with holes here and there. +I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw +the dead eyes, and in them, dead though they were, such a look of hate, +though unconscious of me or my presence, that I fled from the place, and +leaving the Count's room by the window, crawled again up the castle +wall. Regaining my room, I threw myself panting upon the bed and tried +to think.... + + * * * * * + +_29 June._--To-day is the date of my last letter, and the Count has +taken steps to prove that it was genuine, for again I saw him leave the +castle by the same window, and in my clothes. As he went down the wall, +lizard fashion, I wished I had a gun or some lethal weapon, that I might +destroy him; but I fear that no weapon wrought alone by man's hand would +have any effect on him. I dared not wait to see him return, for I feared +to see those weird sisters. I came back to the library, and read there +till I fell asleep. + +I was awakened by the Count, who looked at me as grimly as a man can +look as he said:-- + +"To-morrow, my friend, we must part. You return to your beautiful +England, I to some work which may have such an end that we may never +meet. Your letter home has been despatched; to-morrow I shall not be +here, but all shall be ready for your journey. In the morning come the +Szgany, who have some labours of their own here, and also come some +Slovaks. When they have gone, my carriage shall come for you, and shall +bear you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence from Bukovina to +Bistritz. But I am in hopes that I shall see more of you at Castle +Dracula." I suspected him, and determined to test his sincerity. +Sincerity! It seems like a profanation of the word to write it in +connection with such a monster, so asked him point-blank:-- + +"Why may I not go to-night?" + +"Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away on a mission." + +"But I would walk with pleasure. I want to get away at once." He smiled, +such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was some trick +behind his smoothness. He said:-- + +"And your baggage?" + +"I do not care about it. I can send for it some other time." + +The Count stood up, and said, with a sweet courtesy which made me rub my +eyes, it seemed so real:-- + +"You English have a saying which is close to my heart, for its spirit is +that which rules our _boyars_: 'Welcome the coming; speed the parting +guest.' Come with me, my dear young friend. Not an hour shall you wait +in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that +you so suddenly desire it. Come!" With a stately gravity, he, with the +lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he +stopped. + +"Hark!" + +Close at hand came the howling of many wolves. It was almost as if the +sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great +orchestra seems to leap under the bâton of the conductor. After a pause +of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back +the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it +open. + +To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlocked. Suspiciously, I +looked all round, but could see no key of any kind. + +As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder +and angrier; their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed +feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door. I knew then that +to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such +allies as these at his command, I could do nothing. But still the door +continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gap. +Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my +doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There +was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and +as a last chance I cried out:-- + +"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my +hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. With one sweep of his +powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and the great bolts clanged +and echoed through the hall as they shot back into their places. + +In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went +to my own room. The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand +to me; with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that +Judas in hell might be proud of. + +When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a +whispering at my door. I went to it softly and listened. Unless my ears +deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count:-- + +"Back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have +patience! To-night is mine. To-morrow night is yours!" There was a low, +sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open the door, and saw +without the three terrible women licking their lips. As I appeared they +all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away. + +I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees. It is then so near +the end? To-morrow! to-morrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am +dear! + + * * * * * + +_30 June, morning._--These may be the last words I ever write in this +diary. I slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself +on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me +ready. + +At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the morning +had come. Then came the welcome cock-crow, and I felt that I was safe. +With a glad heart, I opened my door and ran down to the hall. I had seen +that the door was unlocked, and now escape was before me. With hands +that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and drew back the +massive bolts. + +But the door would not move. Despair seized me. I pulled, and pulled, at +the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its +casement. I could see the bolt shot. It had been locked after I left the +Count. + +Then a wild desire took me to obtain that key at any risk, and I +determined then and there to scale the wall again and gain the Count's +room. He might kill me, but death now seemed the happier choice of +evils. Without a pause I rushed up to the east window, and scrambled +down the wall, as before, into the Count's room. It was empty, but that +was as I expected. I could not see a key anywhere, but the heap of gold +remained. I went through the door in the corner and down the winding +stair and along the dark passage to the old chapel. I knew now well +enough where to find the monster I sought. + +The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the lid +was laid on it, not fastened down, but with the nails ready in their +places to be hammered home. I knew I must reach the body for the key, so +I raised the lid, and laid it back against the wall; and then I saw +something which filled my very soul with horror. There lay the Count, +but looking as if his youth had been half renewed, for the white hair +and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, +and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than +ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the +corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, +burning eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches +underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were +simply gorged with blood. He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his +repletion. I shuddered as I bent over to touch him, and every sense in +me revolted at the contact; but I had to search, or I was lost. The +coming night might see my own body a banquet in a similar way to those +horrid three. I felt all over the body, but no sign could I find of the +key. Then I stopped and looked at the Count. There was a mocking smile +on the bloated face which seemed to drive me mad. This was the being I +was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come +he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and +create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the +helpless. The very thought drove me mad. A terrible desire came upon me +to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, +but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the +cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the +hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell full +upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to +paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, +merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my +hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade +caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid +thing from my sight. The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, +blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its +own in the nethermost hell. + +I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed +on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over me. As I +waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices coming +closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and the +cracking of whips; the Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count had +spoken were coming. With a last look around and at the box which +contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count's +room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be opened. +With strained ears, I listened, and heard downstairs the grinding of the +key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy door. There must +have been some other means of entry, or some one had a key for one of +the locked doors. Then there came the sound of many feet tramping and +dying away in some passage which sent up a clanging echo. I turned to +run down again towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance; +but at the moment there seemed to come a violent puff of wind, and the +door to the winding stair blew to with a shock that set the dust from +the lintels flying. When I ran to push it open, I found that it was +hopelessly fast. I was again a prisoner, and the net of doom was closing +round me more closely. + +As I write there is in the passage below a sound of many tramping feet +and the crash of weights being set down heavily, doubtless the boxes, +with their freight of earth. There is a sound of hammering; it is the +box being nailed down. Now I can hear the heavy feet tramping again +along the hall, with many other idle feet coming behind them. + +The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key +in the lock; I can hear the key withdraw: then another door opens and +shuts; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt. + +Hark! in the courtyard and down the rocky way the roll of heavy wheels, +the crack of whips, and the chorus of the Szgany as they pass into the +distance. + +I am alone in the castle with those awful women. Faugh! Mina is a woman, +and there is nought in common. They are devils of the Pit! + +I shall not remain alone with them; I shall try to scale the castle wall +farther than I have yet attempted. I shall take some of the gold with +me, lest I want it later. I may find a way from this dreadful place. + +And then away for home! away to the quickest and nearest train! away +from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his +children still walk with earthly feet! + +At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the +precipice is steep and high. At its foot a man may sleep--as a man. +Good-bye, all! Mina! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Letter from Miss Mina Murray to Miss Lucy Westenra._ + + +"_9 May._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed +with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. +I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together +freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard +lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have +been practising shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I shall +be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I +can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for +him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard. He +and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a +stenographic journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I +shall keep a diary in the same way. I don't mean one of those +two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a +sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I do not +suppose there will be much of interest to other people; but it is not +intended for them. I may show it to Jonathan some day if there is in it +anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try +to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing +descriptions and trying to remember conversations. I am told that, with +a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears +said during a day. However, we shall see. I will tell you of my little +plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan +from Transylvania. He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I +am longing to hear all his news. It must be so nice to see strange +countries. I wonder if we--I mean Jonathan and I--shall ever see them +together. There is the ten o'clock bell ringing. Good-bye. + +"Your loving + +"MINA. + +"Tell me all the news when you write. You have not told me anything for +a long time. I hear rumours, and especially of a tall, handsome, +curly-haired man???" + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_17, Chatham Street_, + +"_Wednesday_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"I must say you tax me _very_ unfairly with being a bad correspondent. I +wrote to you _twice_ since we parted, and your last letter was only your +_second_. Besides, I have nothing to tell you. There is really nothing +to interest you. Town is very pleasant just now, and we go a good deal +to picture-galleries and for walks and rides in the park. As to the +tall, curly-haired man, I suppose it was the one who was with me at the +last Pop. Some one has evidently been telling tales. That was Mr. +Holmwood. He often comes to see us, and he and mamma get on very well +together; they have so many things to talk about in common. We met some +time ago a man that would just _do for you_, if you were not already +engaged to Jonathan. He is an excellent _parti_, being handsome, well +off, and of good birth. He is a doctor and really clever. Just fancy! He +is only nine-and-twenty, and he has an immense lunatic asylum all under +his own care. Mr. Holmwood introduced him to me, and he called here to +see us, and often comes now. I think he is one of the most resolute men +I ever saw, and yet the most calm. He seems absolutely imperturbable. I +can fancy what a wonderful power he must have over his patients. He has +a curious habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to +read one's thoughts. He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter +myself he has got a tough nut to crack. I know that from my glass. Do +you ever try to read your own face? _I do_, and I can tell you it is not +a bad study, and gives you more trouble than you can well fancy if you +have never tried it. He says that I afford him a curious psychological +study, and I humbly think I do. I do not, as you know, take sufficient +interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions. Dress is a +bore. That is slang again, but never mind; Arthur says that every day. +There, it is all out. Mina, we have told all our secrets to each other +since we were _children_; we have slept together and eaten together, and +laughed and cried together; and now, though I have spoken, I would like +to speak more. Oh, Mina, couldn't you guess? I love him. I am blushing +as I write, for although I _think_ he loves me, he has not told me so in +words. But oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him! There, that +does me good. I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire +undressing, as we used to sit; and I would try to tell you what I feel. +I do not know how I am writing this even to you. I am afraid to stop, +or I should tear up the letter, and I don't want to stop, for I _do_ so +want to tell you all. Let me hear from you _at once_, and tell me all +that you think about it. Mina, I must stop. Good-night. Bless me in your +prayers; and, Mina, pray for my happiness. + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--I need not tell you this is a secret. Good-night again. + +"L." + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_24 May_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter. It was so +nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy. + +"My dear, it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. +Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a +proposal till to-day, not a real proposal, and to-day I have had three. +Just fancy! THREE proposals in one day! Isn't it awful! I feel sorry, +really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Mina, I am so +happy that I don't know what to do with myself. And three proposals! +But, for goodness' sake, don't tell any of the girls, or they would be +getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured +and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at +least. Some girls are so vain! You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and +are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can +despise vanity. Well, I must tell you about the three, but you must keep +it a secret, dear, from _every one_, except, of course, Jonathan. You +will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell +Arthur. A woman ought to tell her husband everything--don't you think +so, dear?--and I must be fair. Men like women, certainly their wives, to +be quite as fair as they are; and women, I am afraid, are not always +quite as fair as they should be. Well, my dear, number One came just +before lunch. I told you of him, Dr. John Seward, the lunatic-asylum +man, with the strong jaw and the good forehead. He was very cool +outwardly, but was nervous all the same. He had evidently been schooling +himself as to all sorts of little things, and remembered them; but he +almost managed to sit down on his silk hat, which men don't generally do +when they are cool, and then when he wanted to appear at ease he kept +playing with a lancet in a way that made me nearly scream. He spoke to +me, Mina, very straightforwardly. He told me how dear I was to him, +though he had known me so little, and what his life would be with me to +help and cheer him. He was going to tell me how unhappy he would be if I +did not care for him, but when he saw me cry he said that he was a brute +and would not add to my present trouble. Then he broke off and asked if +I could love him in time; and when I shook my head his hands trembled, +and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared already for any one +else. He put it very nicely, saying that he did not want to wring my +confidence from me, but only to know, because if a woman's heart was +free a man might have hope. And then, Mina, I felt a sort of duty to +tell him that there was some one. I only told him that much, and then he +stood up, and he looked very strong and very grave as he took both my +hands in his and said he hoped I would be happy, and that if I ever +wanted a friend I must count him one of my best. Oh, Mina dear, I can't +help crying: and you must excuse this letter being all blotted. Being +proposed to is all very nice and all that sort of thing, but it isn't at +all a happy thing when you have to see a poor fellow, whom you know +loves you honestly, going away and looking all broken-hearted, and to +know that, no matter what he may say at the moment, you are passing +quite out of his life. My dear, I must stop here at present, I feel so +miserable, though I am so happy. + +"_Evening._ + +"Arthur has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I left +off, so I can go on telling you about the day. Well, my dear, number Two +came after lunch. He is such a nice fellow, an American from Texas, and +he looks so young and so fresh that it seems almost impossible that he +has been to so many places and has had such adventures. I sympathise +with poor Desdemona when she had such a dangerous stream poured in her +ear, even by a black man. I suppose that we women are such cowards that +we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him. I know now +what I would do if I were a man and wanted to make a girl love me. No, I +don't, for there was Mr. Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never +told any, and yet---- My dear, I am somewhat previous. Mr. Quincey P. +Morris found me alone. It seems that a man always does find a girl +alone. No, he doesn't, for Arthur tried twice to _make_ a chance, and I +helping him all I could; I am not ashamed to say it now. I must tell you +beforehand that Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang--that is to say, +he never does so to strangers or before them, for he is really well +educated and has exquisite manners--but he found out that it amused me +to hear him talk American slang, and whenever I was present, and there +was no one to be shocked, he said such funny things. I am afraid, my +dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits exactly into whatever else he +has to say. But this is a way slang has. I do not know myself if I shall +ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it, as I have never +heard him use any as yet. Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked +as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see all the same that he was +very nervous. He took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly:-- + +"'Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your +little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you +will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won't +you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road +together, driving in double harness?' + +"Well, he did look so good-humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem +half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward; so I said, as +lightly as I could, that I did not know anything of hitching, and that I +wasn't broken to harness at all yet. Then he said that he had spoken in +a light manner, and he hoped that if he had made a mistake in doing so +on so grave, so momentous, an occasion for him, I would forgive him. He +really did look serious when he was saying it, and I couldn't help +feeling a bit serious too--I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid +flirt--though I couldn't help feeling a sort of exultation that he was +number two in one day. And then, my dear, before I could say a word he +began pouring out a perfect torrent of love-making, laying his very +heart and soul at my feet. He looked so earnest over it that I shall +never again think that a man must be playful always, and never earnest, +because he is merry at times. I suppose he saw something in my face +which checked him, for he suddenly stopped, and said with a sort of +manly fervour that I could have loved him for if I had been free:-- + +"'Lucy, you are an honest-hearted girl, I know. I should not be here +speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit, right +through to the very depths of your soul. Tell me, like one good fellow +to another, is there any one else that you care for? And if there is +I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again, but will be, if you will +let me, a very faithful friend.' + +"My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy +of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great-hearted, true +gentleman. I burst into tears--I am afraid, my dear, you will think +this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one--and I really felt very +badly. Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want +her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say +it. I am glad to say that, though I was crying, I was able to look into +Mr. Morris's brave eyes, and I told him out straight:-- + +"'Yes, there is some one I love, though he has not told me yet that he +even loves me.' I was right to speak to him so frankly, for quite a +light came into his face, and he put out both his hands and took mine--I +think I put them into his--and said in a hearty way:-- + +"'That's my brave girl. It's better worth being late for a chance of +winning you than being in time for any other girl in the world. Don't +cry, my dear. If it's for me, I'm a hard nut to crack; and I take it +standing up. If that other fellow doesn't know his happiness, well, he'd +better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal with me. Little girl, +your honesty and pluck have made me a friend, and that's rarer than a +lover; it's more unselfish anyhow. My dear, I'm going to have a pretty +lonely walk between this and Kingdom Come. Won't you give me one kiss? +It'll be something to keep off the darkness now and then. You can, you +know, if you like, for that other good fellow--he must be a good fellow, +my dear, and a fine fellow, or you could not love him--hasn't spoken +yet.' That quite won me, Mina, for it _was_ brave and sweet of him, and +noble, too, to a rival--wasn't it?--and he so sad; so I leant over and +kissed him. He stood up with my two hands in his, and as he looked down +into my face--I am afraid I was blushing very much--he said:-- + +"'Little girl, I hold your hand, and you've kissed me, and if these +things don't make us friends nothing ever will. Thank you for your sweet +honesty to me, and good-bye.' He wrung my hand, and taking up his hat, +went straight out of the room without looking back, without a tear or a +quiver or a pause; and I am crying like a baby. Oh, why must a man like +that be made unhappy when there are lots of girls about who would +worship the very ground he trod on? I know I would if I were free--only +I don't want to be free. My dear, this quite upset me, and I feel I +cannot write of happiness just at once, after telling you of it; and I +don't wish to tell of the number three until it can be all happy. + +"Ever your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--Oh, about number Three--I needn't tell you of number Three, need +I? Besides, it was all so confused; it seemed only a moment from his +coming into the room till both his arms were round me, and he was +kissing me. I am very, very happy, and I don't know what I have done to +deserve it. I must only try in the future to show that I am not +ungrateful to God for all His goodness to me in sending to me such a +lover, such a husband, and such a friend. + +"Good-bye." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +(Kept in phonograph) + +_25 May._--Ebb tide in appetite to-day. Cannot eat, cannot rest, so +diary instead. Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty +feeling; nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be worth +the doing.... As I knew that the only cure for this sort of thing was +work, I went down amongst the patients. I picked out one who has +afforded me a study of much interest. He is so quaint that I am +determined to understand him as well as I can. To-day I seemed to get +nearer than ever before to the heart of his mystery. + +I questioned him more fully than I had ever done, with a view to making +myself master of the facts of his hallucination. In my manner of doing +it there was, I now see, something of cruelty. I seemed to wish to keep +him to the point of his madness--a thing which I avoid with the patients +as I would the mouth of hell. + +(_Mem._, under what circumstances would I _not_ avoid the pit of hell?) +_Omnia Romæ venalia sunt._ Hell has its price! _verb. sap._ If there be +anything behind this instinct it will be valuable to trace it afterwards +_accurately_, so I had better commence to do so, therefore-- + +R. M. Renfield, ætat 59.--Sanguine temperament; great physical strength; +morbidly excitable; periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I +cannot make out. I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the +disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish; a possibly +dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men caution +is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of +on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is +balanced with the centrifugal; when duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed +point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of +accidents can balance it. + + +_Letter, Quincey P. Morris to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_25 May._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"We've told yarns by the camp-fire in the prairies; and dressed one +another's wounds after trying a landing at the Marquesas; and drunk +healths on the shore of Titicaca. There are more yarns to be told, and +other wounds to be healed, and another health to be drunk. Won't you let +this be at my camp-fire to-morrow night? I have no hesitation in asking +you, as I know a certain lady is engaged to a certain dinner-party, and +that you are free. There will only be one other, our old pal at the +Korea, Jack Seward. He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our +weeps over the wine-cup, and to drink a health with all our hearts to +the happiest man in all the wide world, who has won the noblest heart +that God has made and the best worth winning. We promise you a hearty +welcome, and a loving greeting, and a health as true as your own right +hand. We shall both swear to leave you at home if you drink too deep to +a certain pair of eyes. Come! + +"Yours, as ever and always, + +"QUINCEY P. MORRIS." + + +_Telegram from Arthur Holmwood to Quincey P. Morris._ + +"_26 May._ + +"Count me in every time. I bear messages which will make both your ears +tingle. + +"ART." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_24 July. Whitby._--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and +lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in +which they have rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the +Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the +harbour. A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through which the +view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is +beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land +on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to +see down. The houses of the old town--the side away from us--are all +red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the +pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby +Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of +"Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble +ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is +a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. Between it and +the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big +graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in +Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the +harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness +stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that +part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been +destroyed. In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches +out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside +them, through the churchyard; and people go and sit there all day long +looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze. I shall come and +sit here very often myself and work. Indeed, I am writing now, with my +book on my knee, and listening to the talk of three old men who are +sitting beside me. They seem to do nothing all day but sit up here and +talk. + +The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite wall +stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of it, in +the middle of which is a lighthouse. A heavy sea-wall runs along outside +of it. On the near side, the sea-wall makes an elbow crooked inversely, +and its end too has a lighthouse. Between the two piers there is a +narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly widens. + +It is nice at high water; but when the tide is out it shoals away to +nothing, and there is merely the stream of the Esk, running between +banks of sand, with rocks here and there. Outside the harbour on this +side there rises for about half a mile a great reef, the sharp edge of +which runs straight out from behind the south lighthouse. At the end of +it is a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in a +mournful sound on the wind. They have a legend here that when a ship is +lost bells are heard out at sea. I must ask the old man about this; he +is coming this way.... + +He is a funny old man. He must be awfully old, for his face is all +gnarled and twisted like the bark of a tree. He tells me that he is +nearly a hundred, and that he was a sailor in the Greenland fishing +fleet when Waterloo was fought. He is, I am afraid, a very sceptical +person, for when I asked him about the bells at sea and the White Lady +at the abbey he said very brusquely:-- + +"I wouldn't fash masel' about them, miss. Them things be all wore out. +Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say that they wasn't in +my time. They be all very well for comers and trippers, an' the like, +but not for a nice young lady like you. Them feet-folks from York and +Leeds that be always eatin' cured herrin's an' drinkin' tea an' lookin' +out to buy cheap jet would creed aught. I wonder masel' who'd be +bothered tellin' lies to them--even the newspapers, which is full of +fool-talk." I thought he would be a good person to learn interesting +things from, so I asked him if he would mind telling me something about +the whale-fishing in the old days. He was just settling himself to begin +when the clock struck six, whereupon he laboured to get up, and said:-- + +"I must gang ageeanwards home now, miss. My grand-daughter doesn't like +to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to +crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em; an', miss, I lack +belly-timber sairly by the clock." + +He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could, down +the steps. The steps are a great feature on the place. They lead from +the town up to the church, there are hundreds of them--I do not know how +many--and they wind up in a delicate curve; the slope is so gentle that +a horse could easily walk up and down them. I think they must originally +have had something to do with the abbey. I shall go home too. Lucy went +out visiting with her mother, and as they were only duty calls, I did +not go. They will be home by this. + + * * * * * + +_1 August._--I came up here an hour ago with Lucy, and we had a most +interesting talk with my old friend and the two others who always come +and join him. He is evidently the Sir Oracle of them, and I should think +must have been in his time a most dictatorial person. He will not admit +anything, and downfaces everybody. If he can't out-argue them he bullies +them, and then takes their silence for agreement with his views. Lucy +was looking sweetly pretty in her white lawn frock; she has got a +beautiful colour since she has been here. I noticed that the old men did +not lose any time in coming up and sitting near her when we sat down. +She is so sweet with old people; I think they all fell in love with her +on the spot. Even my old man succumbed and did not contradict her, but +gave me double share instead. I got him on the subject of the legends, +and he went off at once into a sort of sermon. I must try to remember it +and put it down:-- + +"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that's what it be, an' +nowt else. These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' barguests an' bogles +an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women +a-belderin'. They be nowt but air-blebs. They, an' all grims an' signs +an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome beuk-bodies an' +railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do +somethin' that they don't other incline to. It makes me ireful to think +o' them. Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on paper +an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them on the +tombstones. Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them +steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, +is acant--simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on +them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of +them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' +the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less +sacred. Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or another! My +gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they +come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an' tryin' to +drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them +trimmlin' and ditherin', with their hands that dozzened an' slippy from +lyin' in the sea that they can't even keep their grup o' them." + +I could see from the old fellow's self-satisfied air and the way in +which he looked round for the approval of his cronies that he was +"showing off," so I put in a word to keep him going:-- + +"Oh, Mr. Swales, you can't be serious. Surely these tombstones are not +all wrong?" + +"Yabblins! There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin' where they make +out the people too good; for there be folk that do think a balm-bowl be +like the sea, if only it be their own. The whole thing be only lies. Now +look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth." I +nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite +understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church. +He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be +happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again. "Then that be just where +the lie comes in. Why, there be scores of these lay-beds that be toom as +old Dun's 'bacca-box on Friday night." He nudged one of his companions, +and they all laughed. "And my gog! how could they be otherwise? Look at +that one, the aftest abaft the bier-bank: read it!" I went over and +read:-- + +"Edward Spencelagh, master mariner, murdered by pirates off the coast of +Andres, April, 1854, æt. 30." When I came back Mr. Swales went on:-- + +"Who brought him home, I wonder, to hap him here? Murdered off the coast +of Andres! an' you consated his body lay under! Why, I could name ye a +dozen whose bones lie in the Greenland seas above"--he pointed +northwards--"or where the currents may have drifted them. There be the +steans around ye. Ye can, with your young eyes, read the small-print of +the lies from here. This Braithwaite Lowrey--I knew his father, lost in +the _Lively_ off Greenland in '20; or Andrew Woodhouse, drowned in the +same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year +later; or old John Rawlings, whose grandfather sailed with me, drowned +in the Gulf of Finland in '50. Do ye think that all these men will have +to make a rush to Whitby when the trumpet sounds? I have me antherums +aboot it! I tell ye that when they got here they'd be jommlin' an' +jostlin' one another that way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice +in the old days, when we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' +tryin' to tie up our cuts by the light of the aurora borealis." This was +evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his +cronies joined in with gusto. + +"But," I said, "surely you are not quite correct, for you start on the +assumption that all the poor people, or their spirits, will have to +take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment. Do you think +that will be really necessary?" + +"Well, what else be they tombstones for? Answer me that, miss!" + +"To please their relatives, I suppose." + +"To please their relatives, you suppose!" This he said with intense +scorn. "How will it pleasure their relatives to know that lies is wrote +over them, and that everybody in the place knows that they be lies?" He +pointed to a stone at our feet which had been laid down as a slab, on +which the seat was rested, close to the edge of the cliff. "Read the +lies on that thruff-stean," he said. The letters were upside down to me +from where I sat, but Lucy was more opposite to them, so she leant over +and read:-- + +"Sacred to the memory of George Canon, who died, in the hope of a +glorious resurrection, on July, 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at +Kettleness. This tomb was erected by his sorrowing mother to her dearly +beloved son. 'He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.' +Really, Mr. Swales, I don't see anything very funny in that!" She spoke +her comment very gravely and somewhat severely. + +"Ye don't see aught funny! Ha! ha! But that's because ye don't gawm the +sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was +acrewk'd--a regular lamiter he was--an' he hated her so that he +committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put on +his life. He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that +they had for scarin' the crows with. 'Twarn't for crows then, for it +brought the clegs and the dowps to him. That's the way he fell off the +rocks. And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often heard him +say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was so pious +that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to addle where +she was. Now isn't that stean at any rate"--he hammered it with his +stick as he spoke--"a pack of lies? and won't it make Gabriel keckle +when Geordie comes pantin' up the grees with the tombstean balanced on +his hump, and asks it to be took as evidence!" + +I did not know what to say, but Lucy turned the conversation as she +said, rising up:-- + +"Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favourite seat, and I cannot +leave it; and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a +suicide." + +"That won't harm ye, my pretty; an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome to +have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap. That won't hurt ye. Why, I've +sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't done me +no harm. Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie +there either! It'll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the +tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field. +There's the clock, an' I must gang. My service to ye, ladies!" And off +he hobbled. + +Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we +took hands as we sat; and she told me all over again about Arthur and +their coming marriage. That made me just a little heart-sick, for I +haven't heard from Jonathan for a whole month. + + * * * * * + +_The same day._ I came up here alone, for I am very sad. There was no +letter for me. I hope there cannot be anything the matter with Jonathan. +The clock has just struck nine. I see the lights scattered all over the +town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and sometimes singly; +they run right up the Esk and die away in the curve of the valley. To my +left the view is cut off by a black line of roof of the old house next +the abbey. The sheep and lambs are bleating in the fields away behind +me, and there is a clatter of a donkey's hoofs up the paved road below. +The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further +along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street. +Neither of the bands hears the other, but up here I hear and see them +both. I wonder where Jonathan is and if he is thinking of me! I wish he +were here. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 June._--The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to +understand the man. He has certain qualities very largely developed; +selfishness, secrecy, and purpose. I wish I could get at what is the +object of the latter. He seems to have some settled scheme of his own, +but what it is I do not yet know. His redeeming quality is a love of +animals, though, indeed, he has such curious turns in it that I +sometimes imagine he is only abnormally cruel. His pets are of odd +sorts. Just now his hobby is catching flies. He has at present such a +quantity that I have had myself to expostulate. To my astonishment, he +did not break out into a fury, as I expected, but took the matter in +simple seriousness. He thought for a moment, and then said: "May I have +three days? I shall clear them away." Of course, I said that would do. I +must watch him. + + * * * * * + +_18 June._--He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several +very big fellows in a box. He keeps feeding them with his flies, and +the number of the latter is becoming sensibly diminished, although he +has used half his food in attracting more flies from outside to his +room. + + * * * * * + +_1 July._--His spiders are now becoming as great a nuisance as his +flies, and to-day I told him that he must get rid of them. He looked +very sad at this, so I said that he must clear out some of them, at all +events. He cheerfully acquiesced in this, and I gave him the same time +as before for reduction. He disgusted me much while with him, for when a +horrid blow-fly, bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, +he caught it, held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger +and thumb, and, before I knew what he was going to do, put it in his +mouth and ate it. I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it +was very good and very wholesome; that it was life, strong life, and +gave life to him. This gave me an idea, or the rudiment of one. I must +watch how he gets rid of his spiders. He has evidently some deep problem +in his mind, for he keeps a little note-book in which he is always +jotting down something. Whole pages of it are filled with masses of +figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the +totals added in batches again, as though he were "focussing" some +account, as the auditors put it. + + * * * * * + +_8 July._--There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in +my mind is growing. It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, +unconscious cerebration! you will have to give the wall to your +conscious brother. I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I +might notice if there were any change. Things remain as they were except +that he has parted with some of his pets and got a new one. He has +managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed it. His means +of taming is simple, for already the spiders have diminished. Those that +do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by +tempting them with his food. + + * * * * * + +_19 July._--We are progressing. My friend has now a whole colony of +sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated. When I came +in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour--a very, +very great favour; and as he spoke he fawned on me like a dog. I asked +him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his voice and +bearing:-- + +"A kitten, a nice little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, +and teach, and feed--and feed--and feed!" I was not unprepared for this +request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and +vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows +should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and the spiders; so +I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a +cat than a kitten. His eagerness betrayed him as he answered:-- + +"Oh, yes, I would like a cat! I only asked for a kitten lest you should +refuse me a cat. No one would refuse me a kitten, would they?" I shook +my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but +that I would see about it. His face fell, and I could see a warning of +danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong look which meant +killing. The man is an undeveloped homicidal maniac. I shall test him +with his present craving and see how it will work out; then I shall know +more. + + * * * * * + +_10 p. m._--I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner +brooding. When I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and +implored me to let him have a cat; that his salvation depended upon it. +I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon +he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the corner +where I had found him. I shall see him in the morning early. + + * * * * * + +_20 July._--Visited Renfield very early, before the attendant went his +rounds. Found him up and humming a tune. He was spreading out his sugar, +which he had saved, in the window, and was manifestly beginning his +fly-catching again; and beginning it cheerfully and with a good grace. I +looked around for his birds, and not seeing them, asked him where they +were. He replied, without turning round, that they had all flown away. +There were a few feathers about the room and on his pillow a drop of +blood. I said nothing, but went and told the keeper to report to me if +there were anything odd about him during the day. + + * * * * * + +_11 a. m._--The attendant has just been to me to say that Renfield has +been very sick and has disgorged a whole lot of feathers. "My belief is, +doctor," he said, "that he has eaten his birds, and that he just took +and ate them raw!" + + * * * * * + +_11 p. m._--I gave Renfield a strong opiate to-night, enough to make +even him sleep, and took away his pocket-book to look at it. The thought +that has been buzzing about my brain lately is complete, and the theory +proved. My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I shall have to +invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoöphagous +(life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he +can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way. He +gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then +wanted a cat to eat the many birds. What would have been his later +steps? It would almost be worth while to complete the experiment. It +might be done if there were only a sufficient cause. Men sneered at +vivisection, and yet look at its results to-day! Why not advance science +in its most difficult and vital aspect--the knowledge of the brain? Had +I even the secret of one such mind--did I hold the key to the fancy of +even one lunatic--I might advance my own branch of science to a pitch +compared with which Burdon-Sanderson's physiology or Ferrier's +brain-knowledge would be as nothing. If only there were a sufficient +cause! I must not think too much of this, or I may be tempted; a good +cause might turn the scale with me, for may not I too be of an +exceptional brain, congenitally? + +How well the man reasoned; lunatics always do within their own scope. I +wonder at how many lives he values a man, or if at only one. He has +closed the account most accurately, and to-day begun a new record. How +many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives? + +To me it seems only yesterday that my whole life ended with my new hope, +and that truly I began a new record. So it will be until the Great +Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a balance to +profit or loss. Oh, Lucy, Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be +angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on +hopeless and work. Work! work! + +If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there--a +good, unselfish cause to make me work--that would be indeed happiness. + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_26 July._--I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here; it +is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time. And +there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it +different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I +had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned; but +yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from +him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said the enclosed +had just been received. It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, +and says that he is just starting for home. That is not like Jonathan; +I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy. Then, too, Lucy, +although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in +her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided +that I am to lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra has +got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and +along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over +with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place. Poor dear, she is +naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy's +father, had the same habit; that he would get up in the night and dress +himself and go out, if he were not stopped. Lucy is to be married in the +autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is +to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan +and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to +make both ends meet. Mr. Holmwood--he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only +son of Lord Godalming--is coming up here very shortly--as soon as he can +leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is +counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up to the seat +on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it +is the waiting which disturbs her; she will be all right when he +arrives. + + * * * * * + +_27 July._--No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him, +though why I should I do not know; but I do wish that he would write, if +it were only a single line. Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I +am awakened by her moving about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so +hot that she cannot get cold; but still the anxiety and the perpetually +being wakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and +wakeful myself. Thank God, Lucy's health keeps up. Mr. Holmwood has been +suddenly called to Ring to see his father, who has been taken seriously +ill. Lucy frets at the postponement of seeing him, but it does not touch +her looks; she is a trifle stouter, and her cheeks are a lovely +rose-pink. She has lost that anæmic look which she had. I pray it will +all last. + + * * * * * + +_3 August._--Another week gone, and no news from Jonathan, not even to +Mr. Hawkins, from whom I have heard. Oh, I do hope he is not ill. He +surely would have written. I look at that last letter of his, but +somehow it does not satisfy me. It does not read like him, and yet it is +his writing. There is no mistake of that. Lucy has not walked much in +her sleep the last week, but there is an odd concentration about her +which I do not understand; even in her sleep she seems to be watching +me. She tries the door, and finding it locked, goes about the room +searching for the key. + +_6 August._--Another three days, and no news. This suspense is getting +dreadful. If I only knew where to write to or where to go to, I should +feel easier; but no one has heard a word of Jonathan since that last +letter. I must only pray to God for patience. Lucy is more excitable +than ever, but is otherwise well. Last night was very threatening, and +the fishermen say that we are in for a storm. I must try to watch it and +learn the weather signs. To-day is a grey day, and the sun as I write is +hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey--except +the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it; grey earthy rock; +grey clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the +grey sea, into which the sand-points stretch like grey fingers. The sea +is tumbling in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, +muffled in the sea-mists drifting inland. The horizon is lost in a grey +mist. All is vastness; the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and +there is a "brool" over the sea that sounds like some presage of doom. +Dark figures are on the beach here and there, sometimes half shrouded in +the mist, and seem "men like trees walking." The fishing-boats are +racing for home, and rise and dip in the ground swell as they sweep into +the harbour, bending to the scuppers. Here comes old Mr. Swales. He is +making straight for me, and I can see, by the way he lifts his hat, that +he wants to talk.... + +I have been quite touched by the change in the poor old man. When he sat +down beside me, he said in a very gentle way:-- + +"I want to say something to you, miss." I could see he was not at ease, +so I took his poor old wrinkled hand in mine and asked him to speak +fully; so he said, leaving his hand in mine:-- + +"I'm afraid, my deary, that I must have shocked you by all the wicked +things I've been sayin' about the dead, and such like, for weeks past; +but I didn't mean them, and I want ye to remember that when I'm gone. We +aud folks that be daffled, and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't +altogether like to think of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it; +an' that's why I've took to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my +own heart a bit. But, Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a +bit; only I don't want to die if I can help it. My time must be nigh at +hand now, for I be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to +expect; and I'm so nigh it that the Aud Man is already whettin' his +scythe. Ye see, I can't get out o' the habit of caffin' about it all at +once; the chafts will wag as they be used to. Some day soon the Angel of +Death will sound his trumpet for me. But don't ye dooal an' greet, my +deary!"--for he saw that I was crying--"if he should come this very +night I'd not refuse to answer his call. For life be, after all, only a +waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin'; and death be all that +we can rightly depend on. But I'm content, for it's comin' to me, my +deary, and comin' quick. It may be comin' while we be lookin' and +wonderin'. Maybe it's in that wind out over the sea that's bringin' with +it loss and wreck, and sore distress, and sad hearts. Look! look!" he +cried suddenly. "There's something in that wind and in the hoast beyont +that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It's in the +air; I feel it comin'. Lord, make me answer cheerful when my call +comes!" He held up his arms devoutly, and raised his hat. His mouth +moved as though he were praying. After a few minutes' silence, he got +up, shook hands with me, and blessed me, and said good-bye, and hobbled +off. It all touched me, and upset me very much. + +I was glad when the coastguard came along, with his spy-glass under his +arm. He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time +kept looking at a strange ship. + +"I can't make her out," he said; "she's a Russian, by the look of her; +but she's knocking about in the queerest way. She doesn't know her mind +a bit; she seems to see the storm coming, but can't decide whether to +run up north in the open, or to put in here. Look there again! She is +steered mighty strangely, for she doesn't mind the hand on the wheel; +changes about with every puff of wind. We'll hear more of her before +this time to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CUTTING FROM "THE DAILYGRAPH," 8 AUGUST + + +(_Pasted in Mina Murray's Journal._) + +From a Correspondent. + +_Whitby_. + +One of the greatest and suddenest storms on record has just been +experienced here, with results both strange and unique. The weather had +been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the month of +August. Saturday evening was as fine as was ever known, and the great +body of holiday-makers laid out yesterday for visits to Mulgrave Woods, +Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes, and the various trips in +the neighbourhood of Whitby. The steamers _Emma_ and _Scarborough_ made +trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of +"tripping" both to and from Whitby. The day was unusually fine till the +afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff +churchyard, and from that commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of +sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of +"mares'-tails" high in the sky to the north-west. The wind was then +blowing from the south-west in the mild degree which in barometrical +language is ranked "No. 2: light breeze." The coastguard on duty at once +made report, and one old fisherman, who for more than half a century has +kept watch on weather signs from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic +manner the coming of a sudden storm. The approach of sunset was so very +beautiful, so grand in its masses of splendidly-coloured clouds, that +there was quite an assemblage on the walk along the cliff in the old +churchyard to enjoy the beauty. Before the sun dipped below the black +mass of Kettleness, standing boldly athwart the western sky, its +downward way was marked by myriad clouds of every sunset-colour--flame, +purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold; with here and +there masses not large, but of seemingly absolute blackness, in all +sorts of shapes, as well outlined as colossal silhouettes. The +experience was not lost on the painters, and doubtless some of the +sketches of the "Prelude to the Great Storm" will grace the R. A. and R. +I. walls in May next. More than one captain made up his mind then and +there that his "cobble" or his "mule," as they term the different +classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed. +The wind fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there +was a dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity which, on +the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive nature. There +were but few lights in sight at sea, for even the coasting steamers, +which usually "hug" the shore so closely, kept well to seaward, and but +few fishing-boats were in sight. The only sail noticeable was a foreign +schooner with all sails set, which was seemingly going westwards. The +foolhardiness or ignorance of her officers was a prolific theme for +comment whilst she remained in sight, and efforts were made to signal +her to reduce sail in face of her danger. Before the night shut down she +was seen with sails idly flapping as she gently rolled on the undulating +swell of the sea, + + "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." + +Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite +oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a sheep +inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly heard, and the +band on the pier, with its lively French air, was like a discord in the +great harmony of nature's silence. A little after midnight came a +strange sound from over the sea, and high overhead the air began to +carry a strange, faint, hollow booming. + +Then without warning the tempest broke. With a rapidity which, at the +time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible to realize, +the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed. The waves rose in +growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till in a very few minutes +the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and devouring monster. +White-crested waves beat madly on the level sands and rushed up the +shelving cliffs; others broke over the piers, and with their spume swept +the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise from the end of either pier +of Whitby Harbour. The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such +force that it was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, +or clung with grim clasp to the iron stanchions. It was found necessary +to clear the entire piers from the mass of onlookers, or else the +fatalities of the night would have been increased manifold. To add to +the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came +drifting inland--white, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, +so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of +imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were +touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and many +a one shuddered as the wreaths of sea-mist swept by. At times the mist +cleared, and the sea for some distance could be seen in the glare of the +lightning, which now came thick and fast, followed by such sudden peals +of thunder that the whole sky overhead seemed trembling under the shock +of the footsteps of the storm. + +Some of the scenes thus revealed were of immeasurable grandeur and of +absorbing interest--the sea, running mountains high, threw skywards with +each wave mighty masses of white foam, which the tempest seemed to +snatch at and whirl away into space; here and there a fishing-boat, with +a rag of sail, running madly for shelter before the blast; now and again +the white wings of a storm-tossed sea-bird. On the summit of the East +Cliff the new searchlight was ready for experiment, but had not yet been +tried. The officers in charge of it got it into working order, and in +the pauses of the inrushing mist swept with it the surface of the sea. +Once or twice its service was most effective, as when a fishing-boat, +with gunwale under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance +of the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the +piers. As each boat achieved the safety of the port there was a shout of +joy from the mass of people on shore, a shout which for a moment seemed +to cleave the gale and was then swept away in its rush. + +Before long the searchlight discovered some distance away a schooner +with all sails set, apparently the same vessel which had been noticed +earlier in the evening. The wind had by this time backed to the east, +and there was a shudder amongst the watchers on the cliff as they +realized the terrible danger in which she now was. Between her and the +port lay the great flat reef on which so many good ships have from time +to time suffered, and, with the wind blowing from its present quarter, +it would be quite impossible that she should fetch the entrance of the +harbour. It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so +great that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost +visible, and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with such +speed that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up somewhere, +if it was only in hell." Then came another rush of sea-fog, greater than +any hitherto--a mass of dank mist, which seemed to close on all things +like a grey pall, and left available to men only the organ of hearing, +for the roar of the tempest, and the crash of the thunder, and the +booming of the mighty billows came through the damp oblivion even louder +than before. The rays of the searchlight were kept fixed on the harbour +mouth across the East Pier, where the shock was expected, and men waited +breathless. The wind suddenly shifted to the north-east, and the remnant +of the sea-fog melted in the blast; and then, _mirabile dictu_, between +the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, +swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and +gained the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed her, and a +shudder ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a +corpse, with drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each +motion of the ship. No other form could be seen on deck at all. A great +awe came on all as they realised that the ship, as if by a miracle, had +found the harbour, unsteered save by the hand of a dead man! However, +all took place more quickly than it takes to write these words. The +schooner paused not, but rushing across the harbour, pitched herself on +that accumulation of sand and gravel washed by many tides and many +storms into the south-east corner of the pier jutting under the East +Cliff, known locally as Tate Hill Pier. + +There was of course a considerable concussion as the vessel drove up on +the sand heap. Every spar, rope, and stay was strained, and some of the +"top-hammer" came crashing down. But, strangest of all, the very instant +the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as +if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow +on the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard +hangs over the laneway to the East Pier so steeply that some of the flat +tombstones--"thruff-steans" or "through-stones," as they call them in +the Whitby vernacular--actually project over where the sustaining cliff +has fallen away, it disappeared in the darkness, which seemed +intensified just beyond the focus of the searchlight. + +It so happened that there was no one at the moment on Tate Hill Pier, as +all those whose houses are in close proximity were either in bed or were +out on the heights above. Thus the coastguard on duty on the eastern +side of the harbour, who at once ran down to the little pier, was the +first to climb on board. The men working the searchlight, after scouring +the entrance of the harbour without seeing anything, then turned the +light on the derelict and kept it there. The coastguard ran aft, and +when he came beside the wheel, bent over to examine it, and recoiled at +once as though under some sudden emotion. This seemed to pique general +curiosity, and quite a number of people began to run. It is a good way +round from the West Cliff by the Drawbridge to Tate Hill Pier, but your +correspondent is a fairly good runner, and came well ahead of the crowd. +When I arrived, however, I found already assembled on the pier a crowd, +whom the coastguard and police refused to allow to come on board. By the +courtesy of the chief boatman, I was, as your correspondent, permitted +to climb on deck, and was one of a small group who saw the dead seaman +whilst actually lashed to the wheel. + +It was no wonder that the coastguard was surprised, or even awed, for +not often can such a sight have been seen. The man was simply fastened +by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between +the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix, the set of beads on which it +was fastened being around both wrists and wheel, and all kept fast by +the binding cords. The poor fellow may have been seated at one time, but +the flapping and buffeting of the sails had worked through the rudder of +the wheel and dragged him to and fro, so that the cords with which he +was tied had cut the flesh to the bone. Accurate note was made of the +state of things, and a doctor--Surgeon J. M. Caffyn, of 33, East Elliot +Place--who came immediately after me, declared, after making +examination, that the man must have been dead for quite two days. In his +pocket was a bottle, carefully corked, empty save for a little roll of +paper, which proved to be the addendum to the log. The coastguard said +the man must have tied up his own hands, fastening the knots with his +teeth. The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some +complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot +claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a +derelict. Already, however, the legal tongues are wagging, and one young +law student is loudly asserting that the rights of the owner are already +completely sacrificed, his property being held in contravention of the +statutes of mortmain, since the tiller, as emblemship, if not proof, of +delegated possession, is held in a _dead hand_. It is needless to say +that the dead steersman has been reverently removed from the place where +he held his honourable watch and ward till death--a steadfastness as +noble as that of the young Casabianca--and placed in the mortuary to +await inquest. + +Already the sudden storm is passing, and its fierceness is abating; +crowds are scattering homeward, and the sky is beginning to redden over +the Yorkshire wolds. I shall send, in time for your next issue, further +details of the derelict ship which found her way so miraculously into +harbour in the storm. + +_Whitby_ + +_9 August._--The sequel to the strange arrival of the derelict in the +storm last night is almost more startling than the thing itself. It +turns out that the schooner is a Russian from Varna, and is called the +_Demeter_. She is almost entirely in ballast of silver sand, with only a +small amount of cargo--a number of great wooden boxes filled with mould. +This cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor, Mr. S. F. Billington, of +7, The Crescent, who this morning went aboard and formally took +possession of the goods consigned to him. The Russian consul, too, +acting for the charter-party, took formal possession of the ship, and +paid all harbour dues, etc. Nothing is talked about here to-day except +the strange coincidence; the officials of the Board of Trade have been +most exacting in seeing that every compliance has been made with +existing regulations. As the matter is to be a "nine days' wonder," they +are evidently determined that there shall be no cause of after +complaint. A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which +landed when the ship struck, and more than a few of the members of the +S. P. C. A., which is very strong in Whitby, have tried to befriend the +animal. To the general disappointment, however, it was not to be found; +it seems to have disappeared entirely from the town. It may be that it +was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it is still +hiding in terror. There are some who look with dread on such a +possibility, lest later on it should in itself become a danger, for it +is evidently a fierce brute. Early this morning a large dog, a half-bred +mastiff belonging to a coal merchant close to Tate Hill Pier, was found +dead in the roadway opposite to its master's yard. It had been fighting, +and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn away, +and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--By the kindness of the Board of Trade inspector, I have been +permitted to look over the log-book of the _Demeter_, which was in order +up to within three days, but contained nothing of special interest +except as to facts of missing men. The greatest interest, however, is +with regard to the paper found in the bottle, which was to-day produced +at the inquest; and a more strange narrative than the two between them +unfold it has not been my lot to come across. As there is no motive for +concealment, I am permitted to use them, and accordingly send you a +rescript, simply omitting technical details of seamanship and +supercargo. It almost seems as though the captain had been seized with +some kind of mania before he had got well into blue water, and that +this had developed persistently throughout the voyage. Of course my +statement must be taken _cum grano_, since I am writing from the +dictation of a clerk of the Russian consul, who kindly translated for +me, time being short. + + LOG OF THE "DEMETER." + + +_Varna to Whitby._ + +_Written 18 July, things so strange happening, that I shall keep +accurate note henceforth till we land._ + + * * * * * + +On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes of earth. +At noon set sail. East wind, fresh. Crew, five hands ... two mates, +cook, and myself (captain). + + * * * * * + +On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus. Boarded by Turkish Customs +officers. Backsheesh. All correct. Under way at 4 p. m. + + * * * * * + +On 12 July through Dardanelles. More Customs officers and flagboat of +guarding squadron. Backsheesh again. Work of officers thorough, but +quick. Want us off soon. At dark passed into Archipelago. + + * * * * * + +On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. +Seemed scared, but would not speak out. + + * * * * * + +On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew. Men all steady fellows, who +sailed with me before. Mate could not make out what was wrong; they only +told him there was _something_, and crossed themselves. Mate lost temper +with one of them that day and struck him. Expected fierce quarrel, but +all was quiet. + + * * * * * + +On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of crew, Petrofsky, was +missing. Could not account for it. Took larboard watch eight bells last +night; was relieved by Abramoff, but did not go to bunk. Men more +downcast than ever. All said they expected something of the kind, but +would not say more than there was _something_ aboard. Mate getting very +impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead. + + * * * * * + +On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin, and in +an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a strange man +aboard the ship. He said that in his watch he had been sheltering +behind the deck-house, as there was a rain-storm, when he saw a tall, +thin man, who was not like any of the crew, come up the companion-way, +and go along the deck forward, and disappear. He followed cautiously, +but when he got to bows found no one, and the hatchways were all closed. +He was in a panic of superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may +spread. To allay it, I shall to-day search entire ship carefully from +stem to stern. + + * * * * * + +Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as they +evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would search from +stem to stern. First mate angry; said it was folly, and to yield to such +foolish ideas would demoralise the men; said he would engage to keep +them out of trouble with a handspike. I let him take the helm, while the +rest began thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns: we left +no corner unsearched. As there were only the big wooden boxes, there +were no odd corners where a man could hide. Men much relieved when +search over, and went back to work cheerfully. First mate scowled, but +said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_22 July_.--Rough weather last three days, and all hands busy with +sails--no time to be frightened. Men seem to have forgotten their dread. +Mate cheerful again, and all on good terms. Praised men for work in bad +weather. Passed Gibralter and out through Straits. All well. + + * * * * * + +_24 July_.--There seems some doom over this ship. Already a hand short, +and entering on the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and yet last +night another man lost--disappeared. Like the first, he came off his +watch and was not seen again. Men all in a panic of fear; sent a round +robin, asking to have double watch, as they fear to be alone. Mate +angry. Fear there will be some trouble, as either he or the men will do +some violence. + + * * * * * + +_28 July_.--Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of maelstrom, +and the wind a tempest. No sleep for any one. Men all worn out. Hardly +know how to set a watch, since no one fit to go on. Second mate +volunteered to steer and watch, and let men snatch a few hours' sleep. +Wind abating; seas still terrific, but feel them less, as ship is +steadier. + + * * * * * + +_29 July_.--Another tragedy. Had single watch to-night, as crew too +tired to double. When morning watch came on deck could find no one +except steersman. Raised outcry, and all came on deck. Thorough search, +but no one found. Are now without second mate, and crew in a panic. Mate +and I agreed to go armed henceforth and wait for any sign of cause. + + * * * * * + +_30 July_.--Last night. Rejoiced we are nearing England. Weather fine, +all sails set. Retired worn out; slept soundly; awaked by mate telling +me that both man of watch and steersman missing. Only self and mate and +two hands left to work ship. + + * * * * * + +_1 August_.--Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted. Had hoped when in +the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get in somewhere. +Not having power to work sails, have to run before wind. Dare not lower, +as could not raise them again. We seem to be drifting to some terrible +doom. Mate now more demoralised than either of men. His stronger nature +seems to have worked inwardly against himself. Men are beyond fear, +working stolidly and patiently, with minds made up to worst. They are +Russian, he Roumanian. + + * * * * * + +_2 August, midnight_.--Woke up from few minutes' sleep by hearing a cry, +seemingly outside my port. Could see nothing in fog. Rushed on deck, and +ran against mate. Tells me heard cry and ran, but no sign of man on +watch. One more gone. Lord, help us! Mate says we must be past Straits +of Dover, as in a moment of fog lifting he saw North Foreland, just as +he heard the man cry out. If so we are now off in the North Sea, and +only God can guide us in the fog, which seems to move with us; and God +seems to have deserted us. + + * * * * * + +_3 August_.--At midnight I went to relieve the man at the wheel, and +when I got to it found no one there. The wind was steady, and as we ran +before it there was no yawing. I dared not leave it, so shouted for the +mate. After a few seconds he rushed up on deck in his flannels. He +looked wild-eyed and haggard, and I greatly fear his reason has given +way. He came close to me and whispered hoarsely, with his mouth to my +ear, as though fearing the very air might hear: "_It_ is here; I know +it, now. On the watch last night I saw It, like a man, tall and thin, +and ghastly pale. It was in the bows, and looking out. I crept behind +It, and gave It my knife; but the knife went through It, empty as the +air." And as he spoke he took his knife and drove it savagely into +space. Then he went on: "But It is here, and I'll find It. It is in the +hold, perhaps in one of those boxes. I'll unscrew them one by one and +see. You work the helm." And, with a warning look and his finger on his +lip, he went below. There was springing up a choppy wind, and I could +not leave the helm. I saw him come out on deck again with a tool-chest +and a lantern, and go down the forward hatchway. He is mad, stark, +raving mad, and it's no use my trying to stop him. He can't hurt those +big boxes: they are invoiced as "clay," and to pull them about is as +harmless a thing as he can do. So here I stay, and mind the helm, and +write these notes. I can only trust in God and wait till the fog clears. +Then, if I can't steer to any harbour with the wind that is, I shall cut +down sails and lie by, and signal for help.... + + * * * * * + +It is nearly all over now. Just as I was beginning to hope that the mate +would come out calmer--for I heard him knocking away at something in the +hold, and work is good for him--there came up the hatchway a sudden, +startled scream, which made my blood run cold, and up on the deck he +came as if shot from a gun--a raging madman, with his eyes rolling and +his face convulsed with fear. "Save me! save me!" he cried, and then +looked round on the blanket of fog. His horror turned to despair, and in +a steady voice he said: "You had better come too, captain, before it is +too late. _He_ is there. I know the secret now. The sea will save me +from Him, and it is all that is left!" Before I could say a word, or +move forward to seize him, he sprang on the bulwark and deliberately +threw himself into the sea. I suppose I know the secret too, now. It was +this madman who had got rid of the men one by one, and now he has +followed them himself. God help me! How am I to account for all these +horrors when I get to port? _When_ I get to port! Will that ever be? + + * * * * * + +_4 August._--Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce. I know there is +sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not. I dared not go +below, I dared not leave the helm; so here all night I stayed, and in +the dimness of the night I saw It--Him! God forgive me, but the mate was +right to jump overboard. It was better to die like a man; to die like a +sailor in blue water no man can object. But I am captain, and I must not +leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie +my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with +them I shall tie that which He--It!--dare not touch; and then, come good +wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my honour as a captain. I am +growing weaker, and the night is coming on. If He can look me in the +face again, I may not have time to act.... If we are wrecked, mayhap +this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand; if not, +... well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trust. God +and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying +to do his duty.... + + * * * * * + +Of course the verdict was an open one. There is no evidence to adduce; +and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now +none to say. The folk here hold almost universally that the captain is +simply a hero, and he is to be given a public funeral. Already it is +arranged that his body is to be taken with a train of boats up the Esk +for a piece and then brought back to Tate Hill Pier and up the abbey +steps; for he is to be buried in the churchyard on the cliff. The owners +of more than a hundred boats have already given in their names as +wishing to follow him to the grave. + +No trace has ever been found of the great dog; at which there is much +mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he would, I +believe, be adopted by the town. To-morrow will see the funeral; and so +will end this one more "mystery of the sea." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_8 August._--Lucy was very restless all night, and I, too, could not +sleep. The storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the +chimney-pots, it made me shudder. When a sharp puff came it seemed to be +like a distant gun. Strangely enough, Lucy did not wake; but she got up +twice and dressed herself. Fortunately, each time I awoke in time and +managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bed. It +is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is +thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, +disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her +life. + +Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see +if anything had happened in the night. There were very few people about, +and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, +grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that +topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth +of the harbour--like a bullying man going through a crowd. Somehow I +felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on land. But, +oh, is he on land or sea? Where is he, and how? I am getting fearfully +anxious about him. If I only knew what to do, and could do anything! + + * * * * * + +_10 August._--The funeral of the poor sea-captain to-day was most +touching. Every boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin +was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the +churchyard. Lucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat, whilst +the cortège of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came down +again. We had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the way. +The poor fellow was laid to rest quite near our seat so that we stood on +it when the time came and saw everything. Poor Lucy seemed much upset. +She was restless and uneasy all the time, and I cannot but think that +her dreaming at night is telling on her. She is quite odd in one thing: +she will not admit to me that there is any cause for restlessness; or if +there be, she does not understand it herself. There is an additional +cause in that poor old Mr. Swales was found dead this morning on our +seat, his neck being broken. He had evidently, as the doctor said, +fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of +fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudder. Poor +dear old man! Perhaps he had seen Death with his dying eyes! Lucy is so +sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other +people do. Just now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did +not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals. One of the men +who came up here often to look for the boats was followed by his dog. +The dog is always with him. They are both quiet persons, and I never saw +the man angry, nor heard the dog bark. During the service the dog would +not come to its master, who was on the seat with us, but kept a few +yards off, barking and howling. Its master spoke to it gently, and then +harshly, and then angrily; but it would neither come nor cease to make a +noise. It was in a sort of fury, with its eyes savage, and all its hairs +bristling out like a cat's tail when puss is on the war-path. Finally +the man, too, got angry, and jumped down and kicked the dog, and then +took it by the scruff of the neck and half dragged and half threw it on +the tombstone on which the seat is fixed. The moment it touched the +stone the poor thing became quiet and fell all into a tremble. It did +not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was +in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, +to comfort it. Lucy was full of pity, too, but she did not attempt to +touch the dog, but looked at it in an agonised sort of way. I greatly +fear that she is of too super-sensitive a nature to go through the world +without trouble. She will be dreaming of this to-night, I am sure. The +whole agglomeration of things--the ship steered into port by a dead +man; his attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads; the +touching funeral; the dog, now furious and now in terror--will all +afford material for her dreams. + +I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I +shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and +back. She ought not to have much inclination for sleep-walking then. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_Same day, 11 o'clock p. m._--Oh, but I am tired! If it were not that I +had made my diary a duty I should not open it to-night. We had a lovely +walk. Lucy, after a while, was in gay spirits, owing, I think, to some +dear cows who came nosing towards us in a field close to the lighthouse, +and frightened the wits out of us. I believe we forgot everything +except, of course, personal fear, and it seemed to wipe the slate clean +and give us a fresh start. We had a capital "severe tea" at Robin Hood's +Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow-window right over +the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand. I believe we should have +shocked the "New Woman" with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless +them! Then we walked home with some, or rather many, stoppages to rest, +and with our hearts full of a constant dread of wild bulls. Lucy was +really tired, and we intended to creep off to bed as soon as we could. +The young curate came in, however, and Mrs. Westenra asked him to stay +for supper. Lucy and I had both a fight for it with the dusty miller; I +know it was a hard fight on my part, and I am quite heroic. I think that +some day the bishops must get together and see about breeding up a new +class of curates, who don't take supper, no matter how they may be +pressed to, and who will know when girls are tired. Lucy is asleep and +breathing softly. She has more colour in her cheeks than usual, and +looks, oh, so sweet. If Mr. Holmwood fell in love with her seeing her +only in the drawing-room, I wonder what he would say if he saw her now. +Some of the "New Women" writers will some day start an idea that men and +women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or +accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to +accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make +of it, too! There's some consolation in that. I am so happy to-night, +because dear Lucy seems better. I really believe she has turned the +corner, and that we are over her troubles with dreaming. I should be +quite happy if I only knew if Jonathan.... God bless and keep him. + + * * * * * + +_11 August, 3 a. m._--Diary again. No sleep now, so I may as well write. +I am too agitated to sleep. We have had such an adventure, such an +agonising experience. I fell asleep as soon as I had closed my diary.... +Suddenly I became broad awake, and sat up, with a horrible sense of fear +upon me, and of some feeling of emptiness around me. The room was dark, +so I could not see Lucy's bed; I stole across and felt for her. The bed +was empty. I lit a match and found that she was not in the room. The +door was shut, but not locked, as I had left it. I feared to wake her +mother, who has been more than usually ill lately, so threw on some +clothes and got ready to look for her. As I was leaving the room it +struck me that the clothes she wore might give me some clue to her +dreaming intention. Dressing-gown would mean house; dress, outside. +Dressing-gown and dress were both in their places. "Thank God," I said +to myself, "she cannot be far, as she is only in her nightdress." I ran +downstairs and looked in the sitting-room. Not there! Then I looked in +all the other open rooms of the house, with an ever-growing fear +chilling my heart. Finally I came to the hall door and found it open. It +was not wide open, but the catch of the lock had not caught. The people +of the house are careful to lock the door every night, so I feared that +Lucy must have gone out as she was. There was no time to think of what +might happen; a vague, overmastering fear obscured all details. I took a +big, heavy shawl and ran out. The clock was striking one as I was in the +Crescent, and there was not a soul in sight. I ran along the North +Terrace, but could see no sign of the white figure which I expected. At +the edge of the West Cliff above the pier I looked across the harbour to +the East Cliff, in the hope or fear--I don't know which--of seeing Lucy +in our favourite seat. There was a bright full moon, with heavy black, +driving clouds, which threw the whole scene into a fleeting diorama of +light and shade as they sailed across. For a moment or two I could see +nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church and all +around it. Then as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the abbey +coming into view; and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as +a sword-cut moved along, the church and the churchyard became gradually +visible. Whatever my expectation was, it was not disappointed, for +there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a +half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too +quick for me to see much, for shadow shut down on light almost +immediately; but it seemed to me as though something dark stood behind +the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, +whether man or beast, I could not tell; I did not wait to catch another +glance, but flew down the steep steps to the pier and along by the +fish-market to the bridge, which was the only way to reach the East +Cliff. The town seemed as dead, for not a soul did I see; I rejoiced +that it was so, for I wanted no witness of poor Lucy's condition. The +time and distance seemed endless, and my knees trembled and my breath +came laboured as I toiled up the endless steps to the abbey. I must have +gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as if my feet were weighted with +lead, and as though every joint in my body were rusty. When I got almost +to the top I could see the seat and the white figure, for I was now +close enough to distinguish it even through the spells of shadow. There +was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the +half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, "Lucy! Lucy!" and +something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face +and red, gleaming eyes. Lucy did not answer, and I ran on to the +entrance of the churchyard. As I entered, the church was between me and +the seat, and for a minute or so I lost sight of her. When I came in +view again the cloud had passed, and the moonlight struck so brilliantly +that I could see Lucy half reclining with her head lying over the back +of the seat. She was quite alone, and there was not a sign of any living +thing about. + +When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips +were parted, and she was breathing--not softly as usual with her, but in +long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every +breath. As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled the +collar of her nightdress close around her throat. Whilst she did so +there came a little shudder through her, as though she felt the cold. I +flung the warm shawl over her, and drew the edges tight round her neck, +for I dreaded lest she should get some deadly chill from the night air, +unclad as she was. I feared to wake her all at once, so, in order to +have my hands free that I might help her, I fastened the shawl at her +throat with a big safety-pin; but I must have been clumsy in my anxiety +and pinched or pricked her with it, for by-and-by, when her breathing +became quieter, she put her hand to her throat again and moaned. When I +had her carefully wrapped up I put my shoes on her feet and then began +very gently to wake her. At first she did not respond; but gradually she +became more and more uneasy in her sleep, moaning and sighing +occasionally. At last, as time was passing fast, and, for many other +reasons, I wished to get her home at once, I shook her more forcibly, +till finally she opened her eyes and awoke. She did not seem surprised +to see me, as, of course, she did not realise all at once where she was. +Lucy always wakes prettily, and even at such a time, when her body must +have been chilled with cold, and her mind somewhat appalled at waking +unclad in a churchyard at night, she did not lose her grace. She +trembled a little, and clung to me; when I told her to come at once with +me home she rose without a word, with the obedience of a child. As we +passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince. She +stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes; but I would not. +However, when we got to the pathway outside the churchyard, where there +was a puddle of water, remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet with +mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home, no +one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare feet. + +Fortune favoured us, and we got home without meeting a soul. Once we saw +a man, who seemed not quite sober, passing along a street in front of +us; but we hid in a door till he had disappeared up an opening such as +there are here, steep little closes, or "wynds," as they call them in +Scotland. My heart beat so loud all the time that sometimes I thought I +should faint. I was filled with anxiety about Lucy, not only for her +health, lest she should suffer from the exposure, but for her reputation +in case the story should get wind. When we got in, and had washed our +feet, and had said a prayer of thankfulness together, I tucked her into +bed. Before falling asleep she asked--even implored--me not to say a +word to any one, even her mother, about her sleep-walking adventure. I +hesitated at first to promise; but on thinking of the state of her +mother's health, and how the knowledge of such a thing would fret her, +and thinking, too, of how such a story might become distorted--nay, +infallibly would--in case it should leak out, I thought it wiser to do +so. I hope I did right. I have locked the door, and the key is tied to +my wrist, so perhaps I shall not be again disturbed. Lucy is sleeping +soundly; the reflex of the dawn is high and far over the sea.... + + * * * * * + +_Same day, noon._--All goes well. Lucy slept till I woke her and seemed +not to have even changed her side. The adventure of the night does not +seem to have harmed her; on the contrary, it has benefited her, for she +looks better this morning than she has done for weeks. I was sorry to +notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her. Indeed, it might +have been serious, for the skin of her throat was pierced. I must have +pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are +two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her nightdress +was a drop of blood. When I apologised and was concerned about it, she +laughed and petted me, and said she did not even feel it. Fortunately it +cannot leave a scar, as it is so tiny. + + * * * * * + +_Same day, night._--We passed a happy day. The air was clear, and the +sun bright, and there was a cool breeze. We took our lunch to Mulgrave +Woods, Mrs. Westenra driving by the road and Lucy and I walking by the +cliff-path and joining her at the gate. I felt a little sad myself, for +I could not but feel how _absolutely_ happy it would have been had +Jonathan been with me. But there! I must only be patient. In the evening +we strolled in the Casino Terrace, and heard some good music by Spohr +and Mackenzie, and went to bed early. Lucy seems more restful than she +has been for some time, and fell asleep at once. I shall lock the door +and secure the key the same as before, though I do not expect any +trouble to-night. + + * * * * * + +_12 August._--My expectations were wrong, for twice during the night I +was wakened by Lucy trying to get out. She seemed, even in her sleep, to +be a little impatient at finding the door shut, and went back to bed +under a sort of protest. I woke with the dawn, and heard the birds +chirping outside of the window. Lucy woke, too, and, I was glad to see, +was even better than on the previous morning. All her old gaiety of +manner seemed to have come back, and she came and snuggled in beside me +and told me all about Arthur. I told her how anxious I was about +Jonathan, and then she tried to comfort me. Well, she succeeded +somewhat, for, though sympathy can't alter facts, it can help to make +them more bearable. + + * * * * * + +_13 August._--Another quiet day, and to bed with the key on my wrist as +before. Again I awoke in the night, and found Lucy sitting up in bed, +still asleep, pointing to the window. I got up quietly, and pulling +aside the blind, looked out. It was brilliant moonlight, and the soft +effect of the light over the sea and sky--merged together in one great, +silent mystery--was beautiful beyond words. Between me and the moonlight +flitted a great bat, coming and going in great whirling circles. Once or +twice it came quite close, but was, I suppose, frightened at seeing me, +and flitted away across the harbour towards the abbey. When I came back +from the window Lucy had lain down again, and was sleeping peacefully. +She did not stir again all night. + + * * * * * + +_14 August._--On the East Cliff, reading and writing all day. Lucy seems +to have become as much in love with the spot as I am, and it is hard to +get her away from it when it is time to come home for lunch or tea or +dinner. This afternoon she made a funny remark. We were coming home for +dinner, and had come to the top of the steps up from the West Pier and +stopped to look at the view, as we generally do. The setting sun, low +down in the sky, was just dropping behind Kettleness; the red light was +thrown over on the East Cliff and the old abbey, and seemed to bathe +everything in a beautiful rosy glow. We were silent for a while, and +suddenly Lucy murmured as if to herself:-- + +"His red eyes again! They are just the same." It was such an odd +expression, coming _apropos_ of nothing, that it quite startled me. I +slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare +at her, and saw that she was in a half-dreamy state, with an odd look on +her face that I could not quite make out; so I said nothing, but +followed her eyes. She appeared to be looking over at our own seat, +whereon was a dark figure seated alone. I was a little startled myself, +for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes like +burning flames; but a second look dispelled the illusion. The red +sunlight was shining on the windows of St. Mary's Church behind our +seat, and as the sun dipped there was just sufficient change in the +refraction and reflection to make it appear as if the light moved. I +called Lucy's attention to the peculiar effect, and she became herself +with a start, but she looked sad all the same; it may have been that she +was thinking of that terrible night up there. We never refer to it; so I +said nothing, and we went home to dinner. Lucy had a headache and went +early to bed. I saw her asleep, and went out for a little stroll myself; +I walked along the cliffs to the westward, and was full of sweet +sadness, for I was thinking of Jonathan. When coming home--it was then +bright moonlight, so bright that, though the front of our part of the +Crescent was in shadow, everything could be well seen--I threw a glance +up at our window, and saw Lucy's head leaning out. I thought that +perhaps she was looking out for me, so I opened my handkerchief and +waved it. She did not notice or make any movement whatever. Just then, +the moonlight crept round an angle of the building, and the light fell +on the window. There distinctly was Lucy with her head lying up against +the side of the window-sill and her eyes shut. She was fast asleep, and +by her, seated on the window-sill, was something that looked like a +good-sized bird. I was afraid she might get a chill, so I ran upstairs, +but as I came into the room she was moving back to her bed, fast +asleep, and breathing heavily; she was holding her hand to her throat, +as though to protect it from cold. + +I did not wake her, but tucked her up warmly; I have taken care that the +door is locked and the window securely fastened. + +She looks so sweet as she sleeps; but she is paler than is her wont, and +there is a drawn, haggard look under her eyes which I do not like. I +fear she is fretting about something. I wish I could find out what it +is. + + * * * * * + +_15 August._--Rose later than usual. Lucy was languid and tired, and +slept on after we had been called. We had a happy surprise at breakfast. +Arthur's father is better, and wants the marriage to come off soon. Lucy +is full of quiet joy, and her mother is glad and sorry at once. Later on +in the day she told me the cause. She is grieved to lose Lucy as her +very own, but she is rejoiced that she is soon to have some one to +protect her. Poor dear, sweet lady! She confided to me that she has got +her death-warrant. She has not told Lucy, and made me promise secrecy; +her doctor told her that within a few months, at most, she must die, for +her heart is weakening. At any time, even now, a sudden shock would be +almost sure to kill her. Ah, we were wise to keep from her the affair of +the dreadful night of Lucy's sleep-walking. + + * * * * * + +_17 August._--No diary for two whole days. I have not had the heart to +write. Some sort of shadowy pall seems to be coming over our happiness. +No news from Jonathan, and Lucy seems to be growing weaker, whilst her +mother's hours are numbering to a close. I do not understand Lucy's +fading away as she is doing. She eats well and sleeps well, and enjoys +the fresh air; but all the time the roses in her cheeks are fading, and +she gets weaker and more languid day by day; at night I hear her gasping +as if for air. I keep the key of our door always fastened to my wrist at +night, but she gets up and walks about the room, and sits at the open +window. Last night I found her leaning out when I woke up, and when I +tried to wake her I could not; she was in a faint. When I managed to +restore her she was as weak as water, and cried silently between long, +painful struggles for breath. When I asked her how she came to be at the +window she shook her head and turned away. I trust her feeling ill may +not be from that unlucky prick of the safety-pin. I looked at her throat +just now as she lay asleep, and the tiny wounds seem not to have healed. +They are still open, and, if anything, larger than before, and the +edges of them are faintly white. They are like little white dots with +red centres. Unless they heal within a day or two, I shall insist on the +doctor seeing about them. + + +_Letter, Samuel F. Billington & Son, Solicitors, Whitby, to Messrs. +Carter, Paterson & Co., London._ + +"_17 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"Herewith please receive invoice of goods sent by Great Northern +Railway. Same are to be delivered at Carfax, near Purfleet, immediately +on receipt at goods station King's Cross. The house is at present empty, +but enclosed please find keys, all of which are labelled. + +"You will please deposit the boxes, fifty in number, which form the +consignment, in the partially ruined building forming part of the house +and marked 'A' on rough diagram enclosed. Your agent will easily +recognise the locality, as it is the ancient chapel of the mansion. The +goods leave by the train at 9:30 to-night, and will be due at King's +Cross at 4:30 to-morrow afternoon. As our client wishes the delivery +made as soon as possible, we shall be obliged by your having teams ready +at King's Cross at the time named and forthwith conveying the goods to +destination. In order to obviate any delays possible through any routine +requirements as to payment in your departments, we enclose cheque +herewith for ten pounds (£10), receipt of which please acknowledge. +Should the charge be less than this amount, you can return balance; if +greater, we shall at once send cheque for difference on hearing from +you. You are to leave the keys on coming away in the main hall of the +house, where the proprietor may get them on his entering the house by +means of his duplicate key. + +"Pray do not take us as exceeding the bounds of business courtesy in +pressing you in all ways to use the utmost expedition. + +_"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON."_ + + +_Letter, Messrs. Carter, Paterson & Co., London, to Messrs. Billington & +Son, Whitby._ + +"_21 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"We beg to acknowledge £10 received and to return cheque £1 17s. 9d, +amount of overplus, as shown in receipted account herewith. Goods are +delivered in exact accordance with instructions, and keys left in parcel +in main hall, as directed. + +"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Yours respectfully. + +"_Pro_ CARTER, PATERSON & CO." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_18 August._--I am happy to-day, and write sitting on the seat in the +churchyard. Lucy is ever so much better. Last night she slept well all +night, and did not disturb me once. The roses seem coming back already +to her cheeks, though she is still sadly pale and wan-looking. If she +were in any way anæmic I could understand it, but she is not. She is in +gay spirits and full of life and cheerfulness. All the morbid reticence +seems to have passed from her, and she has just reminded me, as if I +needed any reminding, of _that_ night, and that it was here, on this +very seat, I found her asleep. As she told me she tapped playfully with +the heel of her boot on the stone slab and said:-- + +"My poor little feet didn't make much noise then! I daresay poor old Mr. +Swales would have told me that it was because I didn't want to wake up +Geordie." As she was in such a communicative humour, I asked her if she +had dreamed at all that night. Before she answered, that sweet, puckered +look came into her forehead, which Arthur--I call him Arthur from her +habit--says he loves; and, indeed, I don't wonder that he does. Then she +went on in a half-dreaming kind of way, as if trying to recall it to +herself:-- + +"I didn't quite dream; but it all seemed to be real. I only wanted to be +here in this spot--I don't know why, for I was afraid of something--I +don't know what. I remember, though I suppose I was asleep, passing +through the streets and over the bridge. A fish leaped as I went by, and +I leaned over to look at it, and I heard a lot of dogs howling--the +whole town seemed as if it must be full of dogs all howling at once--as +I went up the steps. Then I had a vague memory of something long and +dark with red eyes, just as we saw in the sunset, and something very +sweet and very bitter all around me at once; and then I seemed sinking +into deep green water, and there was a singing in my ears, as I have +heard there is to drowning men; and then everything seemed passing away +from me; my soul seemed to go out from my body and float about the air. +I seem to remember that once the West Lighthouse was right under me, +and then there was a sort of agonising feeling, as if I were in an +earthquake, and I came back and found you shaking my body. I saw you do +it before I felt you." + +Then she began to laugh. It seemed a little uncanny to me, and I +listened to her breathlessly. I did not quite like it, and thought it +better not to keep her mind on the subject, so we drifted on to other +subjects, and Lucy was like her old self again. When we got home the +fresh breeze had braced her up, and her pale cheeks were really more +rosy. Her mother rejoiced when she saw her, and we all spent a very +happy evening together. + + * * * * * + +_19 August._--Joy, joy, joy! although not all joy. At last, news of +Jonathan. The dear fellow has been ill; that is why he did not write. I +am not afraid to think it or say it, now that I know. Mr. Hawkins sent +me on the letter, and wrote himself, oh, so kindly. I am to leave in the +morning and go over to Jonathan, and to help to nurse him if necessary, +and to bring him home. Mr. Hawkins says it would not be a bad thing if +we were to be married out there. I have cried over the good Sister's +letter till I can feel it wet against my bosom, where it lies. It is of +Jonathan, and must be next my heart, for he is _in_ my heart. My journey +is all mapped out, and my luggage ready. I am only taking one change of +dress; Lucy will bring my trunk to London and keep it till I send for +it, for it may be that ... I must write no more; I must keep it to say +to Jonathan, my husband. The letter that he has seen and touched must +comfort me till we meet. + + +_Letter, Sister Agatha, Hospital of St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, +Buda-Pesth, to Miss Wilhelmina Murray._ + +"_12 August._ + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not strong +enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St. Joseph +and Ste. Mary. He has been under our care for nearly six weeks, +suffering from a violent brain fever. He wishes me to convey his love, +and to say that by this post I write for him to Mr. Peter Hawkins, +Exeter, to say, with his dutiful respects, that he is sorry for his +delay, and that all of his work is completed. He will require some few +weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but will then return. He +wishes me to say that he has not sufficient money with him, and that he +would like to pay for his staying here, so that others who need shall +not be wanting for help. + +"Believe me, + +"Yours, with sympathy and all blessings, + +"SISTER AGATHA. + +"P. S.--My patient being asleep, I open this to let you know something +more. He has told me all about you, and that you are shortly to be his +wife. All blessings to you both! He has had some fearful shock--so says +our doctor--and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful; of +wolves and poison and blood; of ghosts and demons; and I fear to say of +what. Be careful with him always that there may be nothing to excite him +of this kind for a long time to come; the traces of such an illness as +his do not lightly die away. We should have written long ago, but we +knew nothing of his friends, and there was on him nothing that any one +could understand. He came in the train from Klausenburg, and the guard +was told by the station-master there that he rushed into the station +shouting for a ticket for home. Seeing from his violent demeanour that +he was English, they gave him a ticket for the furthest station on the +way thither that the train reached. + +"Be assured that he is well cared for. He has won all hearts by his +sweetness and gentleness. He is truly getting on well, and I have no +doubt will in a few weeks be all himself. But be careful of him for +safety's sake. There are, I pray God and St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, many, +many, happy years for you both." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_19 August._--Strange and sudden change in Renfield last night. About +eight o'clock he began to get excited and sniff about as a dog does when +setting. The attendant was struck by his manner, and knowing my interest +in him, encouraged him to talk. He is usually respectful to the +attendant and at times servile; but to-night, the man tells me, he was +quite haughty. Would not condescend to talk with him at all. All he +would say was:-- + + "I don't want to talk to you: you don't count now; the Master is at + hand." + +The attendant thinks it is some sudden form of religious mania which has +seized him. If so, we must look out for squalls, for a strong man with +homicidal and religious mania at once might be dangerous. The +combination is a dreadful one. At nine o'clock I visited him myself. His +attitude to me was the same as that to the attendant; in his sublime +self-feeling the difference between myself and attendant seemed to him +as nothing. It looks like religious mania, and he will soon think that +he himself is God. These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man +are too paltry for an Omnipotent Being. How these madmen give themselves +away! The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created +from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow. Oh, +if men only knew! + +For half an hour or more Renfield kept getting excited in greater and +greater degree. I did not pretend to be watching him, but I kept strict +observation all the same. All at once that shifty look came into his +eyes which we always see when a madman has seized an idea, and with it +the shifty movement of the head and back which asylum attendants come to +know so well. He became quite quiet, and went and sat on the edge of his +bed resignedly, and looked into space with lack-lustre eyes. I thought I +would find out if his apathy were real or only assumed, and tried to +lead him to talk of his pets, a theme which had never failed to excite +his attention. At first he made no reply, but at length said testily:-- + +"Bother them all! I don't care a pin about them." + +"What?" I said. "You don't mean to tell me you don't care about +spiders?" (Spiders at present are his hobby and the note-book is filling +up with columns of small figures.) To this he answered enigmatically:-- + +"The bride-maidens rejoice the eyes that wait the coming of the bride; +but when the bride draweth nigh, then the maidens shine not to the eyes +that are filled." + +He would not explain himself, but remained obstinately seated on his bed +all the time I remained with him. + +I am weary to-night and low in spirits. I cannot but think of Lucy, and +how different things might have been. If I don't sleep at once, chloral, +the modern Morpheus--C_{2}HCl_{3}O. H_{2}O! I must be careful not to let +it grow into a habit. No, I shall take none to-night! I have thought of +Lucy, and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two. If need be, +to-night shall be sleepless.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Glad I made the resolution; gladder that I kept to it. I had +lain tossing about, and had heard the clock strike only twice, when the +night-watchman came to me, sent up from the ward, to say that Renfield +had escaped. I threw on my clothes and ran down at once; my patient is +too dangerous a person to be roaming about. Those ideas of his might +work out dangerously with strangers. The attendant was waiting for me. +He said he had seen him not ten minutes before, seemingly asleep in his +bed, when he had looked through the observation-trap in the door. His +attention was called by the sound of the window being wrenched out. He +ran back and saw his feet disappear through the window, and had at once +sent up for me. He was only in his night-gear, and cannot be far off. +The attendant thought it would be more useful to watch where he should +go than to follow him, as he might lose sight of him whilst getting out +of the building by the door. He is a bulky man, and couldn't get through +the window. I am thin, so, with his aid, I got out, but feet foremost, +and, as we were only a few feet above ground, landed unhurt. The +attendant told me the patient had gone to the left, and had taken a +straight line, so I ran as quickly as I could. As I got through the belt +of trees I saw a white figure scale the high wall which separates our +grounds from those of the deserted house. + +I ran back at once, told the watchman to get three or four men +immediately and follow me into the grounds of Carfax, in case our friend +might be dangerous. I got a ladder myself, and crossing the wall, +dropped down on the other side. I could see Renfield's figure just +disappearing behind the angle of the house, so I ran after him. On the +far side of the house I found him pressed close against the old +ironbound oak door of the chapel. He was talking, apparently to some +one, but I was afraid to go near enough to hear what he was saying, lest +I might frighten him, and he should run off. Chasing an errant swarm of +bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic, when the fit of escaping +is upon him! After a few minutes, however, I could see that he did not +take note of anything around him, and so ventured to draw nearer to +him--the more so as my men had now crossed the wall and were closing him +in. I heard him say:-- + +"I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will +reward me, for I shall be faithful. I have worshipped You long and afar +off. Now that You are near, I await Your commands, and You will not pass +me by, will You, dear Master, in Your distribution of good things?" + +He _is_ a selfish old beggar anyhow. He thinks of the loaves and fishes +even when he believes he is in a Real Presence. His manias make a +startling combination. When we closed in on him he fought like a tiger. +He is immensely strong, for he was more like a wild beast than a man. I +never saw a lunatic in such a paroxysm of rage before; and I hope I +shall not again. It is a mercy that we have found out his strength and +his danger in good time. With strength and determination like his, he +might have done wild work before he was caged. He is safe now at any +rate. Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat +that keeps him restrained, and he's chained to the wall in the padded +room. His cries are at times awful, but the silences that follow are +more deadly still, for he means murder in every turn and movement. + +Just now he spoke coherent words for the first time:-- + +"I shall be patient, Master. It is coming--coming--coming!" + +So I took the hint, and came too. I was too excited to sleep, but this +diary has quieted me, and I feel I shall get some sleep to-night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +"_Buda-Pesth, 24 August._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"I know you will be anxious to hear all that has happened since we +parted at the railway station at Whitby. Well, my dear, I got to Hull +all right, and caught the boat to Hamburg, and then the train on here. I +feel that I can hardly recall anything of the journey, except that I +knew I was coming to Jonathan, and, that as I should have to do some +nursing, I had better get all the sleep I could.... I found my dear one, +oh, so thin and pale and weak-looking. All the resolution has gone out +of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his +face has vanished. He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not +remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At +least, he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask. He has had some +terrible shock, and I fear it might tax his poor brain if he were to try +to recall it. Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and a born nurse, +tells me that he raved of dreadful things whilst he was off his head. I +wanted her to tell me what they were; but she would only cross herself, +and say she would never tell; that the ravings of the sick were the +secrets of God, and that if a nurse through her vocation should hear +them, she should respect her trust. She is a sweet, good soul, and the +next day, when she saw I was troubled, she opened up the subject again, +and after saying that she could never mention what my poor dear raved +about, added: 'I can tell you this much, my dear: that it was not about +anything which he has done wrong himself; and you, as his wife to be, +have no cause to be concerned. He has not forgotten you or what he owes +to you. His fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can +treat of.' I do believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my +poor dear should have fallen in love with any other girl. The idea of +_my_ being jealous about Jonathan! And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I +felt a thrill of joy through me when I _knew_ that no other woman was a +cause of trouble. I am now sitting by his bedside, where I can see his +face while he sleeps. He is waking!... + +"When he woke he asked me for his coat, as he wanted to get something +from the pocket; I asked Sister Agatha, and she brought all his things. +I saw that amongst them was his note-book, and was going to ask him to +let me look at it--for I knew then that I might find some clue to his +trouble--but I suppose he must have seen my wish in my eyes, for he sent +me over to the window, saying he wanted to be quite alone for a moment. +Then he called me back, and when I came he had his hand over the +note-book, and he said to me very solemnly:-- + +"'Wilhelmina'--I knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has +never called me by that name since he asked me to marry him--'you know, +dear, my ideas of the trust between husband and wife: there should be no +secret, no concealment. I have had a great shock, and when I try to +think of what it is I feel my head spin round, and I do not know if it +was all real or the dreaming of a madman. You know I have had brain +fever, and that is to be mad. The secret is here, and I do not want to +know it. I want to take up my life here, with our marriage.' For, my +dear, we had decided to be married as soon as the formalities are +complete. 'Are you willing, Wilhelmina, to share my ignorance? Here is +the book. Take it and keep it, read it if you will, but never let me +know; unless, indeed, some solemn duty should come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, sane or mad, recorded here.' He fell +back exhausted, and I put the book under his pillow, and kissed him. I +have asked Sister Agatha to beg the Superior to let our wedding be this +afternoon, and am waiting her reply.... + + * * * * * + +"She has come and told me that the chaplain of the English mission +church has been sent for. We are to be married in an hour, or as soon +after as Jonathan awakes.... + + * * * * * + +"Lucy, the time has come and gone. I feel very solemn, but very, very +happy. Jonathan woke a little after the hour, and all was ready, and he +sat up in bed, propped up with pillows. He answered his 'I will' firmly +and strongly. I could hardly speak; my heart was so full that even those +words seemed to choke me. The dear sisters were so kind. Please God, I +shall never, never forget them, nor the grave and sweet responsibilities +I have taken upon me. I must tell you of my wedding present. When the +chaplain and the sisters had left me alone with my husband--oh, Lucy, it +is the first time I have written the words 'my husband'--left me alone +with my husband, I took the book from under his pillow, and wrapped it +up in white paper, and tied it with a little bit of pale blue ribbon +which was round my neck, and sealed it over the knot with sealing-wax, +and for my seal I used my wedding ring. Then I kissed it and showed it +to my husband, and told him that I would keep it so, and then it would +be an outward and visible sign for us all our lives that we trusted each +other; that I would never open it unless it were for his own dear sake +or for the sake of some stern duty. Then he took my hand in his, and oh, +Lucy, it was the first time he took _his wife's_ hand, and said that it +was the dearest thing in all the wide world, and that he would go +through all the past again to win it, if need be. The poor dear meant to +have said a part of the past, but he cannot think of time yet, and I +shall not wonder if at first he mixes up not only the month, but the +year. + +"Well, my dear, what could I say? I could only tell him that I was the +happiest woman in all the wide world, and that I had nothing to give him +except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these went my love +and duty for all the days of my life. And, my dear, when he kissed me, +and drew me to him with his poor weak hands, it was like a very solemn +pledge between us.... + +"Lucy dear, do you know why I tell you all this? It is not only because +it is all sweet to me, but because you have been, and are, very dear to +me. It was my privilege to be your friend and guide when you came from +the schoolroom to prepare for the world of life. I want you to see now, +and with the eyes of a very happy wife, whither duty has led me; so that +in your own married life you too may be all happy as I am. My dear, +please Almighty God, your life may be all it promises: a long day of +sunshine, with no harsh wind, no forgetting duty, no distrust. I must +not wish you no pain, for that can never be; but I do hope you will be +_always_ as happy as I am _now_. Good-bye, my dear. I shall post this at +once, and, perhaps, write you very soon again. I must stop, for Jonathan +is waking--I must attend to my husband! + +"Your ever-loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Harker._ + +"_Whitby, 30 August._ + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Oceans of love and millions of kisses, and may you soon be in your own +home with your husband. I wish you could be coming home soon enough to +stay with us here. The strong air would soon restore Jonathan; it has +quite restored me. I have an appetite like a cormorant, am full of +life, and sleep well. You will be glad to know that I have quite given +up walking in my sleep. I think I have not stirred out of my bed for a +week, that is when I once got into it at night. Arthur says I am getting +fat. By the way, I forgot to tell you that Arthur is here. We have such +walks and drives, and rides, and rowing, and tennis, and fishing +together; and I love him more than ever. He _tells_ me that he loves me +more, but I doubt that, for at first he told me that he couldn't love me +more than he did then. But this is nonsense. There he is, calling to me. +So no more just at present from your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P. S.--Mother sends her love. She seems better, poor dear. "P. P. +S.--We are to be married on 28 September." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 August._--The case of Renfield grows even more interesting. He has +now so far quieted that there are spells of cessation from his passion. +For the first week after his attack he was perpetually violent. Then one +night, just as the moon rose, he grew quiet, and kept murmuring to +himself: "Now I can wait; now I can wait." The attendant came to tell +me, so I ran down at once to have a look at him. He was still in the +strait-waistcoat and in the padded room, but the suffused look had gone +from his face, and his eyes had something of their old pleading--I might +almost say, "cringing"--softness. I was satisfied with his present +condition, and directed him to be relieved. The attendants hesitated, +but finally carried out my wishes without protest. It was a strange +thing that the patient had humour enough to see their distrust, for, +coming close to me, he said in a whisper, all the while looking +furtively at them:-- + +"They think I could hurt you! Fancy _me_ hurting _you_! The fools!" + +It was soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself dissociated +even in the mind of this poor madman from the others; but all the same I +do not follow his thought. Am I to take it that I have anything in +common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together; or has +he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well-being is needful +to him? I must find out later on. To-night he will not speak. Even the +offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat will not tempt him. He will +only say: "I don't take any stock in cats. I have more to think of now, +and I can wait; I can wait." + +After a while I left him. The attendant tells me that he was quiet +until just before dawn, and that then he began to get uneasy, and at +length violent, until at last he fell into a paroxysm which exhausted +him so that he swooned into a sort of coma. + + * * * * * + +... Three nights has the same thing happened--violent all day then quiet +from moonrise to sunrise. I wish I could get some clue to the cause. It +would almost seem as if there was some influence which came and went. +Happy thought! We shall to-night play sane wits against mad ones. He +escaped before without our help; to-night he shall escape with it. We +shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow in case they +are required.... + + * * * * * + +_23 August._--"The unexpected always happens." How well Disraeli knew +life. Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly, so all our +subtle arrangements were for nought. At any rate, we have proved one +thing; that the spells of quietness last a reasonable time. We shall in +future be able to ease his bonds for a few hours each day. I have given +orders to the night attendant merely to shut him in the padded room, +when once he is quiet, until an hour before sunrise. The poor soul's +body will enjoy the relief even if his mind cannot appreciate it. Hark! +The unexpected again! I am called; the patient has once more escaped. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another night adventure. Renfield artfully waited until the +attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past him +and flew down the passage. I sent word for the attendants to follow. +Again he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we found him +in the same place, pressed against the old chapel door. When he saw me +he became furious, and had not the attendants seized him in time, he +would have tried to kill me. As we were holding him a strange thing +happened. He suddenly redoubled his efforts, and then as suddenly grew +calm. I looked round instinctively, but could see nothing. Then I caught +the patient's eye and followed it, but could trace nothing as it looked +into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was flapping its silent and +ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit about, but this one +seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound for or had +some intention of its own. The patient grew calmer every instant, and +presently said:-- + +"You needn't tie me; I shall go quietly!" Without trouble we came back +to the house. I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall +not forget this night.... + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary_ + +_Hillingham, 24 August._--I must imitate Mina, and keep writing things +down. Then we can have long talks when we do meet. I wonder when it will +be. I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy. Last night I +seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby. Perhaps it is the +change of air, or getting home again. It is all dark and horrid to me, +for I can remember nothing; but I am full of vague fear, and I feel so +weak and worn out. When Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved +when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to be cheerful. I wonder +if I could sleep in mother's room to-night. I shall make an excuse and +try. + + * * * * * + +_25 August._--Another bad night. Mother did not seem to take to my +proposal. She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to +worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but when the +clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been falling +asleep. There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I +did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have +fallen asleep. More bad dreams. I wish I could remember them. This +morning I am horribly weak. My face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains +me. It must be something wrong with my lungs, for I don't seem ever to +get air enough. I shall try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I +know he will be miserable to see me so. + + +_Letter, Arthur Holmwood to Dr. Seward._ + +"_Albemarle Hotel, 31 August._ + +"My dear Jack,-- + +"I want you to do me a favour. Lucy is ill; that is, she has no special +disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every day. I have +asked her if there is any cause; I do not dare to ask her mother, for to +disturb the poor lady's mind about her daughter in her present state of +health would be fatal. Mrs. Westenra has confided to me that her doom is +spoken--disease of the heart--though poor Lucy does not know it yet. I +am sure that there is something preying on my dear girl's mind. I am +almost distracted when I think of her; to look at her gives me a pang. I +told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at +first--I know why, old fellow--she finally consented. It will be a +painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it is for _her_ sake, and +I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act. You are to come to lunch at +Hillingham to-morrow, two o'clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in +Mrs. Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being +alone with you. I shall come in for tea, and we can go away together; I +am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I +can after you have seen her. Do not fail! + +"ARTHUR." + + +_Telegram, Arthur Holmwood to Seward._ + +"_1 September._ + +"Am summoned to see my father, who is worse. Am writing. Write me fully +by to-night's post to Ring. Wire me if necessary." + + +_Letter from Dr. Seward to Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My dear old fellow,-- + +"With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at once +that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady +that I know of. At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with +her appearance; she is woefully different from what she was when I saw +her last. Of course you must bear in mind that I did not have full +opportunity of examination such as I should wish; our very friendship +makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can +bridge over. I had better tell you exactly what happened, leaving you to +draw, in a measure, your own conclusions. I shall then say what I have +done and propose doing. + +"I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, +and in a few seconds I made up my mind that she was trying all she knew +to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious. I have no +doubt she guesses, if she does not know, what need of caution there is. +We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we +got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real cheerfulness +amongst us. Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and Lucy was left with +me. We went into her boudoir, and till we got there her gaiety remained, +for the servants were coming and going. As soon as the door was closed, +however, the mask fell from her face, and she sank down into a chair +with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her hand. When I saw that her +high spirits had failed, I at once took advantage of her reaction to +make a diagnosis. She said to me very sweetly:-- + +"'I cannot tell you how I loathe talking about myself.' I reminded her +that a doctor's confidence was sacred, but that you were grievously +anxious about her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that +matter in a word. 'Tell Arthur everything you choose. I do not care for +myself, but all for him!' So I am quite free. + +"I could easily see that she is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see +the usual anæmic signs, and by a chance I was actually able to test the +quality of her blood, for in opening a window which was stiff a cord +gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with broken glass. It was a +slight matter in itself, but it gave me an evident chance, and I secured +a few drops of the blood and have analysed them. The qualitative +analysis gives a quite normal condition, and shows, I should infer, in +itself a vigorous state of health. In other physical matters I was quite +satisfied that there is no need for anxiety; but as there must be a +cause somewhere, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something +mental. She complains of difficulty in breathing satisfactorily at +times, and of heavy, lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but +regarding which she can remember nothing. She says that as a child she +used to walk in her sleep, and that when in Whitby the habit came back, +and that once she walked out in the night and went to East Cliff, where +Miss Murray found her; but she assures me that of late the habit has not +returned. I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of; I +have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of +Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the +world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that all things +were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who you are and your +relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow, is in obedience to +your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to do anything I can for +her. Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal +reason, so, no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his +wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, but this is because he knows +what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a philosopher +and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; +and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron +nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, an indomitable resolution, +self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the +kindliest and truest heart that beats--these form his equipment for the +noble work that he is doing for mankind--work both in theory and +practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy. I +tell you these facts that you may know why I have such confidence in +him. I have asked him to come at once. I shall see Miss Westenra +to-morrow again. She is to meet me at the Stores, so that I may not +alarm her mother by too early a repetition of my call. + +"Yours always, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Letter, Abraham Van Helsing, M. D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc., to Dr. +Seward._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My good Friend,-- + +"When I have received your letter I am already coming to you. By good +fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who have +trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who have +trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those he holds +dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so +swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other +friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my +aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do. But it +is pleasure added to do for him, your friend; it is to you that I come. +Have then rooms for me at the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I may be near +to hand, and please it so arrange that we may see the young lady not too +late on to-morrow, for it is likely that I may have to return here that +night. But if need be I shall come again in three days, and stay longer +if it must. Till then good-bye, my friend John. + + "VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_3 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"Van Helsing has come and gone. He came on with me to Hillingham, and +found that, by Lucy's discretion, her mother was lunching out, so that +we were alone with her. Van Helsing made a very careful examination of +the patient. He is to report to me, and I shall advise you, for of +course I was not present all the time. He is, I fear, much concerned, +but says he must think. When I told him of our friendship and how you +trust to me in the matter, he said: 'You must tell him all you think. +Tell him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will. Nay, I am not +jesting. This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.' I asked +what he meant by that, for he was very serious. This was when we had +come back to town, and he was having a cup of tea before starting on his +return to Amsterdam. He would not give me any further clue. You must not +be angry with me, Art, because his very reticence means that all his +brains are working for her good. He will speak plainly enough when the +time comes, be sure. So I told him I would simply write an account of +our visit, just as if I were doing a descriptive special article for +_The Daily Telegraph_. He seemed not to notice, but remarked that the +smuts in London were not quite so bad as they used to be when he was a +student here. I am to get his report to-morrow if he can possibly make +it. In any case I am to have a letter. + +"Well, as to the visit. Lucy was more cheerful than on the day I first +saw her, and certainly looked better. She had lost something of the +ghastly look that so upset you, and her breathing was normal. She was +very sweet to the professor (as she always is), and tried to make him +feel at ease; though I could see that the poor girl was making a hard +struggle for it. I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw the quick +look under his bushy brows that I knew of old. Then he began to chat of +all things except ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite +geniality that I could see poor Lucy's pretense of animation merge into +reality. Then, without any seeming change, he brought the conversation +gently round to his visit, and suavely said:-- + +"'My dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you are so +much beloved. That is much, my dear, ever were there that which I do not +see. They told me you were down in the spirit, and that you were of a +ghastly pale. To them I say: "Pouf!"' And he snapped his fingers at me +and went on: 'But you and I shall show them how wrong they are. How can +he'--and he pointed at me with the same look and gesture as that with +which once he pointed me out to his class, on, or rather after, a +particular occasion which he never fails to remind me of--'know anything +of a young ladies? He has his madams to play with, and to bring them +back to happiness, and to those that love them. It is much to do, and, +oh, but there are rewards, in that we can bestow such happiness. But the +young ladies! He has no wife nor daughter, and the young do not tell +themselves to the young, but to the old, like me, who have known so many +sorrows and the causes of them. So, my dear, we will send him away to +smoke the cigarette in the garden, whiles you and I have little talk all +to ourselves.' I took the hint, and strolled about, and presently the +professor came to the window and called me in. He looked grave, but +said: 'I have made careful examination, but there is no functional +cause. With you I agree that there has been much blood lost; it has +been, but is not. But the conditions of her are in no way anæmic. I have +asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or two question, +that so I may not chance to miss nothing. I know well what she will say. +And yet there is cause; there is always cause for everything. I must go +back home and think. You must send to me the telegram every day; and if +there be cause I shall come again. The disease--for not to be all well +is a disease--interest me, and the sweet young dear, she interest me +too. She charm me, and for her, if not for you or disease, I come.' + +"As I tell you, he would not say a word more, even when we were alone. +And so now, Art, you know all I know. I shall keep stern watch. I trust +your poor father is rallying. It must be a terrible thing to you, my +dear old fellow, to be placed in such a position between two people who +are both so dear to you. I know your idea of duty to your father, and +you are right to stick to it; but, if need be, I shall send you word to +come at once to Lucy; so do not be over-anxious unless you hear from +me." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_4 September._--Zoöphagous patient still keeps up our interest in him. +He had only one outburst and that was yesterday at an unusual time. Just +before the stroke of noon he began to grow restless. The attendant knew +the symptoms, and at once summoned aid. Fortunately the men came at a +run, and were just in time, for at the stroke of noon he became so +violent that it took all their strength to hold him. In about five +minutes, however, he began to get more and more quiet, and finally sank +into a sort of melancholy, in which state he has remained up to now. The +attendant tells me that his screams whilst in the paroxysm were really +appalling; I found my hands full when I got in, attending to some of the +other patients who were frightened by him. Indeed, I can quite +understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed even me, though I was +some distance away. It is now after the dinner-hour of the asylum, and +as yet my patient sits in a corner brooding, with a dull, sullen, +woe-begone look in his face, which seems rather to indicate than to show +something directly. I cannot quite understand it. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another change in my patient. At five o'clock I looked in on +him, and found him seemingly as happy and contented as he used to be. He +was catching flies and eating them, and was keeping note of his capture +by making nail-marks on the edge of the door between the ridges of +padding. When he saw me, he came over and apologised for his bad +conduct, and asked me in a very humble, cringing way to be led back to +his own room and to have his note-book again. I thought it well to +humour him: so he is back in his room with the window open. He has the +sugar of his tea spread out on the window-sill, and is reaping quite a +harvest of flies. He is not now eating them, but putting them into a +box, as of old, and is already examining the corners of his room to find +a spider. I tried to get him to talk about the past few days, for any +clue to his thoughts would be of immense help to me; but he would not +rise. For a moment or two he looked very sad, and said in a sort of +far-away voice, as though saying it rather to himself than to me:-- + +"All over! all over! He has deserted me. No hope for me now unless I do +it for myself!" Then suddenly turning to me in a resolute way, he said: +"Doctor, won't you be very good to me and let me have a little more +sugar? I think it would be good for me." + +"And the flies?" I said. + +"Yes! The flies like it, too, and I like the flies; therefore I like +it." And there are people who know so little as to think that madmen do +not argue. I procured him a double supply, and left him as happy a man +as, I suppose, any in the world. I wish I could fathom his mind. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--Another change in him. I had been to see Miss Westenra, +whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at our +own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him yelling. As +his room is on this side of the house, I could hear it better than in +the morning. It was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky +beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights and inky shadows +and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds even as on foul +water, and to realise all the grim sternness of my own cold stone +building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own desolate heart +to endure it all. I reached him just as the sun was going down, and from +his window saw the red disc sink. As it sank he became less and less +frenzied; and just as it dipped he slid from the hands that held him, an +inert mass, on the floor. It is wonderful, however, what intellectual +recuperative power lunatics have, for within a few minutes he stood up +quite calmly and looked around him. I signalled to the attendants not to +hold him, for I was anxious to see what he would do. He went straight +over to the window and brushed out the crumbs of sugar; then he took his +fly-box, and emptied it outside, and threw away the box; then he shut +the window, and crossing over, sat down on his bed. All this surprised +me, so I asked him: "Are you not going to keep flies any more?" + +"No," said he; "I am sick of all that rubbish!" He certainly is a +wonderfully interesting study. I wish I could get some glimpse of his +mind or of the cause of his sudden passion. Stop; there may be a clue +after all, if we can find why to-day his paroxysms came on at high noon +and at sunset. Can it be that there is a malign influence of the sun at +periods which affects certain natures--as at times the moon does others? +We shall see. + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_4 September._--Patient still better to-day." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_5 September._--Patient greatly improved. Good appetite; sleeps +naturally; good spirits; colour coming back." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_6 September._--Terrible change for the worse. Come at once; do not +lose an hour. I hold over telegram to Holmwood till have seen you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_6 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a bit. +There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it; Mrs. +Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me +professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told +her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to +stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with +myself; so now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a +shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak +condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with +difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall +come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if you +do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for +news. In haste + +Yours ever, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_7 September._--The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at +Liverpool Street was:-- + +"Have you said anything to our young friend the lover of her?" + +"No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my telegram. I +wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were coming, as Miss +Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him know if need be." + +"Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as yet; +perhaps he shall never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then he +shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You deal +with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch +as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's madmen, +too--the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what you do nor why +you do it; you tell them not what you think. So you shall keep knowledge +in its place, where it may rest--where it may gather its kind around it +and breed. You and I shall keep as yet what we know here, and here." He +touched me on the heart and on the forehead, and then touched himself +the same way. "I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall +unfold to you." + +"Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at some +decision." He stopped and looked at me, and said:-- + +"My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has +ripened--while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshine +has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the +ear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, +and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the +time comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For reply +he reached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully, as +he used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The good husbandman tell +you so then because he knows, but not till then. But you do not find the +good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is for +the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as of +the work of their life. See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn, +and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, +there's some promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He broke +off, for he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and very +gravely:-- + +"You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever more +full than the rest. You were only student then; now you are master, and +I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, that +knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker. +Even if you have not kept the good practise, let me tell you that this +case of our dear miss is one that may be--mind, I say _may be_--of such +interest to us and others that all the rest may not make him kick the +beam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is too +small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. +Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We +learn from failure, not from success!" + +When I described Lucy's symptoms--the same as before, but infinitely +more marked--he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with him a +bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly paraphernalia +of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of his lectures, the +equipment of a professor of the healing craft. When we were shown in, +Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as I +expected to find her. Nature in one of her beneficent moods has ordained +that even death has some antidote to its own terrors. Here, in a case +where any shock may prove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some +cause or other, the things not personal--even the terrible change in her +daughter to whom she is so attached--do not seem to reach her. It is +something like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an +envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that +which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an ordered +selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one for the vice +of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes than we have +knowledge of. + +I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid down +a rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think of her illness +more than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so readily that +I saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life. Van Helsing and I were +shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, I +was horrified when I saw her to-day. She was ghastly, chalkily pale; the +red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gums, and the bones of +her face stood out prominently; her breathing was painful to see or +hear. Van Helsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged +till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not +seem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. Then +Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the room. The +instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along the passage to +the next door, which was open. Then he pulled me quickly in with him and +closed the door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no time +to be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's +action as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at once. Is +it you or me?" + +"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me." + +"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am prepared." + +I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock at +the hall-door. When we reached the hall the maid had just opened the +door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me, saying in +an eager whisper:-- + +"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter, and +have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran down here to see for +myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so thankful to you, +sir, for coming." When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he had +been angry at his interruption at such a time; but now, as he took in +his stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood which +seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause he said to +him gravely as he held out his hand:-- + +"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss. She is +bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For he +suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are to +help her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is your +best help." + +"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it. My +life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for +her." The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old +knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer:-- + +"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that--not the last!" + +"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostril +quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder. "Come!" +he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want. You are better than +me, better than my friend John." Arthur looked bewildered, and the +Professor went on by explaining in a kindly way:-- + +"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must have +or die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about to perform +what we call transfusion of blood--to transfer from full veins of one to +the empty veins which pine for him. John was to give his blood, as he is +the more young and strong than me"--here Arthur took my hand and wrung +it hard in silence--"but, now you are here, you are more good than us, +old or young, who toil much in the world of thought. Our nerves are not +so calm and our blood not so bright than yours!" Arthur turned to him +and said:-- + +"If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you would +understand----" + +He stopped, with a sort of choke in his voice. + +"Good boy!" said Van Helsing. "In the not-so-far-off you will be happy +that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be silent. You +shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must go; and you +must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame; you know how it is with +her! There must be no shock; any knowledge of this would be one. Come!" + +We all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained outside. +Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing. She was not +asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort. Her eyes spoke +to us; that was all. Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laid +them on a little table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, and +coming over to the bed, said cheerily:-- + +"Now, little miss, here is your medicine. Drink it off, like a good +child. See, I lift you so that to swallow is easy. Yes." She had made +the effort with success. + +It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact, marked +the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until sleep began to +flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the narcotic began to manifest +its potency; and she fell into a deep sleep. When the Professor was +satisfied he called Arthur into the room, and bade him strip off his +coat. Then he added: "You may take that one little kiss whiles I bring +over the table. Friend John, help to me!" So neither of us looked whilst +he bent over her. + +Van Helsing turning to me, said: + +"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not +defibrinate it." + +Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed the +operation. As the transfusion went on something like life seemed to come +back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing pallor the joy +of his face seemed absolutely to shine. After a bit I began to grow +anxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur, strong man as he +was. It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain Lucy's system must +have undergone that what weakened Arthur only partially restored her. +But the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand and with +his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I could hear my own +heart beat. Presently he said in a soft voice: "Do not stir an instant. +It is enough. You attend him; I will look to her." When all was over I +could see how much Arthur was weakened. I dressed the wound and took his +arm to bring him away, when Van Helsing spoke without turning round--the +man seems to have eyes in the back of his head:-- + +"The brave lover, I think, deserve another kiss, which he shall have +presently." And as he had now finished his operation, he adjusted the +pillow to the patient's head. As he did so the narrow black velvet band +which she seems always to wear round her throat, buckled with an old +diamond buckle which her lover had given her, was dragged a little up, +and showed a red mark on her throat. Arthur did not notice it, but I +could hear the deep hiss of indrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing's +ways of betraying emotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned to +me, saying: "Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port +wine, and let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleep +much and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given to +his love. He must not stay here. Hold! a moment. I may take it, sir, +that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you that in all ways +the operation is successful. You have saved her life this time, and you +can go home and rest easy in mind that all that can be is. I shall tell +her all when she is well; she shall love you none the less for what you +have done. Good-bye." + +When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping gently, +but her breathing was stronger; I could see the counterpane move as her +breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking at her intently. +The velvet band again covered the red mark. I asked the Professor in a +whisper:-- + +"What do you make of that mark on her throat?" + +"What do you make of it?" + +"I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there proceeded +to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein there were two +punctures, not large, but not wholesome-looking. There was no sign of +disease, but the edges were white and worn-looking, as if by some +trituration. It at once occurred to me that this wound, or whatever it +was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood; but I abandoned +the idea as soon as formed, for such a thing could not be. The whole bed +would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must +have lost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion. + +"Well?" said Van Helsing. + +"Well," said I, "I can make nothing of it." The Professor stood up. "I +must go back to Amsterdam to-night," he said. "There are books and +things there which I want. You must remain here all the night, and you +must not let your sight pass from her." + +"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked. + +"We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night; see that +she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must not sleep all +the night. Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall be back as soon as +possible. And then we may begin." + +"May begin?" I said. "What on earth do you mean?" + +"We shall see!" he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a moment +later and put his head inside the door and said with warning finger held +up:-- + +"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave her, and harm befall, you +shall not sleep easy hereafter!" + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary--continued._ + +_8 September._--I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked itself +off towards dusk, and she waked naturally; she looked a different being +from what she had been before the operation. Her spirits even were good, +and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see evidences of the +absolute prostration which she had undergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra +that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should sit up with her she +almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her daughter's renewed +strength and excellent spirits. I was firm, however, and made +preparations for my long vigil. When her maid had prepared her for the +night I came in, having in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by +the bedside. She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me +gratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed +sinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together +and shook it off. This was repeated several times, with greater effort +and with shorter pauses as the time moved on. It was apparent that she +did not want to sleep, so I tackled the subject at once:-- + +"You do not want to go to sleep?" + +"No; I am afraid." + +"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave for." + +"Ah, not if you were like me--if sleep was to you a presage of horror!" + +"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?" + +"I don't know; oh, I don't know. And that is what is so terrible. All +this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very thought." + +"But, my dear girl, you may sleep to-night. I am here watching you, and +I can promise that nothing will happen." + +"Ah, I can trust you!" I seized the opportunity, and said: "I promise +you that if I see any evidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once." + +"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I will +sleep!" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief, and sank +back, asleep. + +All night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on and on +in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep. Her lips were +slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity of a +pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was evident that no bad +dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind. + +In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and took +myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I sent a short +wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent result +of the operation. My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all +day to clear off; it was dark when I was able to inquire about my +zoöphagous patient. The report was good; he had been quite quiet for the +past day and night. A telegram came from Van Helsing at Amsterdam whilst +I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at Hillingham to-night, as +it might be well to be at hand, and stating that he was leaving by the +night mail and would join me early in the morning. + + * * * * * + +_9 September_.--I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to +Hillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my +brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral +exhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook hands +with me she looked sharply in my face and said:-- + +"No sitting up to-night for you. You are worn out. I am quite well +again; indeed, I am; and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I who +will sit up with you." I would not argue the point, but went and had my +supper. Lucy came with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I +made an excellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than +excellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room next +her own, where a cozy fire was burning. "Now," she said, "you must stay +here. I shall leave this door open and my door too. You can lie on the +sofa for I know that nothing would induce any of you doctors to go to +bed whilst there is a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I +shall call out, and you can come to me at once." I could not but +acquiesce, for I was "dog-tired," and could not have sat up had I tried. +So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she should want anything, +I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about everything. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_9 September._--I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably weak, +that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after +a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky. Somehow Arthur feels very, +very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about me. I suppose +it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things and turn our inner +eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and strength give Love +rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know +where my thoughts are. If Arthur only knew! My dear, my dear, your ears +must tingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of +last night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching me. +And to-night I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at hand and +within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me! Thank God! +Good-night, Arthur. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_10 September._--I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head, and +started awake all in a second. That is one of the things that we learn +in an asylum, at any rate. + +"And how is our patient?" + +"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered. + +"Come, let us see," he said. And together we went into the room. + +The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van +Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed. + +As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I +heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity, a +deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over he moved back, and +his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no enforcement from +his agonised face. He raised his hand and pointed to the bed, and his +iron face was drawn and ashen white. I felt my knees begin to tremble. + +There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly +white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white, and the gums +seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes see in a +corpse after a prolonged illness. Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp +in anger, but the instinct of his life and all the long years of habit +stood to him, and he put it down again softly. "Quick!" he said. "Bring +the brandy." I flew to the dining-room, and returned with the decanter. +He wetted the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and +wrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonising +suspense said:-- + +"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work is +undone; we must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now; I have +to call on you yourself this time, friend John." As he spoke, he was +dipping into his bag and producing the instruments for transfusion; I +had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt-sleeve. There was no +possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of one; and so, +without a moment's delay, we began the operation. After a time--it did +not seem a short time either, for the draining away of one's blood, no +matter how willingly it be given, is a terrible feeling--Van Helsing +held up a warning finger. "Do not stir," he said, "but I fear that with +growing strength she may wake; and that would make danger, oh, so much +danger. But I shall precaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection +of morphia." He proceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his +intent. The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge +subtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal pride +that I could see a faint tinge of colour steal back into the pallid +cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to +feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves. + +The Professor watched me critically. "That will do," he said. "Already?" +I remonstrated. "You took a great deal more from Art." To which he +smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied:-- + +"He is her lover, her _fiancé_. You have work, much work, to do for her +and for others; and the present will suffice." + +When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied +digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, whilst I waited his +leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sick. By-and-by +he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for +myself. As I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half +whispered:-- + +"Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should turn up +unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once frighten him and +enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!" + +When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said:-- + +"You are not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and +rest awhile; then have much breakfast, and come here to me." + +I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they were. I +had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strength. I +felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at +what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over +and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how +she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign anywhere to +show for it. I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, +sleeping and waking, my thoughts always came back to the little +punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their +edges--tiny though they were. + +Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well and +strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before. When Van Helsing +had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge, with strict +injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment. I could hear his +voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest telegraph office. + +Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that anything +had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested. When her mother +came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change whatever, but +said to me gratefully:-- + +"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you really +must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking pale +yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit; that you +do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only momentarily, +for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long such an unwonted +drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned +imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my +lips; with a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows. + +Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me: +"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself strong. I +stay here to-night, and I shall sit up with little miss myself. You and +I must watch the case, and we must have none other to know. I have grave +reasons. No, do not ask them; think what you will. Do not fear to think +even the most not-probable. Good-night." + +In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either of +them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to let them; and +when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either he or I should sit +up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the "foreign +gentleman." I was much touched by their kindness. Perhaps it is because +I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on Lucy's account, that +their devotion was manifested; for over and over again have I seen +similar instances of woman's kindness. I got back here in time for a +late dinner; went my rounds--all well; and set this down whilst waiting +for sleep. It is coming. + + * * * * * + +_11 September._--This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found Van +Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly after I had +arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor. He opened it +with much impressment--assumed, of course--and showed a great bundle of +white flowers. + +"These are for you, Miss Lucy," he said. + +"For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!" + +"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are medicines." Here +Lucy made a wry face. "Nay, but they are not to take in a decoction or +in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming nose, or I shall +point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have to endure in seeing +so much beauty that he so loves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, +that bring the so nice nose all straight again. This is medicinal, but +you do not know how. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and +hang him round your neck, so that you sleep well. Oh yes! they, like the +lotus flower, make your trouble forgotten. It smell so like the waters +of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought +for in the Floridas, and find him all too late." + +Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and smelling +them. Now she threw them down, saying, with half-laughter, and +half-disgust:-- + +"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why, +these flowers are only common garlic." + +To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his +iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:-- + +"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do; +and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of +others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she might +well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my dear, do not fear +me. I only do for your good; but there is much virtue to you in those so +common flowers. See, I place them myself in your room. I make myself the +wreath that you are to wear. But hush! no telling to others that make so +inquisitive questions. We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience; +and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait +for you. Now sit still awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall +help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, +where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year. +I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here." + +We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's +actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia +that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them +securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over +the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get +in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed +all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round +the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and +presently I said:-- + +"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but +this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he +would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit." + +"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which +Lucy was to wear round her neck. + +We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she +was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her +neck. The last words he said to her were:-- + +"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close, do +not to-night open the window or the door." + +"I promise," said Lucy, "and thank you both a thousand times for all +your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such +friends?" + +As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said:-- + +"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want--two nights of travel, +much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow, +and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the morning early +you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much +more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho! ho!" + +He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights +before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror. It must +have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but +I felt it all the more, like unshed tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + + +_12 September._--How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. +Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He +positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been +right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread +being alone to-night, and I can go to sleep without fear. I shall not +mind any flapping outside the window. Oh, the terrible struggle that I +have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, +or the pain of the fear of sleep, with such unknown horrors as it has +for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no +dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings +nothing but sweet dreams. Well, here I am to-night, hoping for sleep, +and lying like Ophelia in the play, with "virgin crants and maiden +strewments." I never liked garlic before, but to-night it is delightful! +There is peace in its smell; I feel sleep coming already. Good-night, +everybody. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_13 September._--Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual, +up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting. The +Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now. + +Let all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at +eight o'clock. It was a lovely morning; the bright sunshine and all the +fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of nature's +annual work. The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, +but had not yet begun to drop from the trees. When we entered we met +Mrs. Westenra coming out of the morning room. She is always an early +riser. She greeted us warmly and said:-- + +"You will be glad to know that Lucy is better. The dear child is still +asleep. I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go in, lest I +should disturb her." The Professor smiled, and looked quite jubilant. He +rubbed his hands together, and said:-- + +"Aha! I thought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working," to +which she answered:-- + +"You must not take all the credit to yourself, doctor. Lucy's state this +morning is due in part to me." + +"How you do mean, ma'am?" asked the Professor. + +"Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went into +her room. She was sleeping soundly--so soundly that even my coming did +not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There were a lot of those +horrible, strong-smelling flowers about everywhere, and she had actually +a bunch of them round her neck. I feared that the heavy odour would be +too much for the dear child in her weak state, so I took them all away +and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh air. You will be +pleased with her, I am sure." + +She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted early. As +she had spoken, I watched the Professor's face, and saw it turn ashen +grey. He had been able to retain his self-command whilst the poor lady +was present, for he knew her state and how mischievous a shock would be; +he actually smiled on her as he held open the door for her to pass into +her room. But the instant she had disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and +forcibly, into the dining-room and closed the door. + +Then, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break down. He +raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then beat +his palms together in a helpless way; finally he sat down on a chair, +and putting his hands before his face, began to sob, with loud, dry sobs +that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart. Then he raised +his arms again, as though appealing to the whole universe. "God! God! +God!" he said. "What have we done, what has this poor thing done, that +we are so sore beset? Is there fate amongst us still, sent down from the +pagan world of old, that such things must be, and in such way? This poor +mother, all unknowing, and all for the best as she think, does such +thing as lose her daughter body and soul; and we must not tell her, we +must not even warn her, or she die, and then both die. Oh, how we are +beset! How are all the powers of the devils against us!" Suddenly he +jumped to his feet. "Come," he said, "come, we must see and act. Devils +or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him +all the same." He went to the hall-door for his bag; and together we +went up to Lucy's room. + +Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards the bed. +This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face with the same +awful, waxen pallor as before. He wore a look of stern sadness and +infinite pity. + +"As I expected," he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of his which +meant so much. Without a word he went and locked the door, and then +began to set out on the little table the instruments for yet another +operation of transfusion of blood. I had long ago recognised the +necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he stopped me with a +warning hand. "No!" he said. "To-day you must operate. I shall provide. +You are weakened already." As he spoke he took off his coat and rolled +up his shirt-sleeve. + +Again the operation; again the narcotic; again some return of colour to +the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep. This time I +watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and rested. + +Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she must +not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him; that the +flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of their odour +was a part of the system of cure. Then he took over the care of the case +himself, saying that he would watch this night and the next and would +send me word when to come. + +After another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright and +seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal. + +What does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of life +amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_17 September._--Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so strong +again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed through some +long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and +feel the fresh air of the morning around me. I have a dim +half-remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing; darkness +in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present distress +more poignant: and then long spells of oblivion, and the rising back to +life as a diver coming up through a great press of water. Since, +however, Dr. Van Helsing has been with me, all this bad dreaming seems +to have passed away; the noises that used to frighten me out of my +wits--the flapping against the windows, the distant voices which seemed +so close to me, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and +commanded me to do I know not what--have all ceased. I go to bed now +without any fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown +quite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day from +Haarlem. To-night Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to be for a +day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched; I am well enough to be left +alone. Thank God for mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our +friends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change, for +last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time. I found +him asleep twice when I awoke; but I did not fear to go to sleep again, +although the boughs or bats or something napped almost angrily against +the window-panes. + + +_"The Pall Mall Gazette," 18 September._ + + THE ESCAPED WOLF. + + PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER. + + _Interview with the Keeper in the Zoölogical Gardens._ + +After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and perpetually using +the words "Pall Mall Gazette" as a sort of talisman, I managed to find +the keeper of the section of the Zoölogical Gardens in which the wolf +department is included. Thomas Bilder lives in one of the cottages in +the enclosure behind the elephant-house, and was just sitting down to +his tea when I found him. Thomas and his wife are hospitable folk, +elderly, and without children, and if the specimen I enjoyed of their +hospitality be of the average kind, their lives must be pretty +comfortable. The keeper would not enter on what he called "business" +until the supper was over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the +table was cleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said:-- + +"Now, sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want. You'll excoose me +refoosin' to talk of perfeshunal subjects afore meals. I gives the +wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section their tea afore +I begins to arsk them questions." + +"How do you mean, ask them questions?" I queried, wishful to get him +into a talkative humour. + +"'Ittin' of them over the 'ead with a pole is one way; scratchin' of +their hears is another, when gents as is flush wants a bit of a show-orf +to their gals. I don't so much mind the fust--the 'ittin' with a pole +afore I chucks in their dinner; but I waits till they've 'ad their +sherry and kawffee, so to speak, afore I tries on with the +ear-scratchin'. Mind you," he added philosophically, "there's a deal of +the same nature in us as in them theer animiles. Here's you a-comin' and +arskin' of me questions about my business, and I that grumpy-like that +only for your bloomin' 'arf-quid I'd 'a' seen you blowed fust 'fore I'd +answer. Not even when you arsked me sarcastic-like if I'd like you to +arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me questions. Without offence +did I tell yer to go to 'ell?" + +"You did." + +"An' when you said you'd report me for usin' of obscene language that +was 'ittin' me over the 'ead; but the 'arf-quid made that all right. I +weren't a-goin' to fight, so I waited for the food, and did with my 'owl +as the wolves, and lions, and tigers does. But, Lor' love yer 'art, now +that the old 'ooman has stuck a chunk of her tea-cake in me, an' rinsed +me out with her bloomin' old teapot, and I've lit hup, you may scratch +my ears for all you're worth, and won't git even a growl out of me. +Drive along with your questions. I know what yer a-comin' at, that 'ere +escaped wolf." + +"Exactly. I want you to give me your view of it. Just tell me how it +happened; and when I know the facts I'll get you to say what you +consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole affair will +end." + +"All right, guv'nor. This 'ere is about the 'ole story. That 'ere wolf +what we called Bersicker was one of three grey ones that came from +Norway to Jamrach's, which we bought off him four years ago. He was a +nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk of. I'm more +surprised at 'im for wantin' to get out nor any other animile in the +place. But, there, you can't trust wolves no more nor women." + +"Don't you mind him, sir!" broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery laugh. "'E's +got mindin' the animiles so long that blest if he ain't like a old wolf +'isself! But there ain't no 'arm in 'im." + +"Well, sir, it was about two hours after feedin' yesterday when I first +hear my disturbance. I was makin' up a litter in the monkey-house for a +young puma which is ill; but when I heard the yelpin' and 'owlin' I kem +away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin' like a mad thing at the +bars as if he wanted to get out. There wasn't much people about that +day, and close at hand was only one man, a tall, thin chap, with a 'ook +nose and a pointed beard, with a few white hairs runnin' through it. He +had a 'ard, cold look and red eyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, +for it seemed as if it was 'im as they was hirritated at. He 'ad white +kid gloves on 'is 'ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says: +'Keeper, these wolves seem upset at something.' + +"'Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he give +'isself. He didn't git angry, as I 'oped he would, but he smiled a kind +of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. 'Oh no, they +wouldn't like me,' 'e says. + +"'Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin' of him. 'They always likes a +bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea-time, which you 'as a +bagful.' + +"Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us a-talkin' they +lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let me stroke his ears +same as ever. That there man kem over, and blessed but if he didn't put +in his hand and stroke the old wolf's ears too! + +"'Tyke care,' says I. 'Bersicker is quick.' + +"'Never mind,' he says. 'I'm used to 'em!' + +"'Are you in the business yourself?' I says, tyking off my 'at, for a +man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to keepers. + +"'No' says he, 'not exactly in the business, but I 'ave made pets of +several.' And with that he lifts his 'at as perlite as a lord, and walks +away. Old Bersicker kep' a-lookin' arter 'im till 'e was out of sight, +and then went and lay down in a corner and wouldn't come hout the 'ole +hevening. Well, larst night, so soon as the moon was hup, the wolves +here all began a-'owling. There warn't nothing for them to 'owl at. +There warn't no one near, except some one that was evidently a-callin' a +dog somewheres out back of the gardings in the Park road. Once or twice +I went out to see that all was right, and it was, and then the 'owling +stopped. Just before twelve o'clock I just took a look round afore +turnin' in, an', bust me, but when I kem opposite to old Bersicker's +cage I see the rails broken and twisted about and the cage empty. And +that's all I know for certing." + +"Did any one else see anything?" + +"One of our gard'ners was a-comin' 'ome about that time from a 'armony, +when he sees a big grey dog comin' out through the garding 'edges. At +least, so he says, but I don't give much for it myself, for if he did 'e +never said a word about it to his missis when 'e got 'ome, and it was +only after the escape of the wolf was made known, and we had been up all +night-a-huntin' of the Park for Bersicker, that he remembered seein' +anything. My own belief was that the 'armony 'ad got into his 'ead." + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape of the +wolf?" + +"Well, sir," he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, "I think I can; +but I don't know as 'ow you'd be satisfied with the theory." + +"Certainly I shall. If a man like you, who knows the animals from +experience, can't hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even to try?" + +"Well then, sir, I accounts for it this way; it seems to me that 'ere +wolf escaped--simply because he wanted to get out." + +From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the joke I +could see that it had done service before, and that the whole +explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I couldn't cope in badinage +with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way to his heart, +so I said:-- + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, we'll consider that first half-sovereign worked off, +and this brother of his is waiting to be claimed when you've told me +what you think will happen." + +"Right y'are, sir," he said briskly. "Ye'll excoose me, I know, for +a-chaffin' of ye, but the old woman here winked at me, which was as much +as telling me to go on." + +"Well, I never!" said the old lady. + +"My opinion is this: that 'ere wolf is a-'idin' of, somewheres. The +gard'ner wot didn't remember said he was a-gallopin' northward faster +than a horse could go; but I don't believe him, for, yer see, sir, +wolves don't gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein' built that +way. Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay when they gets +in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more afeared than they is +they can make a devil of a noise and chop it up, whatever it is. But, +Lor' bless you, in real life a wolf is only a low creature, not half so +clever or bold as a good dog; and not half a quarter so much fight in +'im. This one ain't been used to fightin' or even to providin' for +hisself, and more like he's somewhere round the Park a-'idin' an' +a-shiverin' of, and, if he thinks at all, wonderin' where he is to get +his breakfast from; or maybe he's got down some area and is in a +coal-cellar. My eye, won't some cook get a rum start when she sees his +green eyes a-shining at her out of the dark! If he can't get food he's +bound to look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher's +shop in time. If he doesn't, and some nursemaid goes a-walkin' orf with +a soldier, leavin' of the hinfant in the perambulator--well, then I +shouldn't be surprised if the census is one babby the less. That's +all." + +I was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came bobbing up +against the window, and Mr. Bilder's face doubled its natural length +with surprise. + +"God bless me!" he said. "If there ain't old Bersicker come back by +'isself!" + +He went to the door and opened it; a most unnecessary proceeding it +seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so +well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us; a +personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea. + +After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither Bilder nor +his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a dog. The animal +itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all +picture-wolves--Red Riding Hood's quondam friend, whilst moving her +confidence in masquerade. + +The whole scene was an unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos. The +wicked wolf that for half a day had paralysed London and set all the +children in the town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of +penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine +prodigal son. Old Bilder examined him all over with most tender +solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent said:-- + +"There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of trouble; +didn't I say it all along? Here's his head all cut and full of broken +glass. 'E's been a-gettin' over some bloomin' wall or other. It's a +shyme that people are allowed to top their walls with broken bottles. +This 'ere's what comes of it. Come along, Bersicker." + +He took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece of meat that +satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary conditions of the +fatted calf, and went off to report. + +I came off, too, to report the only exclusive information that is given +to-day regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_17 September._--I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up my +books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to Lucy, +had fallen sadly into arrear. Suddenly the door was burst open, and in +rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion. I was +thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord +into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown. Without an instant's +pause he made straight at me. He had a dinner-knife in his hand, and, +as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to keep the table between us. He was +too quick and too strong for me, however; for before I could get my +balance he had struck at me and cut my left wrist rather severely. +Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right and he was +sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled freely, and quite a +little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw that my friend was not +intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist, +keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time. When the +attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his employment +positively sickened me. He was lying on his belly on the floor licking +up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was +easily secured, and, to my surprise, went with the attendants quite +placidly, simply repeating over and over again: "The blood is the life! +The blood is the life!" + +I cannot afford to lose blood just at present; I have lost too much of +late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of Lucy's +illness and its horrible phases is telling on me. I am over-excited and +weary, and I need rest, rest, rest. Happily Van Helsing has not summoned +me, so I need not forego my sleep; to-night I could not well do without +it. + + +_Telegram, Van Helsing, Antwerp, to Seward, Carfax._ + +(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given; delivered late by +twenty-two hours.) + +"_17 September._--Do not fail to be at Hillingham to-night. If not +watching all the time frequently, visit and see that flowers are as +placed; very important; do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as +possible after arrival." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_18 September._--Just off for train to London. The arrival of Van +Helsing's telegram filled me with dismay. A whole night lost, and I know +by bitter experience what may happen in a night. Of course it is +possible that all may be well, but what _may_ have happened? Surely +there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every possible accident +should thwart us in all we try to do. I shall take this cylinder with +me, and then I can complete my entry on Lucy's phonograph. + + +_Memorandum left by Lucy Westenra._ + +_17 September. Night._--I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no +one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact +record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and +have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the +doing. + +I went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were placed as Dr. +Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep. + +I was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after that +sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and which now I +know so well. I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr. Seward was in +the next room--as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be--so that I might have +called him. I tried to go to sleep, but could not. Then there came to me +the old fear of sleep, and I determined to keep awake. Perversely sleep +would try to come then when I did not want it; so, as I feared to be +alone, I opened my door and called out: "Is there anybody there?" There +was no answer. I was afraid to wake mother, and so closed my door again. +Then outside in the shrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog's, but +more fierce and deeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could +see nothing, except a big bat, which had evidently been buffeting its +wings against the window. So I went back to bed again, but determined +not to go to sleep. Presently the door opened, and mother looked in; +seeing by my moving that I was not asleep, came in, and sat by me. She +said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont:-- + +"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you were all +right." + +I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to come in +and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down beside me; she did +not take off her dressing gown, for she said she would only stay a while +and then go back to her own bed. As she lay there in my arms, and I in +hers, the flapping and buffeting came to the window again. She was +startled and a little frightened, and cried out: "What is that?" I tried +to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet; but I could +hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly. After a while there was +the low howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly after there was a +crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass was hurled on the floor. +The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the +aperture of the broken panes there was the head of a great, gaunt grey +wolf. Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting +posture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her. Amongst +other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing +insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me. For a +second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was a strange +and horrible gurgling in her throat; then she fell over--as if struck +with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and made me dizzy for a +moment or two. The room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my +eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole +myriad of little specks seemed to come blowing in through the broken +window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that +travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I tried to +stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear mother's poor body, +which seemed to grow cold already--for her dear heart had ceased to +beat--weighed me down; and I remembered no more for a while. + +The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered +consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling; the +dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling; and in our shrubbery, +seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing. I was dazed and +stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the sound of the +nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort +me. The sounds seemed to have awakened the maids, too, for I could hear +their bare feet pattering outside my door. I called to them, and they +came in, and when they saw what had happened, and what it was that lay +over me on the bed, they screamed out. The wind rushed in through the +broken window, and the door slammed to. They lifted off the body of my +dear mother, and laid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I +had got up. They were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them +to go to the dining-room and have each a glass of wine. The door flew +open for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then went +in a body to the dining-room; and I laid what flowers I had on my dear +mother's breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr. Van Helsing +had told me, but I didn't like to remove them, and, besides, I would +have some of the servants to sit up with me now. I was surprised that +the maids did not come back. I called them, but got no answer, so I went +to the dining-room to look for them. + +My heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay helpless +on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry was on the table +half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about. I was suspicious, +and examined the decanter. It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the +sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for +her--oh! did use--was empty. What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back +in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for +the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I +dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the +broken window. + +The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from +the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God +shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, +where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother +gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not +survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_18 September._--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early. +Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently +and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy or her +mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door. After a while, +finding no response, I knocked and rang again; still no answer. I cursed +the laziness of the servants that they should lie abed at such an +hour--for it was now ten o'clock--and so rang and knocked again, but +more impatiently, but still without response. Hitherto I had blamed only +the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me. Was this +desolation but another link in the chain of doom which seemed drawing +tight around us? Was it indeed a house of death to which I had come, too +late? I knew that minutes, even seconds of delay, might mean hours of +danger to Lucy, if she had had again one of those frightful relapses; +and I went round the house to try if I could find by chance an entry +anywhere. + +I could find no means of ingress. Every window and door was fastened and +locked, and I returned baffled to the porch. As I did so, I heard the +rapid pit-pat of a swiftly driven horse's feet. They stopped at the +gate, and a few seconds later I met Van Helsing running up the avenue. +When he saw me, he gasped out:-- + +"Then it was you, and just arrived. How is she? Are we too late? Did you +not get my telegram?" + +I answered as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got his +telegram early in the morning, and had not lost a minute in coming here, +and that I could not make any one in the house hear me. He paused and +raised his hat as he said solemnly:-- + +"Then I fear we are too late. God's will be done!" With his usual +recuperative energy, he went on: "Come. If there be no way open to get +in, we must make one. Time is all in all to us now." + +We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen +window. The Professor took a small surgical saw from his case, and +handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window. I +attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them. Then +with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the sashes and +opened the window. I helped the Professor in, and followed him. There +was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which were close at +hand. We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in the dining-room, +dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters, found four +servant-women lying on the floor. There was no need to think them dead, +for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the +room left no doubt as to their condition. Van Helsing and I looked at +each other, and as we moved away he said: "We can attend to them later." +Then we ascended to Lucy's room. For an instant or two we paused at the +door to listen, but there was no sound that we could hear. With white +faces and trembling hands, we opened the door gently, and entered the +room. + +How shall I describe what we saw? On the bed lay two women, Lucy and her +mother. The latter lay farthest in, and she was covered with a white +sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the draught through the +broken window, showing the drawn, white face, with a look of terror +fixed upon it. By her side lay Lucy, with face white and still more +drawn. The flowers which had been round her neck we found upon her +mother's bosom, and her throat was bare, showing the two little wounds +which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white and mangled. +Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head almost touching +poor Lucy's breast; then he gave a quick turn of his head, as of one who +listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to me:-- + +"It is not yet too late! Quick! quick! Bring the brandy!" + +I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste +it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I found +on the table. The maids were still breathing, but more restlessly, and I +fancied that the narcotic was wearing off. I did not stay to make sure, +but returned to Van Helsing. He rubbed the brandy, as on another +occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists and the palms of her +hands. He said to me:-- + +"I can do this, all that can be at the present. You go wake those maids. +Flick them in the face with a wet towel, and flick them hard. Make them +get heat and fire and a warm bath. This poor soul is nearly as cold as +that beside her. She will need be heated before we can do anything +more." + +I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the +women. The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently +affected her more strongly, so I lifted her on the sofa and let her +sleep. The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to +them they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner. I was stern with +them, however, and would not let them talk. I told them that one life +was bad enough to lose, and that if they delayed they would sacrifice +Miss Lucy. So, sobbing and crying, they went about their way, half clad +as they were, and prepared fire and water. Fortunately, the kitchen and +boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water. We +got a bath and carried Lucy out as she was and placed her in it. Whilst +we were busy chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall door. One +of the maids ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and opened it. Then +she returned and whispered to us that there was a gentleman who had come +with a message from Mr. Holmwood. I bade her simply tell him that he +must wait, for we could see no one now. She went away with the message, +and, engrossed with our work, I clean forgot all about him. + +I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly +earnest. I knew--as he knew--that it was a stand-up fight with death, +and in a pause told him so. He answered me in a way that I did not +understand, but with the sternest look that his face could wear:-- + +"If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her fade +away into peace, for I see no light in life over her horizon." He went +on with his work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied vigour. + +Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to +be of some effect. Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the +stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement. Van Helsing's +face almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her in +a hot sheet to dry her he said to me:-- + +"The first gain is ours! Check to the King!" + +We took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and laid +her in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat. I noticed +that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round her throat. She was +still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not worse than, we had +ever seen her. + +Van Helsing called in one of the women, and told her to stay with her +and not to take her eyes off her till we returned, and then beckoned me +out of the room. + +"We must consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended the +stairs. In the hall he opened the dining-room door, and we passed in, he +closing the door carefully behind him. The shutters had been opened, but +the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the etiquette of +death which the British woman of the lower classes always rigidly +observes. The room was, therefore, dimly dark. It was, however, light +enough for our purposes. Van Helsing's sternness was somewhat relieved +by a look of perplexity. He was evidently torturing his mind about +something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke:-- + +"What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help? We must have +another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life +won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted already; I am +exhausted too. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have +courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his +veins for her?" + +"What's the matter with me, anyhow?" + +The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought +relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris. Van +Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but his face softened and a +glad look came into his eyes as I cried out: "Quincey Morris!" and +rushed towards him with outstretched hands. + +"What brought you here?" I cried as our hands met. + +"I guess Art is the cause." + +He handed me a telegram:-- + +"Have not heard from Seward for three days, and am terribly anxious. +Cannot leave. Father still in same condition. Send me word how Lucy is. +Do not delay.--HOLMWOOD." + +"I think I came just in the nick of time. You know you have only to tell +me what to do." + +Van Helsing strode forward, and took his hand, looking him straight in +the eyes as he said:-- + +"A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in +trouble. You're a man and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against +us for all he's worth, but God sends us men when we want them." + +Once again we went through that ghastly operation. I have not the heart +to go through with the details. Lucy had got a terrible shock and it +told on her more than before, for though plenty of blood went into her +veins, her body did not respond to the treatment as well as on the other +occasions. Her struggle back into life was something frightful to see +and hear. However, the action of both heart and lungs improved, and Van +Helsing made a subcutaneous injection of morphia, as before, and with +good effect. Her faint became a profound slumber. The Professor watched +whilst I went downstairs with Quincey Morris, and sent one of the maids +to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting. I left Quincey lying down +after having a glass of wine, and told the cook to get ready a good +breakfast. Then a thought struck me, and I went back to the room where +Lucy now was. When I came softly in, I found Van Helsing with a sheet or +two of note-paper in his hand. He had evidently read it, and was +thinking it over as he sat with his hand to his brow. There was a look +of grim satisfaction in his face, as of one who has had a doubt solved. +He handed me the paper saying only: "It dropped from Lucy's breast when +we carried her to the bath." + +When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause +asked him: "In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, +mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it?" I was so bewildered that I +did not know what to say more. Van Helsing put out his hand and took the +paper, saying:-- + +"Do not trouble about it now. Forget it for the present. You shall know +and understand it all in good time; but it will be later. And now what +is it that you came to me to say?" This brought me back to fact, and I +was all myself again. + +"I came to speak about the certificate of death. If we do not act +properly and wisely, there may be an inquest, and that paper would have +to be produced. I am in hopes that we need have no inquest, for if we +had it would surely kill poor Lucy, if nothing else did. I know, and you +know, and the other doctor who attended her knows, that Mrs. Westenra +had disease of the heart, and we can certify that she died of it. Let us +fill up the certificate at once, and I shall take it myself to the +registrar and go on to the undertaker." + +"Good, oh my friend John! Well thought of! Truly Miss Lucy, if she be +sad in the foes that beset her, is at least happy in the friends that +love her. One, two, three, all open their veins for her, besides one old +man. Ah yes, I know, friend John; I am not blind! I love you all the +more for it! Now go." + +In the hall I met Quincey Morris, with a telegram for Arthur telling him +that Mrs. Westenra was dead; that Lucy also had been ill, but was now +going on better; and that Van Helsing and I were with her. I told him +where I was going, and he hurried me out, but as I was going said:-- + +"When you come back, Jack, may I have two words with you all to +ourselves?" I nodded in reply and went out. I found no difficulty about +the registration, and arranged with the local undertaker to come up in +the evening to measure for the coffin and to make arrangements. + +When I got back Quincey was waiting for me. I told him I would see him +as soon as I knew about Lucy, and went up to her room. She was still +sleeping, and the Professor seemingly had not moved from his seat at her +side. From his putting his finger to his lips, I gathered that he +expected her to wake before long and was afraid of forestalling nature. +So I went down to Quincey and took him into the breakfast-room, where +the blinds were not drawn down, and which was a little more cheerful, or +rather less cheerless, than the other rooms. When we were alone, he said +to me:-- + +"Jack Seward, I don't want to shove myself in anywhere where I've no +right to be; but this is no ordinary case. You know I loved that girl +and wanted to marry her; but, although that's all past and gone, I can't +help feeling anxious about her all the same. What is it that's wrong +with her? The Dutchman--and a fine old fellow he is; I can see +that--said, that time you two came into the room, that you must have +_another_ transfusion of blood, and that both you and he were exhausted. +Now I know well that you medical men speak _in camera_, and that a man +must not expect to know what they consult about in private. But this is +no common matter, and, whatever it is, I have done my part. Is not that +so?" + +"That's so," I said, and he went on:-- + +"I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did +to-day. Is not that so?" + +"That's so." + +"And I guess Art was in it too. When I saw him four days ago down at his +own place he looked queer. I have not seen anything pulled down so quick +since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of go to grass +all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at +her in the night, and what with his gorge and the vein left open, there +wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up, and I had to put a +bullet through her as she lay. Jack, if you may tell me without +betraying confidence, Arthur was the first, is not that so?" As he spoke +the poor fellow looked terribly anxious. He was in a torture of suspense +regarding the woman he loved, and his utter ignorance of the terrible +mystery which seemed to surround her intensified his pain. His very +heart was bleeding, and it took all the manhood of him--and there was a +royal lot of it, too--to keep him from breaking down. I paused before +answering, for I felt that I must not betray anything which the +Professor wished kept secret; but already he knew so much, and guessed +so much, that there could be no reason for not answering, so I answered +in the same phrase: "That's so." + +"And how long has this been going on?" + +"About ten days." + +"Ten days! Then I guess, Jack Seward, that that poor pretty creature +that we all love has had put into her veins within that time the blood +of four strong men. Man alive, her whole body wouldn't hold it." Then, +coming close to me, he spoke in a fierce half-whisper: "What took it +out?" + +I shook my head. "That," I said, "is the crux. Van Helsing is simply +frantic about it, and I am at my wits' end. I can't even hazard a guess. +There has been a series of little circumstances which have thrown out +all our calculations as to Lucy being properly watched. But these shall +not occur again. Here we stay until all be well--or ill." Quincey held +out his hand. "Count me in," he said. "You and the Dutchman will tell me +what to do, and I'll do it." + +When she woke late in the afternoon, Lucy's first movement was to feel +in her breast, and, to my surprise, produced the paper which Van Helsing +had given me to read. The careful Professor had replaced it where it had +come from, lest on waking she should be alarmed. Her eye then lit on Van +Helsing and on me too, and gladdened. Then she looked around the room, +and seeing where she was, shuddered; she gave a loud cry, and put her +poor thin hands before her pale face. We both understood what that +meant--that she had realised to the full her mother's death; so we tried +what we could to comfort her. Doubtless sympathy eased her somewhat, but +she was very low in thought and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for +a long time. We told her that either or both of us would now remain with +her all the time, and that seemed to comfort her. Towards dusk she fell +into a doze. Here a very odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep she +took the paper from her breast and tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped +over and took the pieces from her. All the same, however, she went on +with the action of tearing, as though the material were still in her +hands; finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though scattering +the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered as +if in thought, but he said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_19 September._--All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid +to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it. The Professor and +I took it in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment +unattended. Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I knew +that all night long he patrolled round and round the house. + +When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucy's +strength. She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little +nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good. At times she +slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her, between +sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep she looked stronger, although more +haggard, and her breathing was softer; her open mouth showed the pale +gums drawn back from the teeth, which thus looked positively longer and +sharper than usual; when she woke the softness of her eyes evidently +changed the expression, for she looked her own self, although a dying +one. In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him. +Quincey went off to meet him at the station. + +When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full +and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more +colour to the pale cheeks. When he saw her, Arthur was simply choking +with emotion, and none of us could speak. In the hours that had passed, +the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had +grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible +were shortened. Arthur's presence, however, seemed to act as a +stimulant; she rallied a little, and spoke to him more brightly than she +had done since we arrived. He too pulled himself together, and spoke as +cheerily as he could, so that the best was made of everything. + +It was now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with +her. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering +this on Lucy's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I +fear that to-morrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too +great; the poor child cannot rally. God help us all. + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_17 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"It seems _an age_ since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote. You +will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when you have read all my +budget of news. Well, I got my husband back all right; when we arrived +at Exeter there was a carriage waiting for us, and in it, though he had +an attack of gout, Mr. Hawkins. He took us to his house, where there +were rooms for us all nice and comfortable, and we dined together. After +dinner Mr. Hawkins said:-- + +"'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity; and may every +blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with +love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here +with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child; all are gone, and in +my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and +the old man clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one. + +"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my +bedroom and the drawing-room I can see the great elms of the cathedral +close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow +stone of the cathedral and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and +cawing and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of +rooks--and humans. I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging things and +housekeeping. Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all day; for, now that +Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to tell him all about the +clients. + +"How is your dear mother getting on? I wish I could run up to town for a +day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not go yet, with so much on my +shoulders; and Jonathan wants looking after still. He is beginning to +put some flesh on his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the +long illness; even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in a sudden +way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him back to his usual +placidity. However, thank God, these occasions grow less frequent as the +days go on, and they will in time pass away altogether, I trust. And now +I have told you my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, +and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, +and is it to be a public or a private wedding? Tell me all about it, +dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests +you which will not be dear to me. Jonathan asks me to send his +'respectful duty,' but I do not think that is good enough from the +junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker; and so, as you +love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses +of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead. Good-bye, my dearest +Lucy, and all blessings on you. + +"Yours, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Report from Patrick Hennessey, M. D., M. R. C. S. L. K. Q. C. P. I., +etc., etc., to John Seward, M. D._ + +"_20 September._ + +"My dear Sir,-- + +"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the conditions of +everything left in my charge.... With regard to patient, Renfield, there +is more to say. He has had another outbreak, which might have had a +dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately happened, was unattended +with any unhappy results. This afternoon a carrier's cart with two men +made a call at the empty house whose grounds abut on ours--the house to +which, you will remember, the patient twice ran away. The men stopped at +our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers. I was +myself looking out of the study window, having a smoke after dinner, and +saw one of them come up to the house. As he passed the window of +Renfield's room, the patient began to rate him from within, and called +him all the foul names he could lay his tongue to. The man, who seemed a +decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling him to "shut up for a +foul-mouthed beggar," whereon our man accused him of robbing him and +wanting to murder him and said that he would hinder him if he were to +swing for it. I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, +so he contented himself after looking the place over and making up his +mind as to what kind of a place he had got to by saying: 'Lor' bless +yer, sir, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin' madhouse. I +pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the house with a wild +beast like that.' Then he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him +where the gate of the empty house was; he went away, followed by threats +and curses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I could +make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a +well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind had +ever occurred. I found him, to my astonishment, quite composed and most +genial in his manner. I tried to get him to talk of the incident, but he +blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe +that he was completely oblivious of the affair. It was, I am sorry to +say, however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an +hour I heard of him again. This time he had broken out through the +window of his room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the +attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I feared he was intent +on some mischief. My fear was justified when I saw the same cart which +had passed before coming down the road, having on it some great wooden +boxes. The men were wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the +face, as if with violent exercise. Before I could get up to him the +patient rushed at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to +knock his head against the ground. If I had not seized him just at the +moment I believe he would have killed the man there and then. The other +fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt-end of his +heavy whip. It was a terrible blow; but he did not seem to mind it, but +seized him also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and +fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no light weight, and the others +were both burly men. At first he was silent in his fighting; but as we +began to master him, and the attendants were putting a strait-waistcoat +on him, he began to shout: 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me! +they shan't murder me by inches! I'll fight for my Lord and Master!' and +all sorts of similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable +difficulty that they got him back to the house and put him in the padded +room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken. However, I set +it all right; and he is going on well. + +"The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of actions for +damages, and promised to rain all the penalties of the law on us. Their +threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for +the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman. They said that if it +had not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying and +raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made short work of +him. They gave as another reason for their defeat the extraordinary +state of drouth to which they had been reduced by the dusty nature of +their occupation and the reprehensible distance from the scene of their +labours of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their +drift, and after a stiff glass of grog, or rather more of the same, and +with each a sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore +that they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of +meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent. I took their +names and addresses, in case they might be needed. They are as +follows:--Jack Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, King George's Road, Great +Walworth, and Thomas Snelling, Peter Farley's Row, Guide Court, Bethnal +Green. They are both in the employment of Harris & Sons, Moving and +Shipment Company, Orange Master's Yard, Soho. + +"I shall report to you any matter of interest occurring here, and shall +wire you at once if there is anything of importance. + +"Believe me, dear Sir, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"PATRICK HENNESSEY." + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra_. + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_18 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly. +Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had both come to so love him +that it really seems as though we had lost a father. I never knew either +father or mother, so that the dear old man's death is a real blow to me. +Jonathan is greatly distressed. It is not only that he feels sorrow, +deep sorrow, for the dear, good man who has befriended him all his life, +and now at the end has treated him like his own son and left him a +fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is wealth beyond the +dream of avarice, but Jonathan feels it on another account. He says the +amount of responsibility which it puts upon him makes him nervous. He +begins to doubt himself. I try to cheer him up, and _my_ belief in _him_ +helps him to have a belief in himself. But it is here that the grave +shock that he experienced tells upon him the most. Oh, it is too hard +that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his--a nature which +enabled him by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to master +in a few years--should be so injured that the very essence of its +strength is gone. Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my troubles in +the midst of your own happiness; but, Lucy dear, I must tell some one, +for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan +tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in. I dread coming +up to London, as we must do the day after to-morrow; for poor Mr. +Hawkins left in his will that he was to be buried in the grave with his +father. As there are no relations at all, Jonathan will have to be chief +mourner. I shall try to run over to see you, dearest, if only for a few +minutes. Forgive me for troubling you. With all blessings, + +"Your loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 September._--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry +to-night. I am too miserable, too low-spirited, too sick of the world +and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard +this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death. And he has +been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late--Lucy's mother +and Arthur's father, and now.... Let me get on with my work. + +I duly relieved Van Helsing in his watch over Lucy. We wanted Arthur to +go to rest also, but he refused at first. It was only when I told him +that we should want him to help us during the day, and that we must not +all break down for want of rest, lest Lucy should suffer, that he agreed +to go. Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he said; +"come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much +mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You +must not be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. +Come to the drawing-room, where there is a big fire, and there are two +sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will +be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we +sleep." Arthur went off with him, casting back a longing look on Lucy's +face, which lay in her pillow, almost whiter than the lawn. She lay +quite still, and I looked round the room to see that all was as it +should be. I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, +as in the other, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the +window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk +handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of +the same odorous flowers. Lucy was breathing somewhat stertorously, and +her face was at its worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums. Her +teeth, in the dim, uncertain light, seemed longer and sharper than they +had been in the morning. In particular, by some trick of the light, the +canine teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest. I sat down by her, +and presently she moved uneasily. At the same moment there came a sort +of dull flapping or buffeting at the window. I went over to it softly, +and peeped out by the corner of the blind. There was a full moonlight, +and I could see that the noise was made by a great bat, which wheeled +round--doubtless attracted by the light, although so dim--and every now +and again struck the window with its wings. When I came back to my seat, +I found that Lucy had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic +flowers from her throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and sat +watching her. + +Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had prescribed. +She took but a little, and that languidly. There did not seem to be with +her now the unconscious struggle for life and strength that had hitherto +so marked her illness. It struck me as curious that the moment she +became conscious she pressed the garlic flowers close to her. It was +certainly odd that whenever she got into that lethargic state, with the +stertorous breathing, she put the flowers from her; but that when she +waked she clutched them close. There was no possibility of making any +mistake about this, for in the long hours that followed, she had many +spells of sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times. + +At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Arthur had then fallen +into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on. When he saw Lucy's face +I could hear the sissing indraw of his breath, and he said to me in a +sharp whisper: "Draw up the blind; I want light!" Then he bent down, +and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her carefully. He +removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat. As +he did so he started back, and I could hear his ejaculation, "Mein +Gott!" as it was smothered in his throat. I bent over and looked, too, +and as I noticed some queer chill came over me. + +The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared. + +For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with his face +at its sternest. Then he turned to me and said calmly:-- + +"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark +me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor boy, and +let him come and see the last; he trusts us, and we have promised him." + +I went to the dining-room and waked him. He was dazed for a moment, but +when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters +he thought he was late, and expressed his fear. I assured him that Lucy +was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that both Van +Helsing and I feared that the end was near. He covered his face with his +hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he remained, +perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders +shook with grief. I took him by the hand and raised him up. "Come," I +said, "my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude: it will be best +and easiest for her." + +When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with +his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making +everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed Lucy's +hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples. When we +came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered +softly:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!" He was stooping to +kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back. "No," he whispered, "not +yet! Hold her hand; it will comfort her more." + +So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best, +with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes. Then +gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a little bit her +breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired child's. + +And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in +the night. Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale +gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever. In a +sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which +were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, +such as I had never heard from her lips:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Arthur bent +eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, +had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by +the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which +I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost +across the room. + +"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" And +he stood between them like a lion at bay. + +Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to do +or say; and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realised +the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting. + +I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as +of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champed +together. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily. + +Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and +putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown +one; drawing it to her, she kissed it. "My true friend," she said, in a +faint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend, and his! Oh, +guard him, and give me peace!" + +"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his +hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and said +to him: "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the +forehead, and only once." + +Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted. + +Lucy's eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took +Arthur's arm, and drew him away. + +And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it +ceased. + +"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!" + +I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, where he +sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way that +nearly broke me down to see. + +I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy, and +his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body. +Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had +recovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost their +deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working +of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as +might be. + + "We thought her dying whilst she slept, + And sleeping when she died." + +I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:-- + +"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!" + +He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:-- + +"Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!" + +When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:-- + +"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and +her mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastly +formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff were +afflicted--or blessed--with something of his own obsequious suavity. +Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to +me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out +from the death-chamber:-- + +"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege to +attend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to our +establishment!" + +I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possible from +the disordered state of things in the household. There were no relatives +at hand; and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend at his +father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should have been +bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it upon +ourselves to examine papers, etc. He insisted upon looking over Lucy's +papers himself. I asked him why, for I feared that he, being a +foreigner, might not be quite aware of English legal requirements, and +so might in ignorance make some unnecessary trouble. He answered me:-- + +"I know; I know. You forget that I am a lawyer as well as a doctor. But +this is not altogether for the law. You knew that, when you avoided the +coroner. I have more than him to avoid. There may be papers more--such +as this." + +As he spoke he took from his pocket-book the memorandum which had been +in Lucy's breast, and which she had torn in her sleep. + +"When you find anything of the solicitor who is for the late Mrs. +Westenra, seal all her papers, and write him to-night. For me, I watch +here in the room and in Miss Lucy's old room all night, and I myself +search for what may be. It is not well that her very thoughts go into +the hands of strangers." + +I went on with my part of the work, and in another half hour had found +the name and address of Mrs. Westenra's solicitor and had written to +him. All the poor lady's papers were in order; explicit directions +regarding the place of burial were given. I had hardly sealed the +letter, when, to my surprise, Van Helsing walked into the room, +saying:-- + +"Can I help you, friend John? I am free, and if I may, my service is to +you." + +"Have you got what you looked for?" I asked, to which he replied:-- + +"I did not look for any specific thing. I only hoped to find, and find I +have, all that there was--only some letters and a few memoranda, and a +diary new begun. But I have them here, and we shall for the present say +nothing of them. I shall see that poor lad to-morrow evening, and, with +his sanction, I shall use some." + +When we had finished the work in hand, he said to me:-- + +"And now, friend John, I think we may to bed. We want sleep, both you +and I, and rest to recuperate. To-morrow we shall have much to do, but +for the to-night there is no need of us. Alas!" + +Before turning in we went to look at poor Lucy. The undertaker had +certainly done his work well, for the room was turned into a small +_chapelle ardente_. There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, +and death was made as little repulsive as might be. The end of the +winding-sheet was laid over the face; when the Professor bent over and +turned it gently back, we both started at the beauty before us, the tall +wax candles showing a sufficient light to note it well. All Lucy's +loveliness had come back to her in death, and the hours that had passed, +instead of leaving traces of "decay's effacing fingers," had but +restored the beauty of life, till positively I could not believe my eyes +that I was looking at a corpse. + +The Professor looked sternly grave. He had not loved her as I had, and +there was no need for tears in his eyes. He said to me: "Remain till I +return," and left the room. He came back with a handful of wild garlic +from the box waiting in the hall, but which had not been opened, and +placed the flowers amongst the others on and around the bed. Then he +took from his neck, inside his collar, a little gold crucifix, and +placed it over the mouth. He restored the sheet to its place, and we +came away. + +I was undressing in my own room, when, with a premonitory tap at the +door, he entered, and at once began to speak:-- + +"To-morrow I want you to bring me, before night, a set of post-mortem +knives." + +"Must we make an autopsy?" I asked. + +"Yes and no. I want to operate, but not as you think. Let me tell you +now, but not a word to another. I want to cut off her head and take out +her heart. Ah! you a surgeon, and so shocked! You, whom I have seen with +no tremble of hand or heart, do operations of life and death that make +the rest shudder. Oh, but I must not forget, my dear friend John, that +you loved her; and I have not forgotten it, for it is I that shall +operate, and you must only help. I would like to do it to-night, but for +Arthur I must not; he will be free after his father's funeral to-morrow, +and he will want to see her--to see _it_. Then, when she is coffined +ready for the next day, you and I shall come when all sleep. We shall +unscrew the coffin-lid, and shall do our operation: and then replace +all, so that none know, save we alone." + +"But why do it at all? The girl is dead. Why mutilate her poor body +without need? And if there is no necessity for a post-mortem and nothing +to gain by it--no good to her, to us, to science, to human +knowledge--why do it? Without such it is monstrous." + +For answer he put his hand on my shoulder, and said, with infinite +tenderness:-- + +"Friend John, I pity your poor bleeding heart; and I love you the more +because it does so bleed. If I could, I would take on myself the burden +that you do bear. But there are things that you know not, but that you +shall know, and bless me for knowing, though they are not pleasant +things. John, my child, you have been my friend now many years, and yet +did you ever know me to do any without good cause? I may err--I am but +man; but I believe in all I do. Was it not for these causes that you +send for me when the great trouble came? Yes! Were you not amazed, nay +horrified, when I would not let Arthur kiss his love--though she was +dying--and snatched him away by all my strength? Yes! And yet you saw +how she thanked me, with her so beautiful dying eyes, her voice, too, so +weak, and she kiss my rough old hand and bless me? Yes! And did you not +hear me swear promise to her, that so she closed her eyes grateful? Yes! + +"Well, I have good reason now for all I want to do. You have for many +years trust me; you have believe me weeks past, when there be things so +strange that you might have well doubt. Believe me yet a little, friend +John. If you trust me not, then I must tell what I think; and that is +not perhaps well. And if I work--as work I shall, no matter trust or no +trust--without my friend trust in me, I work with heavy heart and feel, +oh! so lonely when I want all help and courage that may be!" He paused a +moment and went on solemnly: "Friend John, there are strange and +terrible days before us. Let us not be two, but one, that so we work to +a good end. Will you not have faith in me?" + +I took his hand, and promised him. I held my door open as he went away, +and watched him go into his room and close the door. As I stood without +moving, I saw one of the maids pass silently along the passage--she had +her back towards me, so did not see me--and go into the room where Lucy +lay. The sight touched me. Devotion is so rare, and we are so grateful +to those who show it unasked to those we love. Here was a poor girl +putting aside the terrors which she naturally had of death to go watch +alone by the bier of the mistress whom she loved, so that the poor clay +might not be lonely till laid to eternal rest.... + + * * * * * + +I must have slept long and soundly, for it was broad daylight when Van +Helsing waked me by coming into my room. He came over to my bedside and +said:-- + +"You need not trouble about the knives; we shall not do it." + +"Why not?" I asked. For his solemnity of the night before had greatly +impressed me. + +"Because," he said sternly, "it is too late--or too early. See!" Here he +held up the little golden crucifix. "This was stolen in the night." + +"How, stolen," I asked in wonder, "since you have it now?" + +"Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from the +woman who robbed the dead and the living. Her punishment will surely +come, but not through me; she knew not altogether what she did and thus +unknowing, she only stole. Now we must wait." + +He went away on the word, leaving me with a new mystery to think of, a +new puzzle to grapple with. + +The forenoon was a dreary time, but at noon the solicitor came: Mr. +Marquand, of Wholeman, Sons, Marquand & Lidderdale. He was very genial +and very appreciative of what we had done, and took off our hands all +cares as to details. During lunch he told us that Mrs. Westenra had for +some time expected sudden death from her heart, and had put her affairs +in absolute order; he informed us that, with the exception of a certain +entailed property of Lucy's father's which now, in default of direct +issue, went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate, +real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood. When he had +told us so much he went on:-- + +"Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition, and +pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter either +penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a matrimonial +alliance. Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we almost came into +collision, for she asked us if we were or were not prepared to carry out +her wishes. Of course, we had then no alternative but to accept. We were +right in principle, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred we should +have proved, by the logic of events, the accuracy of our judgment. +Frankly, however, I must admit that in this case any other form of +disposition would have rendered impossible the carrying out of her +wishes. For by her predeceasing her daughter the latter would have come +into possession of the property, and, even had she only survived her +mother by five minutes, her property would, in case there were no +will--and a will was a practical impossibility in such a case--have been +treated at her decease as under intestacy. In which case Lord Godalming, +though so dear a friend, would have had no claim in the world; and the +inheritors, being remote, would not be likely to abandon their just +rights, for sentimental reasons regarding an entire stranger. I assure +you, my dear sirs, I am rejoiced at the result, perfectly rejoiced." + +He was a good fellow, but his rejoicing at the one little part--in which +he was officially interested--of so great a tragedy, was an +object-lesson in the limitations of sympathetic understanding. + +He did not remain long, but said he would look in later in the day and +see Lord Godalming. His coming, however, had been a certain comfort to +us, since it assured us that we should not have to dread hostile +criticism as to any of our acts. Arthur was expected at five o'clock, so +a little before that time we visited the death-chamber. It was so in +very truth, for now both mother and daughter lay in it. The undertaker, +true to his craft, had made the best display he could of his goods, and +there was a mortuary air about the place that lowered our spirits at +once. Van Helsing ordered the former arrangement to be adhered to, +explaining that, as Lord Godalming was coming very soon, it would be +less harrowing to his feelings to see all that was left of his _fiancée_ +quite alone. The undertaker seemed shocked at his own stupidity and +exerted himself to restore things to the condition in which we left them +the night before, so that when Arthur came such shocks to his feelings +as we could avoid were saved. + +Poor fellow! He looked desperately sad and broken; even his stalwart +manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his +much-tried emotions. He had, I knew, been very genuinely and devotedly +attached to his father; and to lose him, and at such a time, was a +bitter blow to him. With me he was warm as ever, and to Van Helsing he +was sweetly courteous; but I could not help seeing that there was some +constraint with him. The Professor noticed it, too, and motioned me to +bring him upstairs. I did so, and left him at the door of the room, as I +felt he would like to be quite alone with her, but he took my arm and +led me in, saying huskily:-- + +"You loved her too, old fellow; she told me all about it, and there was +no friend had a closer place in her heart than you. I don't know how to +thank you for all you have done for her. I can't think yet...." + +Here he suddenly broke down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and +laid his head on my breast, crying:-- + +"Oh, Jack! Jack! What shall I do! The whole of life seems gone from me +all at once, and there is nothing in the wide world for me to live for." + +I comforted him as well as I could. In such cases men do not need much +expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the +shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man's +heart. I stood still and silent till his sobs died away, and then I said +softly to him:-- + +"Come and look at her." + +Together we moved over to the bed, and I lifted the lawn from her face. +God! how beautiful she was. Every hour seemed to be enhancing her +loveliness. It frightened and amazed me somewhat; and as for Arthur, he +fell a-trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as with an ague. At +last, after a long pause, he said to me in a faint whisper:-- + +"Jack, is she really dead?" + +I assured him sadly that it was so, and went on to suggest--for I felt +that such a horrible doubt should not have life for a moment longer than +I could help--that it often happened that after death faces became +softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty; that this was +especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or prolonged +suffering. It seemed to quite do away with any doubt, and, after +kneeling beside the couch for a while and looking at her lovingly and +long, he turned aside. I told him that that must be good-bye, as the +coffin had to be prepared; so he went back and took her dead hand in his +and kissed it, and bent over and kissed her forehead. He came away, +fondly looking back over his shoulder at her as he came. + +I left him in the drawing-room, and told Van Helsing that he had said +good-bye; so the latter went to the kitchen to tell the undertaker's men +to proceed with the preparations and to screw up the coffin. When he +came out of the room again I told him of Arthur's question, and he +replied:-- + +"I am not surprised. Just now I doubted for a moment myself!" + +We all dined together, and I could see that poor Art was trying to make +the best of things. Van Helsing had been silent all dinner-time; but +when we had lit our cigars he said-- + +"Lord----"; but Arthur interrupted him:-- + +"No, no, not that, for God's sake! not yet at any rate. Forgive me, sir: +I did not mean to speak offensively; it is only because my loss is so +recent." + +The Professor answered very sweetly:-- + +"I only used that name because I was in doubt. I must not call you +'Mr.,' and I have grown to love you--yes, my dear boy, to love you--as +Arthur." + +Arthur held out his hand, and took the old man's warmly. + +"Call me what you will," he said. "I hope I may always have the title of +a friend. And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for +your goodness to my poor dear." He paused a moment, and went on: "I know +that she understood your goodness even better than I do; and if I was +rude or in any way wanting at that time you acted so--you remember"--the +Professor nodded--"you must forgive me." + +He answered with a grave kindness:-- + +"I know it was hard for you to quite trust me then, for to trust such +violence needs to understand; and I take it that you do not--that you +cannot--trust me now, for you do not yet understand. And there may be +more times when I shall want you to trust when you cannot--and may +not--and must not yet understand. But the time will come when your trust +shall be whole and complete in me, and when you shall understand as +though the sunlight himself shone through. Then you shall bless me from +first to last for your own sake, and for the sake of others and for her +dear sake to whom I swore to protect." + +"And, indeed, indeed, sir," said Arthur warmly, "I shall in all ways +trust you. I know and believe you have a very noble heart, and you are +Jack's friend, and you were hers. You shall do what you like." + +The Professor cleared his throat a couple of times, as though about to +speak, and finally said:-- + +"May I ask you something now?" + +"Certainly." + +"You know that Mrs. Westenra left you all her property?" + +"No, poor dear; I never thought of it." + +"And as it is all yours, you have a right to deal with it as you will. I +want you to give me permission to read all Miss Lucy's papers and +letters. Believe me, it is no idle curiosity. I have a motive of which, +be sure, she would have approved. I have them all here. I took them +before we knew that all was yours, so that no strange hand might touch +them--no strange eye look through words into her soul. I shall keep +them, if I may; even you may not see them yet, but I shall keep them +safe. No word shall be lost; and in the good time I shall give them back +to you. It's a hard thing I ask, but you will do it, will you not, for +Lucy's sake?" + +Arthur spoke out heartily, like his old self:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, you may do what you will. I feel that in saying this I +am doing what my dear one would have approved. I shall not trouble you +with questions till the time comes." + +The old Professor stood up as he said solemnly:-- + +"And you are right. There will be pain for us all; but it will not be +all pain, nor will this pain be the last. We and you too--you most of +all, my dear boy--will have to pass through the bitter water before we +reach the sweet. But we must be brave of heart and unselfish, and do our +duty, and all will be well!" + +I slept on a sofa in Arthur's room that night. Van Helsing did not go to +bed at all. He went to and fro, as if patrolling the house, and was +never out of sight of the room where Lucy lay in her coffin, strewn with +the wild garlic flowers, which sent, through the odour of lily and rose, +a heavy, overpowering smell into the night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_22 September._--In the train to Exeter. Jonathan sleeping. + +It seems only yesterday that the last entry was made, and yet how much +between then, in Whitby and all the world before me, Jonathan away and +no news of him; and now, married to Jonathan, Jonathan a solicitor, a +partner, rich, master of his business, Mr. Hawkins dead and buried, and +Jonathan with another attack that may harm him. Some day he may ask me +about it. Down it all goes. I am rusty in my shorthand--see what +unexpected prosperity does for us--so it may be as well to freshen it up +again with an exercise anyhow.... + +The service was very simple and very solemn. There were only ourselves +and the servants there, one or two old friends of his from Exeter, his +London agent, and a gentleman representing Sir John Paxton, the +President of the Incorporated Law Society. Jonathan and I stood hand in +hand, and we felt that our best and dearest friend was gone from us.... + +We came back to town quietly, taking a 'bus to Hyde Park Corner. +Jonathan thought it would interest me to go into the Row for a while, so +we sat down; but there were very few people there, and it was +sad-looking and desolate to see so many empty chairs. It made us think +of the empty chair at home; so we got up and walked down Piccadilly. +Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in old days +before I went to school. I felt it very improper, for you can't go on +for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other girls without the +pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit; but it was Jonathan, and he +was my husband, and we didn't know anybody who saw us--and we didn't +care if they did--so on we walked. I was looking at a very beautiful +girl, in a big cart-wheel hat, sitting in a victoria outside Guiliano's, +when I felt Jonathan clutch my arm so tight that he hurt me, and he said +under his breath: "My God!" I am always anxious about Jonathan, for I +fear that some nervous fit may upset him again; so I turned to him +quickly, and asked him what it was that disturbed him. + +He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and +half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and +black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the pretty +girl. He was looking at her so hard that he did not see either of us, +and so I had a good view of him. His face was not a good face; it was +hard, and cruel, and sensual, and his big white teeth, that looked all +the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like an animal's. +Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I +feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty. I asked +Jonathan why he was disturbed, and he answered, evidently thinking that +I knew as much about it as he did: "Do you see who it is?" + +"No, dear," I said; "I don't know him; who is it?" His answer seemed to +shock and thrill me, for it was said as if he did not know that it was +to me, Mina, to whom he was speaking:-- + +"It is the man himself!" + +The poor dear was evidently terrified at something--very greatly +terrified; I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to +support him he would have sunk down. He kept staring; a man came out of +the shop with a small parcel, and gave it to the lady, who then drove +off. The dark man kept his eyes fixed on her, and when the carriage +moved up Piccadilly he followed in the same direction, and hailed a +hansom. Jonathan kept looking after him, and said, as if to himself:-- + +"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God, if this be +so! Oh, my God! my God! If I only knew! if I only knew!" He was +distressing himself so much that I feared to keep his mind on the +subject by asking him any questions, so I remained silent. I drew him +away quietly, and he, holding my arm, came easily. We walked a little +further, and then went in and sat for a while in the Green Park. It was +a hot day for autumn, and there was a comfortable seat in a shady place. +After a few minutes' staring at nothing, Jonathan's eyes closed, and he +went quietly into a sleep, with his head on my shoulder. I thought it +was the best thing for him, so did not disturb him. In about twenty +minutes he woke up, and said to me quite cheerfully:-- + +"Why, Mina, have I been asleep! Oh, do forgive me for being so rude. +Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere." He had evidently forgotten +all about the dark stranger, as in his illness he had forgotten all that +this episode had reminded him of. I don't like this lapsing into +forgetfulness; it may make or continue some injury to the brain. I must +not ask him, for fear I shall do more harm than good; but I must somehow +learn the facts of his journey abroad. The time is come, I fear, when I +must open that parcel, and know what is written. Oh, Jonathan, you will, +I know, forgive me if I do wrong, but it is for your own dear sake. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--A sad home-coming in every way--the house empty of the dear +soul who was so good to us; Jonathan still pale and dizzy under a slight +relapse of his malady; and now a telegram from Van Helsing, whoever he +may be:-- + +"You will be grieved to hear that Mrs. Westenra died five days ago, and +that Lucy died the day before yesterday. They were both buried to-day." + +Oh, what a wealth of sorrow in a few words! Poor Mrs. Westenra! poor +Lucy! Gone, gone, never to return to us! And poor, poor Arthur, to have +lost such sweetness out of his life! God help us all to bear our +troubles. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_22 September._--It is all over. Arthur has gone back to Ring, and has +taken Quincey Morris with him. What a fine fellow is Quincey! I believe +in my heart of hearts that he suffered as much about Lucy's death as any +of us; but he bore himself through it like a moral Viking. If America +can go on breeding men like that, she will be a power in the world +indeed. Van Helsing is lying down, having a rest preparatory to his +journey. He goes over to Amsterdam to-night, but says he returns +to-morrow night; that he only wants to make some arrangements which can +only be made personally. He is to stop with me then, if he can; he says +he has work to do in London which may take him some time. Poor old +fellow! I fear that the strain of the past week has broken down even his +iron strength. All the time of the burial he was, I could see, putting +some terrible restraint on himself. When it was all over, we were +standing beside Arthur, who, poor fellow, was speaking of his part in +the operation where his blood had been transfused to his Lucy's veins; I +could see Van Helsing's face grow white and purple by turns. Arthur was +saying that he felt since then as if they two had been really married +and that she was his wife in the sight of God. None of us said a word of +the other operations, and none of us ever shall. Arthur and Quincey went +away together to the station, and Van Helsing and I came on here. The +moment we were alone in the carriage he gave way to a regular fit of +hysterics. He has denied to me since that it was hysterics, and insisted +that it was only his sense of humour asserting itself under very +terrible conditions. He laughed till he cried, and I had to draw down +the blinds lest any one should see us and misjudge; and then he cried, +till he laughed again; and laughed and cried together, just as a woman +does. I tried to be stern with him, as one is to a woman under the +circumstances; but it had no effect. Men and women are so different in +manifestations of nervous strength or weakness! Then when his face grew +grave and stern again I asked him why his mirth, and why at such a time. +His reply was in a way characteristic of him, for it was logical and +forceful and mysterious. He said:-- + +"Ah, you don't comprehend, friend John. Do not think that I am not sad, +though I laugh. See, I have cried even when the laugh did choke me. But +no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh he come +just the same. Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your +door and say, 'May I come in?' is not the true laughter. No! he is a +king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person; he choose no +time of suitability. He say, 'I am here.' Behold, in example I grieve my +heart out for that so sweet young girl; I give my blood for her, though +I am old and worn; I give my time, my skill, my sleep; I let my other +sufferers want that so she may have all. And yet I can laugh at her very +grave--laugh when the clay from the spade of the sexton drop upon her +coffin and say 'Thud! thud!' to my heart, till it send back the blood +from my cheek. My heart bleed for that poor boy--that dear boy, so of +the age of mine own boy had I been so blessed that he live, and with his +hair and eyes the same. There, you know now why I love him so. And yet +when he say things that touch my husband-heart to the quick, and make my +father-heart yearn to him as to no other man--not even to you, friend +John, for we are more level in experiences than father and son--yet even +at such moment King Laugh he come to me and shout and bellow in my ear, +'Here I am! here I am!' till the blood come dance back and bring some of +the sunshine that he carry with him to my cheek. Oh, friend John, it is +a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and +troubles; and yet when King Laugh come he make them all dance to the +tune he play. Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and +tears that burn as they fall--all dance together to the music that he +make with that smileless mouth of him. And believe me, friend John, that +he is good to come, and kind. Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn +tight with strain that pull us different ways. Then tears come; and, +like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain +become too great, and we break. But King Laugh he come like the +sunshine, and he ease off the strain again; and we bear to go on with +our labour, what it may be." + +I did not like to wound him by pretending not to see his idea; but, as I +did not yet understand the cause of his laughter, I asked him. As he +answered me his face grew stern, and he said in quite a different +tone:-- + +"Oh, it was the grim irony of it all--this so lovely lady garlanded with +flowers, that looked so fair as life, till one by one we wondered if she +were truly dead; she laid in that so fine marble house in that lonely +churchyard, where rest so many of her kin, laid there with the mother +who loved her, and whom she loved; and that sacred bell going 'Toll! +toll! toll!' so sad and slow; and those holy men, with the white +garments of the angel, pretending to read books, and yet all the time +their eyes never on the page; and all of us with the bowed head. And all +for what? She is dead; so! Is it not?" + +"Well, for the life of me, Professor," I said, "I can't see anything to +laugh at in all that. Why, your explanation makes it a harder puzzle +than before. But even if the burial service was comic, what about poor +Art and his trouble? Why, his heart was simply breaking." + +"Just so. Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins had +made her truly his bride?" + +"Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him." + +"Quite so. But there was a difficulty, friend John. If so that, then +what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist, +and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though +no wits, all gone--even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife, +am bigamist." + +"I don't see where the joke comes in there either!" I said; and I did +not feel particularly pleased with him for saying such things. He laid +his hand on my arm, and said:-- + +"Friend John, forgive me if I pain. I showed not my feeling to others +when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust. +If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; +if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so +now, when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him--for +he go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time--maybe you would +perhaps pity me the most of all." + +I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why. + +"Because I know!" + +And now we are all scattered; and for many a long day loneliness will +sit over our roofs with brooding wings. Lucy lies in the tomb of her +kin, a lordly death-house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming +London; where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill, +and where wild flowers grow of their own accord. + +So I can finish this diary; and God only knows if I shall ever begin +another. If I do, or if I even open this again, it will be to deal with +different people and different themes; for here at the end, where the +romance of my life is told, ere I go back to take up the thread of my +life-work, I say sadly and without hope, + + "FINIS." + + +_"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + A HAMPSTEAD MYSTERY. + + +The neighbourhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with a +series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what +was known to the writers of headlines as "The Kensington Horror," or +"The Stabbing Woman," or "The Woman in Black." During the past two or +three days several cases have occurred of young children straying from +home or neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath. In all +these cases the children were too young to give any properly +intelligible account of themselves, but the consensus of their excuses +is that they had been with a "bloofer lady." It has always been late in +the evening when they have been missed, and on two occasions the +children have not been found until early in the following morning. It is +generally supposed in the neighbourhood that, as the first child missed +gave as his reason for being away that a "bloofer lady" had asked him to +come for a walk, the others had picked up the phrase and used it as +occasion served. This is the more natural as the favourite game of the +little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles. A +correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to +be the "bloofer lady" is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists +might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the +reality and the picture. It is only in accordance with general +principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady" should be the popular +rôle at these _al fresco_ performances. Our correspondent naïvely says +that even Ellen Terry could not be so winningly attractive as some of +these grubby-faced little children pretend--and even imagine +themselves--to be. + +There is, however, possibly a serious side to the question, for some of +the children, indeed all who have been missed at night, have been +slightly torn or wounded in the throat. The wounds seem such as might be +made by a rat or a small dog, and although of not much importance +individually, would tend to show that whatever animal inflicts them has +a system or method of its own. The police of the division have been +instructed to keep a sharp look-out for straying children, especially +when very young, in and around Hampstead Heath, and for any stray dog +which may be about. + + + _"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + _Extra Special._ + + THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR. + + ANOTHER CHILD INJURED. + + _The "Bloofer Lady."_ + +We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last +night, was only discovered late in the morning under a furze bush at the +Shooter's Hill side of Hampstead Heath, which is, perhaps, less +frequented than the other parts. It has the same tiny wound in the +throat as has been noticed in other cases. It was terribly weak, and +looked quite emaciated. It too, when partially restored, had the common +story to tell of being lured away by the "bloofer lady." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_23 September_.--Jonathan is better after a bad night. I am so glad that +he has plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the terrible +things; and oh, I am rejoiced that he is not now weighed down with the +responsibility of his new position. I knew he would be true to himself, +and now how proud I am to see my Jonathan rising to the height of his +advancement and keeping pace in all ways with the duties that come upon +him. He will be away all day till late, for he said he could not lunch +at home. My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal, +and lock myself up in my room and read it.... + + +_24 September_.--I hadn't the heart to write last night; that terrible +record of Jonathan's upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, +whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth +in it at all. Did he get his brain fever, and then write all those +terrible things, or had he some cause for it all? I suppose I shall +never know, for I dare not open the subject to him.... And yet that man +we saw yesterday! He seemed quite certain of him.... Poor fellow! I +suppose it was the funeral upset him and sent his mind back on some +train of thought.... He believes it all himself. I remember how on our +wedding-day he said: "Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, mad or sane." There seems to be +through it all some thread of continuity.... That fearful Count was +coming to London.... If it should be, and he came to London, with his +teeming millions.... There may be a solemn duty; and if it come we must +not shrink from it.... I shall be prepared. I shall get my typewriter +this very hour and begin transcribing. Then we shall be ready for other +eyes if required. And if it be wanted; then, perhaps, if I am ready, +poor Jonathan may not be upset, for I can speak for him and never let +him be troubled or worried with it at all. If ever Jonathan quite gets +over the nervousness he may want to tell me of it all, and I can ask him +questions and find out things, and see how I may comfort him. + + +_Letter, Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_24 September._ + +(_Confidence_) + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I pray you to pardon my writing, in that I am so far friend as that I +sent to you sad news of Miss Lucy Westenra's death. By the kindness of +Lord Godalming, I am empowered to read her letters and papers, for I am +deeply concerned about certain matters vitally important. In them I find +some letters from you, which show how great friends you were and how you +love her. Oh, Madam Mina, by that love, I implore you, help me. It is +for others' good that I ask--to redress great wrong, and to lift much +and terrible troubles--that may be more great than you can know. May it +be that I see you? You can trust me. I am friend of Dr. John Seward and +of Lord Godalming (that was Arthur of Miss Lucy). I must keep it private +for the present from all. I should come to Exeter to see you at once if +you tell me I am privilege to come, and where and when. I implore your +pardon, madam. I have read your letters to poor Lucy, and know how good +you are and how your husband suffer; so I pray you, if it may be, +enlighten him not, lest it may harm. Again your pardon, and forgive me. + +"VAN HELSING." + + +_Telegram, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September._--Come to-day by quarter-past ten train if you can catch +it. Can see you any time you call. + +"WILHELMINA HARKER." + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL. + +_25 September._--I cannot help feeling terribly excited as the time +draws near for the visit of Dr. Van Helsing, for somehow I expect that +it will throw some light upon Jonathan's sad experience; and as he +attended poor dear Lucy in her last illness, he can tell me all about +her. That is the reason of his coming; it is concerning Lucy and her +sleep-walking, and not about Jonathan. Then I shall never know the real +truth now! How silly I am. That awful journal gets hold of my +imagination and tinges everything with something of its own colour. Of +course it is about Lucy. That habit came back to the poor dear, and that +awful night on the cliff must have made her ill. I had almost forgotten +in my own affairs how ill she was afterwards. She must have told him +of her sleep-walking adventure on the cliff, and that I knew all about +it; and now he wants me to tell him what she knows, so that he may +understand. I hope I did right in not saying anything of it to Mrs. +Westenra; I should never forgive myself if any act of mine, were it even +a negative one, brought harm on poor dear Lucy. I hope, too, Dr. Van +Helsing will not blame me; I have had so much trouble and anxiety of +late that I feel I cannot bear more just at present. + +I suppose a cry does us all good at times--clears the air as other rain +does. Perhaps it was reading the journal yesterday that upset me, and +then Jonathan went away this morning to stay away from me a whole day +and night, the first time we have been parted since our marriage. I do +hope the dear fellow will take care of himself, and that nothing will +occur to upset him. It is two o'clock, and the doctor will be here soon +now. I shall say nothing of Jonathan's journal unless he asks me. I am +so glad I have type-written out my own journal, so that, in case he asks +about Lucy, I can hand it to him; it will save much questioning. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--He has come and gone. Oh, what a strange meeting, and how it +all makes my head whirl round! I feel like one in a dream. Can it be all +possible, or even a part of it? If I had not read Jonathan's journal +first, I should never have accepted even a possibility. Poor, poor, dear +Jonathan! How he must have suffered. Please the good God, all this may +not upset him again. I shall try to save him from it; but it may be even +a consolation and a help to him--terrible though it be and awful in its +consequences--to know for certain that his eyes and ears and brain did +not deceive him, and that it is all true. It may be that it is the doubt +which haunts him; that when the doubt is removed, no matter +which--waking or dreaming--may prove the truth, he will be more +satisfied and better able to bear the shock. Dr. Van Helsing must be a +good man as well as a clever one if he is Arthur's friend and Dr. +Seward's, and if they brought him all the way from Holland to look after +Lucy. I feel from having seen him that he _is_ good and kind and of a +noble nature. When he comes to-morrow I shall ask him about Jonathan; +and then, please God, all this sorrow and anxiety may lead to a good +end. I used to think I would like to practise interviewing; Jonathan's +friend on "The Exeter News" told him that memory was everything in such +work--that you must be able to put down exactly almost every word +spoken, even if you had to refine some of it afterwards. Here was a rare +interview; I shall try to record it _verbatim_. + +It was half-past two o'clock when the knock came. I took my courage _à +deux mains_ and waited. In a few minutes Mary opened the door, and +announced "Dr. Van Helsing." + +I rose and bowed, and he came towards me; a man of medium weight, +strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and +a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise +of the head strikes one at once as indicative of thought and power; the +head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, +clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large, resolute, mobile +mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive +nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big, bushy brows come down and the +mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost +straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart; +such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, +but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set +widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods. He +said to me:-- + +"Mrs. Harker, is it not?" I bowed assent. + +"That was Miss Mina Murray?" Again I assented. + +"It is Mina Murray that I came to see that was friend of that poor dear +child Lucy Westenra. Madam Mina, it is on account of the dead I come." + +"Sir," I said, "you could have no better claim on me than that you were +a friend and helper of Lucy Westenra." And I held out my hand. He took +it and said tenderly:-- + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I knew that the friend of that poor lily girl must be +good, but I had yet to learn----" He finished his speech with a courtly +bow. I asked him what it was that he wanted to see me about, so he at +once began:-- + +"I have read your letters to Miss Lucy. Forgive me, but I had to begin +to inquire somewhere, and there was none to ask. I know that you were +with her at Whitby. She sometimes kept a diary--you need not look +surprised, Madam Mina; it was begun after you had left, and was in +imitation of you--and in that diary she traces by inference certain +things to a sleep-walking in which she puts down that you saved her. In +great perplexity then I come to you, and ask you out of your so much +kindness to tell me all of it that you can remember." + +"I can tell you, I think, Dr. Van Helsing, all about it." + +"Ah, then you have good memory for facts, for details? It is not always +so with young ladies." + +"No, doctor, but I wrote it all down at the time. I can show it to you +if you like." + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I will be grateful; you will do me much favour." I +could not resist the temptation of mystifying him a bit--I suppose it is +some of the taste of the original apple that remains still in our +mouths--so I handed him the shorthand diary. He took it with a grateful +bow, and said:-- + +"May I read it?" + +"If you wish," I answered as demurely as I could. He opened it, and for +an instant his face fell. Then he stood up and bowed. + +"Oh, you so clever woman!" he said. "I knew long that Mr. Jonathan was a +man of much thankfulness; but see, his wife have all the good things. +And will you not so much honour me and so help me as to read it for me? +Alas! I know not the shorthand." By this time my little joke was over, +and I was almost ashamed; so I took the typewritten copy from my +workbasket and handed it to him. + +"Forgive me," I said: "I could not help it; but I had been thinking that +it was of dear Lucy that you wished to ask, and so that you might not +have time to wait--not on my account, but because I know your time must +be precious--I have written it out on the typewriter for you." + +He took it and his eyes glistened. "You are so good," he said. "And may +I read it now? I may want to ask you some things when I have read." + +"By all means," I said, "read it over whilst I order lunch; and then you +can ask me questions whilst we eat." He bowed and settled himself in a +chair with his back to the light, and became absorbed in the papers, +whilst I went to see after lunch chiefly in order that he might not be +disturbed. When I came back, I found him walking hurriedly up and down +the room, his face all ablaze with excitement. He rushed up to me and +took me by both hands. + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "how can I say what I owe to you? This paper +is as sunshine. It opens the gate to me. I am daze, I am dazzle, with so +much light, and yet clouds roll in behind the light every time. But that +you do not, cannot, comprehend. Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so +clever woman. Madam"--he said this very solemnly--"if ever Abraham Van +Helsing can do anything for you or yours, I trust you will let me know. +It will be pleasure and delight if I may serve you as a friend; as a +friend, but all I have ever learned, all I can ever do, shall be for you +and those you love. There are darknesses in life, and there are lights; +you are one of the lights. You will have happy life and good life, and +your husband will be blessed in you." + +"But, doctor, you praise me too much, and--and you do not know me." + +"Not know you--I, who am old, and who have studied all my life men and +women; I, who have made my specialty the brain and all that belongs to +him and all that follow from him! And I have read your diary that you +have so goodly written for me, and which breathes out truth in every +line. I, who have read your so sweet letter to poor Lucy of your +marriage and your trust, not know you! Oh, Madam Mina, good women tell +all their lives, and by day and by hour and by minute, such things that +angels can read; and we men who wish to know have in us something of +angels' eyes. Your husband is noble nature, and you are noble too, for +you trust, and trust cannot be where there is mean nature. And your +husband--tell me of him. Is he quite well? Is all that fever gone, and +is he strong and hearty?" I saw here an opening to ask him about +Jonathan, so I said:-- + +"He was almost recovered, but he has been greatly upset by Mr. Hawkins's +death." He interrupted:-- + +"Oh, yes, I know, I know. I have read your last two letters." I went +on:-- + +"I suppose this upset him, for when we were in town on Thursday last he +had a sort of shock." + +"A shock, and after brain fever so soon! That was not good. What kind of +a shock was it?" + +"He thought he saw some one who recalled something terrible, something +which led to his brain fever." And here the whole thing seemed to +overwhelm me in a rush. The pity for Jonathan, the horror which he +experienced, the whole fearful mystery of his diary, and the fear that +has been brooding over me ever since, all came in a tumult. I suppose I +was hysterical, for I threw myself on my knees and held up my hands to +him, and implored him to make my husband well again. He took my hands +and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me; he held my +hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetness:-- + +"My life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have not +had much time for friendships; but since I have been summoned to here by +my friend John Seward I have known so many good people and seen such +nobility that I feel more than ever--and it has grown with my advancing +years--the loneliness of my life. Believe, me, then, that I come here +full of respect for you, and you have given me hope--hope, not in what I +am seeking of, but that there are good women still left to make life +happy--good women, whose lives and whose truths may make good lesson for +the children that are to be. I am glad, glad, that I may here be of some +use to you; for if your husband suffer, he suffer within the range of my +study and experience. I promise you that I will gladly do _all_ for him +that I can--all to make his life strong and manly, and your life a happy +one. Now you must eat. You are overwrought and perhaps over-anxious. +Husband Jonathan would not like to see you so pale; and what he like not +where he love, is not to his good. Therefore for his sake you must eat +and smile. You have told me all about Lucy, and so now we shall not +speak of it, lest it distress. I shall stay in Exeter to-night, for I +want to think much over what you have told me, and when I have thought I +will ask you questions, if I may. And then, too, you will tell me of +husband Jonathan's trouble so far as you can, but not yet. You must eat +now; afterwards you shall tell me all." + +After lunch, when we went back to the drawing-room, he said to me:-- + +"And now tell me all about him." When it came to speaking to this great +learned man, I began to fear that he would think me a weak fool, and +Jonathan a madman--that journal is all so strange--and I hesitated to go +on. But he was so sweet and kind, and he had promised to help, and I +trusted him, so I said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, what I have to tell you is so queer that you must not +laugh at me or at my husband. I have been since yesterday in a sort of +fever of doubt; you must be kind to me, and not think me foolish that I +have even half believed some very strange things." He reassured me by +his manner as well as his words when he said:-- + +"Oh, my dear, if you only know how strange is the matter regarding which +I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little +of any one's belief, no matter how strange it be. I have tried to keep +an open mind; and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close +it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that +make one doubt if they be mad or sane." + +"Thank you, thank you, a thousand times! You have taken a weight off my +mind. If you will let me, I shall give you a paper to read. It is long, +but I have typewritten it out. It will tell you my trouble and +Jonathan's. It is the copy of his journal when abroad, and all that +happened. I dare not say anything of it; you will read for yourself and +judge. And then when I see you, perhaps, you will be very kind and tell +me what you think." + +"I promise," he said as I gave him the papers; "I shall in the morning, +so soon as I can, come to see you and your husband, if I may." + +"Jonathan will be here at half-past eleven, and you must come to lunch +with us and see him then; you could catch the quick 3:34 train, which +will leave you at Paddington before eight." He was surprised at my +knowledge of the trains off-hand, but he does not know that I have made +up all the trains to and from Exeter, so that I may help Jonathan in +case he is in a hurry. + +So he took the papers with him and went away, and I sit here +thinking--thinking I don't know what. + + * * * * * + +_Letter (by hand), Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_25 September, 6 o'clock._ + +"Dear Madam Mina,-- + +"I have read your husband's so wonderful diary. You may sleep without +doubt. Strange and terrible as it is, it is _true_! I will pledge my +life on it. It may be worse for others; but for him and you there is no +dread. He is a noble fellow; and let me tell you from experience of men, +that one who would do as he did in going down that wall and to that +room--ay, and going a second time--is not one to be injured in +permanence by a shock. His brain and his heart are all right; this I +swear, before I have even seen him; so be at rest. I shall have much to +ask him of other things. I am blessed that to-day I come to see you, for +I have learn all at once so much that again I am dazzle--dazzle more +than ever, and I must think. + +"Yours the most faithful, + +"ABRAHAM VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September, 6:30 p. m._ + +"My dear Dr. Van Helsing,-- + +"A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which has taken a great weight +off my mind. And yet, if it be true, what terrible things there are in +the world, and what an awful thing if that man, that monster, be really +in London! I fear to think. I have this moment, whilst writing, had a +wire from Jonathan, saying that he leaves by the 6:25 to-night from +Launceston and will be here at 10:18, so that I shall have no fear +to-night. Will you, therefore, instead of lunching with us, please come +to breakfast at eight o'clock, if this be not too early for you? You can +get away, if you are in a hurry, by the 10:30 train, which will bring +you to Paddington by 2:35. Do not answer this, as I shall take it that, +if I do not hear, you will come to breakfast. + +"Believe me, + +"Your faithful and grateful friend, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_26 September._--I thought never to write in this diary again, but the +time has come. When I got home last night Mina had supper ready, and +when we had supped she told me of Van Helsing's visit, and of her having +given him the two diaries copied out, and of how anxious she has been +about me. She showed me in the doctor's letter that all I wrote down was +true. It seems to have made a new man of me. It was the doubt as to the +reality of the whole thing that knocked me over. I felt impotent, and in +the dark, and distrustful. But, now that I _know_, I am not afraid, even +of the Count. He has succeeded after all, then, in his design in getting +to London, and it was he I saw. He has got younger, and how? Van Helsing +is the man to unmask him and hunt him out, if he is anything like what +Mina says. We sat late, and talked it all over. Mina is dressing, and I +shall call at the hotel in a few minutes and bring him over.... + +He was, I think, surprised to see me. When I came into the room where he +was, and introduced myself, he took me by the shoulder, and turned my +face round to the light, and said, after a sharp scrutiny:-- + +"But Madam Mina told me you were ill, that you had had a shock." It was +so funny to hear my wife called "Madam Mina" by this kindly, +strong-faced old man. I smiled, and said:-- + +"I _was_ ill, I _have_ had a shock; but you have cured me already." + +"And how?" + +"By your letter to Mina last night. I was in doubt, and then everything +took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust, even the +evidence of my own senses. Not knowing what to trust, I did not know +what to do; and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been +the groove of my life. The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted +myself. Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt everything, even +yourself. No, you don't; you couldn't with eyebrows like yours." He +seemed pleased, and laughed as he said:-- + +"So! You are physiognomist. I learn more here with each hour. I am with +so much pleasure coming to you to breakfast; and, oh, sir, you will +pardon praise from an old man, but you are blessed in your wife." I +would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day, so I simply nodded +and stood silent. + +"She is one of God's women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and +other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its +light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an +egoist--and that, let me tell you, is much in this age, so sceptical and +selfish. And you, sir--I have read all the letters to poor Miss Lucy, +and some of them speak of you, so I know you since some days from the +knowing of others; but I have seen your true self since last night. You +will give me your hand, will you not? And let us be friends for all our +lives." + +We shook hands, and he was so earnest and so kind that it made me quite +choky. + +"And now," he said, "may I ask you for some more help? I have a great +task to do, and at the beginning it is to know. You can help me here. +Can you tell me what went before your going to Transylvania? Later on I +may ask more help, and of a different kind; but at first this will do." + +"Look here, sir," I said, "does what you have to do concern the Count?" + +"It does," he said solemnly. + +"Then I am with you heart and soul. As you go by the 10:30 train, you +will not have time to read them; but I shall get the bundle of papers. +You can take them with you and read them in the train." + +After breakfast I saw him to the station. When we were parting he +said:-- + +"Perhaps you will come to town if I send to you, and take Madam Mina +too." + +"We shall both come when you will," I said. + +I had got him the morning papers and the London papers of the previous +night, and while we were talking at the carriage window, waiting for the +train to start, he was turning them over. His eyes suddenly seemed to +catch something in one of them, "The Westminster Gazette"--I knew it by +the colour--and he grew quite white. He read something intently, +groaning to himself: "Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! so soon!" I do not +think he remembered me at the moment. Just then the whistle blew, and +the train moved off. This recalled him to himself, and he leaned out of +the window and waved his hand, calling out: "Love to Madam Mina; I shall +write so soon as ever I can." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_26 September._--Truly there is no such thing as finality. Not a week +since I said "Finis," and yet here I am starting fresh again, or rather +going on with the same record. Until this afternoon I had no cause to +think of what is done. Renfield had become, to all intents, as sane as +he ever was. He was already well ahead with his fly business; and he had +just started in the spider line also; so he had not been of any trouble +to me. I had a letter from Arthur, written on Sunday, and from it I +gather that he is bearing up wonderfully well. Quincey Morris is with +him, and that is much of a help, for he himself is a bubbling well of +good spirits. Quincey wrote me a line too, and from him I hear that +Arthur is beginning to recover something of his old buoyancy; so as to +them all my mind is at rest. As for myself, I was settling down to my +work with the enthusiasm which I used to have for it, so that I might +fairly have said that the wound which poor Lucy left on me was becoming +cicatrised. Everything is, however, now reopened; and what is to be the +end God only knows. I have an idea that Van Helsing thinks he knows, +too, but he will only let out enough at a time to whet curiosity. He +went to Exeter yesterday, and stayed there all night. To-day he came +back, and almost bounded into the room at about half-past five o'clock, +and thrust last night's "Westminster Gazette" into my hand. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked as he stood back and folded his +arms. + +I looked over the paper, for I really did not know what he meant; but he +took it from me and pointed out a paragraph about children being decoyed +away at Hampstead. It did not convey much to me, until I reached a +passage where it described small punctured wounds on their throats. An +idea struck me, and I looked up. "Well?" he said. + +"It is like poor Lucy's." + +"And what do you make of it?" + +"Simply that there is some cause in common. Whatever it was that injured +her has injured them." I did not quite understand his answer:-- + +"That is true indirectly, but not directly." + +"How do you mean, Professor?" I asked. I was a little inclined to take +his seriousness lightly--for, after all, four days of rest and freedom +from burning, harrowing anxiety does help to restore one's spirits--but +when I saw his face, it sobered me. Never, even in the midst of our +despair about poor Lucy, had he looked more stern. + +"Tell me!" I said. "I can hazard no opinion. I do not know what to +think, and I have no data on which to found a conjecture." + +"Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to +what poor Lucy died of; not after all the hints given, not only by +events, but by me?" + +"Of nervous prostration following on great loss or waste of blood." + +"And how the blood lost or waste?" I shook my head. He stepped over and +sat down beside me, and went on:-- + +"You are clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold; +but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears +hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to +you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, +and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But +there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's +eyes, because they know--or think they know--some things which other men +have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to +explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to +explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, +which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend +to be young--like the fine ladies at the opera. I suppose now you do not +believe in corporeal transference. No? Nor in materialisation. No? Nor +in astral bodies. No? Nor in the reading of thought. No? Nor in +hypnotism----" + +"Yes," I said. "Charcot has proved that pretty well." He smiled as he +went on: "Then you are satisfied as to it. Yes? And of course then you +understand how it act, and can follow the mind of the great +Charcot--alas that he is no more!--into the very soul of the patient +that he influence. No? Then, friend John, am I to take it that you +simply accept fact, and are satisfied to let from premise to conclusion +be a blank? No? Then tell me--for I am student of the brain--how you +accept the hypnotism and reject the thought reading. Let me tell you, my +friend, that there are things done to-day in electrical science which +would have been deemed unholy by the very men who discovered +electricity--who would themselves not so long before have been burned +as wizards. There are always mysteries in life. Why was it that +Methuselah lived nine hundred years, and 'Old Parr' one hundred and +sixty-nine, and yet that poor Lucy, with four men's blood in her poor +veins, could not live even one day? For, had she live one more day, we +could have save her. Do you know all the mystery of life and death? Do +you know the altogether of comparative anatomy and can say wherefore the +qualities of brutes are in some men, and not in others? Can you tell me +why, when other spiders die small and soon, that one great spider lived +for centuries in the tower of the old Spanish church and grew and grew, +till, on descending, he could drink the oil of all the church lamps? Can +you tell me why in the Pampas, ay and elsewhere, there are bats that +come at night and open the veins of cattle and horses and suck dry their +veins; how in some islands of the Western seas there are bats which hang +on the trees all day, and those who have seen describe as like giant +nuts or pods, and that when the sailors sleep on the deck, because that +it is hot, flit down on them, and then--and then in the morning are +found dead men, white as even Miss Lucy was?" + +"Good God, Professor!" I said, starting up. "Do you mean to tell me that +Lucy was bitten by such a bat; and that such a thing is here in London +in the nineteenth century?" He waved his hand for silence, and went +on:-- + +"Can you tell me why the tortoise lives more long than generations of +men; why the elephant goes on and on till he have seen dynasties; and +why the parrot never die only of bite of cat or dog or other complaint? +Can you tell me why men believe in all ages and places that there are +some few who live on always if they be permit; that there are men and +women who cannot die? We all know--because science has vouched for the +fact--that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of +years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of +the world. Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to die +and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it, and the +corn reaped and be cut and sown and reaped and cut again, and then men +come and take away the unbroken seal and that there lie the Indian +fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as before?" Here +I interrupted him. I was getting bewildered; he so crowded on my mind +his list of nature's eccentricities and possible impossibilities that my +imagination was getting fired. I had a dim idea that he was teaching me +some lesson, as long ago he used to do in his study at Amsterdam; but +he used then to tell me the thing, so that I could have the object of +thought in mind all the time. But now I was without this help, yet I +wanted to follow him, so I said:-- + +"Professor, let me be your pet student again. Tell me the thesis, so +that I may apply your knowledge as you go on. At present I am going in +my mind from point to point as a mad man, and not a sane one, follows an +idea. I feel like a novice lumbering through a bog in a mist, jumping +from one tussock to another in the mere blind effort to move on without +knowing where I am going." + +"That is good image," he said. "Well, I shall tell you. My thesis is +this: I want you to believe." + +"To believe what?" + +"To believe in things that you cannot. Let me illustrate. I heard once +of an American who so defined faith: 'that faculty which enables us to +believe things which we know to be untrue.' For one, I follow that man. +He meant that we shall have an open mind, and not let a little bit of +truth check the rush of a big truth, like a small rock does a railway +truck. We get the small truth first. Good! We keep him, and we value +him; but all the same we must not let him think himself all the truth in +the universe." + +"Then you want me not to let some previous conviction injure the +receptivity of my mind with regard to some strange matter. Do I read +your lesson aright?" + +"Ah, you are my favourite pupil still. It is worth to teach you. Now +that you are willing to understand, you have taken the first step to +understand. You think then that those so small holes in the children's +throats were made by the same that made the hole in Miss Lucy?" + +"I suppose so." He stood up and said solemnly:-- + +"Then you are wrong. Oh, would it were so! but alas! no. It is worse, +far, far worse." + +"In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what do you mean?" I cried. + +He threw himself with a despairing gesture into a chair, and placed his +elbows on the table, covering his face with his hands as he spoke:-- + +"They were made by Miss Lucy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +For a while sheer anger mastered me; it was as if he had during her life +struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to +him:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?" He raised his head and looked at me, and +somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once. "Would I were!" he +said. "Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my +friend, why, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell +you so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all +my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, +now so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a +fearful death? Ah no!" + +"Forgive me," said I. He went on:-- + +"My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the breaking to you, +for I know you have loved that so sweet lady. But even yet I do not +expect you to believe. It is so hard to accept at once any abstract +truth, that we may doubt such to be possible when we have always +believed the 'no' of it; it is more hard still to accept so sad a +concrete truth, and of such a one as Miss Lucy. To-night I go to prove +it. Dare you come with me?" + +This staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth; Byron +excepted from the category, jealousy. + + "And prove the very truth he most abhorred." + +He saw my hesitation, and spoke:-- + +"The logic is simple, no madman's logic this time, jumping from tussock +to tussock in a misty bog. If it be not true, then proof will be relief; +at worst it will not harm. If it be true! Ah, there is the dread; yet +very dread should help my cause, for in it is some need of belief. Come, +I tell you what I propose: first, that we go off now and see that child +in the hospital. Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where the papers +say the child is, is friend of mine, and I think of yours since you were +in class at Amsterdam. He will let two scientists see his case, if he +will not let two friends. We shall tell him nothing, but only that we +wish to learn. And then----" + +"And then?" He took a key from his pocket and held it up. "And then we +spend the night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is +the key that lock the tomb. I had it from the coffin-man to give to +Arthur." My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful +ordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what +heart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon was +passing.... + +We found the child awake. It had had a sleep and taken some food, and +altogether was going on well. Dr. Vincent took the bandage from its +throat, and showed us the punctures. There was no mistaking the +similarity to those which had been on Lucy's throat. They were smaller, +and the edges looked fresher; that was all. We asked Vincent to what he +attributed them, and he replied that it must have been a bite of some +animal, perhaps a rat; but, for his own part, he was inclined to think +that it was one of the bats which are so numerous on the northern +heights of London. "Out of so many harmless ones," he said, "there may +be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant species. Some +sailor may have brought one home, and it managed to escape; or even from +the Zoölogical Gardens a young one may have got loose, or one be bred +there from a vampire. These things do occur, you know. Only ten days ago +a wolf got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a +week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the +Heath and in every alley in the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare +came along, since when it has been quite a gala-time with them. Even +this poor little mite, when he woke up to-day, asked the nurse if he +might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted +to play with the 'bloofer lady.'" + +"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child home +you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it. These fancies +to stray are most dangerous; and if the child were to remain out another +night, it would probably be fatal. But in any case I suppose you will +not let it away for some days?" + +"Certainly not, not for a week at least; longer if the wound is not +healed." + +Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned on, and +the sun had dipped before we came out. When Van Helsing saw how dark it +was, he said:-- + +"There is no hurry. It is more late than I thought. Come, let us seek +somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our way." + +We dined at "Jack Straw's Castle" along with a little crowd of +bicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o'clock we +started from the inn. It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps +made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual +radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we were to go, for he +went on unhesitatingly; but, as for me, I was in quite a mixup as to +locality. As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at +last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse +police going their usual suburban round. At last we reached the wall of +the churchyard, which we climbed over. With some little difficulty--for +it was very dark, and the whole place seemed so strange to us--we found +the Westenra tomb. The Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, +and standing back, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to +precede him. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the +courtliness of giving preference on such a ghastly occasion. My +companion followed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after +carefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a spring, +one. In the latter case we should have been in a bad plight. Then he +fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece of candle, +proceeded to make a light. The tomb in the day-time, and when wreathed +with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough; but now, some +days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites +turning to rust and their greens to browns; when the spider and the +beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance; when time-discoloured +stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished +brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a +candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been +imagined. It conveyed irresistibly the idea that life--animal life--was +not the only thing which could pass away. + +Van Helsing went about his work systematically. Holding his candle so +that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm +dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he +made assurance of Lucy's coffin. Another search in his bag, and he took +out a turnscrew. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked. + +"To open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced." Straightway he began +taking out the screws, and finally lifted off the lid, showing the +casing of lead beneath. The sight was almost too much for me. It seemed +to be as much an affront to the dead as it would have been to have +stripped off her clothing in her sleep whilst living; I actually took +hold of his hand to stop him. He only said: "You shall see," and again +fumbling in his bag, took out a tiny fret-saw. Striking the turnscrew +through the lead with a swift downward stab, which made me wince, he +made a small hole, which was, however, big enough to admit the point of +the saw. I had expected a rush of gas from the week-old corpse. We +doctors, who have had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to +such things, and I drew back towards the door. But the Professor never +stopped for a moment; he sawed down a couple of feet along one side of +the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side. Taking the +edge of the loose flange, he bent it back towards the foot of the +coffin, and holding up the candle into the aperture, motioned to me to +look. + +I drew near and looked. The coffin was empty. + +It was certainly a surprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but +Van Helsing was unmoved. He was now more sure than ever of his ground, +and so emboldened to proceed in his task. "Are you satisfied now, friend +John?" he asked. + +I felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake within me as +I answered him:-- + +"I am satisfied that Lucy's body is not in that coffin; but that only +proves one thing." + +"And what is that, friend John?" + +"That it is not there." + +"That is good logic," he said, "so far as it goes. But how do you--how +can you--account for it not being there?" + +"Perhaps a body-snatcher," I suggested. "Some of the undertaker's people +may have stolen it." I felt that I was speaking folly, and yet it was +the only real cause which I could suggest. The Professor sighed. "Ah +well!" he said, "we must have more proof. Come with me." + +He put on the coffin-lid again, gathered up all his things and placed +them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle also in the +bag. We opened the door, and went out. Behind us he closed the door and +locked it. He handed me the key, saying: "Will you keep it? You had +better be assured." I laughed--it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am +bound to say--as I motioned him to keep it. "A key is nothing," I said; +"there may be duplicates; and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock +of that kind." He said nothing, but put the key in his pocket. Then he +told me to watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at +the other. I took up my place behind a yew-tree, and I saw his dark +figure move until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my +sight. + +It was a lonely vigil. Just after I had taken my place I heard a distant +clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two. I was chilled and +unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking me on such an errand +and with myself for coming. I was too cold and too sleepy to be keenly +observant, and not sleepy enough to betray my trust so altogether I had +a dreary, miserable time. + +Suddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a white +streak, moving between two dark yew-trees at the side of the churchyard +farthest from the tomb; at the same time a dark mass moved from the +Professor's side of the ground, and hurriedly went towards it. Then I +too moved; but I had to go round headstones and railed-off tombs, and I +stumbled over graves. The sky was overcast, and somewhere far off an +early cock crew. A little way off, beyond a line of scattered +juniper-trees, which marked the pathway to the church, a white, dim +figure flitted in the direction of the tomb. The tomb itself was hidden +by trees, and I could not see where the figure disappeared. I heard the +rustle of actual movement where I had first seen the white figure, and +coming over, found the Professor holding in his arms a tiny child. When +he saw me he held it out to me, and said:-- + +"Are you satisfied now?" + +"No," I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive. + +"Do you not see the child?" + +"Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here? And is it wounded?" I +asked. + +"We shall see," said the Professor, and with one impulse we took our way +out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child. + +When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump of +trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child's throat. It was +without a scratch or scar of any kind. + +"Was I right?" I asked triumphantly. + +"We were just in time," said the Professor thankfully. + +We had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so consulted +about it. If we were to take it to a police-station we should have to +give some account of our movements during the night; at least, we should +have had to make some statement as to how we had come to find the child. +So finally we decided that we would take it to the Heath, and when we +heard a policeman coming, would leave it where he could not fail to find +it; we would then seek our way home as quickly as we could. All fell out +well. At the edge of Hampstead Heath we heard a policeman's heavy +tramp, and laying the child on the pathway, we waited and watched until +he saw it as he flashed his lantern to and fro. We heard his exclamation +of astonishment, and then we went away silently. By good chance we got a +cab near the "Spaniards," and drove to town. + +I cannot sleep, so I make this entry. But I must try to get a few hours' +sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon. He insists that I shall +go with him on another expedition. + + * * * * * + +_27 September._--It was two o'clock before we found a suitable +opportunity for our attempt. The funeral held at noon was all completed, +and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken themselves lazily +away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump of alder-trees, we saw +the sexton lock the gate after him. We knew then that we were safe till +morning did we desire it; but the Professor told me that we should not +want more than an hour at most. Again I felt that horrid sense of the +reality of things, in which any effort of imagination seemed out of +place; and I realised distinctly the perils of the law which we were +incurring in our unhallowed work. Besides, I felt it was all so useless. +Outrageous as it was to open a leaden coffin, to see if a woman dead +nearly a week were really dead, it now seemed the height of folly to +open the tomb again, when we knew, from the evidence of our own +eyesight, that the coffin was empty. I shrugged my shoulders, however, +and rested silent, for Van Helsing had a way of going on his own road, +no matter who remonstrated. He took the key, opened the vault, and again +courteously motioned me to precede. The place was not so gruesome as +last night, but oh, how unutterably mean-looking when the sunshine +streamed in. Van Helsing walked over to Lucy's coffin, and I followed. +He bent over and again forced back the leaden flange; and then a shock +of surprise and dismay shot through me. + +There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her +funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever; and I +could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red, nay redder than +before; and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom. + +"Is this a juggle?" I said to him. + +"Are you convinced now?" said the Professor in response, and as he spoke +he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder, pulled back the +dead lips and showed the white teeth. + +"See," he went on, "see, they are even sharper than before. With this +and this"--and he touched one of the canine teeth and that below +it--"the little children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend +John?" Once more, argumentative hostility woke within me. I _could_ not +accept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested; so, with an attempt to +argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said:-- + +"She may have been placed here since last night." + +"Indeed? That is so, and by whom?" + +"I do not know. Some one has done it." + +"And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time would not +look so." I had no answer for this, so was silent. Van Helsing did not +seem to notice my silence; at any rate, he showed neither chagrin nor +triumph. He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman, raising +the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening the lips and +examining the teeth. Then he turned to me and said:-- + +"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded; here is +some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by the vampire +when she was in a trance, sleep-walking--oh, you start; you do not know +that, friend John, but you shall know it all later--and in trance could +he best come to take more blood. In trance she died, and in trance she +is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ from all other. Usually when +the Un-Dead sleep at home"--as he spoke he made a comprehensive sweep of +his arm to designate what to a vampire was "home"--"their face show what +they are, but this so sweet that was when she not Un-Dead she go back to +the nothings of the common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so +it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep." This turned my blood +cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I was accepting Van Helsing's +theories; but if she were really dead, what was there of terror in the +idea of killing her? He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in +my face, for he said almost joyously:-- + +"Ah, you believe now?" + +I answered: "Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing to +accept. How will you do this bloody work?" + +"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall +drive a stake through her body." It made me shudder to think of so +mutilating the body of the woman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling +was not so strong as I had expected. I was, in fact, beginning to +shudder at the presence of this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing +called it, and to loathe it. Is it possible that love is all subjective, +or all objective? + +I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he stood as +if wrapped in thought. Presently he closed the catch of his bag with a +snap, and said:-- + +"I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is best. If I +did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment, what is +to be done; but there are other things to follow, and things that are +thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know. This is +simple. She have yet no life taken, though that is of time; and to act +now would be to take danger from her for ever. But then we may have to +want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this? If you, who saw the +wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child's at +the hospital; if you, who saw the coffin empty last night and full +to-day with a woman who have not change only to be more rose and more +beautiful in a whole week, after she die--if you know of this and know +of the white figure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, +and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how, then, can I expect +Arthur, who know none of those things, to believe? He doubted me when I +took him from her kiss when she was dying. I know he has forgiven me +because in some mistaken idea I have done things that prevent him say +good-bye as he ought; and he may think that in some more mistaken idea +this woman was buried alive; and that in most mistake of all we have +killed her. He will then argue back that it is we, mistaken ones, that +have killed her by our ideas; and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet +he never can be sure; and that is the worst of all. And he will +sometimes think that she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint +his dreams with horrors of what she must have suffered; and again, he +will think that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all, +an Un-Dead. No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now, since +I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I know that he +must pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweet. He, poor fellow, +must have one hour that will make the very face of heaven grow black to +him; then we can act for good all round and send him peace. My mind is +made up. Let us go. You return home for to-night to your asylum, and see +that all be well. As for me, I shall spend the night here in this +churchyard in my own way. To-morrow night you will come to me to the +Berkeley Hotel at ten of the clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, +and also that so fine young man of America that gave his blood. Later we +shall all have work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and +there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set." + +So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of the +churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to Piccadilly. + + +_Note left by Van Helsing in his portmanteau, Berkeley Hotel directed to +John Seward, M. D._ + +(Not delivered.) + +"_27 September._ + +"Friend John,-- + +"I write this in case anything should happen. I go alone to watch in +that churchyard. It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss Lucy, shall not +leave to-night, that so on the morrow night she may be more eager. +Therefore I shall fix some things she like not--garlic and a +crucifix--and so seal up the door of the tomb. She is young as Un-Dead, +and will heed. Moreover, these are only to prevent her coming out; they +may not prevail on her wanting to get in; for then the Un-Dead is +desperate, and must find the line of least resistance, whatsoever it may +be. I shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after the sunrise, +and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn it. For Miss +Lucy or from her, I have no fear; but that other to whom is there that +she is Un-Dead, he have now the power to seek her tomb and find shelter. +He is cunning, as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all +along he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and +we lost; and in many ways the Un-Dead are strong. He have always the +strength in his hand of twenty men; even we four who gave our strength +to Miss Lucy it also is all to him. Besides, he can summon his wolf and +I know not what. So if it be that he come thither on this night he shall +find me; but none other shall--until it be too late. But it may be that +he will not attempt the place. There is no reason why he should; his +hunting ground is more full of game than the churchyard where the +Un-Dead woman sleep, and the one old man watch. + +"Therefore I write this in case.... Take the papers that are with this, +the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and then find this +great Un-Dead, and cut off his head and burn his heart or drive a stake +through it, so that the world may rest from him. + +"If it be so, farewell. + +"VAN HELSING." + + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 September._--It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do for +one. Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's monstrous +ideas; but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on +common sense. I have no doubt that he believes it all. I wonder if his +mind can have become in any way unhinged. Surely there must be _some_ +rational explanation of all these mysterious things. Is it possible that +the Professor can have done it himself? He is so abnormally clever that +if he went off his head he would carry out his intent with regard to +some fixed idea in a wonderful way. I am loath to think it, and indeed +it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van +Helsing was mad; but anyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some +light on the mystery. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, morning._.... Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, +Arthur and Quincey came into Van Helsing's room; he told us all that he +wanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if all +our wills were centred in his. He began by saying that he hoped we would +all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be done +there. You were doubtless surprised at my letter?" This query was +directly addressed to Lord Godalming. + +"I was. It rather upset me for a bit. There has been so much trouble +around my house of late that I could do without any more. I have been +curious, too, as to what you mean. Quincey and I talked it over; but the +more we talked, the more puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself +that I'm about up a tree as to any meaning about anything." + +"Me too," said Quincey Morris laconically. + +"Oh," said the Professor, "then you are nearer the beginning, both of +you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back before he can +even get so far as to begin." + +It was evident that he recognised my return to my old doubting frame of +mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other two, he said +with intense gravity:-- + +"I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It is, I +know, much to ask; and when you know what it is I propose to do you will +know, and only then, how much. Therefore may I ask that you promise me +in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be angry with me for a +time--I must not disguise from myself the possibility that such may +be--you shall not blame yourselves for anything." + +"That's frank anyhow," broke in Quincey. "I'll answer for the Professor. +I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest; and that's good +enough for me." + +"I thank you, sir," said Van Helsing proudly. "I have done myself the +honour of counting you one trusting friend, and such endorsement is dear +to me." He held out a hand, which Quincey took. + +Then Arthur spoke out:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to 'buy a pig in a poke,' as they +say in Scotland, and if it be anything in which my honour as a gentleman +or my faith as a Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. +If you can assure me that what you intend does not violate either of +these two, then I give my consent at once; though for the life of me, I +cannot understand what you are driving at." + +"I accept your limitation," said Van Helsing, "and all I ask of you is +that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine, you will first +consider it well and be satisfied that it does not violate your +reservations." + +"Agreed!" said Arthur; "that is only fair. And now that the +_pourparlers_ are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?" + +"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the churchyard at +Kingstead." + +Arthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way:-- + +"Where poor Lucy is buried?" The Professor bowed. Arthur went on: "And +when there?" + +"To enter the tomb!" Arthur stood up. + +"Professor, are you in earnest; or it is some monstrous joke? Pardon me, +I see that you are in earnest." He sat down again, but I could see that +he sat firmly and proudly, as one who is on his dignity. There was +silence until he asked again:-- + +"And when in the tomb?" + +"To open the coffin." + +"This is too much!" he said, angrily rising again. "I am willing to be +patient in all things that are reasonable; but in this--this desecration +of the grave--of one who----" He fairly choked with indignation. The +Professor looked pityingly at him. + +"If I could spare you one pang, my poor friend," he said, "God knows I +would. But this night our feet must tread in thorny paths; or later, and +for ever, the feet you love must walk in paths of flame!" + +Arthur looked up with set white face and said:-- + +"Take care, sir, take care!" + +"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?" said Van Helsing. +"And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose. Shall I go +on?" + +"That's fair enough," broke in Morris. + +After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort:-- + +"Miss Lucy is dead; is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong to +her. But if she be not dead----" + +Arthur jumped to his feet. + +"Good God!" he cried. "What do you mean? Has there been any mistake; has +she been buried alive?" He groaned in anguish that not even hope could +soften. + +"I did not say she was alive, my child; I did not think it. I go no +further than to say that she might be Un-Dead." + +"Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare, or what +is it?" + +"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they +may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the verge of one. But +I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?" + +"Heavens and earth, no!" cried Arthur in a storm of passion. "Not for +the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead body. Dr. +Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to you that you should +torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl do that you should want to +cast such dishonour on her grave? Are you mad that speak such things, or +am I mad to listen to them? Don't dare to think more of such a +desecration; I shall not give my consent to anything you do. I have a +duty to do in protecting her grave from outrage; and, by God, I shall do +it!" + +Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated, and +said, gravely and sternly:-- + +"My Lord Godalming, I, too, have a duty to do, a duty to others, a duty +to you, a duty to the dead; and, by God, I shall do it! All I ask you +now is that you come with me, that you look and listen; and if when +later I make the same request you do not be more eager for its +fulfilment even than I am, then--then I shall do my duty, whatever it +may seem to me. And then, to follow of your Lordship's wishes I shall +hold myself at your disposal to render an account to you, when and where +you will." His voice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of +pity:-- + +"But, I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long life of +acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did wring +my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now. Believe me that if +the time comes for you to change your mind towards me, one look from +you will wipe away all this so sad hour, for I would do what a man can +to save you from sorrow. Just think. For why should I give myself so +much of labour and so much of sorrow? I have come here from my own land +to do what I can of good; at the first to please my friend John, and +then to help a sweet young lady, whom, too, I came to love. For her--I +am ashamed to say so much, but I say it in kindness--I gave what you +gave; the blood of my veins; I gave it, I, who was not, like you, her +lover, but only her physician and her friend. I gave to her my nights +and days--before death, after death; and if my death can do her good +even now, when she is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely." He +said this with a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected +by it. He took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice:-- + +"Oh, it is hard to think of it, and I cannot understand; but at least I +shall go with you and wait." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +It was just a quarter before twelve o'clock when we got into the +churchyard over the low wall. The night was dark with occasional gleams +of moonlight between the rents of the heavy clouds that scudded across +the sky. We all kept somehow close together, with Van Helsing slightly +in front as he led the way. When we had come close to the tomb I looked +well at Arthur, for I feared that the proximity to a place laden with so +sorrowful a memory would upset him; but he bore himself well. I took it +that the very mystery of the proceeding was in some way a counteractant +to his grief. The Professor unlocked the door, and seeing a natural +hesitation amongst us for various reasons, solved the difficulty by +entering first himself. The rest of us followed, and he closed the door. +He then lit a dark lantern and pointed to the coffin. Arthur stepped +forward hesitatingly; Van Helsing said to me:-- + +"You were with me here yesterday. Was the body of Miss Lucy in that +coffin?" + +"It was." The Professor turned to the rest saying:-- + +"You hear; and yet there is no one who does not believe with me." He +took his screwdriver and again took off the lid of the coffin. Arthur +looked on, very pale but silent; when the lid was removed he stepped +forward. He evidently did not know that there was a leaden coffin, or, +at any rate, had not thought of it. When he saw the rent in the lead, +the blood rushed to his face for an instant, but as quickly fell away +again, so that he remained of a ghastly whiteness; he was still silent. +Van Helsing forced back the leaden flange, and we all looked in and +recoiled. + +The coffin was empty! + +For several minutes no one spoke a word. The silence was broken by +Quincey Morris:-- + +"Professor, I answered for you. Your word is all I want. I wouldn't ask +such a thing ordinarily--I wouldn't so dishonour you as to imply a +doubt; but this is a mystery that goes beyond any honour or dishonour. +Is this your doing?" + +"I swear to you by all that I hold sacred that I have not removed nor +touched her. What happened was this: Two nights ago my friend Seward and +I came here--with good purpose, believe me. I opened that coffin, which +was then sealed up, and we found it, as now, empty. We then waited, and +saw something white come through the trees. The next day we came here in +day-time, and she lay there. Did she not, friend John?" + +"Yes." + +"That night we were just in time. One more so small child was missing, +and we find it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves. Yesterday I came +here before sundown, for at sundown the Un-Dead can move. I waited here +all the night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing. It was most probable +that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors garlic, +which the Un-Dead cannot bear, and other things which they shun. Last +night there was no exodus, so to-night before the sundown I took away my +garlic and other things. And so it is we find this coffin empty. But +bear with me. So far there is much that is strange. Wait you with me +outside, unseen and unheard, and things much stranger are yet to be. +So"--here he shut the dark slide of his lantern--"now to the outside." +He opened the door, and we filed out, he coming last and locking the +door behind him. + +Oh! but it seemed fresh and pure in the night air after the terror of +that vault. How sweet it was to see the clouds race by, and the passing +gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing and +passing--like the gladness and sorrow of a man's life; how sweet it was +to breathe the fresh air, that had no taint of death and decay; how +humanising to see the red lighting of the sky beyond the hill, and to +hear far away the muffled roar that marks the life of a great city. Each +in his own way was solemn and overcome. Arthur was silent, and was, I +could see, striving to grasp the purpose and the inner meaning of the +mystery. I was myself tolerably patient, and half inclined again to +throw aside doubt and to accept Van Helsing's conclusions. Quincey +Morris was phlegmatic in the way of a man who accepts all things, and +accepts them in the spirit of cool bravery, with hazard of all he has to +stake. Not being able to smoke, he cut himself a good-sized plug of +tobacco and began to chew. As to Van Helsing, he was employed in a +definite way. First he took from his bag a mass of what looked like +thin, wafer-like biscuit, which was carefully rolled up in a white +napkin; next he took out a double-handful of some whitish stuff, like +dough or putty. He crumbled the wafer up fine and worked it into the +mass between his hands. This he then took, and rolling it into thin +strips, began to lay them into the crevices between the door and its +setting in the tomb. I was somewhat puzzled at this, and being close, +asked him what it was that he was doing. Arthur and Quincey drew near +also, as they too were curious. He answered:-- + +"I am closing the tomb, so that the Un-Dead may not enter." + +"And is that stuff you have put there going to do it?" asked Quincey. +"Great Scott! Is this a game?" + +"It is." + +"What is that which you are using?" This time the question was by +Arthur. Van Helsing reverently lifted his hat as he answered:-- + +"The Host. I brought it from Amsterdam. I have an Indulgence." It was an +answer that appalled the most sceptical of us, and we felt individually +that in the presence of such earnest purpose as the Professor's, a +purpose which could thus use the to him most sacred of things, it was +impossible to distrust. In respectful silence we took the places +assigned to us close round the tomb, but hidden from the sight of any +one approaching. I pitied the others, especially Arthur. I had myself +been apprenticed by my former visits to this watching horror; and yet I, +who had up to an hour ago repudiated the proofs, felt my heart sink +within me. Never did tombs look so ghastly white; never did cypress, or +yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of funereal gloom; never did tree +or grass wave or rustle so ominously; never did bough creak so +mysteriously; and never did the far-away howling of dogs send such a +woeful presage through the night. + +There was a long spell of silence, a big, aching void, and then from the +Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!" He pointed; and far down the avenue of yews +we saw a white figure advance--a dim white figure, which held something +dark at its breast. The figure stopped, and at the moment a ray of +moonlight fell upon the masses of driving clouds and showed in startling +prominence a dark-haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave. +We could not see the face, for it was bent down over what we saw to be a +fair-haired child. There was a pause and a sharp little cry, such as a +child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreams. We +were starting forward, but the Professor's warning hand, seen by us as +he stood behind a yew-tree, kept us back; and then as we looked the +white figure moved forwards again. It was now near enough for us to see +clearly, and the moonlight still held. My own heart grew cold as ice, +and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognised the features of +Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was +turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous +wantonness. Van Helsing stepped out, and, obedient to his gesture, we +all advanced too; the four of us ranged in a line before the door of the +tomb. Van Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide; by the +concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips +were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her +chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe. + +We shuddered with horror. I could see by the tremulous light that even +Van Helsing's iron nerve had failed. Arthur was next to me, and if I had +not seized his arm and held him up, he would have fallen. + +When Lucy--I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her +shape--saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives +when taken unawares; then her eyes ranged over us. Lucy's eyes in form +and colour; but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of +the pure, gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love +passed into hate and loathing; had she then to be killed, I could have +done it with savage delight. As she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy +light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile. Oh, God, +how it made me shudder to see it! With a careless motion, she flung to +the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had +clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls +over a bone. The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning. There +was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from Arthur; when +she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell +back and hid his face in his hands. + +She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, +said:-- + +"Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are +hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!" + +There was something diabolically sweet in her tones--something of the +tingling of glass when struck--which rang through the brains even of us +who heard the words addressed to another. As for Arthur, he seemed under +a spell; moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms. She +was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between +them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a +suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter +the tomb. + +When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if +arrested by some irresistible force. Then she turned, and her face was +shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had now no +quiver from Van Helsing's iron nerves. Never did I see such baffled +malice on a face; and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by +mortal eyes. The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw +out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of +the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, +blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of +the Greeks and Japanese. If ever a face meant death--if looks could +kill--we saw it at that moment. + +And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained +between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of +entry. Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur:-- + +"Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?" + +Arthur threw himself on his knees, and hid his face in his hands, as he +answered:-- + +"Do as you will, friend; do as you will. There can be no horror like +this ever any more;" and he groaned in spirit. Quincey and I +simultaneously moved towards him, and took his arms. We could hear the +click of the closing lantern as Van Helsing held it down; coming close +to the tomb, he began to remove from the chinks some of the sacred +emblem which he had placed there. We all looked on in horrified +amazement as we saw, when he stood back, the woman, with a corporeal +body as real at that moment as our own, pass in through the interstice +where scarce a knife-blade could have gone. We all felt a glad sense of +relief when we saw the Professor calmly restoring the strings of putty +to the edges of the door. + +When this was done, he lifted the child and said: + +"Come now, my friends; we can do no more till to-morrow. There is a +funeral at noon, so here we shall all come before long after that. The +friends of the dead will all be gone by two, and when the sexton lock +the gate we shall remain. Then there is more to do; but not like this of +to-night. As for this little one, he is not much harm, and by to-morrow +night he shall be well. We shall leave him where the police will find +him, as on the other night; and then to home." Coming close to Arthur, +he said:-- + +"My friend Arthur, you have had a sore trial; but after, when you look +back, you will see how it was necessary. You are now in the bitter +waters, my child. By this time to-morrow you will, please God, have +passed them, and have drunk of the sweet waters; so do not mourn +overmuch. Till then I shall not ask you to forgive me." + +Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other +on the way. We had left the child in safety, and were tired; so we all +slept with more or less reality of sleep. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, night._--A little before twelve o'clock we three--Arthur, +Quincey Morris, and myself--called for the Professor. It was odd to +notice that by common consent we had all put on black clothes. Of +course, Arthur wore black, for he was in deep mourning, but the rest of +us wore it by instinct. We got to the churchyard by half-past one, and +strolled about, keeping out of official observation, so that when the +gravediggers had completed their task and the sexton under the belief +that every one had gone, had locked the gate, we had the place all to +ourselves. Van Helsing, instead of his little black bag, had with him a +long leather one, something like a cricketing bag; it was manifestly of +fair weight. + +When we were alone and had heard the last of the footsteps die out up +the road, we silently, and as if by ordered intention, followed the +Professor to the tomb. He unlocked the door, and we entered, closing it +behind us. Then he took from his bag the lantern, which he lit, and also +two wax candles, which, when lighted, he stuck, by melting their own +ends, on other coffins, so that they might give light sufficient to work +by. When he again lifted the lid off Lucy's coffin we all looked--Arthur +trembling like an aspen--and saw that the body lay there in all its +death-beauty. But there was no love in my own heart, nothing but +loathing for the foul Thing which had taken Lucy's shape without her +soul. I could see even Arthur's face grow hard as he looked. Presently +he said to Van Helsing:-- + +"Is this really Lucy's body, or only a demon in her shape?" + +"It is her body, and yet not it. But wait a while, and you all see her +as she was, and is." + +She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there; the pointed teeth, +the bloodstained, voluptuous mouth--which it made one shudder to +see--the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a +devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity. Van Helsing, with his usual +methodicalness, began taking the various contents from his bag and +placing them ready for use. First he took out a soldering iron and some +plumbing solder, and then a small oil-lamp, which gave out, when lit in +a corner of the tomb, gas which burned at fierce heat with a blue +flame; then his operating knives, which he placed to hand; and last a +round wooden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick and about +three feet long. One end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and +was sharpened to a fine point. With this stake came a heavy hammer, such +as in households is used in the coal-cellar for breaking the lumps. To +me, a doctor's preparations for work of any kind are stimulating and +bracing, but the effect of these things on both Arthur and Quincey was +to cause them a sort of consternation. They both, however, kept their +courage, and remained silent and quiet. + +When all was ready, Van Helsing said:-- + +"Before we do anything, let me tell you this; it is out of the lore and +experience of the ancients and of all those who have studied the powers +of the Un-Dead. When they become such, there comes with the change the +curse of immortality; they cannot die, but must go on age after age +adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world; for all that +die from the preying of the Un-Dead becomes themselves Un-Dead, and prey +on their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the +ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met +that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die; or again, last night +when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, +have become _nosferatu_, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would +all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have fill us with horror. +The career of this so unhappy dear lady is but just begun. Those +children whose blood she suck are not as yet so much the worse; but if +she live on, Un-Dead, more and more they lose their blood and by her +power over them they come to her; and so she draw their blood with that +so wicked mouth. But if she die in truth, then all cease; the tiny +wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their plays +unknowing ever of what has been. But of the most blessed of all, when +this now Un-Dead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor +lady whom we love shall again be free. Instead of working wickedness by +night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she +shall take her place with the other Angels. So that, my friend, it will +be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow that sets her free. +To this I am willing; but is there none amongst us who has a better +right? Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in the silence of the +night when sleep is not: 'It was my hand that sent her to the stars; it +was the hand of him that loved her best; the hand that of all she would +herself have chosen, had it been to her to choose?' Tell me if there be +such a one amongst us?" + +We all looked at Arthur. He saw, too, what we all did, the infinite +kindness which suggested that his should be the hand which would restore +Lucy to us as a holy, and not an unholy, memory; he stepped forward and +said bravely, though his hand trembled, and his face was as pale as +snow:-- + +"My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I thank you. Tell me +what I am to do, and I shall not falter!" Van Helsing laid a hand on his +shoulder, and said:-- + +"Brave lad! A moment's courage, and it is done. This stake must be +driven through her. It will be a fearful ordeal--be not deceived in +that--but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more +than your pain was great; from this grim tomb you will emerge as though +you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only +think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for +you all the time." + +"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me what I am to do." + +"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place the point over the +heart, and the hammer in your right. Then when we begin our prayer for +the dead--I shall read him, I have here the book, and the others shall +follow--strike in God's name, that so all may be well with the dead that +we love and that the Un-Dead pass away." + +Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set on +action his hands never trembled nor even quivered. Van Helsing opened +his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we +could. Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could +see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with all his might. + +The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech +came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted +in wild contortions; the sharp white teeth champed together till the +lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur +never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm +rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst +the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it. His +face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; the sight of it +gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little +vault. + +And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the +teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver. Finally it lay still. The +terrible task was over. + +The hammer fell from Arthur's hand. He reeled and would have fallen had +we not caught him. The great drops of sweat sprang from his forehead, +and his breath came in broken gasps. It had indeed been an awful strain +on him; and had he not been forced to his task by more than human +considerations he could never have gone through with it. For a few +minutes we were so taken up with him that we did not look towards the +coffin. When we did, however, a murmur of startled surprise ran from one +to the other of us. We gazed so eagerly that Arthur rose, for he had +been seated on the ground, and came and looked too; and then a glad, +strange light broke over his face and dispelled altogether the gloom of +horror that lay upon it. + +There, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing that we had so dreaded +and grown to hate that the work of her destruction was yielded as a +privilege to the one best entitled to it, but Lucy as we had seen her in +her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity. True that +there were there, as we had seen them in life, the traces of care and +pain and waste; but these were all dear to us, for they marked her truth +to what we knew. One and all we felt that the holy calm that lay like +sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and +symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever. + +Van Helsing came and laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and said to +him:-- + +"And now, Arthur my friend, dear lad, am I not forgiven?" + +The reaction of the terrible strain came as he took the old man's hand +in his, and raising it to his lips, pressed it, and said:-- + +"Forgiven! God bless you that you have given my dear one her soul again, +and me peace." He put his hands on the Professor's shoulder, and laying +his head on his breast, cried for a while silently, whilst we stood +unmoving. When he raised his head Van Helsing said to him:-- + +"And now, my child, you may kiss her. Kiss her dead lips if you will, as +she would have you to, if for her to choose. For she is not a grinning +devil now--not any more a foul Thing for all eternity. No longer she is +the devil's Un-Dead. She is God's true dead, whose soul is with Him!" + +Arthur bent and kissed her, and then we sent him and Quincey out of the +tomb; the Professor and I sawed the top off the stake, leaving the point +of it in the body. Then we cut off the head and filled the mouth with +garlic. We soldered up the leaden coffin, screwed on the coffin-lid, +and gathering up our belongings, came away. When the Professor locked +the door he gave the key to Arthur. + +Outside the air was sweet, the sun shone, and the birds sang, and it +seemed as if all nature were tuned to a different pitch. There was +gladness and mirth and peace everywhere, for we were at rest ourselves +on one account, and we were glad, though it was with a tempered joy. + +Before we moved away Van Helsing said:-- + +"Now, my friends, one step of our work is done, one the most harrowing +to ourselves. But there remains a greater task: to find out the author +of all this our sorrow and to stamp him out. I have clues which we can +follow; but it is a long task, and a difficult, and there is danger in +it, and pain. Shall you not all help me? We have learned to believe, all +of us--is it not so? And since so, do we not see our duty? Yes! And do +we not promise to go on to the bitter end?" + +Each in turn, we took his hand, and the promise was made. Then said the +Professor as we moved off:-- + +"Two nights hence you shall meet with me and dine together at seven of +the clock with friend John. I shall entreat two others, two that you +know not as yet; and I shall be ready to all our work show and our plans +unfold. Friend John, you come with me home, for I have much to consult +about, and you can help me. To-night I leave for Amsterdam, but shall +return to-morrow night. And then begins our great quest. But first I +shall have much to say, so that you may know what is to do and to dread. +Then our promise shall be made to each other anew; for there is a +terrible task before us, and once our feet are on the ploughshare we +must not draw back." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +When we arrived at the Berkeley Hotel, Van Helsing found a telegram +waiting for him:-- + + "Am coming up by train. Jonathan at Whitby. Important news.--MINA + HARKER." + +The Professor was delighted. "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina," he said, +"pearl among women! She arrive, but I cannot stay. She must go to your +house, friend John. You must meet her at the station. Telegraph her _en +route_, so that she may be prepared." + +When the wire was despatched he had a cup of tea; over it he told me of +a diary kept by Jonathan Harker when abroad, and gave me a typewritten +copy of it, as also of Mrs. Harker's diary at Whitby. "Take these," he +said, "and study them well. When I have returned you will be master of +all the facts, and we can then better enter on our inquisition. Keep +them safe, for there is in them much of treasure. You will need all your +faith, even you who have had such an experience as that of to-day. What +is here told," he laid his hand heavily and gravely on the packet of +papers as he spoke, "may be the beginning of the end to you and me and +many another; or it may sound the knell of the Un-Dead who walk the +earth. Read all, I pray you, with the open mind; and if you can add in +any way to the story here told do so, for it is all-important. You have +kept diary of all these so strange things; is it not so? Yes! Then we +shall go through all these together when we meet." He then made ready +for his departure, and shortly after drove off to Liverpool Street. I +took my way to Paddington, where I arrived about fifteen minutes before +the train came in. + +The crowd melted away, after the bustling fashion common to arrival +platforms; and I was beginning to feel uneasy, lest I might miss my +guest, when a sweet-faced, dainty-looking girl stepped up to me, and, +after a quick glance, said: "Dr. Seward, is it not?" + +"And you are Mrs. Harker!" I answered at once; whereupon she held out +her hand. + +"I knew you from the description of poor dear Lucy; but----" She stopped +suddenly, and a quick blush overspread her face. + +The blush that rose to my own cheeks somehow set us both at ease, for it +was a tacit answer to her own. I got her luggage, which included a +typewriter, and we took the Underground to Fenchurch Street, after I had +sent a wire to my housekeeper to have a sitting-room and bedroom +prepared at once for Mrs. Harker. + +In due time we arrived. She knew, of course, that the place was a +lunatic asylum, but I could see that she was unable to repress a shudder +when we entered. + +She told me that, if she might, she would come presently to my study, as +she had much to say. So here I am finishing my entry in my phonograph +diary whilst I await her. As yet I have not had the chance of looking at +the papers which Van Helsing left with me, though they lie open before +me. I must get her interested in something, so that I may have an +opportunity of reading them. She does not know how precious time is, or +what a task we have in hand. I must be careful not to frighten her. Here +she is! + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After I had tidied myself, I went down to Dr. Seward's +study. At the door I paused a moment, for I thought I heard him talking +with some one. As, however, he had pressed me to be quick, I knocked at +the door, and on his calling out, "Come in," I entered. + +To my intense surprise, there was no one with him. He was quite alone, +and on the table opposite him was what I knew at once from the +description to be a phonograph. I had never seen one, and was much +interested. + +"I hope I did not keep you waiting," I said; "but I stayed at the door +as I heard you talking, and thought there was some one with you." + +"Oh," he replied with a smile, "I was only entering my diary." + +"Your diary?" I asked him in surprise. + +"Yes," he answered. "I keep it in this." As he spoke he laid his hand on +the phonograph. I felt quite excited over it, and blurted out:-- + +"Why, this beats even shorthand! May I hear it say something?" + +"Certainly," he replied with alacrity, and stood up to put it in train +for speaking. Then he paused, and a troubled look overspread his face. + +"The fact is," he began awkwardly, "I only keep my diary in it; and as +it is entirely--almost entirely--about my cases, it may be awkward--that +is, I mean----" He stopped, and I tried to help him out of his +embarrassment:-- + +"You helped to attend dear Lucy at the end. Let me hear how she died; +for all that I know of her, I shall be very grateful. She was very, very +dear to me." + +To my surprise, he answered, with a horrorstruck look in his face:-- + +"Tell you of her death? Not for the wide world!" + +"Why not?" I asked, for some grave, terrible feeling was coming over me. +Again he paused, and I could see that he was trying to invent an excuse. +At length he stammered out:-- + +"You see, I do not know how to pick out any particular part of the +diary." Even while he was speaking an idea dawned upon him, and he said +with unconscious simplicity, in a different voice, and with the naïveté +of a child: "That's quite true, upon my honour. Honest Indian!" I could +not but smile, at which he grimaced. "I gave myself away that time!" he +said. "But do you know that, although I have kept the diary for months +past, it never once struck me how I was going to find any particular +part of it in case I wanted to look it up?" By this time my mind was +made up that the diary of a doctor who attended Lucy might have +something to add to the sum of our knowledge of that terrible Being, and +I said boldly:-- + +"Then, Dr. Seward, you had better let me copy it out for you on my +typewriter." He grew to a positively deathly pallor as he said:-- + +"No! no! no! For all the world, I wouldn't let you know that terrible +story!" + +Then it was terrible; my intuition was right! For a moment I thought, +and as my eyes ranged the room, unconsciously looking for something or +some opportunity to aid me, they lit on a great batch of typewriting on +the table. His eyes caught the look in mine, and, without his thinking, +followed their direction. As they saw the parcel he realised my meaning. + +"You do not know me," I said. "When you have read those papers--my own +diary and my husband's also, which I have typed--you will know me +better. I have not faltered in giving every thought of my own heart in +this cause; but, of course, you do not know me--yet; and I must not +expect you to trust me so far." + +He is certainly a man of noble nature; poor dear Lucy was right about +him. He stood up and opened a large drawer, in which were arranged in +order a number of hollow cylinders of metal covered with dark wax, and +said:-- + +"You are quite right. I did not trust you because I did not know you. +But I know you now; and let me say that I should have known you long +ago. I know that Lucy told you of me; she told me of you too. May I make +the only atonement in my power? Take the cylinders and hear them--the +first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they will not horrify +you; then you will know me better. Dinner will by then be ready. In the +meantime I shall read over some of these documents, and shall be better +able to understand certain things." He carried the phonograph himself up +to my sitting-room and adjusted it for me. Now I shall learn something +pleasant, I am sure; for it will tell me the other side of a true love +episode of which I know one side already.... + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_29 September._--I was so absorbed in that wonderful diary of Jonathan +Harker and that other of his wife that I let the time run on without +thinking. Mrs. Harker was not down when the maid came to announce +dinner, so I said: "She is possibly tired; let dinner wait an hour," and +I went on with my work. I had just finished Mrs. Harker's diary, when +she came in. She looked sweetly pretty, but very sad, and her eyes were +flushed with crying. This somehow moved me much. Of late I have had +cause for tears, God knows! but the relief of them was denied me; and +now the sight of those sweet eyes, brightened with recent tears, went +straight to my heart. So I said as gently as I could:-- + +"I greatly fear I have distressed you." + +"Oh, no, not distressed me," she replied, "but I have been more touched +than I can say by your grief. That is a wonderful machine, but it is +cruelly true. It told me, in its very tones, the anguish of your heart. +It was like a soul crying out to Almighty God. No one must hear them +spoken ever again! See, I have tried to be useful. I have copied out the +words on my typewriter, and none other need now hear your heart beat, as +I did." + +"No one need ever know, shall ever know," I said in a low voice. She +laid her hand on mine and said very gravely:-- + +"Ah, but they must!" + +"Must! But why?" I asked. + +"Because it is a part of the terrible story, a part of poor dear Lucy's +death and all that led to it; because in the struggle which we have +before us to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all +the knowledge and all the help which we can get. I think that the +cylinders which you gave me contained more than you intended me to know; +but I can see that there are in your record many lights to this dark +mystery. You will let me help, will you not? I know all up to a certain +point; and I see already, though your diary only took me to 7 September, +how poor Lucy was beset, and how her terrible doom was being wrought +out. Jonathan and I have been working day and night since Professor Van +Helsing saw us. He is gone to Whitby to get more information, and he +will be here to-morrow to help us. We need have no secrets amongst us; +working together and with absolute trust, we can surely be stronger than +if some of us were in the dark." She looked at me so appealingly, and at +the same time manifested such courage and resolution in her bearing, +that I gave in at once to her wishes. "You shall," I said, "do as you +like in the matter. God forgive me if I do wrong! There are terrible +things yet to learn of; but if you have so far travelled on the road to +poor Lucy's death, you will not be content, I know, to remain in the +dark. Nay, the end--the very end--may give you a gleam of peace. Come, +there is dinner. We must keep one another strong for what is before us; +we have a cruel and dreadful task. When you have eaten you shall learn +the rest, and I shall answer any questions you ask--if there be anything +which you do not understand, though it was apparent to us who were +present." + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After dinner I came with Dr. Seward to his study. He +brought back the phonograph from my room, and I took my typewriter. He +placed me in a comfortable chair, and arranged the phonograph so that I +could touch it without getting up, and showed me how to stop it in case +I should want to pause. Then he very thoughtfully took a chair, with his +back to me, so that I might be as free as possible, and began to read. I +put the forked metal to my ears and listened. + +When the terrible story of Lucy's death, and--and all that followed, was +done, I lay back in my chair powerless. Fortunately I am not of a +fainting disposition. When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped up with a +horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking a case-bottle from a +cupboard, gave me some brandy, which in a few minutes somewhat restored +me. My brain was all in a whirl, and only that there came through all +the multitude of horrors, the holy ray of light that my dear, dear Lucy +was at last at peace, I do not think I could have borne it without +making a scene. It is all so wild, and mysterious, and strange that if I +had not known Jonathan's experience in Transylvania I could not have +believed. As it was, I didn't know what to believe, and so got out of my +difficulty by attending to something else. I took the cover off my +typewriter, and said to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Let me write this all out now. We must be ready for Dr. Van Helsing +when he comes. I have sent a telegram to Jonathan to come on here when +he arrives in London from Whitby. In this matter dates are everything, +and I think that if we get all our material ready, and have every item +put in chronological order, we shall have done much. You tell me that +Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris are coming too. Let us be able to tell him +when they come." He accordingly set the phonograph at a slow pace, and I +began to typewrite from the beginning of the seventh cylinder. I used +manifold, and so took three copies of the diary, just as I had done with +all the rest. It was late when I got through, but Dr. Seward went about +his work of going his round of the patients; when he had finished he +came back and sat near me, reading, so that I did not feel too lonely +whilst I worked. How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of +good men--even if there _are_ monsters in it. Before I left him I +remembered what Jonathan put in his diary of the Professor's +perturbation at reading something in an evening paper at the station at +Exeter; so, seeing that Dr. Seward keeps his newspapers, I borrowed the +files of "The Westminster Gazette" and "The Pall Mall Gazette," and took +them to my room. I remember how much "The Dailygraph" and "The Whitby +Gazette," of which I had made cuttings, helped us to understand the +terrible events at Whitby when Count Dracula landed, so I shall look +through the evening papers since then, and perhaps I shall get some new +light. I am not sleepy, and the work will help to keep me quiet. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_30 September._--Mr. Harker arrived at nine o'clock. He had got his +wife's wire just before starting. He is uncommonly clever, if one can +judge from his face, and full of energy. If this journal be true--and +judging by one's own wonderful experiences, it must be--he is also a man +of great nerve. That going down to the vault a second time was a +remarkable piece of daring. After reading his account of it I was +prepared to meet a good specimen of manhood, but hardly the quiet, +business-like gentleman who came here to-day. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--After lunch Harker and his wife went back to their own room, +and as I passed a while ago I heard the click of the typewriter. They +are hard at it. Mrs. Harker says that they are knitting together in +chronological order every scrap of evidence they have. Harker has got +the letters between the consignee of the boxes at Whitby and the +carriers in London who took charge of them. He is now reading his wife's +typescript of my diary. I wonder what they make out of it. Here it +is.... + + Strange that it never struck me that the very next house might be + the Count's hiding-place! Goodness knows that we had enough clues + from the conduct of the patient Renfield! The bundle of letters + relating to the purchase of the house were with the typescript. Oh, + if we had only had them earlier we might have saved poor Lucy! + Stop; that way madness lies! Harker has gone back, and is again + collating his material. He says that by dinner-time they will be + able to show a whole connected narrative. He thinks that in the + meantime I should see Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of + index to the coming and going of the Count. I hardly see this yet, + but when I get at the dates I suppose I shall. What a good thing + that Mrs. Harker put my cylinders into type! We never could have + found the dates otherwise.... + + I found Renfield sitting placidly in his room with his hands + folded, smiling benignly. At the moment he seemed as sane as any + one I ever saw. I sat down and talked with him on a lot of + subjects, all of which he treated naturally. He then, of his own + accord, spoke of going home, a subject he has never mentioned to my + knowledge during his sojourn here. In fact, he spoke quite + confidently of getting his discharge at once. I believe that, had I + not had the chat with Harker and read the letters and the dates of + his outbursts, I should have been prepared to sign for him after a + brief time of observation. As it is, I am darkly suspicious. All + those outbreaks were in some way linked with the proximity of the + Count. What then does this absolute content mean? Can it be that + his instinct is satisfied as to the vampire's ultimate triumph? + Stay; he is himself zoöphagous, and in his wild ravings outside the + chapel door of the deserted house he always spoke of "master." This + all seems confirmation of our idea. However, after a while I came + away; my friend is just a little too sane at present to make it + safe to probe him too deep with questions. He might begin to think, + and then--! So I came away. I mistrust these quiet moods of his; so + I have given the attendant a hint to look closely after him, and to + have a strait-waistcoat ready in case of need. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September, in train to London._--When I received Mr. Billington's +courteous message that he would give me any information in his power I +thought it best to go down to Whitby and make, on the spot, such +inquiries as I wanted. It was now my object to trace that horrid cargo +of the Count's to its place in London. Later, we may be able to deal +with it. Billington junior, a nice lad, met me at the station, and +brought me to his father's house, where they had decided that I must +stay the night. They are hospitable, with true Yorkshire hospitality: +give a guest everything, and leave him free to do as he likes. They all +knew that I was busy, and that my stay was short, and Mr. Billington had +ready in his office all the papers concerning the consignment of boxes. +It gave me almost a turn to see again one of the letters which I had +seen on the Count's table before I knew of his diabolical plans. +Everything had been carefully thought out, and done systematically and +with precision. He seemed to have been prepared for every obstacle which +might be placed by accident in the way of his intentions being carried +out. To use an Americanism, he had "taken no chances," and the absolute +accuracy with which his instructions were fulfilled, was simply the +logical result of his care. I saw the invoice, and took note of it: +"Fifty cases of common earth, to be used for experimental purposes." +Also the copy of letter to Carter Paterson, and their reply; of both of +these I got copies. This was all the information Mr. Billington could +give me, so I went down to the port and saw the coastguards, the Customs +officers and the harbour-master. They had all something to say of the +strange entry of the ship, which is already taking its place in local +tradition; but no one could add to the simple description "Fifty cases +of common earth." I then saw the station-master, who kindly put me in +communication with the men who had actually received the boxes. Their +tally was exact with the list, and they had nothing to add except that +the boxes were "main and mortal heavy," and that shifting them was dry +work. One of them added that it was hard lines that there wasn't any +gentleman "such-like as yourself, squire," to show some sort of +appreciation of their efforts in a liquid form; another put in a rider +that the thirst then generated was such that even the time which had +elapsed had not completely allayed it. Needless to add, I took care +before leaving to lift, for ever and adequately, this source of +reproach. + + * * * * * + +_30 September._--The station-master was good enough to give me a line to +his old companion the station-master at King's Cross, so that when I +arrived there in the morning I was able to ask him about the arrival of +the boxes. He, too, put me at once in communication with the proper +officials, and I saw that their tally was correct with the original +invoice. The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here +limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was +compelled to deal with the result in an _ex post facto_ manner. + +From thence I went on to Carter Paterson's central office, where I met +with the utmost courtesy. They looked up the transaction in their +day-book and letter-book, and at once telephoned to their King's Cross +office for more details. By good fortune, the men who did the teaming +were waiting for work, and the official at once sent them over, sending +also by one of them the way-bill and all the papers connected with the +delivery of the boxes at Carfax. Here again I found the tally agreeing +exactly; the carriers' men were able to supplement the paucity of the +written words with a few details. These were, I shortly found, connected +almost solely with the dusty nature of the job, and of the consequent +thirst engendered in the operators. On my affording an opportunity, +through the medium of the currency of the realm, of the allaying, at a +later period, this beneficial evil, one of the men remarked:-- + +"That 'ere 'ouse, guv'nor, is the rummiest I ever was in. Blyme! but it +ain't been touched sence a hundred years. There was dust that thick in +the place that you might have slep' on it without 'urtin' of yer bones; +an' the place was that neglected that yer might 'ave smelled ole +Jerusalem in it. But the ole chapel--that took the cike, that did! Me +and my mate, we thort we wouldn't never git out quick enough. Lor', I +wouldn't take less nor a quid a moment to stay there arter dark." + +Having been in the house, I could well believe him; but if he knew what +I know, he would, I think, have raised his terms. + +Of one thing I am now satisfied: that _all_ the boxes which arrived at +Whitby from Varna in the _Demeter_ were safely deposited in the old +chapel at Carfax. There should be fifty of them there, unless any have +since been removed--as from Dr. Seward's diary I fear. + +I shall try to see the carter who took away the boxes from Carfax when +Renfield attacked them. By following up this clue we may learn a good +deal. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Mina and I have worked all day, and we have put all the papers +into order. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal_ + +_30 September._--I am so glad that I hardly know how to contain myself. +It is, I suppose, the reaction from the haunting fear which I have had: +that this terrible affair and the reopening of his old wound might act +detrimentally on Jonathan. I saw him leave for Whitby with as brave a +face as I could, but I was sick with apprehension. The effort has, +however, done him good. He was never so resolute, never so strong, never +so full of volcanic energy, as at present. It is just as that dear, good +Professor Van Helsing said: he is true grit, and he improves under +strain that would kill a weaker nature. He came back full of life and +hope and determination; we have got everything in order for to-night. I +feel myself quite wild with excitement. I suppose one ought to pity any +thing so hunted as is the Count. That is just it: this Thing is not +human--not even beast. To read Dr. Seward's account of poor Lucy's +death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in +one's heart. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris arrived earlier than we +expected. Dr. Seward was out on business, and had taken Jonathan with +him, so I had to see them. It was to me a painful meeting, for it +brought back all poor dear Lucy's hopes of only a few months ago. Of +course they had heard Lucy speak of me, and it seemed that Dr. Van +Helsing, too, has been quite "blowing my trumpet," as Mr. Morris +expressed it. Poor fellows, neither of them is aware that I know all +about the proposals they made to Lucy. They did not quite know what to +say or do, as they were ignorant of the amount of my knowledge; so they +had to keep on neutral subjects. However, I thought the matter over, and +came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do would be to post +them in affairs right up to date. I knew from Dr. Seward's diary that +they had been at Lucy's death--her real death--and that I need not fear +to betray any secret before the time. So I told them, as well as I +could, that I had read all the papers and diaries, and that my husband +and I, having typewritten them, had just finished putting them in order. +I gave them each a copy to read in the library. When Lord Godalming got +his and turned it over--it does make a pretty good pile--he said:-- + +"Did you write all this, Mrs. Harker?" + +I nodded, and he went on:-- + +"I don't quite see the drift of it; but you people are all so good and +kind, and have been working so earnestly and so energetically, that all +I can do is to accept your ideas blindfold and try to help you. I have +had one lesson already in accepting facts that should make a man humble +to the last hour of his life. Besides, I know you loved my poor Lucy--" +Here he turned away and covered his face with his hands. I could hear +the tears in his voice. Mr. Morris, with instinctive delicacy, just laid +a hand for a moment on his shoulder, and then walked quietly out of the +room. I suppose there is something in woman's nature that makes a man +free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or +emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood; for when +Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat down on the sofa and +gave way utterly and openly. I sat down beside him and took his hand. I +hope he didn't think it forward of me, and that if he ever thinks of it +afterwards he never will have such a thought. There I wrong him; I +_know_ he never will--he is too true a gentleman. I said to him, for I +could see that his heart was breaking:-- + +"I loved dear Lucy, and I know what she was to you, and what you were to +her. She and I were like sisters; and now she is gone, will you not let +me be like a sister to you in your trouble? I know what sorrows you have +had, though I cannot measure the depth of them. If sympathy and pity can +help in your affliction, won't you let me be of some little service--for +Lucy's sake?" + +In an instant the poor dear fellow was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed +to me that all that he had of late been suffering in silence found a +vent at once. He grew quite hysterical, and raising his open hands, beat +his palms together in a perfect agony of grief. He stood up and then sat +down again, and the tears rained down his cheeks. I felt an infinite +pity for him, and opened my arms unthinkingly. With a sob he laid his +head on my shoulder and cried like a wearied child, whilst he shook with +emotion. + +We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above +smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked; I felt this big +sorrowing man's head resting on me, as though it were that of the baby +that some day may lie on my bosom, and I stroked his hair as though he +were my own child. I never thought at the time how strange it all was. + +After a little bit his sobs ceased, and he raised himself with an +apology, though he made no disguise of his emotion. He told me that for +days and nights past--weary days and sleepless nights--he had been +unable to speak with any one, as a man must speak in his time of +sorrow. There was no woman whose sympathy could be given to him, or with +whom, owing to the terrible circumstance with which his sorrow was +surrounded, he could speak freely. "I know now how I suffered," he said, +as he dried his eyes, "but I do not know even yet--and none other can +ever know--how much your sweet sympathy has been to me to-day. I shall +know better in time; and believe me that, though I am not ungrateful +now, my gratitude will grow with my understanding. You will let me be +like a brother, will you not, for all our lives--for dear Lucy's sake?" + +"For dear Lucy's sake," I said as we clasped hands. "Ay, and for your +own sake," he added, "for if a man's esteem and gratitude are ever worth +the winning, you have won mine to-day. If ever the future should bring +to you a time when you need a man's help, believe me, you will not call +in vain. God grant that no such time may ever come to you to break the +sunshine of your life; but if it should ever come, promise me that you +will let me know." He was so earnest, and his sorrow was so fresh, that +I felt it would comfort him, so I said:-- + +"I promise." + +As I came along the corridor I saw Mr. Morris looking out of a window. +He turned as he heard my footsteps. "How is Art?" he said. Then noticing +my red eyes, he went on: "Ah, I see you have been comforting him. Poor +old fellow! he needs it. No one but a woman can help a man when he is in +trouble of the heart; and he had no one to comfort him." + +He bore his own trouble so bravely that my heart bled for him. I saw the +manuscript in his hand, and I knew that when he read it he would realise +how much I knew; so I said to him:-- + +"I wish I could comfort all who suffer from the heart. Will you let me +be your friend, and will you come to me for comfort if you need it? You +will know, later on, why I speak." He saw that I was in earnest, and +stooping, took my hand, and raising it to his lips, kissed it. It seemed +but poor comfort to so brave and unselfish a soul, and impulsively I +bent over and kissed him. The tears rose in his eyes, and there was a +momentary choking in his throat; he said quite calmly:-- + +"Little girl, you will never regret that true-hearted kindness, so long +as ever you live!" Then he went into the study to his friend. + +"Little girl!"--the very words he had used to Lucy, and oh, but he +proved himself a friend! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_30 September._--I got home at five o'clock, and found that Godalming +and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied the transcript +of the various diaries and letters which Harker and his wonderful wife +had made and arranged. Harker had not yet returned from his visit to the +carriers' men, of whom Dr. Hennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave +us a cup of tea, and I can honestly say that, for the first time since I +have lived in it, this old house seemed like _home_. When we had +finished, Mrs. Harker said:-- + +"Dr. Seward, may I ask a favour? I want to see your patient, Mr. +Renfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your diary +interests me so much!" She looked so appealing and so pretty that I +could not refuse her, and there was no possible reason why I should; so +I took her with me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a +lady would like to see him; to which he simply answered: "Why?" + +"She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in it," I +answered. "Oh, very well," he said; "let her come in, by all means; but +just wait a minute till I tidy up the place." His method of tidying was +peculiar: he simply swallowed all the flies and spiders in the boxes +before I could stop him. It was quite evident that he feared, or was +jealous of, some interference. When he had got through his disgusting +task, he said cheerfully: "Let the lady come in," and sat down on the +edge of his bed with his head down, but with his eyelids raised so that +he could see her as she entered. For a moment I thought that he might +have some homicidal intent; I remembered how quiet he had been just +before he attacked me in my own study, and I took care to stand where I +could seize him at once if he attempted to make a spring at her. She +came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command +the respect of any lunatic--for easiness is one of the qualities mad +people most respect. She walked over to him, smiling pleasantly, and +held out her hand. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Renfield," said she. "You see, I know you, for Dr. +Seward has told me of you." He made no immediate reply, but eyed her all +over intently with a set frown on his face. This look gave way to one +of wonder, which merged in doubt; then, to my intense astonishment, he +said:-- + +"You're not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you? You can't be, +you know, for she's dead." Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied:-- + +"Oh no! I have a husband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever +saw Dr. Seward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker." + +"Then what are you doing here?" + +"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward." + +"Then don't stay." + +"But why not?" I thought that this style of conversation might not be +pleasant to Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in:-- + +"How did you know I wanted to marry any one?" His reply was simply +contemptuous, given in a pause in which he turned his eyes from Mrs. +Harker to me, instantly turning them back again:-- + +"What an asinine question!" + +"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield," said Mrs. Harker, at once +championing me. He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as +he had shown contempt to me:-- + +"You will, of course, understand, Mrs. Harker, that when a man is so +loved and honoured as our host is, everything regarding him is of +interest in our little community. Dr. Seward is loved not only by his +household and his friends, but even by his patients, who, being some of +them hardly in mental equilibrium, are apt to distort causes and +effects. Since I myself have been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I +cannot but notice that the sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates +lean towards the errors of _non causa_ and _ignoratio elenchi_." I +positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my own pet +lunatic--the most pronounced of his type that I had ever met +with--talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a polished +gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which had touched +some chord in his memory. If this new phase was spontaneous, or in any +way due to her unconscious influence, she must have some rare gift or +power. + +We continued to talk for some time; and, seeing that he was seemingly +quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me questioningly as she +began, to lead him to his favourite topic. I was again astonished, for +he addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of the +completest sanity; he even took himself as an example when he mentioned +certain things. + +"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief. Indeed, +it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on my being +put under control. I used to fancy that life was a positive and +perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of live things, no +matter how low in the scale of creation, one might indefinitely prolong +life. At times I held the belief so strongly that I actually tried to +take human life. The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I +tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by +the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his +blood--relying, of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is +the life.' Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has +vulgarised the truism to the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, +doctor?" I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to +either think or say; it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat up +his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my watch, I +saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, so I told Mrs. +Harker that it was time to leave. She came at once, after saying +pleasantly to Mr. Renfield: "Good-bye, and I hope I may see you often, +under auspices pleasanter to yourself," to which, to my astonishment, he +replied:-- + +"Good-bye, my dear. I pray God I may never see your sweet face again. +May He bless and keep you!" + +When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys behind +me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy first took +ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self than he has been for +many a long day. + +Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness of a +boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying:-- + +"Ah, friend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come +here to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I have +much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine husband? And +Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too? Good!" + +As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of how my own +diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's suggestion; at +which the Professor interrupted me:-- + +"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain--a brain that a man +should have were he much gifted--and a woman's heart. The good God +fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good +combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made that woman of help +to us; after to-night she must not have to do with this so terrible +affair. It is not good that she run a risk so great. We men are +determined--nay, are we not pledged?--to destroy this monster; but it is +no part for a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her +in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer--both in +waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams. And, besides, +she is young woman and not so long married; there may be other things to +think of some time, if not now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she +must consult with us; but to-morrow she say good-bye to this work, and +we go alone." I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we +had found in his absence: that the house which Dracula had bought was +the very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern seemed +to come on him. "Oh that we had known it before!" he said, "for then we +might have reached him in time to save poor Lucy. However, 'the milk +that is spilt cries not out afterwards,' as you say. We shall not think +of that, but go on our way to the end." Then he fell into a silence that +lasted till we entered my own gateway. Before we went to prepare for +dinner he said to Mrs. Harker:-- + +"I am told, Madam Mina, by my friend John that you and your husband have +put up in exact order all things that have been, up to this moment." + +"Not up to this moment, Professor," she said impulsively, "but up to +this morning." + +"But why not up to now? We have seen hitherto how good light all the +little things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet no one who +has told is the worse for it." + +Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets, she +said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it must go in. It +is my record of to-day. I too have seen the need of putting down at +present everything, however trivial; but there is little in this except +what is personal. Must it go in?" The Professor read it over gravely, +and handed it back, saying:-- + +"It need not go in if you do not wish it; but I pray that it may. It can +but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your friends, more +honour you--as well as more esteem and love." She took it back with +another blush and a bright smile. + +And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are complete +and in order. The Professor took away one copy to study after dinner, +and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock. The rest of us +have already read everything; so when we meet in the study we shall all +be informed as to facts, and can arrange our plan of battle with this +terrible and mysterious enemy. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 September._--When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after +dinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a sort of +board or committee. Professor Van Helsing took the head of the table, to +which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the room. He made me sit +next to him on his right, and asked me to act as secretary; Jonathan sat +next to me. Opposite us were Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. +Morris--Lord Godalming being next the Professor, and Dr. Seward in the +centre. The Professor said:-- + +"I may, I suppose, take it that we are all acquainted with the facts +that are in these papers." We all expressed assent, and he went on:-- + +"Then it were, I think good that I tell you something of the kind of +enemy with which we have to deal. I shall then make known to you +something of the history of this man, which has been ascertained for me. +So we then can discuss how we shall act, and can take our measure +according. + +"There are such beings as vampires; some of us have evidence that they +exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the +teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane +peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic. Were it not that +through long years I have train myself to keep an open mind, I could not +have believe until such time as that fact thunder on my ear. 'See! see! +I prove; I prove.' Alas! Had I known at the first what now I know--nay, +had I even guess at him--one so precious life had been spared to many of +us who did love her. But that is gone; and we must so work, that other +poor souls perish not, whilst we can save. The _nosferatu_ do not die +like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger; and being +stronger, have yet more power to work evil. This vampire which is +amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men; he is of +cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages; he have +still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the +divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are +for him at command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in +callous, and the heart of him is not; he can, within limitations, appear +at will when, and where, and in any of the forms that are to him; he +can, within his range, direct the elements; the storm, the fog, the +thunder; he can command all the meaner things: the rat, and the owl, and +the bat--the moth, and the fox, and the wolf; he can grow and become +small; and he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to +begin our strike to destroy him? How shall we find his where; and having +found it, how can we destroy? My friends, this is much; it is a terrible +task that we undertake, and there may be consequence to make the brave +shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must surely win; and then +where end we? Life is nothings; I heed him not. But to fail here, is not +mere life or death. It is that we become as him; that we henceforward +become foul things of the night like him--without heart or conscience, +preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love best. To us for +ever are the gates of heaven shut; for who shall open them to us again? +We go on for all time abhorred by all; a blot on the face of God's +sunshine; an arrow in the side of Him who died for man. But we are face +to face with duty; and in such case must we shrink? For me, I say, no; +but then I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair places, his +song of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind. You others are +young. Some have seen sorrow; but there are fair days yet in store. What +say you?" + +Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand. I feared, oh so +much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him when I +saw his hand stretch out; but it was life to me to feel its touch--so +strong, so self-reliant, so resolute. A brave man's hand can speak for +itself; it does not even need a woman's love to hear its music. + +When the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my eyes, and I +in his; there was no need for speaking between us. + +"I answer for Mina and myself," he said. + +"Count me in, Professor," said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically as usual. + +"I am with you," said Lord Godalming, "for Lucy's sake, if for no other +reason." + +Dr. Seward simply nodded. The Professor stood up and, after laying his +golden crucifix on the table, held out his hand on either side. I took +his right hand, and Lord Godalming his left; Jonathan held my right with +his left and stretched across to Mr. Morris. So as we all took hands our +solemn compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not even +occur to me to draw back. We resumed our places, and Dr. Van Helsing +went on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the serious work +had begun. It was to be taken as gravely, and in as businesslike a way, +as any other transaction of life:-- + +"Well, you know what we have to contend against; but we, too, are not +without strength. We have on our side power of combination--a power +denied to the vampire kind; we have sources of science; we are free to +act and think; and the hours of the day and the night are ours equally. +In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are +free to use them. We have self-devotion in a cause, and an end to +achieve which is not a selfish one. These things are much. + +"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us are +restrict, and how the individual cannot. In fine, let us consider the +limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one in particular. + +"All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions. These do not +at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and death--nay +of more than either life or death. Yet must we be satisfied; in the +first place because we have to be--no other means is at our control--and +secondly, because, after all, these things--tradition and +superstition--are everything. Does not the belief in vampires rest for +others--though not, alas! for us--on them? A year ago which of us would +have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, +sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth century? We even scouted a belief +that we saw justified under our very eyes. Take it, then, that the +vampire, and the belief in his limitations and his cure, rest for the +moment on the same base. For, let me tell you, he is known everywhere +that men have been. In old Greece, in old Rome; he flourish in Germany +all over, in France, in India, even in the Chernosese; and in China, so +far from us in all ways, there even is he, and the peoples fear him at +this day. He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the +devil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, the Magyar. So far, then, we +have all we may act upon; and let me tell you that very much of the +beliefs are justified by what we have seen in our own so unhappy +experience. The vampire live on, and cannot die by mere passing of the +time; he can flourish when that he can fatten on the blood of the +living. Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can even grow +younger; that his vital faculties grow strenuous, and seem as though +they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty. But he +cannot flourish without this diet; he eat not as others. Even friend +Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him to eat, never! +He throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect, as again +Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of his hand--witness again +Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him +from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather +from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog; he can be as +bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John +saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at +the window of Miss Lucy. He can come in mist which he create--that noble +ship's captain proved him of this; but, from what we know, the distance +he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself. He +come on moonlight rays as elemental dust--as again Jonathan saw those +sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small--we ourselves saw +Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a hairbreadth space at the +tomb door. He can, when once he find his way, come out from anything or +into anything, no matter how close it be bound or even fused up with +fire--solder you call it. He can see in the dark--no small power this, +in a world which is one half shut from the light. Ah, but hear me +through. He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay; he is even +more prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell. +He cannot go where he lists; he who is not of nature has yet to obey +some of nature's laws--why we know not. He may not enter anywhere at the +first, unless there be some one of the household who bid him to come; +though afterwards he can come as he please. His power ceases, as does +that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times +can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is +bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset. +These things are we told, and in this record of ours we have proof by +inference. Thus, whereas he can do as he will within his limit, when he +have his earth-home, his coffin-home, his hell-home, the place +unhallowed, as we saw when he went to the grave of the suicide at +Whitby; still at other time he can only change when the time come. It is +said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood +of the tide. Then there are things which so afflict him that he has no +power, as the garlic that we know of; and as for things sacred, as this +symbol, my crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to +them he is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and +silent with respect. There are others, too, which I shall tell you of, +lest in our seeking we may need them. The branch of wild rose on his +coffin keep him that he move not from it; a sacred bullet fired into the +coffin kill him so that he be true dead; and as for the stake through +him, we know already of its peace; or the cut-off head that giveth rest. +We have seen it with our eyes. + +"Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can confine +him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know. But he is +clever. I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to +make his record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he +has been. He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his +name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of +Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man; for in that time, +and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most +cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the +forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his +grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says +Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who +were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They +learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake +Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the +records are such words as 'stregoica'--witch, 'ordog,' and +'pokol'--Satan and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is +spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well. There have been +from the loins of this very one great men and good women, and their +graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness can dwell. For it +is not the least of its terrors that this evil thing is rooted deep in +all good; in soil barren of holy memories it cannot rest." + +Whilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the window, +and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room. There was a little +pause, and then the Professor went on:-- + +"And now we must settle what we do. We have here much data, and we must +proceed to lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry of Jonathan +that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all of which +were delivered at Carfax; we also know that at least some of these boxes +have been removed. It seems to me, that our first step should be to +ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond that wall +where we look to-day; or whether any more have been removed. If the +latter, we must trace----" + +Here we were interrupted in a very startling way. Outside the house came +the sound of a pistol-shot; the glass of the window was shattered with a +bullet, which, ricochetting from the top of the embrasure, struck the +far wall of the room. I am afraid I am at heart a coward, for I shrieked +out. The men all jumped to their feet; Lord Godalming flew over to the +window and threw up the sash. As he did so we heard Mr. Morris's voice +without:-- + +"Sorry! I fear I have alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about +it." A minute later he came in and said:-- + +"It was an idiotic thing of me to do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. +Harker, most sincerely; I fear I must have frightened you terribly. But +the fact is that whilst the Professor was talking there came a big bat +and sat on the window-sill. I have got such a horror of the damned +brutes from recent events that I cannot stand them, and I went out to +have a shot, as I have been doing of late of evenings, whenever I have +seen one. You used to laugh at me for it then, Art." + +"Did you hit it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing. + +"I don't know; I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood." Without +saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began to resume his +statement:-- + +"We must trace each of these boxes; and when we are ready, we must +either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to +speak, sterilise the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it. +Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours of +noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most weak. + +"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. +You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part to-night, you +no more must question. We shall tell you all in good time. We are men +and are able to bear; but you must be our star and our hope, and we +shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we +are." + +All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved; but it did not seem to me +good that they should brave danger and, perhaps, lessen their +safety--strength being the best safety--through care of me; but their +minds were made up, and, though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, +I could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me. + +Mr. Morris resumed the discussion:-- + +"As there is no time to lose, I vote we have a look at his house right +now. Time is everything with him; and swift action on our part may save +another victim." + +I own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action came so +close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear that if I +appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even leave +me out of their counsels altogether. They have now gone off to Carfax, +with means to get into the house. + +Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep; as if a woman can +sleep when those she loves are in danger! I shall lie down and pretend +to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he returns. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October, 4 a. m._--Just as we were about to leave the house, an +urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see +him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me. +I told the messenger to say that I would attend to his wishes in the +morning; I was busy just at the moment. The attendant added:-- + +"He seems very importunate, sir. I have never seen him so eager. I don't +know but what, if you don't see him soon, he will have one of his +violent fits." I knew the man would not have said this without some +cause, so I said: "All right; I'll go now"; and I asked the others to +wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and see my "patient." + +"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your +diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on _our_ +case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is +disturbed." + +"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming. + +"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and +we all went down the passage together. + +We found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more +rational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him. There was an +unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything I had ever +met with in a lunatic; and he took it for granted that his reasons would +prevail with others entirely sane. We all four went into the room, but +none of the others at first said anything. His request was that I would +at once release him from the asylum and send him home. This he backed up +with arguments regarding his complete recovery, and adduced his own +existing sanity. "I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, +perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have +not introduced me." I was so much astonished, that the oddness of +introducing a madman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment; and, +besides, there was a certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of +the habit of equality, that I at once made the introduction: "Lord +Godalming; Professor Van Helsing; Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas; Mr. +Renfield." He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn:-- + +"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the +Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no +more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his +youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much +patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great +state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have +far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold +alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a +vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true +place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at +meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of +conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics +by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, +conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to +one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by +the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective +places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at +least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. +And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as +well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to +be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last +appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own +charm. + +I think we were all staggered. For my own part, I was under the +conviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and history, +that his reason had been restored; and I felt under a strong impulse to +tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity, and would see about the +necessary formalities for his release in the morning. I thought it +better to wait, however, before making so grave a statement, for of old +I knew the sudden changes to which this particular patient was liable. +So I contented myself with making a general statement that he appeared +to be improving very rapidly; that I would have a longer chat with him +in the morning, and would then see what I could do in the direction of +meeting his wishes. This did not at all satisfy him, for he said +quickly:-- + +"But I fear, Dr. Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish. I desire to +go at once--here--now--this very hour--this very moment, if I may. Time +presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman it is of +the essence of the contract. I am sure it is only necessary to put +before so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward so simple, yet so +momentous a wish, to ensure its fulfilment." He looked at me keenly, and +seeing the negative in my face, turned to the others, and scrutinised +them closely. Not meeting any sufficient response, he went on:-- + +"Is it possible that I have erred in my supposition?" + +"You have," I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt, brutally. +There was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly:-- + +"Then I suppose I must only shift my ground of request. Let me ask for +this concession--boon, privilege, what you will. I am content to implore +in such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of others. I +am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons; but you may, I +assure you, take it from me that they are good ones, sound and +unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty. Could you look, +sir, into my heart, you would approve to the full the sentiments which +animate me. Nay, more, you would count me amongst the best and truest of +your friends." Again he looked at us all keenly. I had a growing +conviction that this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was +but yet another form or phase of his madness, and so determined to let +him go on a little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like +all lunatics, give himself away in the end. Van Helsing was gazing at +him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting +with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone +which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it +afterwards--for it was as of one addressing an equal:-- + +"Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be free +to-night? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me--a stranger, +without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open mind--Dr. +Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own responsibility, the +privilege you seek." He shook his head sadly, and with a look of +poignant regret on his face. The Professor went on:-- + +"Come, sir, bethink yourself. You claim the privilege of reason in the +highest degree, since you seek to impress us with your complete +reasonableness. You do this, whose sanity we have reason to doubt, since +you are not yet released from medical treatment for this very defect. If +you will not help us in our effort to choose the wisest course, how can +we perform the duty which you yourself put upon us? Be wise, and help +us; and if we can we shall aid you to achieve your wish." He still shook +his head as he said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I have nothing to say. Your argument is complete, and +if I were free to speak I should not hesitate a moment; but I am not my +own master in the matter. I can only ask you to trust me. If I am +refused, the responsibility does not rest with me." I thought it was now +time to end the scene, which was becoming too comically grave, so I went +towards the door, simply saying:-- + +"Come, my friends, we have work to do. Good-night." + +As, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the patient. He +moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I feared that he was +about to make another homicidal attack. My fears, however, were +groundless, for he held up his two hands imploringly, and made his +petition in a moving manner. As he saw that the very excess of his +emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old +relations, he became still more demonstrative. I glanced at Van Helsing, +and saw my conviction reflected in his eyes; so I became a little more +fixed in my manner, if not more stern, and motioned to him that his +efforts were unavailing. I had previously seen something of the same +constantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some request of +which at the time he had thought much, such, for instance, as when he +wanted a cat; and I was prepared to see the collapse into the same +sullen acquiescence on this occasion. My expectation was not realised, +for, when he found that his appeal would not be successful, he got into +quite a frantic condition. He threw himself on his knees, and held up +his hands, wringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a +torrent of entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his +whole face and form expressive of the deepest emotion:-- + +"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out +of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; +send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a +strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go +out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am +speaking from the depths of my heart--of my very soul. You don't know +whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. +By all you hold sacred--by all you hold dear--by your love that is +lost--by your hope that lives--for the sake of the Almighty, take me out +of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you +understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and +earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting +for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!" + +I thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get, and so +would bring on a fit; so I took him by the hand and raised him up. + +"Come," I said sternly, "no more of this; we have had quite enough +already. Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly." + +He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several moments. Then, +without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on the side of the +bed. The collapse had come, as on former occasion, just as I had +expected. + +When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in a +quiet, well-bred voice:-- + +"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later +on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, 5 a. m._--I went with the party to the search with an easy +mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well. I am +so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work. +Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful business at +all; but now that her work is done, and that it is due to her energy and +brains and foresight that the whole story is put together in such a way +that every point tells, she may well feel that her part is finished, and +that she can henceforth leave the rest to us. We were, I think, all a +little upset by the scene with Mr. Renfield. When we came away from his +room we were silent till we got back to the study. Then Mr. Morris said +to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the +sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had some +serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a +chance." Lord Godalming and I were silent, but Dr. Van Helsing added:-- + +"Friend John, you know more of lunatics than I do, and I'm glad of it, +for I fear that if it had been to me to decide I would before that last +hysterical outburst have given him free. But we live and learn, and in +our present task we must take no chance, as my friend Quincey would say. +All is best as they are." Dr. Seward seemed to answer them both in a +dreamy kind of way:-- + +"I don't know but that I agree with you. If that man had been an +ordinary lunatic I would have taken my chance of trusting him; but he +seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way that I am +afraid of doing anything wrong by helping his fads. I can't forget how +he prayed with almost equal fervour for a cat, and then tried to tear my +throat out with his teeth. Besides, he called the Count 'lord and +master,' and he may want to get out to help him in some diabolical way. +That horrid thing has the wolves and the rats and his own kind to help +him, so I suppose he isn't above trying to use a respectable lunatic. He +certainly did seem earnest, though. I only hope we have done what is +best. These things, in conjunction with the wild work we have in hand, +help to unnerve a man." The Professor stepped over, and laying his hand +on his shoulder, said in his grave, kindly way:-- + +"Friend John, have no fear. We are trying to do our duty in a very sad +and terrible case; we can only do as we deem best. What else have we to +hope for, except the pity of the good God?" Lord Godalming had slipped +away for a few minutes, but now he returned. He held up a little silver +whistle, as he remarked:-- + +"That old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote on +call." Having passed the wall, we took our way to the house, taking care +to keep in the shadows of the trees on the lawn when the moonlight shone +out. When we got to the porch the Professor opened his bag and took out +a lot of things, which he laid on the step, sorting them into four +little groups, evidently one for each. Then he spoke:-- + +"My friends, we are going into a terrible danger, and we need arms of +many kinds. Our enemy is not merely spiritual. Remember that he has the +strength of twenty men, and that, though our necks or our windpipes are +of the common kind--and therefore breakable or crushable--his are not +amenable to mere strength. A stronger man, or a body of men more strong +in all than him, can at certain times hold him; but they cannot hurt him +as we can be hurt by him. We must, therefore, guard ourselves from his +touch. Keep this near your heart"--as he spoke he lifted a little silver +crucifix and held it out to me, I being nearest to him--"put these +flowers round your neck"--here he handed to me a wreath of withered +garlic blossoms--"for other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this +knife; and for aid in all, these so small electric lamps, which you can +fasten to your breast; and for all, and above all at the last, this, +which we must not desecrate needless." This was a portion of Sacred +Wafer, which he put in an envelope and handed to me. Each of the others +was similarly equipped. "Now," he said, "friend John, where are the +skeleton keys? If so that we can open the door, we need not break house +by the window, as before at Miss Lucy's." + +Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical dexterity as a +surgeon standing him in good stead. Presently he got one to suit; after +a little play back and forward the bolt yielded, and, with a rusty +clang, shot back. We pressed on the door, the rusty hinges creaked, and +it slowly opened. It was startlingly like the image conveyed to me in +Dr. Seward's diary of the opening of Miss Westenra's tomb; I fancy that +the same idea seemed to strike the others, for with one accord they +shrank back. The Professor was the first to move forward, and stepped +into the open door. + +"_In manus tuas, Domine!_" he said, crossing himself as he passed over +the threshold. We closed the door behind us, lest when we should have +lit our lamps we should possibly attract attention from the road. The +Professor carefully tried the lock, lest we might not be able to open it +from within should we be in a hurry making our exit. Then we all lit our +lamps and proceeded on our search. + +The light from the tiny lamps fell in all sorts of odd forms, as the +rays crossed each other, or the opacity of our bodies threw great +shadows. I could not for my life get away from the feeling that there +was some one else amongst us. I suppose it was the recollection, so +powerfully brought home to me by the grim surroundings, of that terrible +experience in Transylvania. I think the feeling was common to us all, +for I noticed that the others kept looking over their shoulders at every +sound and every new shadow, just as I felt myself doing. + +The whole place was thick with dust. The floor was seemingly inches +deep, except where there were recent footsteps, in which on holding down +my lamp I could see marks of hobnails where the dust was cracked. The +walls were fluffy and heavy with dust, and in the corners were masses of +spider's webs, whereon the dust had gathered till they looked like old +tattered rags as the weight had torn them partly down. On a table in the +hall was a great bunch of keys, with a time-yellowed label on each. They +had been used several times, for on the table were several similar rents +in the blanket of dust, similar to that exposed when the Professor +lifted them. He turned to me and said:-- + +"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know +it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an +idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to +get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings +found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. +"This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small +map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence +regarding the purchase. With a little trouble we found the key on the +bunch and opened the door. We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for +as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale +through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we +encountered. None of the others had met the Count at all at close +quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of +his existence in his rooms or, when he was gloated with fresh blood, in +a ruined building open to the air; but here the place was small and +close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul. There was +an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler +air. But as to the odour itself, how shall I describe it? It was not +alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the +pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had +become itself corrupt. Faugh! it sickens me to think of it. Every breath +exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and +intensified its loathsomeness. + +Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our +enterprise to an end; but this was no ordinary case, and the high and +terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength which rose +above merely physical considerations. After the involuntary shrinking +consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set about our +work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses. + +We made an accurate examination of the place, the Professor saying as we +began:-- + +"The first thing is to see how many of the boxes are left; we must then +examine every hole and corner and cranny and see if we cannot get some +clue as to what has become of the rest." A glance was sufficient to show +how many remained, for the great earth chests were bulky, and there was +no mistaking them. + +There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty! Once I got a fright, +for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of the vaulted +door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and for an instant my +heart stood still. Somewhere, looking out from the shadow, I seemed to +see the high lights of the Count's evil face, the ridge of the nose, the +red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor. It was only for a moment, for, +as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I saw a face, but it was only the +shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I turned my lamp in the direction, +and stepped into the passage. There was no sign of any one; and as there +were no corners, no doors, no aperture of any kind, but only the solid +walls of the passage, there could be no hiding-place even for _him_. I +took it that fear had helped imagination, and said nothing. + +A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a corner, which +he was examining. We all followed his movements with our eyes, for +undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and we saw a whole mass +of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars. We all instinctively drew +back. The whole place was becoming alive with rats. + +For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was +seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great +iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, +and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the +huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver +whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered +from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a +minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house. +Unconsciously we had all moved towards the door, and as we moved I +noticed that the dust had been much disturbed: the boxes which had been +taken out had been brought this way. But even in the minute that had +elapsed the number of the rats had vastly increased. They seemed to +swarm over the place all at once, till the lamplight, shining on their +moving dark bodies and glittering, baleful eyes, made the place look +like a bank of earth set with fireflies. The dogs dashed on, but at the +threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then, simultaneously lifting +their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion. The rats were +multiplying in thousands, and we moved out. + +Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in, placed him +on the floor. The instant his feet touched the ground he seemed to +recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies. They fled before +him so fast that before he had shaken the life out of a score, the other +dogs, who had by now been lifted in the same manner, had but small prey +ere the whole mass had vanished. + +With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had departed, for +the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they made sudden darts at +their prostrate foes, and turned them over and over and tossed them in +the air with vicious shakes. We all seemed to find our spirits rise. +Whether it was the purifying of the deadly atmosphere by the opening of +the chapel door, or the relief which we experienced by finding ourselves +in the open I know not; but most certainly the shadow of dread seemed to +slip from us like a robe, and the occasion of our coming lost something +of its grim significance, though we did not slacken a whit in our +resolution. We closed the outer door and barred and locked it, and +bringing the dogs with us, began our search of the house. We found +nothing throughout except dust in extraordinary proportions, and all +untouched save for my own footsteps when I had made my first visit. +Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of uneasiness, and even when +we returned to the chapel they frisked about as though they had been +rabbit-hunting in a summer wood. + +The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the front. +Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall-door from the bunch, and +locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into his pocket +when he had done. + +"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful. No harm has +come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained how +many boxes are missing. More than all do I rejoice that this, our +first--and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous--step has been +accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina or +troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds and +smells of horror which she might never forget. One lesson, too, we have +learned, if it be allowable to argue _a particulari_: that the brute +beasts which are to the Count's command are yet themselves not amenable +to his spiritual power; for look, these rats that would come to his +call, just as from his castle top he summon the wolves to your going and +to that poor mother's cry, though they come to him, they run pell-mell +from the so little dogs of my friend Arthur. We have other matters +before us, other dangers, other fears; and that monster--he has not used +his power over the brute world for the only or the last time to-night. +So be it that he has gone elsewhere. Good! It has given us opportunity +to cry 'check' in some ways in this chess game, which we play for the +stake of human souls. And now let us go home. The dawn is close at hand, +and we have reason to be content with our first night's work. It may be +ordained that we have many nights and days to follow, if full of peril; +but we must go on, and from no danger shall we shrink." + +The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who +was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound +from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, +after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain. + +I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so +softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than +usual. I hope the meeting to-night has not upset her. I am truly +thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of our +deliberations. It is too great a strain for a woman to bear. I did not +think so at first, but I know better now. Therefore I am glad that it is +settled. There may be things which would frighten her to hear; and yet +to conceal them from her might be worse than to tell her if once she +suspected that there was any concealment. Henceforth our work is to be a +sealed book to her, till at least such time as we can tell her that all +is finished, and the earth free from a monster of the nether world. I +daresay it will be difficult to begin to keep silence after such +confidence as ours; but I must be resolute, and to-morrow I shall keep +dark over to-night's doings, and shall refuse to speak of anything that +has happened. I rest on the sofa, so as not to disturb her. + + * * * * * + +_1 October, later._--I suppose it was natural that we should have all +overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had no +rest at all. Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I slept +till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call two or +three times before she awoke. Indeed, she was so sound asleep that for a +few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with a sort of +blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad dream. She +complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest till later in the +day. We now know of twenty-one boxes having been removed, and if it be +that several were taken in any of these removals we may be able to trace +them all. Such will, of course, immensely simplify our labour, and the +sooner the matter is attended to the better. I shall look up Thomas +Snelling to-day. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--It was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor +walking into my room. He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and it +is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of the +brooding weight off his mind. After going over the adventure of the +night he suddenly said:-- + +"Your patient interests me much. May it be that with you I visit him +this morning? Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it may +be. It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk philosophy, +and reason so sound." I had some work to do which pressed, so I told him +that if he would go alone I would be glad, as then I should not have to +keep him waiting; so I called an attendant and gave him the necessary +instructions. Before the Professor left the room I cautioned him against +getting any false impression from my patient. "But," he answered, "I +want him to talk of himself and of his delusion as to consuming live +things. He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your diary of yesterday, that +he had once had such a belief. Why do you smile, friend John?" + +"Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here." I laid my hand on the +type-written matter. "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very +statement of how he _used_ to consume life, his mouth was actually +nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before Mrs. +Harker entered the room." Van Helsing smiled in turn. "Good!" he said. +"Your memory is true, friend John. I should have remembered. And yet it +is this very obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease +such a fascinating study. Perhaps I may gain more knowledge out of the +folly of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise. +Who knows?" I went on with my work, and before long was through that in +hand. It seemed that the time had been very short indeed, but there was +Van Helsing back in the study. "Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he +stood at the door. + +"Not at all," I answered. "Come in. My work is finished, and I am free. +I can go with you now, if you like. + +"It is needless; I have seen him!" + +"Well?" + +"I fear that he does not appraise me at much. Our interview was short. +When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the centre, with +his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture of sullen +discontent. I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and with such a +measure of respect as I could assume. He made no reply whatever. "Don't +you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well +enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself +and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed +Dutchmen!" Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable +sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at +all. Thus departed for this time my chance of much learning from this so +clever lunatic; so I shall go, if I may, and cheer myself with a few +happy words with that sweet soul Madam Mina. Friend John, it does +rejoice me unspeakable that she is no more to be pained, no more to be +worried with our terrible things. Though we shall much miss her help, it +is better so." + +"I agree with you with all my heart," I answered earnestly, for I did +not want him to weaken in this matter. "Mrs. Harker is better out of it. +Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have +been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, +and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time +infallibly have wrecked her." + +So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs. Harker and Harker; Quincey +and Art are all out following up the clues as to the earth-boxes. I +shall finish my round of work and we shall meet to-night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_1 October._--It is strange to me to be kept in the dark as I am to-day; +after Jonathan's full confidence for so many years, to see him +manifestly avoid certain matters, and those the most vital of all. This +morning I slept late after the fatigues of yesterday, and though +Jonathan was late too, he was the earlier. He spoke to me before he went +out, never more sweetly or tenderly, but he never mentioned a word of +what had happened in the visit to the Count's house. And yet he must +have known how terribly anxious I was. Poor dear fellow! I suppose it +must have distressed him even more than it did me. They all agreed that +it was best that I should not be drawn further into this awful work, and +I acquiesced. But to think that he keeps anything from me! And now I am +crying like a silly fool, when I _know_ it comes from my husband's great +love and from the good, good wishes of those other strong men. + +That has done me good. Well, some day Jonathan will tell me all; and +lest it should ever be that he should think for a moment that I kept +anything from him, I still keep my journal as usual. Then if he has +feared of my trust I shall show it to him, with every thought of my +heart put down for his dear eyes to read. I feel strangely sad and +low-spirited to-day. I suppose it is the reaction from the terrible +excitement. + +Last night I went to bed when the men had gone, simply because they told +me to. I didn't feel sleepy, and I did feel full of devouring anxiety. I +kept thinking over everything that has been ever since Jonathan came to +see me in London, and it all seems like a horrible tragedy, with fate +pressing on relentlessly to some destined end. Everything that one does +seems, no matter how right it may be, to bring on the very thing which +is most to be deplored. If I hadn't gone to Whitby, perhaps poor dear +Lucy would be with us now. She hadn't taken to visiting the churchyard +till I came, and if she hadn't come there in the day-time with me she +wouldn't have walked there in her sleep; and if she hadn't gone there at +night and asleep, that monster couldn't have destroyed her as he did. +Oh, why did I ever go to Whitby? There now, crying again! I wonder what +has come over me to-day. I must hide it from Jonathan, for if he knew +that I had been crying twice in one morning--I, who never cried on my +own account, and whom he has never caused to shed a tear--the dear +fellow would fret his heart out. I shall put a bold face on, and if I do +feel weepy, he shall never see it. I suppose it is one of the lessons +that we poor women have to learn.... + +I can't quite remember how I fell asleep last night. I remember hearing +the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like praying +on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is somewhere +under this. And then there was silence over everything, silence so +profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out of the window. +All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by the moonlight +seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a thing seemed to be +stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate; so that a thin +streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness +across the grass towards the house, seemed to have a sentience and a +vitality of its own. I think that the digression of my thoughts must +have done me good, for when I got back to bed I found a lethargy +creeping over me. I lay a while, but could not quite sleep, so I got out +and looked out of the window again. The mist was spreading, and was now +close up to the house, so that I could see it lying thick against the +wall, as though it were stealing up to the windows. The poor man was +more loud than ever, and though I could not distinguish a word he said, +I could in some way recognise in his tones some passionate entreaty on +his part. Then there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the +attendants were dealing with him. I was so frightened that I crept into +bed, and pulled the clothes over my head, putting my fingers in my ears. +I was not then a bit sleepy, at least so I thought; but I must have +fallen asleep, for, except dreams, I do not remember anything until the +morning, when Jonathan woke me. I think that it took me an effort and a +little time to realise where I was, and that it was Jonathan who was +bending over me. My dream was very peculiar, and was almost typical of +the way that waking thoughts become merged in, or continued in, dreams. + +I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come back. I +was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my feet, and my +hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at the +usual pace. And so I slept uneasily and thought. Then it began to dawn +upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold. I put back the +clothes from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was dim +around. The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but turned down, +came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which had evidently +grown thicker and poured into the room. Then it occurred to me that I +had shut the window before I had come to bed. I would have got out to +make certain on the point, but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my +limbs and even my will. I lay still and endured; that was all. I closed +my eyes, but could still see through my eyelids. (It is wonderful what +tricks our dreams play us, and how conveniently we can imagine.) The +mist grew thicker and thicker and I could see now how it came in, for I +could see it like smoke--or with the white energy of boiling +water--pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of +the door. It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became +concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the top +of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red eye. Things +began to whirl through my brain just as the cloudy column was now +whirling in the room, and through it all came the scriptural words "a +pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night." Was it indeed some such +spiritual guidance that was coming to me in my sleep? But the pillar was +composed of both the day and the night-guiding, for the fire was in the +red eye, which at the thought got a new fascination for me; till, as I +looked, the fire divided, and seemed to shine on me through the fog like +two red eyes, such as Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering +when, on the cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's +Church. Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan +had seen those awful women growing into reality through the whirling mist +in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all became +black darkness. The last conscious effort which imagination made was to +show me a livid white face bending over me out of the mist. I must be +careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one's reason if there were +too much of them. I would get Dr. Van Helsing or Dr. Seward to prescribe +something for me which would make me sleep, only that I fear to alarm +them. Such a dream at the present time would become woven into their +fears for me. To-night I shall strive hard to sleep naturally. If I do +not, I shall to-morrow night get them to give me a dose of chloral; that +cannot hurt me for once, and it will give me a good night's sleep. Last +night tired me more than if I had not slept at all. + + * * * * * + +_2 October 10 p. m._--Last night I slept, but did not dream. I must have +slept soundly, for I was not waked by Jonathan coming to bed; but the +sleep has not refreshed me, for to-day I feel terribly weak and +spiritless. I spent all yesterday trying to read, or lying down dozing. +In the afternoon Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me. Poor man, he was +very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and bade God bless +me. Some way it affected me much; I am crying when I think of him. This +is a new weakness, of which I must be careful. Jonathan would be +miserable if he knew I had been crying. He and the others were out till +dinner-time, and they all came in tired. I did what I could to brighten +them up, and I suppose that the effort did me good, for I forgot how +tired I was. After dinner they sent me to bed, and all went off to smoke +together, as they said, but I knew that they wanted to tell each other +of what had occurred to each during the day; I could see from Jonathan's +manner that he had something important to communicate. I was not so +sleepy as I should have been; so before they went I asked Dr. Seward to +give me a little opiate of some kind, as I had not slept well the night +before. He very kindly made me up a sleeping draught, which he gave to +me, telling me that it would do me no harm, as it was very mild.... I +have taken it, and am waiting for sleep, which still keeps aloof. I hope +I have not done wrong, for as sleep begins to flirt with me, a new fear +comes: that I may have been foolish in thus depriving myself of the +power of waking. I might want it. Here comes sleep. Good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, evening._--I found Thomas Snelling in his house at Bethnal +Green, but unhappily he was not in a condition to remember anything. The +very prospect of beer which my expected coming had opened to him had +proved too much, and he had begun too early on his expected debauch. I +learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor soul, that he +was only the assistant to Smollet, who of the two mates was the +responsible person. So off I drove to Walworth, and found Mr. Joseph +Smollet at home and in his shirtsleeves, taking a late tea out of a +saucer. He is a decent, intelligent fellow, distinctly a good, reliable +type of workman, and with a headpiece of his own. He remembered all +about the incident of the boxes, and from a wonderful dog's-eared +notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle about the +seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries in thick, +half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the boxes. There +were, he said, six in the cartload which he took from Carfax and left at +197, Chicksand Street, Mile End New Town, and another six which he +deposited at Jamaica Lane, Bermondsey. If then the Count meant to +scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were +chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more +fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that +he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now +fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern +shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to +be left out of his diabolical scheme--let alone the City itself and the +very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west. I went back +to Smollet, and asked him if he could tell us if any other boxes had +been taken from Carfax. + +He replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, you've treated me wery 'an'some"--I had given him half a +sovereign--"an' I'll tell yer all I know. I heard a man by the name of +Bloxam say four nights ago in the 'Are an' 'Ounds, in Pincher's Alley, +as 'ow he an' his mate 'ad 'ad a rare dusty job in a old 'ouse at +Purfect. There ain't a-many such jobs as this 'ere, an' I'm thinkin' +that maybe Sam Bloxam could tell ye summut." I asked if he could tell me +where to find him. I told him that if he could get me the address it +would be worth another half-sovereign to him. So he gulped down the rest +of his tea and stood up, saying that he was going to begin the search +then and there. At the door he stopped, and said:-- + +"Look 'ere, guv'nor, there ain't no sense in me a-keepin' you 'ere. I +may find Sam soon, or I mayn't; but anyhow he ain't like to be in a way +to tell ye much to-night. Sam is a rare one when he starts on the booze. +If you can give me a envelope with a stamp on it, and put yer address on +it, I'll find out where Sam is to be found and post it ye to-night. But +ye'd better be up arter 'im soon in the mornin', or maybe ye won't ketch +'im; for Sam gets off main early, never mind the booze the night afore." + +This was all practical, so one of the children went off with a penny to +buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and to keep the change. When she +came back, I addressed the envelope and stamped it, and when Smollet had +again faithfully promised to post the address when found, I took my way +to home. We're on the track anyhow. I am tired to-night, and want sleep. +Mina is fast asleep, and looks a little too pale; her eyes look as +though she had been crying. Poor dear, I've no doubt it frets her to be +kept in the dark, and it may make her doubly anxious about me and the +others. But it is best as it is. It is better to be disappointed and +worried in such a way now than to have her nerve broken. The doctors +were quite right to insist on her being kept out of this dreadful +business. I must be firm, for on me this particular burden of silence +must rest. I shall not ever enter on the subject with her under any +circumstances. Indeed, it may not be a hard task, after all, for she +herself has become reticent on the subject, and has not spoken of the +Count or his doings ever since we told her of our decision. + + * * * * * + +_2 October, evening._--A long and trying and exciting day. By the first +post I got my directed envelope with a dirty scrap of paper enclosed, on +which was written with a carpenter's pencil in a sprawling hand:-- + +"Sam Bloxam, Korkrans, 4, Poters Cort, Bartel Street, Walworth. Arsk for +the depite." + +I got the letter in bed, and rose without waking Mina. She looked heavy +and sleepy and pale, and far from well. I determined not to wake her, +but that, when I should return from this new search, I would arrange for +her going back to Exeter. I think she would be happier in our own home, +with her daily tasks to interest her, than in being here amongst us and +in ignorance. I only saw Dr. Seward for a moment, and told him where I +was off to, promising to come back and tell the rest so soon as I should +have found out anything. I drove to Walworth and found, with some +difficulty, Potter's Court. Mr. Smollet's spelling misled me, as I asked +for Poter's Court instead of Potter's Court. However, when I had found +the court, I had no difficulty in discovering Corcoran's lodging-house. +When I asked the man who came to the door for the "depite," he shook his +head, and said: "I dunno 'im. There ain't no such a person 'ere; I never +'eard of 'im in all my bloomin' days. Don't believe there ain't nobody +of that kind livin' ere or anywheres." I took out Smollet's letter, and +as I read it it seemed to me that the lesson of the spelling of the name +of the court might guide me. "What are you?" I asked. + +"I'm the depity," he answered. I saw at once that I was on the right +track; phonetic spelling had again misled me. A half-crown tip put the +deputy's knowledge at my disposal, and I learned that Mr. Bloxam, who +had slept off the remains of his beer on the previous night at +Corcoran's, had left for his work at Poplar at five o'clock that +morning. He could not tell me where the place of work was situated, but +he had a vague idea that it was some kind of a "new-fangled ware'us"; +and with this slender clue I had to start for Poplar. It was twelve +o'clock before I got any satisfactory hint of such a building, and this +I got at a coffee-shop, where some workmen were having their dinner. One +of these suggested that there was being erected at Cross Angel Street a +new "cold storage" building; and as this suited the condition of a +"new-fangled ware'us," I at once drove to it. An interview with a surly +gatekeeper and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the +coin of the realm, put me on the track of Bloxam; he was sent for on my +suggesting that I was willing to pay his day's wages to his foreman for +the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter. He was +a smart enough fellow, though rough of speech and bearing. When I had +promised to pay for his information and given him an earnest, he told me +that he had made two journeys between Carfax and a house in Piccadilly, +and had taken from this house to the latter nine great boxes--"main +heavy ones"--with a horse and cart hired by him for this purpose. I +asked him if he could tell me the number of the house in Piccadilly, to +which he replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, I forgits the number, but it was only a few doors from a +big white church or somethink of the kind, not long built. It was a +dusty old 'ouse, too, though nothin' to the dustiness of the 'ouse we +tooked the bloomin' boxes from." + +"How did you get into the houses if they were both empty?" + +"There was the old party what engaged me a-waitin' in the 'ouse at +Purfleet. He 'elped me to lift the boxes and put them in the dray. Curse +me, but he was the strongest chap I ever struck, an' him a old feller, +with a white moustache, one that thin you would think he couldn't throw +a shadder." + +How this phrase thrilled through me! + +"Why, 'e took up 'is end o' the boxes like they was pounds of tea, and +me a-puffin' an' a-blowin' afore I could up-end mine anyhow--an' I'm no +chicken, neither." + +"How did you get into the house in Piccadilly?" I asked. + +"He was there too. He must 'a' started off and got there afore me, for +when I rung of the bell he kem an' opened the door 'isself an' 'elped me +to carry the boxes into the 'all." + +"The whole nine?" I asked. + +"Yus; there was five in the first load an' four in the second. It was +main dry work, an' I don't so well remember 'ow I got 'ome." I +interrupted him:-- + +"Were the boxes left in the hall?" + +"Yus; it was a big 'all, an' there was nothin' else in it." I made one +more attempt to further matters:-- + +"You didn't have any key?" + +"Never used no key nor nothink. The old gent, he opened the door 'isself +an' shut it again when I druv off. I don't remember the last time--but +that was the beer." + +"And you can't remember the number of the house?" + +"No, sir. But ye needn't have no difficulty about that. It's a 'igh 'un +with a stone front with a bow on it, an' 'igh steps up to the door. I +know them steps, 'avin' 'ad to carry the boxes up with three loafers +what come round to earn a copper. The old gent give them shillin's, an' +they seein' they got so much, they wanted more; but 'e took one of them +by the shoulder and was like to throw 'im down the steps, till the lot +of them went away cussin'." I thought that with this description I could +find the house, so, having paid my friend for his information, I started +off for Piccadilly. I had gained a new painful experience; the Count +could, it was evident, handle the earth-boxes himself. If so, time was +precious; for, now that he had achieved a certain amount of +distribution, he could, by choosing his own time, complete the task +unobserved. At Piccadilly Circus I discharged my cab, and walked +westward; beyond the Junior Constitutional I came across the house +described, and was satisfied that this was the next of the lairs +arranged by Dracula. The house looked as though it had been long +untenanted. The windows were encrusted with dust, and the shutters were +up. All the framework was black with time, and from the iron the paint +had mostly scaled away. It was evident that up to lately there had been +a large notice-board in front of the balcony; it had, however, been +roughly torn away, the uprights which had supported it still remaining. +Behind the rails of the balcony I saw there were some loose boards, +whose raw edges looked white. I would have given a good deal to have +been able to see the notice-board intact, as it would, perhaps, have +given some clue to the ownership of the house. I remembered my +experience of the investigation and purchase of Carfax, and I could not +but feel that if I could find the former owner there might be some means +discovered of gaining access to the house. + +There was at present nothing to be learned from the Piccadilly side, and +nothing could be done; so I went round to the back to see if anything +could be gathered from this quarter. The mews were active, the +Piccadilly houses being mostly in occupation. I asked one or two of the +grooms and helpers whom I saw around if they could tell me anything +about the empty house. One of them said that he heard it had lately been +taken, but he couldn't say from whom. He told me, however, that up to +very lately there had been a notice-board of "For Sale" up, and that +perhaps Mitchell, Sons, & Candy, the house agents, could tell me +something, as he thought he remembered seeing the name of that firm on +the board. I did not wish to seem too eager, or to let my informant know +or guess too much, so, thanking him in the usual manner, I strolled +away. It was now growing dusk, and the autumn night was closing in, so I +did not lose any time. Having learned the address of Mitchell, Sons, & +Candy from a directory at the Berkeley, I was soon at their office in +Sackville Street. + +The gentleman who saw me was particularly suave in manner, but +uncommunicative in equal proportion. Having once told me that the +Piccadilly house--which throughout our interview he called a +"mansion"--was sold, he considered my business as concluded. When I +asked who had purchased it, he opened his eyes a thought wider, and +paused a few seconds before replying:-- + +"It is sold, sir." + +"Pardon me," I said, with equal politeness, "but I have a special reason +for wishing to know who purchased it." + +Again he paused longer, and raised his eyebrows still more. "It is sold, +sir," was again his laconic reply. + +"Surely," I said, "you do not mind letting me know so much." + +"But I do mind," he answered. "The affairs of their clients are +absolutely safe in the hands of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy." This was +manifestly a prig of the first water, and there was no use arguing with +him. I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so I said:-- + +"Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian of their +confidence. I am myself a professional man." Here I handed him my card. +"In this instance I am not prompted by curiosity; I act on the part of +Lord Godalming, who wishes to know something of the property which was, +he understood, lately for sale." These words put a different complexion +on affairs. He said:-- + +"I would like to oblige you if I could, Mr. Harker, and especially would +I like to oblige his lordship. We once carried out a small matter of +renting some chambers for him when he was the Honourable Arthur +Holmwood. If you will let me have his lordship's address I will consult +the House on the subject, and will, in any case, communicate with his +lordship by to-night's post. It will be a pleasure if we can so far +deviate from our rules as to give the required information to his +lordship." + +I wanted to secure a friend, and not to make an enemy, so I thanked him, +gave the address at Dr. Seward's and came away. It was now dark, and I +was tired and hungry. I got a cup of tea at the Aërated Bread Company +and came down to Purfleet by the next train. + +I found all the others at home. Mina was looking tired and pale, but she +made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerful, it wrung my heart to +think that I had had to keep anything from her and so caused her +inquietude. Thank God, this will be the last night of her looking on at +our conferences, and feeling the sting of our not showing our +confidence. It took all my courage to hold to the wise resolution of +keeping her out of our grim task. She seems somehow more reconciled; or +else the very subject seems to have become repugnant to her, for when +any accidental allusion is made she actually shudders. I am glad we +made our resolution in time, as with such a feeling as this, our growing +knowledge would be torture to her. + +I could not tell the others of the day's discovery till we were alone; +so after dinner--followed by a little music to save appearances even +amongst ourselves--I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bed. +The dear girl was more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me +as though she would detain me; but there was much to be talked of and I +came away. Thank God, the ceasing of telling things has made no +difference between us. + +When I came down again I found the others all gathered round the fire in +the study. In the train I had written my diary so far, and simply read +it off to them as the best means of letting them get abreast of my own +information; when I had finished Van Helsing said:-- + +"This has been a great day's work, friend Jonathan. Doubtless we are on +the track of the missing boxes. If we find them all in that house, then +our work is near the end. But if there be some missing, we must search +until we find them. Then shall we make our final _coup_, and hunt the +wretch to his real death." We all sat silent awhile and all at once Mr. +Morris spoke:-- + +"Say! how are we going to get into that house?" + +"We got into the other," answered Lord Godalming quickly. + +"But, Art, this is different. We broke house at Carfax, but we had night +and a walled park to protect us. It will be a mighty different thing to +commit burglary in Piccadilly, either by day or night. I confess I don't +see how we are going to get in unless that agency duck can find us a key +of some sort; perhaps we shall know when you get his letter in the +morning." Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked +about the room. By-and-by he stopped and said, turning from one to +another of us:-- + +"Quincey's head is level. This burglary business is getting serious; we +got off once all right; but we have now a rare job on hand--unless we +can find the Count's key basket." + +As nothing could well be done before morning, and as it would be at +least advisable to wait till Lord Godalming should hear from Mitchell's, +we decided not to take any active step before breakfast time. For a good +while we sat and smoked, discussing the matter in its various lights and +bearings; I took the opportunity of bringing this diary right up to the +moment. I am very sleepy and shall go to bed.... + +Just a line. Mina sleeps soundly and her breathing is regular. Her +forehead is puckered up into little wrinkles, as though she thinks even +in her sleep. She is still too pale, but does not look so haggard as she +did this morning. To-morrow will, I hope, mend all this; she will be +herself at home in Exeter. Oh, but I am sleepy! + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--I am puzzled afresh about Renfield. His moods change so +rapidly that I find it difficult to keep touch of them, and as they +always mean something more than his own well-being, they form a more +than interesting study. This morning, when I went to see him after his +repulse of Van Helsing, his manner was that of a man commanding destiny. +He was, in fact, commanding destiny--subjectively. He did not really +care for any of the things of mere earth; he was in the clouds and +looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor mortals. I +thought I would improve the occasion and learn something, so I asked +him:-- + +"What about the flies these times?" He smiled on me in quite a superior +sort of way--such a smile as would have become the face of Malvolio--as +he answered me:-- + +"The fly, my dear sir, has one striking feature; its wings are typical +of the aërial powers of the psychic faculties. The ancients did well +when they typified the soul as a butterfly!" + +I thought I would push his analogy to its utmost logically, so I said +quickly:-- + +"Oh, it is a soul you are after now, is it?" His madness foiled his +reason, and a puzzled look spread over his face as, shaking his head +with a decision which I had but seldom seen in him, he said:-- + +"Oh, no, oh no! I want no souls. Life is all I want." Here he brightened +up; "I am pretty indifferent about it at present. Life is all right; I +have all I want. You must get a new patient, doctor, if you wish to +study zoöphagy!" + +This puzzled me a little, so I drew him on:-- + +"Then you command life; you are a god, I suppose?" He smiled with an +ineffably benign superiority. + +"Oh no! Far be it from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the +Deity. I am not even concerned in His especially spiritual doings. If I +may state my intellectual position I am, so far as concerns things +purely terrestrial, somewhat in the position which Enoch occupied +spiritually!" This was a poser to me. I could not at the moment recall +Enoch's appositeness; so I had to ask a simple question, though I felt +that by so doing I was lowering myself in the eyes of the lunatic:-- + +"And why with Enoch?" + +"Because he walked with God." I could not see the analogy, but did not +like to admit it; so I harked back to what he had denied:-- + +"So you don't care about life and you don't want souls. Why not?" I put +my question quickly and somewhat sternly, on purpose to disconcert him. +The effort succeeded; for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into his +old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon me as +he replied:-- + +"I don't want any souls, indeed, indeed! I don't. I couldn't use them if +I had them; they would be no manner of use to me. I couldn't eat them +or----" He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his +face, like a wind-sweep on the surface of the water. "And doctor, as to +life, what is it after all? When you've got all you require, and you +know that you will never want, that is all. I have friends--good +friends--like you, Dr. Seward"; this was said with a leer of +inexpressible cunning. "I know that I shall never lack the means of +life!" + +I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some +antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as +he--a dogged silence. After a short time I saw that for the present it +was useless to speak to him. He was sulky, and so I came away. + +Later in the day he sent for me. Ordinarily I would not have come +without special reason, but just at present I am so interested in him +that I would gladly make an effort. Besides, I am glad to have anything +to help to pass the time. Harker is out, following up clues; and so are +Lord Godalming and Quincey. Van Helsing sits in my study poring over the +record prepared by the Harkers; he seems to think that by accurate +knowledge of all details he will light upon some clue. He does not wish +to be disturbed in the work, without cause. I would have taken him with +me to see the patient, only I thought that after his last repulse he +might not care to go again. There was also another reason: Renfield +might not speak so freely before a third person as when he and I were +alone. + +I found him sitting out in the middle of the floor on his stool, a pose +which is generally indicative of some mental energy on his part. When I +came in, he said at once, as though the question had been waiting on his +lips:-- + +"What about souls?" It was evident then that my surmise had been +correct. Unconscious cerebration was doing its work, even with the +lunatic. I determined to have the matter out. "What about them +yourself?" I asked. He did not reply for a moment but looked all round +him, and up and down, as though he expected to find some inspiration for +an answer. + +"I don't want any souls!" he said in a feeble, apologetic way. The +matter seemed preying on his mind, and so I determined to use it--to "be +cruel only to be kind." So I said:-- + +"You like life, and you want life?" + +"Oh yes! but that is all right; you needn't worry about that!" + +"But," I asked, "how are we to get the life without getting the soul +also?" This seemed to puzzle him, so I followed it up:-- + +"A nice time you'll have some time when you're flying out there, with +the souls of thousands of flies and spiders and birds and cats buzzing +and twittering and miauing all round you. You've got their lives, you +know, and you must put up with their souls!" Something seemed to affect +his imagination, for he put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes, +screwing them up tightly just as a small boy does when his face is being +soaped. There was something pathetic in it that touched me; it also gave +me a lesson, for it seemed that before me was a child--only a child, +though the features were worn, and the stubble on the jaws was white. It +was evident that he was undergoing some process of mental disturbance, +and, knowing how his past moods had interpreted things seemingly foreign +to himself, I thought I would enter into his mind as well as I could and +go with him. The first step was to restore confidence, so I asked him, +speaking pretty loud so that he would hear me through his closed ears:-- + +"Would you like some sugar to get your flies round again?" He seemed to +wake up all at once, and shook his head. With a laugh he replied:-- + +"Not much! flies are poor things, after all!" After a pause he added, +"But I don't want their souls buzzing round me, all the same." + +"Or spiders?" I went on. + +"Blow spiders! What's the use of spiders? There isn't anything in them +to eat or"--he stopped suddenly, as though reminded of a forbidden +topic. + +"So, so!" I thought to myself, "this is the second time he has suddenly +stopped at the word 'drink'; what does it mean?" Renfield seemed himself +aware of having made a lapse, for he hurried on, as though to distract +my attention from it:-- + +"I don't take any stock at all in such matters. 'Rats and mice and such +small deer,' as Shakespeare has it, 'chicken-feed of the larder' they +might be called. I'm past all that sort of nonsense. You might as well +ask a man to eat molecules with a pair of chop-sticks, as to try to +interest me about the lesser carnivora, when I know of what is before +me." + +"I see," I said. "You want big things that you can make your teeth meet +in? How would you like to breakfast on elephant?" + +"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!" He was getting too wide +awake, so I thought I would press him hard. "I wonder," I said +reflectively, "what an elephant's soul is like!" + +The effect I desired was obtained, for he at once fell from his +high-horse and became a child again. + +"I don't want an elephant's soul, or any soul at all!" he said. For a +few moments he sat despondently. Suddenly he jumped to his feet, with +his eyes blazing and all the signs of intense cerebral excitement. "To +hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about +souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, +without thinking of souls!" He looked so hostile that I thought he was +in for another homicidal fit, so I blew my whistle. The instant, +however, that I did so he became calm, and said apologetically:-- + +"Forgive me, Doctor; I forgot myself. You do not need any help. I am so +worried in my mind that I am apt to be irritable. If you only knew the +problem I have to face, and that I am working out, you would pity, and +tolerate, and pardon me. Pray do not put me in a strait-waistcoat. I +want to think and I cannot think freely when my body is confined. I am +sure you will understand!" He had evidently self-control; so when the +attendants came I told them not to mind, and they withdrew. Renfield +watched them go; when the door was closed he said, with considerable +dignity and sweetness:-- + +"Dr. Seward, you have been very considerate towards me. Believe me that +I am very, very grateful to you!" I thought it well to leave him in this +mood, and so I came away. There is certainly something to ponder over in +this man's state. Several points seem to make what the American +interviewer calls "a story," if one could only get them in proper order. +Here they are:-- + +Will not mention "drinking." + +Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything. + +Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future. + +Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being +haunted by their souls. + +Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind +that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence--the +burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to! + +And the assurance--? + +Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of +terror afoot! + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I went after my round to Van Helsing and told him my +suspicion. He grew very grave; and, after thinking the matter over for a +while asked me to take him to Renfield. I did so. As we came to the door +we heard the lunatic within singing gaily, as he used to do in the time +which now seems so long ago. When we entered we saw with amazement that +he had spread out his sugar as of old; the flies, lethargic with the +autumn, were beginning to buzz into the room. We tried to make him talk +of the subject of our previous conversation, but he would not attend. He +went on with his singing, just as though we had not been present. He had +got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book. We had to come +away as ignorant as we went in. + +His is a curious case indeed; we must watch him to-night. + + +_Letter, Mitchell, Sons and Candy to Lord Godalming._ + +_"1 October._ + +"My Lord, + +"We are at all times only too happy to meet your wishes. We beg, with +regard to the desire of your Lordship, expressed by Mr. Harker on your +behalf, to supply the following information concerning the sale and +purchase of No. 347, Piccadilly. The original vendors are the executors +of the late Mr. Archibald Winter-Suffield. The purchaser is a foreign +nobleman, Count de Ville, who effected the purchase himself paying the +purchase money in notes 'over the counter,' if your Lordship will pardon +us using so vulgar an expression. Beyond this we know nothing whatever +of him. + +"We are, my Lord, + +"Your Lordship's humble servants, + +"MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 October._--I placed a man in the corridor last night, and told him to +make an accurate note of any sound he might hear from Renfield's room, +and gave him instructions that if there should be anything strange he +was to call me. After dinner, when we had all gathered round the fire +in the study--Mrs. Harker having gone to bed--we discussed the attempts +and discoveries of the day. Harker was the only one who had any result, +and we are in great hopes that his clue may be an important one. + +Before going to bed I went round to the patient's room and looked in +through the observation trap. He was sleeping soundly, and his heart +rose and fell with regular respiration. + +This morning the man on duty reported to me that a little after midnight +he was restless and kept saying his prayers somewhat loudly. I asked him +if that was all; he replied that it was all he heard. There was +something about his manner so suspicious that I asked him point blank if +he had been asleep. He denied sleep, but admitted to having "dozed" for +a while. It is too bad that men cannot be trusted unless they are +watched. + +To-day Harker is out following up his clue, and Art and Quincey are +looking after horses. Godalming thinks that it will be well to have +horses always in readiness, for when we get the information which we +seek there will be no time to lose. We must sterilise all the imported +earth between sunrise and sunset; we shall thus catch the Count at his +weakest, and without a refuge to fly to. Van Helsing is off to the +British Museum looking up some authorities on ancient medicine. The old +physicians took account of things which their followers do not accept, +and the Professor is searching for witch and demon cures which may be +useful to us later. + +I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity in +strait-waistcoats. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--We have met again. We seem at last to be on the track, and our +work of to-morrow may be the beginning of the end. I wonder if +Renfield's quiet has anything to do with this. His moods have so +followed the doings of the Count, that the coming destruction of the +monster may be carried to him in some subtle way. If we could only get +some hint as to what passed in his mind, between the time of my argument +with him to-day and his resumption of fly-catching, it might afford us a +valuable clue. He is now seemingly quiet for a spell.... Is he?---- That +wild yell seemed to come from his room.... + + * * * * * + +The attendant came bursting into my room and told me that Renfield had +somehow met with some accident. He had heard him yell; and when he went +to him found him lying on his face on the floor, all covered with blood. +I must go at once.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well +as I can remember it, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that I +can recall must be forgotten; in all calmness I must proceed. + +When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his +left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it +became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries; +there seemed none of that unity of purpose between the parts of the body +which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see +that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the +floor--indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood +originated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as +we turned him over:-- + +"I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and +the whole side of his face are paralysed." How such a thing could have +happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure. He seemed quite +bewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said:-- + +"I can't understand the two things. He could mark his face like that by +beating his own head on the floor. I saw a young woman do it once at the +Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her. And I suppose he +might have broke his neck by falling out of bed, if he got in an awkward +kink. But for the life of me I can't imagine how the two things +occurred. If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his head; and if his +face was like that before the fall out of bed, there would be marks of +it." I said to him:-- + +"Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here at once. I want +him without an instant's delay." The man ran off, and within a few +minutes the Professor, in his dressing gown and slippers, appeared. When +he saw Renfield on the ground, he looked keenly at him a moment, and +then turned to me. I think he recognised my thought in my eyes, for he +said very quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant:-- + +"Ah, a sad accident! He will need very careful watching, and much +attention. I shall stay with you myself; but I shall first dress myself. +If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you." + +The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that +he had suffered some terrible injury. Van Helsing returned with +extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He had +evidently been thinking and had his mind made up; for, almost before he +looked at the patient, he whispered to me:-- + +"Send the attendant away. We must be alone with him when he becomes +conscious, after the operation." So I said:-- + +"I think that will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can at +present. You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing will operate. +Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere." + +The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient. +The wounds of the face was superficial; the real injury was a depressed +fracture of the skull, extending right up through the motor area. The +Professor thought a moment and said:-- + +"We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as far +as can be; the rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of +his injury. The whole motor area seems affected. The suffusion of the +brain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be +too late." As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door. I +went over and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur and +Quincey in pajamas and slippers: the former spoke:-- + +"I heard your man call up Dr. Van Helsing and tell him of an accident. +So I woke Quincey or rather called for him as he was not asleep. Things +are moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us +these times. I've been thinking that to-morrow night will not see things +as they have been. We'll have to look back--and forward a little more +than we have done. May we come in?" I nodded, and held the door open +till they had entered; then I closed it again. When Quincey saw the +attitude and state of the patient, and noted the horrible pool on the +floor, he said softly:-- + +"My God! what has happened to him? Poor, poor devil!" I told him +briefly, and added that we expected he would recover consciousness after +the operation--for a short time, at all events. He went at once and sat +down on the edge of the bed, with Godalming beside him; we all watched +in patience. + +"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best +spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove +the blood clot; for it is evident that the hæmorrhage is increasing." + +The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness. I had a +horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I gathered +that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. I dreaded +the words that Renfield might speak. I was positively afraid to think; +but the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have read of men +who have heard the death-watch. The poor man's breathing came in +uncertain gasps. Each instant he seemed as though he would open his eyes +and speak; but then would follow a prolonged stertorous breath, and he +would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I was to sick +beds and death, this suspense grew, and grew upon me. I could almost +hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging through my +temples sounded like blows from a hammer. The silence finally became +agonising. I looked at my companions, one after another, and saw from +their flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equal +torture. There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overhead +some dread bell would peal out powerfully when we should least expect +it. + +At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was +sinking fast; he might die at any moment. I looked up at the Professor +and caught his eyes fixed on mine. His face was sternly set as he +spoke:-- + +"There is no time to lose. His words may be worth many lives; I have +been thinking so, as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake! +We shall operate just above the ear." + +Without another word he made the operation. For a few moments the +breathing continued to be stertorous. Then there came a breath so +prolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest. +Suddenly his eyes opened, and became fixed in a wild, helpless stare. +This was continued for a few moments; then it softened into a glad +surprise, and from the lips came a sigh of relief. He moved +convulsively, and as he did so, said:-- + +"I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait-waistcoat. I +have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot +move. What's wrong with my face? it feels all swollen, and it smarts +dreadfully." He tried to turn his head; but even with the effort his +eyes seemed to grow glassy again so I gently put it back. Then Van +Helsing said in a quiet grave tone:-- + +"Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield." As he heard the voice his face +brightened, through its mutilation, and he said:-- + +"That is Dr. Van Helsing. How good it is of you to be here. Give me some +water, my lips are dry; and I shall try to tell you. I dreamed"--he +stopped and seemed fainting, I called quietly to Quincey--"The +brandy--it is in my study--quick!" He flew and returned with a glass, +the decanter of brandy and a carafe of water. We moistened the parched +lips, and the patient quickly revived. It seemed, however, that his poor +injured brain had been working in the interval, for, when he was quite +conscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonised confusion which I +shall never forget, and said:-- + +"I must not deceive myself; it was no dream, but all a grim reality." +Then his eyes roved round the room; as they caught sight of the two +figures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed he went on:-- + +"If I were not sure already, I would know from them." For an instant his +eyes closed--not with pain or sleep but voluntarily, as though he were +bringing all his faculties to bear; when he opened them he said, +hurriedly, and with more energy than he had yet displayed:-- + +"Quick, Doctor, quick. I am dying! I feel that I have but a few minutes; +and then I must go back to death--or worse! Wet my lips with brandy +again. I have something that I must say before I die; or before my poor +crushed brain dies anyhow. Thank you! It was that night after you left +me, when I implored you to let me go away. I couldn't speak then, for I +felt my tongue was tied; but I was as sane then, except in that way, as +I am now. I was in an agony of despair for a long time after you left +me; it seemed hours. Then there came a sudden peace to me. My brain +seemed to become cool again, and I realised where I was. I heard the +dogs bark behind our house, but not where He was!" As he spoke, Van +Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out and met mine and +gripped it hard. He did not, however, betray himself; he nodded slightly +and said: "Go on," in a low voice. Renfield proceeded:-- + +"He came up to the window in the mist, as I had seen him often before; +but he was solid then--not a ghost, and his eyes were fierce like a +man's when angry. He was laughing with his red mouth; the sharp white +teeth glinted in the moonlight when he turned to look back over the belt +of trees, to where the dogs were barking. I wouldn't ask him to come in +at first, though I knew he wanted to--just as he had wanted all along. +Then he began promising me things--not in words but by doing them." He +was interrupted by a word from the Professor:-- + +"How?" + +"By making them happen; just as he used to send in the flies when the +sun was shining. Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their +wings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on their +backs." Van Helsing nodded to him as he whispered to me unconsciously:-- + +"The _Acherontia Aitetropos of the Sphinges_--what you call the +'Death's-head Moth'?" The patient went on without stopping. + +"Then he began to whisper: 'Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, +millions of them, and every one a life; and dogs to eat them, and cats +too. All lives! all red blood, with years of life in it; and not merely +buzzing flies!' I laughed at him, for I wanted to see what he could do. +Then the dogs howled, away beyond the dark trees in His house. He +beckoned me to the window. I got up and looked out, and He raised his +hands, and seemed to call out without using any words. A dark mass +spread over the grass, coming on like the shape of a flame of fire; and +then He moved the mist to the right and left, and I could see that there +were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red--like His, only +smaller. He held up his hand, and they all stopped; and I thought he +seemed to be saying: 'All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more +and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship +me!' And then a red cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close +over my eyes; and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening +the sash and saying to Him: 'Come in, Lord and Master!' The rats were +all gone, but He slid into the room through the sash, though it was only +open an inch wide--just as the Moon herself has often come in through +the tiniest crack and has stood before me in all her size and +splendour." + +His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again, and +he continued; but it seemed as though his memory had gone on working in +the interval for his story was further advanced. I was about to call him +back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me: "Let him go on. Do +not interrupt him; he cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all +if once he lost the thread of his thought." He proceeded:-- + +"All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, not +even a blow-fly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him. +When he slid in through the window, though it was shut, and did not even +knock, I got mad with him. He sneered at me, and his white face looked +out of the mist with his red eyes gleaming, and he went on as though he +owned the whole place, and I was no one. He didn't even smell the same +as he went by me. I couldn't hold him. I thought that, somehow, Mrs. +Harker had come into the room." + +The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behind +him so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better. +They were both silent, but the Professor started and quivered; his face, +however, grew grimmer and sterner still. Renfield went on without +noticing:-- + +"When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon she wasn't the same; +it was like tea after the teapot had been watered." Here we all moved, +but no one said a word; he went on:-- + +"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look the +same. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood +in them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of it +at the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad +to know that He had been taking the life out of her." I could feel that +the rest quivered, as I did, but we remained otherwise still. "So when +He came to-night I was ready for Him. I saw the mist stealing in, and I +grabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength; and +as I knew I was a madman--at times anyhow--I resolved to use my power. +Ay, and He felt it too, for He had to come out of the mist to struggle +with me. I held tight; and I thought I was going to win, for I didn't +mean Him to take any more of her life, till I saw His eyes. They burned +into me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, and +when I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down. There +was a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed +to steal away under the door." His voice was becoming fainter and his +breath more stertorous. Van Helsing stood up instinctively. + +"We know the worst now," he said. "He is here, and we know his purpose. +It may not be too late. Let us be armed--the same as we were the other +night, but lose no time; there is not an instant to spare." There was no +need to put our fear, nay our conviction, into words--we shared them in +common. We all hurried and took from our rooms the same things that we +had when we entered the Count's house. The Professor had his ready, and +as we met in the corridor he pointed to them significantly as he said:-- + +"They never leave me; and they shall not till this unhappy business is +over. Be wise also, my friends. It is no common enemy that we deal with. +Alas! alas! that that dear Madam Mina should suffer!" He stopped; his +voice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated in +my own heart. + +Outside the Harkers' door we paused. Art and Quincey held back, and the +latter said:-- + +"Should we disturb her?" + +"We must," said Van Helsing grimly. "If the door be locked, I shall +break it in." + +"May it not frighten her terribly? It is unusual to break into a lady's +room!" + +Van Helsing said solemnly, "You are always right; but this is life and +death. All chambers are alike to the doctor; and even were they not they +are all as one to me to-night. Friend John, when I turn the handle, if +the door does not open, do you put your shoulder down and shove; and you +too, my friends. Now!" + +He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threw +ourselves against it; with a crash it burst open, and we almost fell +headlong into the room. The Professor did actually fall, and I saw +across him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I saw +appalled me. I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my neck, +and my heart seemed to stand still. + +The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind the room +was light enough to see. On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan +Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor. +Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad +figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. +His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw we all recognised +the Count--in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left +hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms +at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, +forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared +with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which +was shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible +resemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to +compel it to drink. As we burst into the room, the Count turned his +face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap +into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils +of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the +white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, +champed together like those of a wild beast. With a wrench, which threw +his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned +and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, +and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred +Wafer. The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside +the tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, +lifting our crucifixes, advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a +great black cloud sailed across the sky; and when the gaslight sprang up +under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as we +looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its bursting +open, had swung back to its old position. Van Helsing, Art, and I moved +forward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time had drawn her breath and with +it had given a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so despairing that it +seems to me now that it will ring in my ears till my dying day. For a +few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and disarray. Her face was +ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which smeared +her lips and cheeks and chin; from her throat trickled a thin stream of +blood; her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her +poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the +Count's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate wail +which made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression of an +endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and drew the coverlet gently +over her body, whilst Art, after looking at her face for an instant +despairingly, ran out of the room. Van Helsing whispered to me:-- + +"Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce. We can +do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a few moments till she recovers +herself; I must wake him!" He dipped the end of a towel in cold water +and with it began to flick him on the face, his wife all the while +holding her face between her hands and sobbing in a way that was +heart-breaking to hear. I raised the blind, and looked out of the +window. There was much moonshine; and as I looked I could see Quincey +Morris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great +yew-tree. It puzzled me to think why he was doing this; but at the +instant I heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial +consciousness, and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might well +be, was a look of wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and +then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he +started up. His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to +him with her arms stretched out, as though to embrace him; instantly, +however, she drew them in again, and putting her elbows together, held +her hands before her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook. + +"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out. "Dr. Seward, Dr. +Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is wrong? Mina, dear, +what is it? What does that blood mean? My God, my God! has it come to +this!" and, raising himself to his knees, he beat his hands wildly +together. "Good God help us! help her! oh, help her!" With a quick +movement he jumped from bed, and began to pull on his clothes,--all the +man in him awake at the need for instant exertion. "What has happened? +Tell me all about it!" he cried without pausing. "Dr. Van Helsing, you +love Mina, I know. Oh, do something to save her. It cannot have gone too +far yet. Guard her while I look for _him_!" His wife, through her terror +and horror and distress, saw some sure danger to him: instantly +forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of him and cried out:-- + +"No! no! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enough +to-night, God knows, without the dread of his harming you. You must stay +with me. Stay with these friends who will watch over you!" Her +expression became frantic as she spoke; and, he yielding to her, she +pulled him down sitting on the bed side, and clung to him fiercely. + +Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both. The Professor held up his +little golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness:-- + +"Do not fear, my dear. We are here; and whilst this is close to you no +foul thing can approach. You are safe for to-night; and we must be calm +and take counsel together." She shuddered and was silent, holding down +her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his white +night-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where +the thin open wound in her neck had sent forth drops. The instant she +saw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking +sobs:-- + +"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it +should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have +most cause to fear." To this he spoke out resolutely:-- + +"Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not +hear it of you; and I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my +deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, +if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out +his arms and folded her to his breast; and for a while she lay there +sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked +damply above his quivering nostrils; his mouth was set as steel. After a +while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then he said to +me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his nervous +power to the utmost:-- + +"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it. Too well I know the broad +fact; tell me all that has been." I told him exactly what had happened, +and he listened with seeming impassiveness; but his nostrils twitched +and his eyes blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had +held his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to +the open wound in his breast. It interested me, even at that moment, to +see, that, whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over +the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled +hair. Just as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at the door. +They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing looked at me +questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of +their coming to divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappy husband +and wife from each other and from themselves; so on nodding acquiescence +to him he asked them what they had seen or done. To which Lord Godalming +answered:-- + +"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our rooms. I +looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had gone. He had, +however----" He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping figure on +the bed. Van Helsing said gravely:-- + +"Go on, friend Arthur. We want here no more concealments. Our hope now +is in knowing all. Tell freely!" So Art went on:-- + +"He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few +seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the manuscript had been +burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes; the +cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax +had helped the flames." Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is the +other copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he +went on: "I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I looked +into Renfield's room; but there was no trace there except----!" Again he +paused. "Go on," said Harker hoarsely; so he bowed his head and +moistening his lips with his tongue, added: "except that the poor fellow +is dead." Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of +us she said solemnly:-- + +"God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping back +something; but, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing. +Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked:-- + +"And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?" + +"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at present I +can't say. I thought it well to know if possible where the Count would +go when he left the house. I did not see him; but I saw a bat rise from +Renfield's window, and flap westward. I expected to see him in some +shape go back to Carfax; but he evidently sought some other lair. He +will not be back to-night; for the sky is reddening in the east, and the +dawn is close. We must work to-morrow!" + +He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of perhaps +a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that I could +hear the sound of our hearts beating; then Van Helsing said, placing his +hand very tenderly on Mrs. Harker's head:-- + +"And now, Madam Mina--poor, dear, dear Madam Mina--tell us exactly what +happened. God knows that I do not want that you be pained; but it is +need that we know all. For now more than ever has all work to be done +quick and sharp, and in deadly earnest. The day is close to us that must +end all, if it may be so; and now is the chance that we may live and +learn." + +The poor, dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves +as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and +lower still on his breast. Then she raised her head proudly, and held +out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his, and, after stooping and +kissing it reverently, held it fast. The other hand was locked in that +of her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her protectingly. +After a pause in which she was evidently ordering her thoughts, she +began:-- + +"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, but for a +long time it did not act. I seemed to become more wakeful, and myriads +of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mind--all of them +connected with death, and vampires; with blood, and pain, and trouble." +Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and said +lovingly: "Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me +through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me +to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I +need your help. Well, I saw I must try to help the medicine to its work +with my will, if it was to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to +sleep. Sure enough sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no +more. Jonathan coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when +next I remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I +had before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this; you will find +it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague +terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some presence. +I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so soundly that it +seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping draught, and not I. I +tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I +looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me: beside +the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist--or rather as if the mist +had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared--stood a +tall, thin man, all in black. I knew him at once from the description of +the others. The waxen face; the high aquiline nose, on which the light +fell in a thin white line; the parted red lips, with the sharp white +teeth showing between; and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the +sunset on the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby. I knew, too, the +red scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant +my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was +paralysed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper, +pointing as he spoke to Jonathan:-- + +"'Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out +before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or +say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulder +and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did +so, 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well +be quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have +appeased my thirst!' I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not +want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that +such is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity +me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned +again. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as if +he were the injured one, and went on:-- + +"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How long +this horrible thing lasted I know not; but it seemed that a long time +must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away. I +saw it drip with the fresh blood!" The remembrance seemed for a while to +overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her +husband's sustaining arm. With a great effort she recovered herself and +went on:-- + +"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would play +your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and +frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in part already, +and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path. They +should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they +played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, and intrigued +for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were +born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now +to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin; my bountiful +wine-press for a while; and shall be later on my companion and my +helper. You shall be avenged in turn; for not one of them but shall +minister to your needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what you +have done. You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to my +call. When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or sea to +do my bidding; and to that end this!' With that he pulled open his +shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When +the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding +them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to +the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the---- Oh +my God! my God! what have I done? What have I done to deserve such a +fate, I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my +days. God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril; +and in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub her +lips as though to cleanse them from pollution. + +As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to quicken, +and everything became more and more clear. Harker was still and quiet; +but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look +which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first +red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out +against the whitening hair. + +We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappy +pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action. + +Of this I am sure: the sun rises to-day on no more miserable house in +all the great round of its daily course. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_3 October._--As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary. It +is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and +take something to eat; for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed +that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best will be, God +knows, required to-day. I must keep writing at every chance, for I dare +not stop to think. All, big and little, must go down; perhaps at the end +the little things may teach us most. The teaching, big or little, could +not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we are to-day. However, +we must trust and hope. Poor Mina told me just now, with the tears +running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and trial that our +faith is tested--that we must keep on trusting; and that God will aid us +up to the end. The end! oh my God! what end?... To work! To work! + +When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor +Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr. Seward +told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room below +they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a heap. His face was +all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the neck were broken. + +Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if he had +heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down--he confessed to +half dozing--when he heard loud voices in the room, and then Renfield +had called out loudly several times, "God! God! God!" after that there +was a sound of falling, and when he entered the room he found him lying +on the floor, face down, just as the doctors had seen him. Van Helsing +asked if he had heard "voices" or "a voice," and he said he could not +say; that at first it had seemed to him as if there were two, but as +there was no one in the room it could have been only one. He could swear +to it, if required, that the word "God" was spoken by the patient. Dr. +Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish to go into +the matter; the question of an inquest had to be considered, and it +would never do to put forward the truth, as no one would believe it. As +it was, he thought that on the attendant's evidence he could give a +certificate of death by misadventure in falling from bed. In case the +coroner should demand it, there would be a formal inquest, necessarily +to the same result. + +When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our next +step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full +confidence; that nothing of any sort--no matter how painful--should be +kept from her. She herself agreed as to its wisdom, and it was pitiful +to see her so brave and yet so sorrowful, and in such a depth of +despair. "There must be no concealment," she said, "Alas! we have had +too much already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that can +give me more pain than I have already endured--than I suffer now! +Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!" +Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said, suddenly +but quietly:-- + +"But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid; not for yourself, but for +others from yourself, after what has happened?" Her face grew set in its +lines, but her eyes shone with the devotion of a martyr as she +answered:-- + +"Ah no! for my mind is made up!" + +"To what?" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still; for each in +our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she meant. Her answer +came with direct simplicity, as though she were simply stating a fact:-- + +"Because if I find in myself--and I shall watch keenly for it--a sign of +harm to any that I love, I shall die!" + +"You would not kill yourself?" he asked, hoarsely. + +"I would; if there were no friend who loved me, who would save me such a +pain, and so desperate an effort!" She looked at him meaningly as she +spoke. He was sitting down; but now he rose and came close to her and +put his hand on her head as he said solemnly: + +"My child, there is such an one if it were for your good. For myself I +could hold it in my account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, +even at this moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my +child----" For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his +throat; he gulped it down and went on:-- + +"There are here some who would stand between you and death. You must not +die. You must not die by any hand; but least of all by your own. Until +the other, who has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not +die; for if he is still with the quick Un-Dead, your death would make +you even as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to +live, though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death +himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy; by the day, or the +night; in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you that you +do not die--nay, nor think of death--till this great evil be past." The +poor dear grew white as death, and shock and shivered, as I have seen a +quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide. We were all +silent; we could do nothing. At length she grew more calm and turning to +him said, sweetly, but oh! so sorrowfully, as she held out her hand:-- + +"I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will let me live, I shall +strive to do so; till, if it may be in His good time, this horror may +have passed away from me." She was so good and brave that we all felt +that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her, and we +began to discuss what we were to do. I told her that she was to have all +the papers in the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we +might hereafter use; and was to keep the record as she had done before. +She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do--if "pleased" could +be used in connection with so grim an interest. + +As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was +prepared with an exact ordering of our work. + +"It is perhaps well," he said, "that at our meeting after our visit to +Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth-boxes that lay +there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our purpose, and +would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such an +effort with regard to the others; but now he does not know our +intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such a +power exists to us as can sterilise his lairs, so that he cannot use +them as of old. We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as +to their disposition that, when we have examined the house in +Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them. To-day, then, is ours; +and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning +guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must +retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations +of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear +through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he +must open the door like a mortal. And so we have this day to hunt out +all his lairs and sterilise them. So we shall, if we have not yet catch +him and destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching +and the destroying shall be, in time, sure." Here I started up for I +could not contain myself at the thought that the minutes and seconds so +preciously laden with Mina's life and happiness were flying from us, +since whilst we talked action was impossible. But Van Helsing held up +his hand warningly. "Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the +quickest way home is the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all +act and act with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in +all probable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly. +The Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will have +deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper that he +write on; he will have his book of cheques. There are many belongings +that he must have somewhere; why not in this place so central, so quiet, +where he come and go by the front or the back at all hour, when in the +very vast of the traffic there is none to notice. We shall go there and +search that house; and when we learn what it holds, then we do what our +friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt 'stop the earths' and so we +run down our old fox--so? is it not?" + +"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious, +precious time!" The Professor did not move, but simply said:-- + +"And how are we to get into that house in Piccadilly?" + +"Any way!" I cried. "We shall break in if need be." + +"And your police; where will they be, and what will they say?" + +I was staggered; but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a good +reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could:-- + +"Don't wait more than need be; you know, I am sure, what torture I am +in." + +"Ah, my child, that I do; and indeed there is no wish of me to add to +your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the world be at +movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and thought, and it +seems to me that the simplest way is the best of all. Now we wish to get +into the house, but we have no key; is it not so?" I nodded. + +"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and could +not still get it; and think there was to you no conscience of the +housebreaker, what would you do?" + +"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the +lock for me." + +"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?" + +"Oh, no! not if they knew the man was properly employed." + +"Then," he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, "all that is in doubt is +the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your policemen as to +whether or no that employer has a good conscience or a bad one. Your +police must indeed be zealous men and clever--oh, so clever!--in reading +the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter. No, no, my +friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty house in this +your London, or of any city in the world; and if you do it as such +things are rightly done, and at the time such things are rightly done, +no one will interfere. I have read of a gentleman who owned a so fine +house in London, and when he went for months of summer to Switzerland +and lock up his house, some burglar came and broke window at back and +got in. Then he went and made open the shutters in front and walk out +and in through the door, before the very eyes of the police. Then he +have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice; +and when the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of +that other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell him +that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take all away +within a certain time. And your police and other authority help him all +they can. And when that owner come back from his holiday in Switzerland +he find only an empty hole where his house had been. This was all done +_en règle_; and in our work we shall be _en règle_ too. We shall not go +so early that the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem +it strange; but we shall go after ten o'clock, when there are many +about, and such things would be done were we indeed owners of the +house." + +I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Mina's +face became relaxed a thought; there was hope in such good counsel. Van +Helsing went on:-- + +"When once within that house we may find more clues; at any rate some of +us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places where there be +more earth-boxes--at Bermondsey and Mile End." + +Lord Godalming stood up. "I can be of some use here," he said. "I shall +wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most +convenient." + +"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to have all +ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don't you think that one +of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byway of +Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes? +It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south or east; and +even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are going to." + +"Friend Quincey is right!" said the Professor. "His head is what you +call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we go to +do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may." + +Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to see +that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the +terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale--almost +ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in +somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last, lest it should give +her needless pain; but it made my blood run cold in my veins to think of +what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood. As +yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper; but the time as yet +was short, and there was time for fear. + +When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of the +disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt. It was +finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should destroy the +Count's lair close at hand. In case he should find it out too soon, we +should thus be still ahead of him in our work of destruction; and his +presence in his purely material shape, and at his weakest, might give us +some new clue. + +As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that, +after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in Piccadilly; +that the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming +and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed them. +It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the Count +might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we might be +able to cope with him then and there. At any rate, we might be able to +follow him in force. To this plan I strenuously objected, and so far as +my going was concerned, for I said that I intended to stay and protect +Mina, I thought that my mind was made up on the subject; but Mina would +not listen to my objection. She said that there might be some law matter +in which I could be useful; that amongst the Count's papers might be +some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania; +and that, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to +cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for Mina's +resolution was fixed; she said that it was the last hope for _her_ that +we should all work together. "As for me," she said, "I have no fear. +Things have been as bad as they can be; and whatever may happen must +have in it some element of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if +He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any one present." So I +started up crying out: "Then in God's name let us come at once, for we +are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier than we +think." + +"Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand. + +"But why?" I asked. + +"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last night he +banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?" + +Did I forget! shall I ever--can I ever! Can any of us ever forget that +terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance; but +the pain overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and +shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had not intended to recall her +frightful experience. He had simply lost sight of her and her part in +the affair in his intellectual effort. When it struck him what he said, +he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her. "Oh, +Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I of all who so +reverence you should have said anything so forgetful. These stupid old +lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so; but you will +forget it, will you not?" He bent low beside her as he spoke; she took +his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely:-- + +"No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember; and with it I +have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all +together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is ready, and we +must all eat that we may be strong." + +Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful and +encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of +us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:-- + +"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we +all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's +lair; armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured +him. "Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case _quite_ safe +here until the sunset; and before then we shall return--if---- We shall +return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attack. I +have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing +of things of which we know, so that He may not enter. Now let me guard +yourself. On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the +name of the Father, the Son, and----" + +There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear. As he +had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it--had burned +into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. My poor +darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as +her nerves received the pain of it; and the two so overwhelmed her that +her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream. But the +words to her thought came quickly; the echo of the scream had not ceased +to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her +knees on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair +over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out:-- + +"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must +bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day." They +all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless +grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our +sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away +their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said +gravely; so gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some +way inspired, and was stating things outside himself:-- + +"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, +as He most surely shall, on the Judgment Day, to redress all wrongs of +the earth and of His children that He has placed thereon. And oh, Madam +Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that +red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, +and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as +we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the +burden that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did +in obedience to His Will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of +His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other +through stripes and shame; through tears and blood; through doubts and +fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man." + +There was hope in his words, and comfort; and they made for resignation. +Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old +man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then without a word we all +knelt down together, and, all holding hands, swore to be true to each +other. We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the +head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved; and we prayed for help +and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us. + +It was then time to start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which +neither of us shall forget to our dying day; and we set out. + +To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a +vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible +land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant +many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so +the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks. + +We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on +the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic +surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such +fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been made up, and had there +not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded +with our task. We found no papers, or any sign of use in the house; and +in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them last. +Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before them:-- + +"And now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilise this +earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far +distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has +been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more +holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to +God." As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and +very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth smelled +musty and close; but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention +was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his box a piece of the +Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down +the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked. + +One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left +them as we had found them to all appearance; but in each was a portion +of the Host. + +When we closed the door behind us, the Professor said solemnly:-- + +"So much is already done. If it may be that with all the others we can +be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may shine on Madam +Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!" + +As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our +train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly, and in the +window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her, and nodded to +tell that our work there was successfully accomplished. She nodded in +reply to show that she understood. The last I saw, she was waving her +hand in farewell. It was with a heavy heart that we sought the station +and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the +platform. + +I have written this in the train. + + * * * * * + +_Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock._--Just before we reached Fenchurch Street +Lord Godalming said to me:-- + +"Quincey and I will find a locksmith. You had better not come with us in +case there should be any difficulty; for under the circumstances it +wouldn't seem so bad for us to break into an empty house. But you are a +solicitor and the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you +should have known better." I demurred as to my not sharing any danger +even of odium, but he went on: "Besides, it will attract less attention +if there are not too many of us. My title will make it all right with +the locksmith, and with any policeman that may come along. You had +better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park, +somewhere in sight of the house; and when you see the door opened and +the smith has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the +lookout for you, and shall let you in." + +"The advice is good!" said Van Helsing, so we said no more. Godalming +and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another. At the corner +of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into the Green +Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was +centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst +its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours. We sat down on a bench +within good view, and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little +attention as possible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we +waited for the coming of the others. + +At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in leisurely +fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris; and down from the box descended +a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of tools. Morris paid +the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away. Together the two +ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he wanted done. +The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it on one of the spikes +of the rail, saying something to a policeman who just then sauntered +along. The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the man kneeling down +placed his bag beside him. After searching through it, he took out a +selection of tools which he produced to lay beside him in orderly +fashion. Then he stood up, looked into the keyhole, blew into it, and +turning to his employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and +the man lifted a good-sized bunch of keys; selecting one of them, he +began to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling +about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once the +door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two others +entered the hall. We sat still; my own cigar burnt furiously, but Van +Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited patiently as we saw the +workman come out and bring in his bag. Then he held the door partly +open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he fitted a key to the lock. +This he finally handed to Lord Godalming, who took out his purse and +gave him something. The man touched his hat, took his bag, put on his +coat and departed; not a soul took the slightest notice of the whole +transaction. + +When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and knocked at +the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom stood +Lord Godalming lighting a cigar. + +"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in. It did +indeed smell vilely--like the old chapel at Carfax--and with our +previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using the +place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all keeping together +in case of attack; for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy to deal +with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be in the +house. In the dining-room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found +eight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine, which we sought! +Our work was not over, and would never be until we should have found the +missing box. First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out +across a narrow stone-flagged yard at the blank face of a stable, +pointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no +windows in it, so we were not afraid of being over-looked. We did not +lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we had +brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as we had +treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us that the +Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to search for +any of his effects. + +After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement to attic, +we came to the conclusion that the dining-room contained any effects +which might belong to the Count; and so we proceeded to minutely examine +them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the great dining-room +table. There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great bundle; +deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and Bermondsey; +note-paper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were covered up in thin +wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There were also a clothes +brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin--the latter containing +dirty water which was reddened as if with blood. Last of all was a +little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes, probably those belonging to +the other houses. When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming +and Quincey Morris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the +houses in the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great +bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest of us +are, with what patience we can, waiting their return--or the coming of +the Count. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--The time seemed terrible long whilst we were waiting for +the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep +our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent +purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. +The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. +Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful +face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. To-day he is a drawn, +haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning +eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in +fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for, if +all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period; he will then, +in a kind of way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I +thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his----! The Professor knows +this well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind active. What he +has been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interest. So +well as I can remember, here it is:-- + +"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands, all +the papers relating to this monster; and the more I have studied, the +greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out. All through there +are signs of his advance; not only of his power, but of his knowledge of +it. As I learned from the researches of my friend Arminus of Buda-Pesth, +he was in life a most wonderful man. Soldier, statesman, and +alchemist--which latter was the highest development of the +science-knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond +compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse. He dared even to +attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time +that he did not essay. Well, in him the brain powers survived the +physical death; though it would seem that memory was not all complete. +In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is +growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of +man's stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well; and if it had not +been that we have crossed his path he would be yet--he may be yet if we +fail--the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must +lead through Death, not Life." + +Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my darling! +But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him!" + +"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but +surely; that big child-brain of his is working. Well for us, it is, as +yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain +things he would long ago have been beyond our power. However, he means +to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait +and to go slow. _Festina lente_ may well be his motto." + +"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "Oh, do be more plain to +me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain." + +The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke:-- + +"Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late, this +monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How he has been +making use of the zoöphagous patient to effect his entry into friend +John's home; for your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when +and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto by +an inmate. But these are not his most important experiments. Do we not +see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others. He +knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great +child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he +might not himself move the box. So he began to help; and then, when he +found that this be all-right, he try to move them all alone. And so he +progress, and he scatter these graves of him; and none but he know where +they are hidden. He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So +that he only use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his +form, they do him equal well; and none may know these are his +hiding-place! But, my child, do not despair; this knowledge come to him +just too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilise as for him; +and before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no place where he +can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we might be sure. Is +there not more at stake for us than for him? Then why we not be even +more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be +well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us. To-day is our +day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance. See! there are +five of us when those absent ones return." + +Whilst he was speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door, the +double postman's knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved out to the +hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us to +keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The boy handed in a +despatch. The Professor closed the door again, and, after looking at the +direction, opened it and read aloud. + +"Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and +hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the round and may want +to see you: Mina." + +There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice:-- + +"Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!" Van Helsing turned to him +quickly and said:-- + +"God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice +as yet; for what we wish for at the moment may be our undoings." + +"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this +brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!" + +"Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing. "God does not purchase +souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep +faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your +devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her pain would be +doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not fear any of us, we are +all devoted to this cause, and to-day shall see the end. The time is +coming for action; to-day this Vampire is limit to the powers of man, +and till sunset he may not change. It will take him time to arrive +here--see, it is twenty minutes past one--and there are yet some times +before he can hither come, be he never so quick. What we must hope for +is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first." + +About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram, there +came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an ordinary +knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made +the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. We looked at each other, and +together moved out into the hall; we each held ready to use our various +armaments--the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right. Van +Helsing pulled back the latch, and, holding the door half open, stood +back, having both hands ready for action. The gladness of our hearts +must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we +saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed +the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the +hall:-- + +"It is all right. We found both places; six boxes in each and we +destroyed them all!" + +"Destroyed?" asked the Professor. + +"For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said:-- + +"There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn't turn up +by five o'clock, we must start off; for it won't do to leave Mrs. Harker +alone after sunset." + +"He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been +consulting his pocket-book. "_Nota bene_, in Madam's telegram he went +south from Carfax, that means he went to cross the river, and he could +only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one +o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is as yet only +suspicious; and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would +suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a +short time before him. That he is not here already shows that he went to +Mile End next. This took him some time; for he would then have to be +carried over the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not +have long to wait now. We should have ready some plan of attack, so that +we may throw away no chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your +arms! Be ready!" He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could +hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door. + +I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a +dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and +adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always +been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been +accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be +renewed instinctively. With a swift glance around the room, he at once +laid out our plan of attack, and, without speaking a word, with a +gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing, Harker, and I were +just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could +guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door. +Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to +move in front of the window. We waited in a suspense that made the +seconds pass with nightmare slowness. The slow, careful steps came along +the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise--at least +he feared it. + +Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room, winning a way past +us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There was something +so panther-like in the movement--something so unhuman, that it seemed +to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was +Harker, who, with a quick movement, threw himself before the door +leading into the room in the front of the house. As the Count saw us, a +horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth long +and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of +lion-like disdain. His expression again changed as, with a single +impulse, we all advanced upon him. It was a pity that we had not some +better organised plan of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what +we were to do. I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would +avail us anything. Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had +ready his great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The +blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's +leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had shorne +through his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat, +making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of gold +fell out. The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that for a +moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife +aloft again for another stroke. Instinctively I moved forward with a +protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I +felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise that I +saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously +by each one of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of +hate and baffled malignity--of anger and hellish rage--which came over +the Count's face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast +of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the +pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next instant, with a sinuous +dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere his blow could fall, and, grasping +a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room, threw +himself at the window. Amid the crash and glitter of the falling glass, +he tumbled into the flagged area below. Through the sound of the +shivering glass I could hear the "ting" of the gold, as some of the +sovereigns fell on the flagging. + +We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up +the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door. +There he turned and spoke to us:-- + +"You think to baffle me, you--with your pale faces all in a row, like +sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You think +you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is +just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your +girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and +others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my +jackals when I want to feed. Bah!" With a contemptuous sneer, he passed +quickly through the door, and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he +fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut. The first of us +to speak was the Professor, as, realising the difficulty of following +him through the stable, we moved toward the hall. + +"We have learnt something--much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he +fears us; he fear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His +very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take that money? You +follow quick. You are hunters of wild beast, and understand it so. For +me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use to him, if so that he +return." As he spoke he put the money remaining into his pocket; took +the title-deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the +remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with +a match. + +Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker had +lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had, however, +bolted the stable door; and by the time they had forced it open there +was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back +of the house; but the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart. + +It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We had to +recognise that our game was up; with heavy hearts we agreed with the +Professor when he said:-- + +"Let us go back to Madam Mina--poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do +just now is done; and we can there, at least, protect her. But we need +not despair. There is but one more earth-box, and we must try to find +it; when that is done all may yet be well." I could see that he spoke as +bravely as he could to comfort Harker. The poor fellow was quite broken +down; now and again he gave a low groan which he could not suppress--he +was thinking of his wife. + +With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker +waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her +bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her own became as +pale as death: for a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were +in secret prayer; and then she said cheerfully:-- + +"I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling!" As she spoke, +she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed it--"Lay your +poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well, dear! God will protect +us if He so will it in His good intent." The poor fellow groaned. There +was no place for words in his sublime misery. + +We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered us +all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to hungry +people--for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast--or the sense +of companionship may have helped us; but anyhow we were all less +miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope. True to +our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed; and +although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to +threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion to her was +manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness. When we came to the +part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly, she clung to +her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could +protect him from any harm that might come. She said nothing, however, +till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought right up +to the present time. Then without letting go her husband's hand she +stood up amongst us and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the +scene; of that sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty +of her youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which +she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our +teeth--remembering whence and how it came; her loving kindness against +our grim hate; her tender faith against all our fears and doubting; and +we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and +purity and faith, was outcast from God. + +"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips it was +so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you all my true, +true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all this +dreadful time. I know that you must fight--that you must destroy even as +you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter; +but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this +misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when +he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have +spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too, though it may +not hold your hands from his destruction." + +As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together, as +though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core. +Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer, till his +knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain which I knew she +must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes that were more appealing +than ever. As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing +his hand from hers as he spoke:-- + +"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that +earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send +his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!" + +"Oh, hush! oh, hush! in the name of the good God. Don't say such things, +Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just +think, my dear--I have been thinking all this long, long day of it--that +... perhaps ... some day ... I, too, may need such pity; and that some +other like you--and with equal cause for anger--may deny it to me! Oh, +my husband! my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought +had there been another way; but I pray that God may not have treasured +your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a very loving and +sorely stricken man. Oh, God, let these poor white hairs go in evidence +of what he has suffered, who all his life has done no wrong, and on whom +so many sorrows have come." + +We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and we wept +openly. She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed. +Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and putting his arms +round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress. Van Helsing beckoned +to us and we stole out of the room, leaving the two loving hearts alone +with their God. + +Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming +of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace. +She tried to school herself to the belief, and, manifestly for her +husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle; and was, +I think and believe, not without its reward. Van Helsing had placed at +hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency. +When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should +sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the +poor stricken lady. The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us +shall be off to bed as soon as we can. Godalming has already turned in, +for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done I, too, shall go +to bed. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_3-4 October, close to midnight._--I thought yesterday would never end. +There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind belief +that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any change must +now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed what our next step +was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All we knew was that one +earth-box remained, and that the Count alone knew where it was. If he +chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years; and in the +meantime!--the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of it even now. +This I know: that if ever there was a woman who was all perfection, that +one is my poor wronged darling. I love her a thousand times more for her +sweet pity of last night, a pity that made my own hate of the monster +seem despicable. Surely God will not permit the world to be the poorer +by the loss of such a creature. This is hope to me. We are all drifting +reefwards now, and faith is our only anchor. Thank God! Mina is +sleeping, and sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be +like, with such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so +calm, within my seeing, since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came +over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of March. +I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red sunset on her +face, but somehow now I think it has a deeper meaning. I am not sleepy +myself, though I am weary--weary to death. However, I must try to sleep; +for there is to-morrow to think of, and there is no rest for me +until.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awaked by Mina, who was +sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could see easily, +for we did not leave the room in darkness; she had placed a warning hand +over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear:-- + +"Hush! there is someone in the corridor!" I got up softly, and crossing +the room, gently opened the door. + +Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake. He +raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me:-- + +"Hush! go back to bed; it is all right. One of us will be here all +night. We don't mean to take any chances!" + +His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina. +She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor, pale +face as she put her arms round me and said softly:-- + +"Oh, thank God for good brave men!" With a sigh she sank back again to +sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again. + + * * * * * + +_4 October, morning._--Once again during the night I was wakened by +Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming +dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas flame was +like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:-- + +"Go, call the Professor. I want to see him at once." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured +without my knowing it. He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I +shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest; the time is getting close." I +went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing +me, he sprang to his feet. + +"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm. + +"No," I replied; "but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once." + +"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room. + +In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his +dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at +the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a smile--a +positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as he +said:-- + +"Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See! friend Jonathan, +we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day!" Then +turning to her, he said, cheerfully: "And what am I do for you? For at +this hour you do not want me for nothings." + +"I want you to hypnotise me!" she said. "Do it before the dawn, for I +feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is +short!" Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed. + +Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her, +from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn. Mina +gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat +like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually +her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of +her bosom could one know that she was alive. The Professor made a few +more passes and then stopped, and I could see that his forehead was +covered with great beads of perspiration. Mina opened her eyes; but she +did not seem the same woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and +her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to +impose silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. +They came on tip-toe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the +foot of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The +stillness was broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone +which would not break the current of her thoughts:-- + +"Where are you?" The answer came in a neutral way:-- + +"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own." For several +minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood +staring at her fixedly; the rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room +was growing lighter; without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van +Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed +just upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse +itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke again:-- + +"Where are you now?" The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it +were as though she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the +same tone when reading her shorthand notes. + +"I do not know. It is all strange to me!" + +"What do you see?" + +"I can see nothing; it is all dark." + +"What do you hear?" I could detect the strain in the Professor's patient +voice. + +"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can +hear them on the outside." + +"Then you are on a ship?" We all looked at each other, trying to glean +something each from the other. We were afraid to think. The answer came +quick:-- + +"Oh, yes!" + +"What else do you hear?" + +"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the +creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan +falls into the rachet." + +"What are you doing?" + +"I am still--oh, so still. It is like death!" The voice faded away into +a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again. + +By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of +day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid her +head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a sleeping child for a few +moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder to see +us all around her. "Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said. +She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling, though she +was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the +conversation, and she said:-- + +"Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late!" Mr. +Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor's calm +voice called them back:-- + +"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor +whilst she spoke. There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in +your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek? God be +thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead us we +know not. We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of men, +since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking +forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen! Alas, but +that sentence is a puddle; is it not? We can know now what was in the +Count's mind, when he seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce +knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear +me, ESCAPE! He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men +following like dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He +have take his last earth-box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He +think to escape, but no! we follow him. Tally Ho! as friend Arthur would +say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily; oh! so wily, and +we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a +little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters +between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he +would--unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or +slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to +us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need, +and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with +us." Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:-- + +"But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?" He +took her hand and patted it as he replied:-- + +"Ask me nothings as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all +questions." He would say no more, and we separated to dress. + +After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her gravely for +a minute and then said sorrowfully:-- + +"Because my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him +even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!" She grew paler as +she asked faintly:-- + +"Why?" + +"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you are +but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark +upon your throat." + +I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY, SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING + + +This to Jonathan Harker. + +You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our +search--if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we +seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her to-day. +This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him +here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, +for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away; he have gone back +to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of +fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and +that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the +money; for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun +go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that +he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him. +But there was not of time. When that fail he make straight for his last +resource--his last earth-work I might say did I wish _double entente_. +He is clever, oh, so clever! he know that his game here was finish; and +so he decide he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came, +and he go in it. We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound; +when we have discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will +comfort you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope +when you think it over: that all is not lost. This very creature that we +pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London; and yet in +one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is +finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. +But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong +together. Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is +but begun, and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high +to watch over His children. Therefore be of much comfort till we return. + +VAN HELSING. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 October._--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the +phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the +certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort; +and comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that his horrible +danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to +believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem +like a long-forgotten dream. Here in the crisp autumn air in the bright +sunlight---- + +Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on +the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst that lasts, +there can be no disbelief. And afterwards the very memory of it will +keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle, so we have been +over all the diaries again and again. Somehow, although the reality +seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less. There is +something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting. +Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may +be! I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other +yet of the future. It is better to wait till we see the Professor and +the others after their investigations. + +The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run +for me again. It is now three o'clock. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, 5 p. m._--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van +Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan +Harker, Mina Harker. + +Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to +discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape:-- + +"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure that +he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea, since +by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne +ignotum pro magnifico_; and so with heavy hearts we start to find what +ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He was in sailing ship, since +Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in +your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go, by suggestion of +Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail, +however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound ship go +out with the tide. She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail from +Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence on to other parts and up the +Danube. 'Soh!' said I, 'this is the ship whereon is the Count.' So off +we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office of wood +so small that the man look bigger than the office. From him we inquire +of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much, and he red face +and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same; and when Quincey +give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up, and +put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing, he +still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us, and ask +many men who are rough and hot; these be better fellows too when they +have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom, and of +others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but +nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know. + +"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five +o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with high nose +and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning. That he be all in +black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the +time. That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what ship +sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some took him to the office and +then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at shore end of +gang-plank, and ask that the captain come to him. The captain come, when +told that he will be pay well; and though he swear much at the first he +agree to term. Then the thin man go and some one tell him where horse +and cart can be hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself +driving cart on which a great box; this he himself lift down, though it +take several to put it on truck for the ship. He give much talk to +captain as to how and where his box is to be place; but the captain like +it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him that if he like he +can come and see where it shall be. But he say 'no'; that he come not +yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the captain tell him that he +had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will leave the +place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then the thin +man smile and say that of course he must go when he think fit; but he +will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear again, +polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he +will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the +sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues tell +him that he doesn't want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and also +with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after asking +where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase ship +forms, he departed. + +"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared,' as they said, for +they had something else to think of--well with blood again; for it soon +became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as +was expected. A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it grew, +and grew; till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around her. +The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and +blood; but he could do nothing. The water rose and rose; and he began to +fear that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly mood, +when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank again and +asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain replied +that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and +blood--were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and went down +with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and stood awhile +on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him. +Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away, and +all was clear again. My friends of the thirst and the language that was +of bloom and blood laughed, as they told how the captain's swears +exceeded even his usual polyglot, and was more than ever full of +picturesque, when on questioning other mariners who were on movement up +and down on the river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any +of fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However, the ship +went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the +river mouth. She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea. + +"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for +our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way to the +Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she never so quick; and when +we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there. Our best hope +is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset; for then +he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There +are days for us, in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about +where he go; for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us +invoices and all papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in +Varna, and to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present +his credentials; and so our merchant friend will have done his part. +When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and +have inquiry made at Varna, we say 'no'; for what is to be done is not +for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone and in our own +way." + +When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain +that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied: "We have the +best proof of that: your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance this +morning." I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should +pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that +he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing passion, +at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more +forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some +of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst +men:-- + +"Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary! For your sake in the first, +and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done much harm +already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short +time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in +darkness and not knowing. All this have I told these others; you, my +dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or +in that of your husband. I have told them how the measure of leaving his +own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life +of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the +work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do +what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have +been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of +nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in +some wondrous way. The very place, where he have been alive, Un-Dead for +all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical +world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither. +There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters +of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless, +there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of +occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in +himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike +time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain, +more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in +strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and +thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which +is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from, +and are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have +infect you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for +good of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do +no more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and +so in time, death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction, +shall make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together +that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the +world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, +whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one +soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem +more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if +we fall, we fall in good cause." He paused and I said:-- + +"But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely? Since he has been driven +from England, will he not avoid it, as a tiger does the village from +which he has been hunted?" + +"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall +adopt him. Your man-eater, as they of India call the tiger who has once +tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other prey, but prowl +unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from our village is a +tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay, in himself he +is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life, he go +over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be +beaten back, but did he stay? No! He come again, and again, and again. +Look at his persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was to +him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What +does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise for +him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task. He +find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers. He +study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old +ways, the politic, the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a new +land and a new people who have come to be since he was. His glimpse that +he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it help +him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he was at +the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone! from a +ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater +world of thought is open to him. He that can smile at death, as we know +him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole +peoples. Oh, if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil, +what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours. But we +are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence, and our +efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believe not +even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest +strength. It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons +to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even our own souls +for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind, and for the +honour and glory of God." + +After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing +be definitely settled; that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to +think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow, at breakfast, we are to +meet again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another, we +shall decide on some definite cause of action. + + * * * * * + +I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting +presence were removed from me. Perhaps ... + +My surmise was not finished, could not be; for I caught sight in the +mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still +unclean. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 October._--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for +each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was more +general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience +again. + +It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let +any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way--even by +death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment. More +than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder whether +the whole of the past days had not been a dream. It was only when I +caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that I was +brought back to reality. Even now, when I am gravely revolving the +matter, it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all our +trouble is still existent. Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her +trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again, when something +recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar. We are to +meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of +action. I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct +rather than reason: we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear +that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I _know_ +that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can +guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not, or +cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing, and +he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is some of +that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work. The +Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called "the +Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be a poison that distils +itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is +a mystery we should not wonder at anything! One thing I know: that if my +instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a +terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us. The same +power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think +further; for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman! + +Van Helsing is coming to my study a little before the others. I shall +try to open the subject with him. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of +things. I could see that he had something on his mind which he wanted to +say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject. After beating +about the bush a little, he said suddenly:-- + +"Friend John, there is something that you and I must talk of alone, just +at the first at any rate. Later, we may have to take the others into our +confidence"; then he stopped, so I waited; he went on:-- + +"Madam Mina, our poor, dear Madam Mina is changing." A cold shiver ran +through me to find my worst fears thus endorsed. Van Helsing +continued:-- + +"With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be warned +before things go too far. Our task is now in reality more difficult than +ever, and this new trouble makes every hour of the direst importance. I +can see the characteristics of the vampire coming in her face. It is now +but very, very slight; but it is to be seen if we have eyes to notice +without to prejudge. Her teeth are some sharper, and at times her eyes +are more hard. But these are not all, there is to her the silence now +often; as so it was with Miss Lucy. She did not speak, even when she +wrote that which she wished to be known later. Now my fear is this. If +it be that she can, by our hypnotic trance, tell what the Count see and +hear, is it not more true that he who have hypnotise her first, and who +have drink of her very blood and make her drink of his, should, if he +will, compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?" I nodded +acquiescence; he went on:-- + +"Then, what we must do is to prevent this; we must keep her ignorant of +our intent, and so she cannot tell what she know not. This is a painful +task! Oh, so painful that it heart-break me to think of; but it must be. +When to-day we meet, I must tell her that for reason which we will not +to speak she must not more be of our council, but be simply guarded by +us." He wiped his forehead, which had broken out in profuse perspiration +at the thought of the pain which he might have to inflict upon the poor +soul already so tortured. I knew that it would be some sort of comfort +to him if I told him that I also had come to the same conclusion; for at +any rate it would take away the pain of doubt. I told him, and the +effect was as I expected. + +It is now close to the time of our general gathering. Van Helsing has +gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful part of it. I +really believe his purpose is to be able to pray alone. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was +experienced by both Van Helsing and myself. Mrs. Harker had sent a +message by her husband to say that she would not join us at present, as +she thought it better that we should be free to discuss our movements +without her presence to embarrass us. The Professor and I looked at each +other for an instant, and somehow we both seemed relieved. For my own +part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker realised the danger herself, it was +much pain as well as much danger averted. Under the circumstances we +agreed, by a questioning look and answer, with finger on lip, to +preserve silence in our suspicions, until we should have been able to +confer alone again. We went at once into our Plan of Campaign. Van +Helsing roughly put the facts before us first:-- + +"The _Czarina Catherine_ left the Thames yesterday morning. It will take +her at the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to +reach Varna; but we can travel overland to the same place in three days. +Now, if we allow for two days less for the ship's voyage, owing to such +weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to bear; and if +we allow a whole day and night for any delays which may occur to us, +then we have a margin of nearly two weeks. Thus, in order to be quite +safe, we must leave here on 17th at latest. Then we shall at any rate +be in Varna a day before the ship arrives, and able to make such +preparations as may be necessary. Of course we shall all go armed--armed +against evil things, spiritual as well as physical." Here Quincey Morris +added:-- + +"I understand that the Count comes from a wolf country, and it may be +that he shall get there before us. I propose that we add Winchesters to +our armament. I have a kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any +trouble of that sort around. Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack +after us at Tobolsk? What wouldn't we have given then for a repeater +apiece!" + +"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be. Quincey's head is +level at all times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more +dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man. In the meantime we +can do nothing here; and as I think that Varna is not familiar to any of +us, why not go there more soon? It is as long to wait here as there. +To-night and to-morrow we can get ready, and then, if all be well, we +four can set out on our journey." + +"We four?" said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to another of +us. + +"Of course!" answered the Professor quickly, "you must remain to take +care of your so sweet wife!" Harker was silent for awhile and then said +in a hollow voice:-- + +"Let us talk of that part of it in the morning. I want to consult with +Mina." I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not +to disclose our plans to her; but he took no notice. I looked at him +significantly and coughed. For answer he put his finger on his lips and +turned away. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, afternoon._--For some time after our meeting this morning I +could not think. The new phases of things leave my mind in a state of +wonder which allows no room for active thought. Mina's determination not +to take any part in the discussion set me thinking; and as I could not +argue the matter with her, I could only guess. I am as far as ever from +a solution now. The way the others received it, too, puzzled me; the +last time we talked of the subject we agreed that there was to be no +more concealment of anything amongst us. Mina is sleeping now, calmly +and sweetly like a little child. Her lips are curved and her face beams +with happiness. Thank God, there are such moments still for her. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--How strange it all is. I sat watching Mina's happy sleep, and +came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be. As the +evening drew on, and the earth took its shadows from the sun sinking +lower, the silence of the room grew more and more solemn to me. All at +once Mina opened her eyes, and looking at me tenderly, said:-- + +"Jonathan, I want you to promise me something on your word of honour. A +promise made to me, but made holily in God's hearing, and not to be +broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter +tears. Quick, you must make it to me at once." + +"Mina," I said, "a promise like that, I cannot make at once. I may have +no right to make it." + +"But, dear one," she said, with such spiritual intensity that her eyes +were like pole stars, "it is I who wish it; and it is not for myself. +You can ask Dr. Van Helsing if I am not right; if he disagrees you may +do as you will. Nay, more, if you all agree, later, you are absolved +from the promise." + +"I promise!" I said, and for a moment she looked supremely happy; though +to me all happiness for her was denied by the red scar on her forehead. +She said:-- + +"Promise me that you will not tell me anything of the plans formed for +the campaign against the Count. Not by word, or inference, or +implication; not at any time whilst this remains to me!" and she +solemnly pointed to the scar. I saw that she was in earnest, and said +solemnly:-- + +"I promise!" and as I said it I felt that from that instant a door had +been shut between us. + + * * * * * + +_Later, midnight._--Mina has been bright and cheerful all the evening. +So much so that all the rest seemed to take courage, as if infected +somewhat with her gaiety; as a result even I myself felt as if the pall +of gloom which weighs us down were somewhat lifted. We all retired +early. Mina is now sleeping like a little child; it is a wonderful thing +that her faculty of sleep remains to her in the midst of her terrible +trouble. Thank God for it, for then at least she can forget her care. +Perhaps her example may affect me as her gaiety did to-night. I shall +try it. Oh! for a dreamless sleep. + + * * * * * + +_6 October, morning._--Another surprise. Mina woke me early, about the +same time as yesterday, and asked me to bring Dr. Van Helsing. I thought +that it was another occasion for hypnotism, and without question went +for the Professor. He had evidently expected some such call, for I found +him dressed in his room. His door was ajar, so that he could hear the +opening of the door of our room. He came at once; as he passed into the +room, he asked Mina if the others might come, too. + +"No," she said quite simply, "it will not be necessary. You can tell +them just as well. I must go with you on your journey." + +Dr. Van Helsing was as startled as I was. After a moment's pause he +asked:-- + +"But why?" + +"You must take me with you. I am safer with you, and you shall be safer, +too." + +"But why, dear Madam Mina? You know that your safety is our solemnest +duty. We go into danger, to which you are, or may be, more liable than +any of us from--from circumstances--things that have been." He paused, +embarrassed. + +As she replied, she raised her finger and pointed to her forehead:-- + +"I know. That is why I must go. I can tell you now, whilst the sun is +coming up; I may not be able again. I know that when the Count wills me +I must go. I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by +wile; by any device to hoodwink--even Jonathan." God saw the look that +she turned on me as she spoke, and if there be indeed a Recording Angel +that look is noted to her everlasting honour. I could only clasp her +hand. I could not speak; my emotion was too great for even the relief of +tears. She went on:-- + +"You men are brave and strong. You are strong in your numbers, for you +can defy that which would break down the human endurance of one who had +to guard alone. Besides, I may be of service, since you can hypnotise me +and so learn that which even I myself do not know." Dr. Van Helsing said +very gravely:-- + +"Madam Mina, you are, as always, most wise. You shall with us come; and +together we shall do that which we go forth to achieve." When he had +spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her. She had fallen +back on her pillow asleep; she did not even wake when I had pulled up +the blind and let in the sunlight which flooded the room. Van Helsing +motioned to me to come with him quietly. We went to his room, and within +a minute Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris were with us also. +He told them what Mina had said, and went on:-- + +"In the morning we shall leave for Varna. We have now to deal with a +new factor: Madam Mina. Oh, but her soul is true. It is to her an agony +to tell us so much as she has done; but it is most right, and we are +warned in time. There must be no chance lost, and in Varna we must be +ready to act the instant when that ship arrives." + +"What shall we do exactly?" asked Mr. Morris laconically. The Professor +paused before replying:-- + +"We shall at the first board that ship; then, when we have identified +the box, we shall place a branch of the wild rose on it. This we shall +fasten, for when it is there none can emerge; so at least says the +superstition. And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was +man's faith in the early, and it have its root in faith still. Then, +when we get the opportunity that we seek, when none are near to see, we +shall open the box, and--and all will be well." + +"I shall not wait for any opportunity," said Morris. "When I see the box +I shall open it and destroy the monster, though there were a thousand +men looking on, and if I am to be wiped out for it the next moment!" I +grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a piece of steel. +I think he understood my look; I hope he did. + +"Good boy," said Dr. Van Helsing. "Brave boy. Quincey is all man. God +bless him for it. My child, believe me none of us shall lag behind or +pause from any fear. I do but say what we may do--what we must do. But, +indeed, indeed we cannot say what we shall do. There are so many things +which may happen, and their ways and their ends are so various that +until the moment we may not say. We shall all be armed, in all ways; and +when the time for the end has come, our effort shall not be lack. Now +let us to-day put all our affairs in order. Let all things which touch +on others dear to us, and who on us depend, be complete; for none of us +can tell what, or when, or how, the end may be. As for me, my own +affairs are regulate; and as I have nothing else to do, I shall go make +arrangements for the travel. I shall have all tickets and so forth for +our journey." + +There was nothing further to be said, and we parted. I shall now settle +up all my affairs of earth, and be ready for whatever may come.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It is all done; my will is made, and all complete. Mina if she +survive is my sole heir. If it should not be so, then the others who +have been so good to us shall have remainder. + +It is now drawing towards the sunset; Mina's uneasiness calls my +attention to it. I am sure that there is something on her mind which the +time of exact sunset will reveal. These occasions are becoming harrowing +times for us all, for each sunrise and sunset opens up some new +danger--some new pain, which, however, may in God's will be means to a +good end. I write all these things in the diary since my darling must +not hear them now; but if it may be that she can see them again, they +shall be ready. + +She is calling to me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_11 October, Evening._--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this, as he +says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record kept. + +I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs. +Harker a little before the time of sunset. We have of late come to +understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar freedom; +when her old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing +or restraining her, or inciting her to action. This mood or condition +begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise or sunset, and lasts +till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds are still aglow with +the rays streaming above the horizon. At first there is a sort of +negative condition, as if some tie were loosened, and then the absolute +freedom quickly follows; when, however, the freedom ceases the +change-back or relapse comes quickly, preceded only by a spell of +warning silence. + +To-night, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the +signs of an internal struggle. I put it down myself to her making a +violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so. A very few +minutes, however, gave her complete control of herself; then, motioning +her husband to sit beside her on the sofa where she was half reclining, +she made the rest of us bring chairs up close. Taking her husband's hand +in hers began:-- + +"We are all here together in freedom, for perhaps the last time! I know, +dear; I know that you will always be with me to the end." This was to +her husband whose hand had, as we could see, tightened upon hers. "In +the morning we go out upon our task, and God alone knows what may be in +store for any of us. You are going to be so good to me as to take me +with you. I know that all that brave earnest men can do for a poor weak +woman, whose soul perhaps is lost--no, no, not yet, but is at any rate +at stake--you will do. But you must remember that I am not as you are. +There is a poison in my blood, in my soul, which may destroy me; which +must destroy me, unless some relief comes to us. Oh, my friends, you +know as well as I do, that my soul is at stake; and though I know there +is one way out for me, you must not and I must not take it!" She looked +appealingly to us all in turn, beginning and ending with her husband. + +"What is that way?" asked Van Helsing in a hoarse voice. "What is that +way, which we must not--may not--take?" + +"That I may die now, either by my own hand or that of another, before +the greater evil is entirely wrought. I know, and you know, that were I +once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit, even as you +did my poor Lucy's. Were death, or the fear of death, the only thing +that stood in the way I would not shrink to die here, now, amidst the +friends who love me. But death is not all. I cannot believe that to die +in such a case, when there is hope before us and a bitter task to be +done, is God's will. Therefore, I, on my part, give up here the +certainty of eternal rest, and go out into the dark where may be the +blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" We were all +silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a prelude. The +faces of the others were set and Harker's grew ashen grey; perhaps he +guessed better than any of us what was coming. She continued:-- + +"This is what I can give into the hotch-pot." I could not but note the +quaint legal phrase which she used in such a place, and with all +seriousness. "What will each of you give? Your lives I know," she went +on quickly, "that is easy for brave men. Your lives are God's, and you +can give them back to Him; but what will you give to me?" She looked +again questioningly, but this time avoided her husband's face. Quincey +seemed to understand; he nodded, and her face lit up. "Then I shall tell +you plainly what I want, for there must be no doubtful matter in this +connection between us now. You must promise me, one and all--even you, +my beloved husband--that, should the time come, you will kill me." + +"What is that time?" The voice was Quincey's, but it was low and +strained. + +"When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better that +I die that I may live. When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, +without a moment's delay, drive a stake through me and cut off my head; +or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!" + +Quincey was the first to rise after the pause. He knelt down before her +and taking her hand in his said solemnly:-- + +"I'm only a rough fellow, who hasn't, perhaps, lived as a man should to +win such a distinction, but I swear to you by all that I hold sacred and +dear that, should the time ever come, I shall not flinch from the duty +that you have set us. And I promise you, too, that I shall make all +certain, for if I am only doubtful I shall take it that the time has +come!" + +"My true friend!" was all she could say amid her fast-falling tears, as, +bending over, she kissed his hand. + +"I swear the same, my dear Madam Mina!" said Van Helsing. + +"And I!" said Lord Godalming, each of them in turn kneeling to her to +take the oath. I followed, myself. Then her husband turned to her +wan-eyed and with a greenish pallor which subdued the snowy whiteness of +his hair, and asked:-- + +"And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?" + +"You too, my dearest," she said, with infinite yearning of pity in her +voice and eyes. "You must not shrink. You are nearest and dearest and +all the world to me; our souls are knit into one, for all life and all +time. Think, dear, that there have been times when brave men have killed +their wives and their womenkind, to keep them from falling into the +hands of the enemy. Their hands did not falter any the more because +those that they loved implored them to slay them. It is men's duty +towards those whom they love, in such times of sore trial! And oh, my +dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it be at +the hand of him that loves me best. Dr. Van Helsing, I have not +forgotten your mercy in poor Lucy's case to him who loved"--she stopped +with a flying blush, and changed her phrase--"to him who had best right +to give her peace. If that time shall come again, I look to you to make +it a happy memory of my husband's life that it was his loving hand which +set me free from the awful thrall upon me." + +"Again I swear!" came the Professor's resonant voice. Mrs. Harker +smiled, positively smiled, as with a sigh of relief she leaned back and +said:-- + +"And now one word of warning, a warning which you must never forget: +this time, if it ever come, may come quickly and unexpectedly, and in +such case you must lose no time in using your opportunity. At such a +time I myself might be--nay! if the time ever comes, _shall be_--leagued +with your enemy against you." + +"One more request;" she became very solemn as she said this, "it is not +vital and necessary like the other, but I want you to do one thing for +me, if you will." We all acquiesced, but no one spoke; there was no need +to speak:-- + +"I want you to read the Burial Service." She was interrupted by a deep +groan from her husband; taking his hand in hers, she held it over her +heart, and continued: "You must read it over me some day. Whatever may +be the issue of all this fearful state of things, it will be a sweet +thought to all or some of us. You, my dearest, will I hope read it, for +then it will be in your voice in my memory for ever--come what may!" + +"But oh, my dear one," he pleaded, "death is afar off from you." + +"Nay," she said, holding up a warning hand. "I am deeper in death at +this moment than if the weight of an earthly grave lay heavy upon me!" + +"Oh, my wife, must I read it?" he said, before he began. + +"It would comfort me, my husband!" was all she said; and he began to +read when she had got the book ready. + +"How can I--how could any one--tell of that strange scene, its +solemnity, its gloom, its sadness, its horror; and, withal, its +sweetness. Even a sceptic, who can see nothing but a travesty of bitter +truth in anything holy or emotional, would have been melted to the heart +had he seen that little group of loving and devoted friends kneeling +round that stricken and sorrowing lady; or heard the tender passion of +her husband's voice, as in tones so broken with emotion that often he +had to pause, he read the simple and beautiful service from the Burial +of the Dead. I--I cannot go on--words--and--v-voice--f-fail m-me!" + + * * * * * + +She was right in her instinct. Strange as it all was, bizarre as it may +hereafter seem even to us who felt its potent influence at the time, it +comforted us much; and the silence, which showed Mrs. Harker's coming +relapse from her freedom of soul, did not seem so full of despair to any +of us as we had dreaded. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_15 October, Varna._--We left Charing Cross on the morning of the 12th, +got to Paris the same night, and took the places secured for us in the +Orient Express. We travelled night and day, arriving here at about five +o'clock. Lord Godalming went to the Consulate to see if any telegram had +arrived for him, whilst the rest of us came on to this hotel--"the +Odessus." The journey may have had incidents; I was, however, too eager +to get on, to care for them. Until the _Czarina Catherine_ comes into +port there will be no interest for me in anything in the wide world. +Thank God! Mina is well, and looks to be getting stronger; her colour is +coming back. She sleeps a great deal; throughout the journey she slept +nearly all the time. Before sunrise and sunset, however, she is very +wakeful and alert; and it has become a habit for Van Helsing to +hypnotise her at such times. At first, some effort was needed, and he +had to make many passes; but now, she seems to yield at once, as if by +habit, and scarcely any action is needed. He seems to have power at +these particular moments to simply will, and her thoughts obey him. He +always asks her what she can see and hear. She answers to the first:-- + +"Nothing; all is dark." And to the second:-- + +"I can hear the waves lapping against the ship, and the water rushing +by. Canvas and cordage strain and masts and yards creak. The wind is +high--I can hear it in the shrouds, and the bow throws back the foam." +It is evident that the _Czarina Catherine_ is still at sea, hastening on +her way to Varna. Lord Godalming has just returned. He had four +telegrams, one each day since we started, and all to the same effect: +that the _Czarina Catherine_ had not been reported to Lloyd's from +anywhere. He had arranged before leaving London that his agent should +send him every day a telegram saying if the ship had been reported. He +was to have a message even if she were not reported, so that he might be +sure that there was a watch being kept at the other end of the wire. + +We had dinner and went to bed early. To-morrow we are to see the +Vice-Consul, and to arrange, if we can, about getting on board the ship +as soon as she arrives. Van Helsing says that our chance will be to get +on the boat between sunrise and sunset. The Count, even if he takes the +form of a bat, cannot cross the running water of his own volition, and +so cannot leave the ship. As he dare not change to man's form without +suspicion--which he evidently wishes to avoid--he must remain in the +box. If, then, we can come on board after sunrise, he is at our mercy; +for we can open the box and make sure of him, as we did of poor Lucy, +before he wakes. What mercy he shall get from us will not count for +much. We think that we shall not have much trouble with officials or the +seamen. Thank God! this is the country where bribery can do anything, +and we are well supplied with money. We have only to make sure that the +ship cannot come into port between sunset and sunrise without our being +warned, and we shall be safe. Judge Moneybag will settle this case, I +think! + + * * * * * + +_16 October._--Mina's report still the same: lapping waves and rushing +water, darkness and favouring winds. We are evidently in good time, and +when we hear of the _Czarina Catherine_ we shall be ready. As she must +pass the Dardanelles we are sure to have some report. + + * * * * * + +_17 October._--Everything is pretty well fixed now, I think, to welcome +the Count on his return from his tour. Godalming told the shippers that +he fancied that the box sent aboard might contain something stolen from +a friend of his, and got a half consent that he might open it at his own +risk. The owner gave him a paper telling the Captain to give him every +facility in doing whatever he chose on board the ship, and also a +similar authorisation to his agent at Varna. We have seen the agent, who +was much impressed with Godalming's kindly manner to him, and we are all +satisfied that whatever he can do to aid our wishes will be done. We +have already arranged what to do in case we get the box open. If the +Count is there, Van Helsing and Seward will cut off his head at once and +drive a stake through his heart. Morris and Godalming and I shall +prevent interference, even if we have to use the arms which we shall +have ready. The Professor says that if we can so treat the Count's body, +it will soon after fall into dust. In such case there would be no +evidence against us, in case any suspicion of murder were aroused. But +even if it were not, we should stand or fall by our act, and perhaps +some day this very script may be evidence to come between some of us and +a rope. For myself, I should take the chance only too thankfully if it +were to come. We mean to leave no stone unturned to carry out our +intent. We have arranged with certain officials that the instant the +_Czarina Catherine_ is seen, we are to be informed by a special +messenger. + + * * * * * + +_24 October._--A whole week of waiting. Daily telegrams to Godalming, +but only the same story: "Not yet reported." Mina's morning and evening +hypnotic answer is unvaried: lapping waves, rushing water, and creaking +masts. + +_Telegram, October 24th._ + +_Rufus Smith, Lloyd's, London, to Lord Godalming, care of H. B. M. +Vice-Consul, Varna._ + +"_Czarina Catherine_ reported this morning from Dardanelles." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_25 October._--How I miss my phonograph! To write diary with a pen is +irksome to me; but Van Helsing says I must. We were all wild with +excitement yesterday when Godalming got his telegram from Lloyd's. I +know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heard. Mrs. +Harker, alone of our party, did not show any signs of emotion. After +all, it is not strange that she did not; for we took special care not to +let her know anything about it, and we all tried not to show any +excitement when we were in her presence. In old days she would, I am +sure, have noticed, no matter how we might have tried to conceal it; but +in this way she is greatly changed during the past three weeks. The +lethargy grows upon her, and though she seems strong and well, and is +getting back some of her colour, Van Helsing and I are not satisfied. We +talk of her often; we have not, however, said a word to the others. It +would break poor Harker's heart--certainly his nerve--if he knew that we +had even a suspicion on the subject. Van Helsing examines, he tells me, +her teeth very carefully, whilst she is in the hypnotic condition, for +he says that so long as they do not begin to sharpen there is no active +danger of a change in her. If this change should come, it would be +necessary to take steps!... We both know what those steps would have to +be, though we do not mention our thoughts to each other. We should +neither of us shrink from the task--awful though it be to contemplate. +"Euthanasia" is an excellent and a comforting word! I am grateful to +whoever invented it. + +It is only about 24 hours' sail from the Dardanelles to here, at the +rate the _Czarina Catherine_ has come from London. She should therefore +arrive some time in the morning; but as she cannot possibly get in +before then, we are all about to retire early. We shall get up at one +o'clock, so as to be ready. + + * * * * * + +_25 October, Noon_.--No news yet of the ship's arrival. Mrs. Harker's +hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible +that we may get news at any moment. We men are all in a fever of +excitement, except Harker, who is calm; his hands are cold as ice, and +an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife +which he now always carries with him. It will be a bad lookout for the +Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat, driven by +that stern, ice-cold hand! + +Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about Mrs. Harker to-day. About +noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not like; although we +kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy about it. She +had been restless all the morning, so that we were at first glad to know +that she was sleeping. When, however, her husband mentioned casually +that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not wake her, we went to +her room to see for ourselves. She was breathing naturally and looked so +well and peaceful that we agreed that the sleep was better for her than +anything else. Poor girl, she has so much to forget that it is no wonder +that sleep, if it brings oblivion to her, does her good. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep +of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had +been for days. At sunset she made the usual hypnotic report. Wherever he +may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his destination. To +his doom, I trust! + + * * * * * + +_26 October._--Another day and no tidings of the _Czarina Catherine_. +She ought to be here by now. That she is still journeying _somewhere_ is +apparent, for Mrs. Harker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the +same. It is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for fog; +some of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches of fog +both to north and south of the port. We must continue our watching, as +the ship may now be signalled any moment. + + * * * * * + +_27 October, Noon._--Most strange; no news yet of the ship we wait for. +Mrs. Harker reported last night and this morning as usual: "lapping +waves and rushing water," though she added that "the waves were very +faint." The telegrams from London have been the same: "no further +report." Van Helsing is terribly anxious, and told me just now that he +fears the Count is escaping us. He added significantly:-- + +"I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina's. Souls and memories can do +strange things during trance." I was about to ask him more, but Harker +just then came in, and he held up a warning hand. We must try to-night +at sunset to make her speak more fully when in her hypnotic state. + + * * * * * + + _28 October._--Telegram. _Rufus Smith, London, to Lord Godalming, + care H. B. M. Vice Consul, Varna._ + + "_Czarina Catherine_ reported entering Galatz at one o'clock + to-day." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 October._--When the telegram came announcing the arrival in Galatz I +do not think it was such a shock to any of us as might have been +expected. True, we did not know whence, or how, or when, the bolt would +come; but I think we all expected that something strange would happen. +The delay of arrival at Varna made us individually satisfied that things +would not be just as we had expected; we only waited to learn where the +change would occur. None the less, however, was it a surprise. I suppose +that nature works on such a hopeful basis that we believe against +ourselves that things will be as they ought to be, not as we should know +that they will be. Transcendentalism is a beacon to the angels, even if +it be a will-o'-the-wisp to man. It was an odd experience and we all +took it differently. Van Helsing raised his hand over his head for a +moment, as though in remonstrance with the Almighty; but he said not a +word, and in a few seconds stood up with his face sternly set. Lord +Godalming grew very pale, and sat breathing heavily. I was myself half +stunned and looked in wonder at one after another. Quincey Morris +tightened his belt with that quick movement which I knew so well; in our +old wandering days it meant "action." Mrs. Harker grew ghastly white, so +that the scar on her forehead seemed to burn, but she folded her hands +meekly and looked up in prayer. Harker smiled--actually smiled--the +dark, bitter smile of one who is without hope; but at the same time his +action belied his words, for his hands instinctively sought the hilt of +the great Kukri knife and rested there. "When does the next train start +for Galatz?" said Van Helsing to us generally. + +"At 6:30 to-morrow morning!" We all started, for the answer came from +Mrs. Harker. + +"How on earth do you know?" said Art. + +"You forget--or perhaps you do not know, though Jonathan does and so +does Dr. Van Helsing--that I am the train fiend. At home in Exeter I +always used to make up the time-tables, so as to be helpful to my +husband. I found it so useful sometimes, that I always make a study of +the time-tables now. I knew that if anything were to take us to Castle +Dracula we should go by Galatz, or at any rate through Bucharest, so I +learned the times very carefully. Unhappily there are not many to learn, +as the only train to-morrow leaves as I say." + +"Wonderful woman!" murmured the Professor. + +"Can't we get a special?" asked Lord Godalming. Van Helsing shook his +head: "I fear not. This land is very different from yours or mine; even +if we did have a special, it would probably not arrive as soon as our +regular train. Moreover, we have something to prepare. We must think. +Now let us organize. You, friend Arthur, go to the train and get the +tickets and arrange that all be ready for us to go in the morning. Do +you, friend Jonathan, go to the agent of the ship and get from him +letters to the agent in Galatz, with authority to make search the ship +just as it was here. Morris Quincey, you see the Vice-Consul, and get +his aid with his fellow in Galatz and all he can do to make our way +smooth, so that no times be lost when over the Danube. John will stay +with Madam Mina and me, and we shall consult. For so if time be long you +may be delayed; and it will not matter when the sun set, since I am here +with Madam to make report." + +"And I," said Mrs. Harker brightly, and more like her old self than she +had been for many a long day, "shall try to be of use in all ways, and +shall think and write for you as I used to do. Something is shifting +from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have been of late!" +The three younger men looked happier at the moment as they seemed to +realise the significance of her words; but Van Helsing and I, turning to +each other, met each a grave and troubled glance. We said nothing at the +time, however. + +When the three men had gone out to their tasks Van Helsing asked Mrs. +Harker to look up the copy of the diaries and find him the part of +Harker's journal at the Castle. She went away to get it; when the door +was shut upon her he said to me:-- + +"We mean the same! speak out!" + +"There is some change. It is a hope that makes me sick, for it may +deceive us." + +"Quite so. Do you know why I asked her to get the manuscript?" + +"No!" said I, "unless it was to get an opportunity of seeing me alone." + +"You are in part right, friend John, but only in part. I want to tell +you something. And oh, my friend, I am taking a great--a terrible--risk; +but I believe it is right. In the moment when Madam Mina said those +words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration came to me. In +the trance of three days ago the Count sent her his spirit to read her +mind; or more like he took her to see him in his earth-box in the ship +with water rushing, just as it go free at rise and set of sun. He learn +then that we are here; for she have more to tell in her open life with +eyes to see and ears to hear than he, shut, as he is, in his coffin-box. +Now he make his most effort to escape us. At present he want her not. + +"He is sure with his so great knowledge that she will come at his call; +but he cut her off--take her, as he can do, out of his own power, that +so she come not to him. Ah! there I have hope that our man-brains that +have been of man so long and that have not lost the grace of God, will +come higher than his child-brain that lie in his tomb for centuries, +that grow not yet to our stature, and that do only work selfish and +therefore small. Here comes Madam Mina; not a word to her of her trance! +She know it not; and it would overwhelm her and make despair just when +we want all her hope, all her courage; when most we want all her great +brain which is trained like man's brain, but is of sweet woman and have +a special power which the Count give her, and which he may not take away +altogether--though he think not so. Hush! let me speak, and you shall +learn. Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits. I fear, as I never +feared before. We can only trust the good God. Silence! here she comes!" + +I thought that the Professor was going to break down and have hysterics, +just as he had when Lucy died, but with a great effort he controlled +himself and was at perfect nervous poise when Mrs. Harker tripped into +the room, bright and happy-looking and, in the doing of work, seemingly +forgetful of her misery. As she came in, she handed a number of sheets +of typewriting to Van Helsing. He looked over them gravely, his face +brightening up as he read. Then holding the pages between his finger and +thumb he said:-- + +"Friend John, to you with so much of experience already--and you, too, +dear Madam Mina, that are young--here is a lesson: do not fear ever to +think. A half-thought has been buzzing often in my brain, but I fear to +let him loose his wings. Here now, with more knowledge, I go back to +where that half-thought come from and I find that he be no half-thought +at all; that be a whole thought, though so young that he is not yet +strong to use his little wings. Nay, like the "Ugly Duck" of my friend +Hans Andersen, he be no duck-thought at all, but a big swan-thought that +sail nobly on big wings, when the time come for him to try them. See I +read here what Jonathan have written:-- + +"That other of his race who, in a later age, again and again, brought +his forces over The Great River into Turkey Land; who, when he was +beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come +alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, +since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph." + +"What does this tell us? Not much? no! The Count's child-thought see +nothing; therefore he speak so free. Your man-thought see nothing; my +man-thought see nothing, till just now. No! But there comes another word +from some one who speak without thought because she, too, know not what +it mean--what it _might_ mean. Just as there are elements which rest, +yet when in nature's course they move on their way and they touch--then +pouf! and there comes a flash of light, heaven wide, that blind and kill +and destroy some; but that show up all earth below for leagues and +leagues. Is it not so? Well, I shall explain. To begin, have you ever +study the philosophy of crime? 'Yes' and 'No.' You, John, yes; for it is +a study of insanity. You, no, Madam Mina; for crime touch you not--not +but once. Still, your mind works true, and argues not _a particulari ad +universale_. There is this peculiarity in criminals. It is so constant, +in all countries and at all times, that even police, who know not much +from philosophy, come to know it empirically, that _it is_. That is to +be empiric. The criminal always work at one crime--that is the true +criminal who seems predestinate to crime, and who will of none other. +This criminal has not full man-brain. He is clever and cunning and +resourceful; but he be not of man-stature as to brain. He be of +child-brain in much. Now this criminal of ours is predestinate to crime +also; he, too, have child-brain, and it is of the child to do what he +have done. The little bird, the little fish, the little animal learn not +by principle, but empirically; and when he learn to do, then there is to +him the ground to start from to do more. '_Dos pou sto_,' said +Archimedes. 'Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world!' To do once, +is the fulcrum whereby child-brain become man-brain; and until he have +the purpose to do more, he continue to do the same again every time, +just as he have done before! Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes are +opened, and that to you the lightning flash show all the leagues," for +Mrs. Harker began to clap her hands and her eyes sparkled. He went on:-- + +"Now you shall speak. Tell us two dry men of science what you see with +those so bright eyes." He took her hand and held it whilst she spoke. +His finger and thumb closed on her pulse, as I thought instinctively and +unconsciously, as she spoke:-- + +"The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would +so classify him, and _quâ_ criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind. +Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit. His past is a +clue, and the one page of it that we know--and that from his own +lips--tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call a +'tight place,' he went back to his own country from the land he had +tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself +for a new effort. He came again better equipped for his work; and won. +So he came to London to invade a new land. He was beaten, and when all +hope of success was lost, and his existence in danger, he fled back over +the sea to his home; just as formerly he had fled back over the Danube +from Turkey Land." + +"Good, good! oh, you so clever lady!" said Van Helsing, +enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand. A moment later he +said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick-room +consultation:-- + +"Seventy-two only; and in all this excitement. I have hope." Turning to +her again, he said with keen expectation:-- + +"But go on. Go on! there is more to tell if you will. Be not afraid; +John and I know. I do in any case, and shall tell you if you are right. +Speak, without fear!" + +"I will try to; but you will forgive me if I seem egotistical." + +"Nay! fear not, you must be egotist, for it is of you that we think." + +"Then, as he is criminal he is selfish; and as his intellect is small +and his action is based on selfishness, he confines himself to one +purpose. That purpose is remorseless. As he fled back over the Danube, +leaving his forces to be cut to pieces, so now he is intent on being +safe, careless of all. So his own selfishness frees my soul somewhat +from the terrible power which he acquired over me on that dreadful +night. I felt it! Oh, I felt it! Thank God, for His great mercy! My soul +is freer than it has been since that awful hour; and all that haunts me +is a fear lest in some trance or dream he may have used my knowledge for +his ends." The Professor stood up:-- + +"He has so used your mind; and by it he has left us here in Varna, +whilst the ship that carried him rushed through enveloping fog up to +Galatz, where, doubtless, he had made preparation for escaping from us. +But his child-mind only saw so far; and it may be that, as ever is in +God's Providence, the very thing that the evil-doer most reckoned on for +his selfish good, turns out to be his chiefest harm. The hunter is taken +in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says. For now that he think he +is free from every trace of us all, and that he has escaped us with so +many hours to him, then his selfish child-brain will whisper him to +sleep. He think, too, that as he cut himself off from knowing your mind, +there can be no knowledge of him to you; there is where he fail! That +terrible baptism of blood which he give you makes you free to go to him +in spirit, as you have as yet done in your times of freedom, when the +sun rise and set. At such times you go by my volition and not by his; +and this power to good of you and others, as you have won from your +suffering at his hands. This is now all the more precious that he know +it not, and to guard himself have even cut himself off from his +knowledge of our where. We, however, are not selfish, and we believe +that God is with us through all this blackness, and these many dark +hours. We shall follow him; and we shall not flinch; even if we peril +ourselves that we become like him. Friend John, this has been a great +hour; and it have done much to advance us on our way. You must be scribe +and write him all down, so that when the others return from their work +you can give it to them; then they shall know as we do." + +And so I have written it whilst we wait their return, and Mrs. Harker +has written with her typewriter all since she brought the MS. to us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_29 October._--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz. Last +night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset. Each of us +had done his work as well as he could; so far as thought, and endeavour, +and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our journey, and +for our work when we get to Galatz. When the usual time came round Mrs. +Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort; and after a longer and +more serious effort on the part of Van Helsing than has been usually +necessary, she sank into the trance. Usually she speaks on a hint; but +this time the Professor had to ask her questions, and to ask them pretty +resolutely, before we could learn anything; at last her answer came:-- + +"I can see nothing; we are still; there are no waves lapping, but only a +steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser. I can hear +men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in +the rowlocks. A gun is fired somewhere; the echo of it seems far away. +There is tramping of feet overhead, and ropes and chains are dragged +along. What is this? There is a gleam of light; I can feel the air +blowing upon me." + +Here she stopped. She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she lay +on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if lifting a +weight. Van Helsing and I looked at each other with understanding. +Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her intently, whilst +Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of his Kukri. There +was a long pause. We all knew that the time when she could speak was +passing; but we felt that it was useless to say anything. Suddenly she +sat up, and, as she opened her eyes, said sweetly:-- + +"Would none of you like a cup of tea? You must all be so tired!" We +could only make her happy, and so acquiesced. She bustled off to get +tea; when she had gone Van Helsing said:-- + +"You see, my friends. _He_ is close to land: he has left his +earth-chest. But he has yet to get on shore. In the night he may lie +hidden somewhere; but if he be not carried on shore, or if the ship do +not touch it, he cannot achieve the land. In such case he can, if it be +in the night, change his form and can jump or fly on shore, as he did +at Whitby. But if the day come before he get on shore, then, unless he +be carried he cannot escape. And if he be carried, then the customs men +may discover what the box contain. Thus, in fine, if he escape not on +shore to-night, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him. +We may then arrive in time; for if he escape not at night we shall come +on him in daytime, boxed up and at our mercy; for he dare not be his +true self, awake and visible, lest he be discovered." + +There was no more to be said, so we waited in patience until the dawn; +at which time we might learn more from Mrs. Harker. + +Early this morning we listened, with breathless anxiety, for her +response in her trance. The hypnotic stage was even longer in coming +than before; and when it came the time remaining until full sunrise was +so short that we began to despair. Van Helsing seemed to throw his whole +soul into the effort; at last, in obedience to his will she made +reply:-- + +"All is dark. I hear lapping water, level with me, and some creaking as +of wood on wood." She paused, and the red sun shot up. We must wait till +to-night. + +And so it is that we are travelling towards Galatz in an agony of +expectation. We are due to arrive between two and three in the morning; +but already, at Bucharest, we are three hours late, so we cannot +possibly get in till well after sun-up. Thus we shall have two more +hypnotic messages from Mrs. Harker; either or both may possibly throw +more light on what is happening. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Sunset has come and gone. Fortunately it came at a time when +there was no distraction; for had it occurred whilst we were at a +station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation. +Mrs. Harker yielded to the hypnotic influence even less readily than +this morning. I am in fear that her power of reading the Count's +sensations may die away, just when we want it most. It seems to me that +her imagination is beginning to work. Whilst she has been in the trance +hitherto she has confined herself to the simplest of facts. If this goes +on it may ultimately mislead us. If I thought that the Count's power +over her would die away equally with her power of knowledge it would be +a happy thought; but I am afraid that it may not be so. When she did +speak, her words were enigmatical:-- + +"Something is going out; I can feel it pass me like a cold wind. I can +hear, far off, confused sounds--as of men talking in strange tongues, +fierce-falling water, and the howling of wolves." She stopped and a +shudder ran through her, increasing in intensity for a few seconds, +till, at the end, she shook as though in a palsy. She said no more, even +in answer to the Professor's imperative questioning. When she woke from +the trance, she was cold, and exhausted, and languid; but her mind was +all alert. She could not remember anything, but asked what she had said; +when she was told, she pondered over it deeply for a long time and in +silence. + + * * * * * + +_30 October, 7 a. m._--We are near Galatz now, and I may not have time +to write later. Sunrise this morning was anxiously looked for by us all. +Knowing of the increasing difficulty of procuring the hypnotic trance, +Van Helsing began his passes earlier than usual. They produced no +effect, however, until the regular time, when she yielded with a still +greater difficulty, only a minute before the sun rose. The Professor +lost no time in his questioning; her answer came with equal quickness:-- + +"All is dark. I hear water swirling by, level with my ears, and the +creaking of wood on wood. Cattle low far off. There is another sound, a +queer one like----" She stopped and grew white, and whiter still. + +"Go on; go on! Speak, I command you!" said Van Helsing in an agonised +voice. At the same time there was despair in his eyes, for the risen sun +was reddening even Mrs. Harker's pale face. She opened her eyes, and we +all started as she said, sweetly and seemingly with the utmost +unconcern:-- + +"Oh, Professor, why ask me to do what you know I can't? I don't remember +anything." Then, seeing the look of amazement on our faces, she said, +turning from one to the other with a troubled look:-- + +"What have I said? What have I done? I know nothing, only that I was +lying here, half asleep, and heard you say go on! speak, I command you!' +It seemed so funny to hear you order me about, as if I were a bad +child!" + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, sadly, "it is proof, if proof be needed, of +how I love and honour you, when a word for your good, spoken more +earnest than ever, can seem so strange because it is to order her whom I +am proud to obey!" + +The whistles are sounding; we are nearing Galatz. We are on fire with +anxiety and eagerness. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--Mr. Morris took me to the hotel where our rooms had been +ordered by telegraph, he being the one who could best be spared, since +he does not speak any foreign language. The forces were distributed +much as they had been at Varna, except that Lord Godalming went to the +Vice-Consul, as his rank might serve as an immediate guarantee of some +sort to the official, we being in extreme hurry. Jonathan and the two +doctors went to the shipping agent to learn particulars of the arrival +of the _Czarina Catherine_. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming has returned. The Consul is away, and the +Vice-Consul sick; so the routine work has been attended to by a clerk. +He was very obliging, and offered to do anything in his power. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--At nine o'clock Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and I called +on Messrs. Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm of +Hapgood. They had received a wire from London, in answer to Lord +Godalming's telegraphed request, asking us to show them any civility in +their power. They were more than kind and courteous, and took us at once +on board the _Czarina Catherine_, which lay at anchor out in the river +harbour. There we saw the Captain, Donelson by name, who told us of his +voyage. He said that in all his life he had never had so favourable a +run. + +"Man!" he said, "but it made us afeard, for we expeckit that we should +have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to keep up the +average. It's no canny to run frae London to the Black Sea wi' a wind +ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on yer sail for his +ain purpose. An' a' the time we could no speer a thing. Gin we were nigh +a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi' us, +till when after it had lifted and we looked out, the deil a thing could +we see. We ran by Gibraltar wi'oot bein' able to signal; an' till we +came to the Dardanelles and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we +never were within hail o' aught. At first I inclined to slack off sail +and beat about till the fog was lifted; but whiles, I thocht that if the +Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it +whether we would or no. If we had a quick voyage it would be no to our +miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic; an' the Old Mon who +had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no +hinderin' him." This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition +and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said:-- + +"Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some; and +he know when he meet his match!" The skipper was not displeased with the +compliment, and went on:-- + +"When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them, +the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had +been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started +frae London. I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa +fingers when they saw him, to guard against the evil eye. Man! but the +supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot +their business pretty quick; but as just after a fog closed in on us I +felt a wee bit as they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it was +agin the big box. Well, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up for +five days I joost let the wind carry us; for if the Deil wanted to get +somewheres--well, he would fetch it up a'reet. An' if he didn't, well, +we'd keep a sharp lookout anyhow. Sure eneuch, we had a fair way and +deep water all the time; and two days ago, when the mornin' sun came +through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite Galatz. +The Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take out the +box and fling it in the river. I had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a +handspike; an' when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in +his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the +property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the +river Danube. They had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to +fling in, and as it was marked Galatz _via_ Varna, I thocht I'd let it +lie till we discharged in the port an' get rid o't althegither. We +didn't do much clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor; +but in the mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sun-up, a man came +aboard wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box +marked for one Count Dracula. Sure eneuch the matter was one ready to +his hand. He had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the +dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it. If the Deil +did have any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither +than that same!" + +"What was the name of the man who took it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing with +restrained eagerness. + +"I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and, stepping down to his +cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim." Burgen-strasse +16 was the address. We found out that this was all the Captain knew; so +with thanks we came away. + +We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi +Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez. His arguments were +pointed with specie--we doing the punctuation--and with a little +bargaining he told us what he knew. This turned out to be simple but +important. He had received a letter from Mr. de Ville of London, telling +him to receive, if possible before sunrise so as to avoid customs, a box +which would arrive at Galatz in the _Czarina Catherine_. This he was to +give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks +who traded down the river to the port. He had been paid for his work by +an English bank note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube +International Bank. When Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him to +the ship and handed over the box, so as to save porterage. That was all +he knew. + +We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him. One of his +neighbours, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he had +gone away two days before, no one knew whither. This was corroborated by +his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house +together with the rent due, in English money. This had been between ten +and eleven o'clock last night. We were at a standstill again. + +Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped out that +the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the churchyard of +St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as if by some wild +animal. Those we had been speaking with ran off to see the horror, the +women crying out "This is the work of a Slovak!" We hurried away lest we +should have been in some way drawn into the affair, and so detained. + +As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion. We were all +convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to somewhere; but where +that might be we would have to discover. With heavy hearts we came home +to the hotel to Mina. + +When we met together, the first thing was to consult as to taking Mina +again into our confidence. Things are getting desperate, and it is at +least a chance, though a hazardous one. As a preliminary step, I was +released from my promise to her. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October, evening._--They were so tired and worn out and dispirited +that there was nothing to be done till they had some rest; so I asked +them all to lie down for half an hour whilst I should enter everything +up to the moment. I feel so grateful to the man who invented the +"Traveller's" typewriter, and to Mr. Morris for getting this one for +me. I should have felt quite; astray doing the work if I had to write +with a pen.... + +It is all done; poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered, +what must he be suffering now. He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to +breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse. His brows are knit; his +face is drawn with pain. Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I can +see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his thoughts. Oh! +if I could only help at all.... I shall do what I can. + +I have asked Dr. Van Helsing, and he has got me all the papers that I +have not yet seen.... Whilst they are resting, I shall go over all +carefully, and perhaps I may arrive at some conclusion. I shall try to +follow the Professor's example, and think without prejudice on the facts +before me.... + + * * * * * + +I do believe that under God's providence I have made a discovery. I +shall get the maps and look over them.... + + * * * * * + +I am more than ever sure that I am right. My new conclusion is ready, so +I shall get our party together and read it. They can judge it; it is +well to be accurate, and every minute is precious. + + +_Mina Harker's Memorandum._ + +(Entered in her Journal.) + +_Ground of inquiry._--Count Dracula's problem is to get back to his own +place. + +(_a_) He must be _brought back_ by some one. This is evident; for had he +power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or wolf, +or bat, or in some other way. He evidently fears discovery or +interference, in the state of helplessness in which he must be--confined +as he is between dawn and sunset in his wooden box. + +(_b_) _How is he to be taken?_--Here a process of exclusions may help +us. By road, by rail, by water? + +1. _By Road._--There are endless difficulties, especially in leaving the +city. + +(_x_) There are people; and people are curious, and investigate. A hint, +a surmise, a doubt as to what might be in the box, would destroy him. + +(_y_) There are, or there may be, customs and octroi officers to pass. + +(_z_) His pursuers might follow. This is his highest fear; and in order +to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled, so far as he can, even +his victim--me! + +2. _By Rail._--There is no one in charge of the box. It would have to +take its chance of being delayed; and delay would be fatal, with enemies +on the track. True, he might escape at night; but what would he be, if +left in a strange place with no refuge that he could fly to? This is not +what he intends; and he does not mean to risk it. + +3. _By Water._--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but with most +danger in another. On the water he is powerless except at night; even +then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves. But were +he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless; and he would +indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land; but if it were +unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would +still be desperate. + +We know from the record that he was on the water; so what we have to do +is to ascertain _what_ water. + +The first thing is to realise exactly what he has done as yet; we may, +then, get a light on what his later task is to be. + +_Firstly._--We must differentiate between what he did in London as part +of his general plan of action, when he was pressed for moments and had +to arrange as best he could. + +_Secondly_ we must see, as well as we can surmise it from the facts we +know of, what he has done here. + +As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent +invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of +exit from England; his immediate and sole purpose then was to escape. +The proof of this, is the letter of instructions sent to Immanuel +Hildesheim to clear and take away the box _before sunrise_. There is +also the instruction to Petrof Skinsky. These we must only guess at; but +there must have been some letter or message, since Skinsky came to +Hildesheim. + +That, so far, his plans were successful we know. The _Czarina Catherine_ +made a phenomenally quick journey--so much so that Captain Donelson's +suspicions were aroused; but his superstition united with his canniness +played the Count's game for him, and he ran with his favouring wind +through fogs and all till he brought up blindfold at Galatz. That the +Count's arrangements were well made, has been proved. Hildesheim cleared +the box, took it off, and gave it to Skinsky. Skinsky took it--and here +we lose the trail. We only know that the box is somewhere on the water, +moving along. The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have been +avoided. + +Now we come to what the Count must have done after his arrival--_on +land_, at Galatz. + +The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise. At sunrise the Count could +appear in his own form. Here, we ask why Skinsky was chosen at all to +aid in the work? In my husband's diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing +with the Slovaks who trade down the river to the port; and the man's +remark, that the murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general +feeling against his class. The Count wanted isolation. + +My surmise is, this: that in London the Count decided to get back to his +castle by water, as the most safe and secret way. He was brought from +the castle by Szgany, and probably they delivered their cargo to Slovaks +who took the boxes to Varna, for there they were shipped for London. +Thus the Count had knowledge of the persons who could arrange this +service. When the box was on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he +came out from his box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to +arranging the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and +he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he thought, +by murdering his agent. + +I have examined the map and find that the river most suitable for the +Slovaks to have ascended is either the Pruth or the Sereth. I read in +the typescript that in my trance I heard cows low and water swirling +level with my ears and the creaking of wood. The Count in his box, then, +was on a river in an open boat--propelled probably either by oars or +poles, for the banks are near and it is working against stream. There +would be no such sound if floating down stream. + +Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but we may +possibly investigate further. Now of these two, the Pruth is the more +easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at Fundu, joined by the Bistritza +which runs up round the Borgo Pass. The loop it makes is manifestly as +close to Dracula's castle as can be got by water. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal--continued._ + +When I had done reading, Jonathan took me in his arms and kissed me. The +others kept shaking me by both hands, and Dr. Van Helsing said:-- + +"Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have been where +we were blinded. Now we are on the track once again, and this time we +may succeed. Our enemy is at his most helpless; and if we can come on +him by day, on the water, our task will be over. He has a start, but he +is powerless to hasten, as he may not leave his box lest those who carry +him may suspect; for them to suspect would be to prompt them to throw +him in the stream where he perish. This he knows, and will not. Now men, +to our Council of War; for, here and now, we must plan what each and all +shall do." + +"I shall get a steam launch and follow him," said Lord Godalming. + +"And I, horses to follow on the bank lest by chance he land," said Mr. +Morris. + +"Good!" said the Professor, "both good. But neither must go alone. There +must be force to overcome force if need be; the Slovak is strong and +rough, and he carries rude arms." All the men smiled, for amongst them +they carried a small arsenal. Said Mr. Morris:-- + +"I have brought some Winchesters; they are pretty handy in a crowd, and +there may be wolves. The Count, if you remember, took some other +precautions; he made some requisitions on others that Mrs. Harker could +not quite hear or understand. We must be ready at all points." Dr. +Seward said:-- + +"I think I had better go with Quincey. We have been accustomed to hunt +together, and we two, well armed, will be a match for whatever may come +along. You must not be alone, Art. It may be necessary to fight the +Slovaks, and a chance thrust--for I don't suppose these fellows carry +guns--would undo all our plans. There must be no chances, this time; we +shall, not rest until the Count's head and body have been separated, and +we are sure that he cannot re-incarnate." He looked at Jonathan as he +spoke, and Jonathan looked at me. I could see that the poor dear was +torn about in his mind. Of course he wanted to be with me; but then the +boat service would, most likely, be the one which would destroy the ... +the ... the ... Vampire. (Why did I hesitate to write the word?) He was +silent awhile, and during his silence Dr. Van Helsing spoke:-- + +"Friend Jonathan, this is to you for twice reasons. First, because you +are young and brave and can fight, and all energies may be needed at the +last; and again that it is your right to destroy him--that--which has +wrought such woe to you and yours. Be not afraid for Madam Mina; she +will be my care, if I may. I am old. My legs are not so quick to run as +once; and I am not used to ride so long or to pursue as need be, or to +fight with lethal weapons. But I can be of other service; I can fight in +other way. And I can die, if need be, as well as younger men. Now let +me say that what I would is this: while you, my Lord Godalming and +friend Jonathan go in your so swift little steamboat up the river, and +whilst John and Quincey guard the bank where perchance he might be +landed, I will take Madam Mina right into the heart of the enemy's +country. Whilst the old fox is tied in his box, floating on the running +stream whence he cannot escape to land--where he dares not raise the lid +of his coffin-box lest his Slovak carriers should in fear leave him to +perish--we shall go in the track where Jonathan went,--from Bistritz +over the Borgo, and find our way to the Castle of Dracula. Here, Madam +Mina's hypnotic power will surely help, and we shall find our way--all +dark and unknown otherwise--after the first sunrise when we are near +that fateful place. There is much to be done, and other places to be +made sanctify, so that that nest of vipers be obliterated." Here +Jonathan interrupted him hotly:-- + +"Do you mean to say, Professor Van Helsing, that you would bring Mina, +in her sad case and tainted as she is with that devil's illness, right +into the jaws of his death-trap? Not for the world! Not for Heaven or +Hell!" He became almost speechless for a minute, and then went on:-- + +"Do you know what the place is? Have you seen that awful den of hellish +infamy--with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every +speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo? +Have you felt the Vampire's lips upon your throat?" Here he turned to +me, and as his eyes lit on my forehead he threw up his arms with a cry: +"Oh, my God, what have we done to have this terror upon us!" and he sank +down on the sofa in a collapse of misery. The Professor's voice, as he +spoke in clear, sweet tones, which seemed to vibrate in the air, calmed +us all:-- + +"Oh, my friend, it is because I would save Madam Mina from that awful +place that I would go. God forbid that I should take her into that +place. There is work--wild work--to be done there, that her eyes may not +see. We men here, all save Jonathan, have seen with their own eyes what +is to be done before that place can be purify. Remember that we are in +terrible straits. If the Count escape us this time--and he is strong and +subtle and cunning--he may choose to sleep him for a century, and then +in time our dear one"--he took my hand--"would come to him to keep him +company, and would be as those others that you, Jonathan, saw. You have +told us of their gloating lips; you heard their ribald laugh as they +clutched the moving bag that the Count threw to them. You shudder; and +well may it be. Forgive me that I make you so much pain, but it is +necessary. My friend, is it not a dire need for the which I am giving, +possibly my life? If it were that any one went into that place to stay, +it is I who would have to go to keep them company." + +"Do as you will," said Jonathan, with a sob that shook him all over, "we +are in the hands of God!" + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked. +How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true, and +so brave! And, too, it made me think of the wonderful power of money! +What can it not do when it is properly applied; and what might it do +when basely used. I felt so thankful that Lord Godalming is rich, and +that both he and Mr. Morris, who also has plenty of money, are willing +to spend it so freely. For if they did not, our little expedition could +not start, either so promptly or so well equipped, as it will within +another hour. It is not three hours since it was arranged what part each +of us was to do; and now Lord Godalming and Jonathan have a lovely steam +launch, with steam up ready to start at a moment's notice. Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris have half a dozen good horses, well appointed. We have +all the maps and appliances of various kinds that can be had. Professor +Van Helsing and I are to leave by the 11:40 train to-night for Veresti, +where we are to get a carriage to drive to the Borgo Pass. We are +bringing a good deal of ready money, as we are to buy a carriage and +horses. We shall drive ourselves, for we have no one whom we can trust +in the matter. The Professor knows something of a great many languages, +so we shall get on all right. We have all got arms, even for me a +large-bore revolver; Jonathan would not be happy unless I was armed like +the rest. Alas! I cannot carry one arm that the rest do; the scar on my +forehead forbids that. Dear Dr. Van Helsing comforts me by telling me +that I am fully armed as there may be wolves; the weather is getting +colder every hour, and there are snow-flurries which come and go as +warnings. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It took all my courage to say good-bye to my darling. We may +never meet again. Courage, Mina! the Professor is looking at you keenly; +his look is a warning. There must be no tears now--unless it may be that +God will let them fall in gladness. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_October 30. Night._--I am writing this in the light from the furnace +door of the steam launch: Lord Godalming is firing up. He is an +experienced hand at the work, as he has had for years a launch of his +own on the Thames, and another on the Norfolk Broads. Regarding our +plans, we finally decided that Mina's guess was correct, and that if any +waterway was chosen for the Count's escape back to his Castle, the +Sereth and then the Bistritza at its junction, would be the one. We took +it, that somewhere about the 47th degree, north latitude, would be the +place chosen for the crossing the country between the river and the +Carpathians. We have no fear in running at good speed up the river at +night; there is plenty of water, and the banks are wide enough apart to +make steaming, even in the dark, easy enough. Lord Godalming tells me to +sleep for a while, as it is enough for the present for one to be on +watch. But I cannot sleep--how can I with the terrible danger hanging +over my darling, and her going out into that awful place.... My only +comfort is that we are in the hands of God. Only for that faith it would +be easier to die than to live, and so be quit of all the trouble. Mr. +Morris and Dr. Seward were off on their long ride before we started; +they are to keep up the right bank, far enough off to get on higher +lands where they can see a good stretch of river and avoid the following +of its curves. They have, for the first stages, two men to ride and lead +their spare horses--four in all, so as not to excite curiosity. When +they dismiss the men, which shall be shortly, they shall themselves look +after the horses. It may be necessary for us to join forces; if so they +can mount our whole party. One of the saddles has a movable horn, and +can be easily adapted for Mina, if required. + +It is a wild adventure we are on. Here, as we are rushing along through +the darkness, with the cold from the river seeming to rise up and strike +us; with all the mysterious voices of the night around us, it all comes +home. We seem to be drifting into unknown places and unknown ways; into +a whole world of dark and dreadful things. Godalming is shutting the +furnace door.... + + * * * * * + +_31 October._--Still hurrying along. The day has come, and Godalming is +sleeping. I am on watch. The morning is bitterly cold; the furnace heat +is grateful, though we have heavy fur coats. As yet we have passed only +a few open boats, but none of them had on board any box or package of +anything like the size of the one we seek. The men were scared every +time we turned our electric lamp on them, and fell on their knees and +prayed. + + * * * * * + +_1 November, evening._--No news all day; we have found nothing of the +kind we seek. We have now passed into the Bistritza; and if we are wrong +in our surmise our chance is gone. We have over-hauled every boat, big +and little. Early this morning, one crew took us for a Government boat, +and treated us accordingly. We saw in this a way of smoothing matters, +so at Fundu, where the Bistritza runs into the Sereth, we got a +Roumanian flag which we now fly conspicuously. With every boat which we +have over-hauled since then this trick has succeeded; we have had every +deference shown to us, and not once any objection to whatever we chose +to ask or do. Some of the Slovaks tell us that a big boat passed them, +going at more than usual speed as she had a double crew on board. This +was before they came to Fundu, so they could not tell us whether the +boat turned into the Bistritza or continued on up the Sereth. At Fundu +we could not hear of any such boat, so she must have passed there in the +night. I am feeling very sleepy; the cold is perhaps beginning to tell +upon me, and nature must have rest some time. Godalming insists that he +shall keep the first watch. God bless him for all his goodness to poor +dear Mina and me. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--It is broad daylight. That good fellow would not +wake me. He says it would have been a sin to, for I slept peacefully and +was forgetting my trouble. It seems brutally selfish to me to have slept +so long, and let him watch all night; but he was quite right. I am a new +man this morning; and, as I sit here and watch him sleeping, I can do +all that is necessary both as to minding the engine, steering, and +keeping watch. I can feel that my strength and energy are coming back to +me. I wonder where Mina is now, and Van Helsing. They should have got to +Veresti about noon on Wednesday. It would take them some time to get the +carriage and horses; so if they had started and travelled hard, they +would be about now at the Borgo Pass. God guide and help them! I am +afraid to think what may happen. If we could only go faster! but we +cannot; the engines are throbbing and doing their utmost. I wonder how +Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris are getting on. There seem to be endless +streams running down the mountains into this river, but as none of them +are very large--at present, at all events, though they are terrible +doubtless in winter and when the snow melts--the horsemen may not have +met much obstruction. I hope that before we get to Strasba we may see +them; for if by that time we have not overtaken the Count, it may be +necessary to take counsel together what to do next. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 November._--Three days on the road. No news, and no time to write it +if there had been, for every moment is precious. We have had only the +rest needful for the horses; but we are both bearing it wonderfully. +Those adventurous days of ours are turning up useful. We must push on; +we shall never feel happy till we get the launch in sight again. + + * * * * * + +_3 November._--We heard at Fundu that the launch had gone up the +Bistritza. I wish it wasn't so cold. There are signs of snow coming; and +if it falls heavy it will stop us. In such case we must get a sledge and +go on, Russian fashion. + + * * * * * + +_4 November._--To-day we heard of the launch having been detained by an +accident when trying to force a way up the rapids. The Slovak boats get +up all right, by aid of a rope and steering with knowledge. Some went up +only a few hours before. Godalming is an amateur fitter himself, and +evidently it was he who put the launch in trim again. Finally, they got +up the rapids all right, with local help, and are off on the chase +afresh. I fear that the boat is not any better for the accident; the +peasantry tell us that after she got upon smooth water again, she kept +stopping every now and again so long as she was in sight. We must push +on harder than ever; our help may be wanted soon. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_31 October._--Arrived at Veresti at noon. The Professor tells me that +this morning at dawn he could hardly hypnotise me at all, and that all I +could say was: "dark and quiet." He is off now buying a carriage and +horses. He says that he will later on try to buy additional horses, so +that we may be able to change them on the way. We have something more +than 70 miles before us. The country is lovely, and most interesting; if +only we were under different conditions, how delightful it would be to +see it all. If Jonathan and I were driving through it alone what a +pleasure it would be. To stop and see people, and learn something of +their life, and to fill our minds and memories with all the colour and +picturesqueness of the whole wild, beautiful country and the quaint +people! But, alas!-- + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Dr. Van Helsing has returned. He has got the carriage and +horses; we are to have some dinner, and to start in an hour. The +landlady is putting us up a huge basket of provisions; it seems enough +for a company of soldiers. The Professor encourages her, and whispers to +me that it may be a week before we can get any good food again. He has +been shopping too, and has sent home such a wonderful lot of fur coats +and wraps, and all sorts of warm things. There will not be any chance of +our being cold. + + * * * * * + +We shall soon be off. I am afraid to think what may happen to us. We are +truly in the hands of God. He alone knows what may be, and I pray Him, +with all the strength of my sad and humble soul, that He will watch over +my beloved husband; that whatever may happen, Jonathan may know that I +loved him and honoured him more than I can say, and that my latest and +truest thought will be always for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 November._--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The +horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go +willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many +changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to +think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic; +he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well +to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea; and +off we go. It is a lovely country; full of beauties of all imaginable +kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full +of nice qualities. They are _very, very_ superstitious. In the first +house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my +forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to +keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an +extra amount of garlic into our food; and I can't abide garlic. Ever +since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have +escaped their suspicions. We are travelling fast, and as we have no +driver with us to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal; but I daresay +that fear of the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the way. The +Professor seems tireless; all day he would not take any rest, though he +made me sleep for a long spell. At sunset time he hypnotised me, and he +says that I answered as usual "darkness, lapping water and creaking +wood"; so our enemy is still on the river. I am afraid to think of +Jonathan, but somehow I have now no fear for him, or for myself. I write +this whilst we wait in a farmhouse for the horses to be got ready. Dr. +Van Helsing is sleeping, Poor dear, he looks very tired and old and +grey, but his mouth is set as firmly as a conqueror's; even in his sleep +he is instinct with resolution. When we have well started I must make +him rest whilst I drive. I shall tell him that we have days before us, +and we must not break down when most of all his strength will be +needed.... All is ready; we are off shortly. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--I was successful, and we took turns driving all +night; now the day is on us, bright though cold. There is a strange +heaviness in the air--I say heaviness for want of a better word; I mean +that it oppresses us both. It is very cold, and only our warm furs keep +us comfortable. At dawn Van Helsing hypnotised me; he says I answered +"darkness, creaking wood and roaring water," so the river is changing as +they ascend. I do hope that my darling will not run any chance of +danger--more than need be; but we are in God's hands. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, night._--All day long driving. The country gets wilder as +we go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at Veresti seemed +so far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to gather round us +and tower in front. We both seem in good spirits; I think we make an +effort each to cheer the other; in the doing so we cheer ourselves. Dr. +Van Helsing says that by morning we shall reach the Borgo Pass. The +houses are very few here now, and the Professor says that the last horse +we got will have to go on with us, as we may not be able to change. He +got two in addition to the two we changed, so that now we have a rude +four-in-hand. The dear horses are patient and good, and they give us no +trouble. We are not worried with other travellers, and so even I can +drive. We shall get to the Pass in daylight; we do not want to arrive +before. So we take it easy, and have each a long rest in turn. Oh, what +will to-morrow bring to us? We go to seek the place where my poor +darling suffered so much. God grant that we may be guided aright, and +that He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both, +and who are in such deadly peril. As for me, I am not worthy in His +sight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deign +to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred +His wrath. + + +_Memorandum by Abraham Van Helsing._ + +_4 November._--This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D., of +Purfleet, London, in case I may not see him. It may explain. It is +morning, and I write by a fire which all the night I have kept +alive--Madam Mina aiding me. It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey +heavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all +winter as the ground is hardening to receive it. It seems to have +affected Madam Mina; she has been so heavy of head all day that she was +not like herself. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps! She who is usual +so alert, have done literally nothing all the day; she even have lost +her appetite. She make no entry into her little diary, she who write so +faithful at every pause. Something whisper to me that all is not well. +However, to-night she is more _vif_. Her long sleep all day have refresh +and restore her, for now she is all sweet and bright as ever. At sunset +I try to hypnotise her, but alas! with no effect; the power has grown +less and less with each day, and to-night it fail me altogether. Well, +God's will be done--whatever it may be, and whithersoever it may lead! + +Now to the historical, for as Madam Mina write not in her stenography, I +must, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so each day of us may not go +unrecorded. + +We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday morning. When I +saw the signs of the dawn I got ready for the hypnotism. We stopped our +carriage, and got down so that there might be no disturbance. I made a +couch with furs, and Madam Mina, lying down, yield herself as usual, but +more slow and more short time than ever, to the hypnotic sleep. As +before, came the answer: "darkness and the swirling of water." Then she +woke, bright and radiant and we go on our way and soon reach the Pass. +At this time and place, she become all on fire with zeal; some new +guiding power be in her manifested, for she point to a road and say:-- + +"This is the way." + +"How know you it?" I ask. + +"Of course I know it," she answer, and with a pause, add: "Have not my +Jonathan travelled it and wrote of his travel?" + +At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be only one +such by-road. It is used but little, and very different from the coach +road from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more wide and hard, and +more of use. + +So we came down this road; when we meet other ways--not always were we +sure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect and light snow +have fallen--the horses know and they only. I give rein to them, and +they go on so patient. By-and-by we find all the things which Jonathan +have note in that wonderful diary of him. Then we go on for long, long +hours and hours. At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep; she try, and +she succeed. She sleep all the time; till at the last, I feel myself to +suspicious grow, and attempt to wake her. But she sleep on, and I may +not wake her though I try. I do not wish to try too hard lest I harm +her; for I know that she have suffer much, and sleep at times be +all-in-all to her. I think I drowse myself, for all of sudden I feel +guilt, as though I have done something; I find myself bolt up, with the +reins in my hand, and the good horses go along jog, jog, just as ever. I +look down and find Madam Mina still sleep. It is now not far off sunset +time, and over the snow the light of the sun flow in big yellow flood, +so that we throw great long shadow on where the mountain rise so steep. +For we are going up, and up; and all is oh! so wild and rocky, as though +it were the end of the world. + +Then I arouse Madam Mina. This time she wake with not much trouble, and +then I try to put her to hypnotic sleep. But she sleep not, being as +though I were not. Still I try and try, till all at once I find her and +myself in dark; so I look round, and find that the sun have gone down. +Madam Mina laugh, and I turn and look at her. She is now quite awake, +and look so well as I never saw her since that night at Carfax when we +first enter the Count's house. I am amaze, and not at ease then; but she +is so bright and tender and thoughtful for me that I forget all fear. I +light a fire, for we have brought supply of wood with us, and she +prepare food while I undo the horses and set them, tethered in shelter, +to feed. Then when I return to the fire she have my supper ready. I go +to help her; but she smile, and tell me that she have eat already--that +she was so hungry that she would not wait. I like it not, and I have +grave doubts; but I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of it. She +help me and I eat alone; and then we wrap in fur and lie beside the +fire, and I tell her to sleep while I watch. But presently I forget all +of watching; and when I sudden remember that I watch, I find her lying +quiet, but awake, and looking at me with so bright eyes. Once, twice +more the same occur, and I get much sleep till before morning. When I +wake I try to hypnotise her; but alas! though she shut her eyes +obedient, she may not sleep. The sun rise up, and up, and up; and then +sleep come to her too late, but so heavy that she will not wake. I have +to lift her up, and place her sleeping in the carriage when I have +harnessed the horses and made all ready. Madam still sleep, and she look +in her sleep more healthy and more redder than before. And I like it +not. And I am afraid, afraid, afraid!--I am afraid of all things--even +to think but I must go on my way. The stake we play for is life and +death, or more than these, and we must not flinch. + + * * * * * + +_5 November, morning._--Let me be accurate in everything, for though you +and I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first think +that I, Van Helsing, am mad--that the many horrors and the so long +strain on nerves has at the last turn my brain. + +All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains, and +moving into a more and more wild and desert land. There are great, +frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have held +sometime her carnival. Madam Mina still sleep and sleep; and though I +did have hunger and appeased it, I could not waken her--even for food. I +began to fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon her, tainted as +she is with that Vampire baptism. "Well," said I to myself, "if it be +that she sleep all the day, it shall also be that I do not sleep at +night." As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient and +imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept. Again I waked +with a sense of guilt and of time passed, and found Madam Mina still +sleeping, and the sun low down. But all was indeed changed; the frowning +mountains seemed further away, and we were near the top of a +steep-rising hill, on summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell +of in his diary. At once I exulted and feared; for now, for good or ill, +the end was near. + +I woke Madam Mina, and again tried to hypnotise her; but alas! +unavailing till too late. Then, ere the great dark came upon us--for +even after down-sun the heavens reflected the gone sun on the snow, and +all was for a time in a great twilight--I took out the horses and fed +them in what shelter I could. Then I make a fire; and near it I make +Madam Mina, now awake and more charming than ever, sit comfortable amid +her rugs. I got ready food: but she would not eat, simply saying that +she had not hunger. I did not press her, knowing her unavailingness. But +I myself eat, for I must needs now be strong for all. Then, with the +fear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so big for her comfort, round +where Madam Mina sat; and over the ring I passed some of the wafer, and +I broke it fine so that all was well guarded. She sat still all the +time--so still as one dead; and she grew whiter and ever whiter till the +snow was not more pale; and no word she said. But when I drew near, she +clung to me, and I could know that the poor soul shook her from head to +feet with a tremor that was pain to feel. I said to her presently, when +she had grown more quiet:-- + +"Will you not come over to the fire?" for I wished to make a test of +what she could. She rose obedient, but when she have made a step she +stopped, and stood as one stricken. + +"Why not go on?" I asked. She shook her head, and, coming back, sat +down in her place. Then, looking at me with open eyes, as of one waked +from sleep, she said simply:-- + +"I cannot!" and remained silent. I rejoiced, for I knew that what she +could not, none of those that we dreaded could. Though there might be +danger to her body, yet her soul was safe! + +Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their tethers till I +came to them and quieted them. When they did feel my hands on them, they +whinnied low as in joy, and licked at my hands and were quiet for a +time. Many times through the night did I come to them, till it arrive to +the cold hour when all nature is at lowest; and every time my coming was +with quiet of them. In the cold hour the fire began to die, and I was +about stepping forth to replenish it, for now the snow came in flying +sweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the dark there was a light of +some kind, as there ever is over snow; and it seemed as though the +snow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of women with +trailing garments. All was in dead, grim silence only that the horses +whinnied and cowered, as if in terror of the worst. I began to +fear--horrible fears; but then came to me the sense of safety in that +ring wherein I stood. I began, too, to think that my imaginings were of +the night, and the gloom, and the unrest that I have gone through, and +all the terrible anxiety. It was as though my memories of all Jonathan's +horrid experience were befooling me; for the snow flakes and the mist +began to wheel and circle round, till I could get as though a shadowy +glimpse of those women that would have kissed him. And then the horses +cowered lower and lower, and moaned in terror as men do in pain. Even +the madness of fright was not to them, so that they could break away. I +feared for my dear Madam Mina when these weird figures drew near and +circled round. I looked at her, but she sat calm, and smiled at me; when +I would have stepped to the fire to replenish it, she caught me and held +me back, and whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so low +it was:-- + +"No! No! Do not go without. Here you are safe!" I turned to her, and +looking in her eyes, said:-- + +"But you? It is for you that I fear!" whereat she laughed--a laugh, low +and unreal, and said:-- + +"Fear for _me_! Why fear for me? None safer in all the world from them +than I am," and as I wondered at the meaning of her words, a puff of +wind made the flame leap up, and I see the red scar on her forehead. +Then, alas! I knew. Did I not, I would soon have learned, for the +wheeling figures of mist and snow came closer, but keeping ever without +the Holy circle. Then they began to materialise till--if God have not +take away my reason, for I saw it through my eyes--there were before me +in actual flesh the same three women that Jonathan saw in the room, when +they would have kissed his throat. I knew the swaying round forms, the +bright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous +lips. They smiled ever at poor dear Madam Mina; and as their laugh came +through the silence of the night, they twined their arms and pointed to +her, and said in those so sweet tingling tones that Jonathan said were +of the intolerable sweetness of the water-glasses:-- + +"Come, sister. Come to us. Come! Come!" In fear I turned to my poor +Madam Mina, and my heart with gladness leapt like flame; for oh! the +terror in her sweet eyes, the repulsion, the horror, told a story to my +heart that was all of hope. God be thanked she was not, yet, of them. I +seized some of the firewood which was by me, and holding out some of the +Wafer, advanced on them towards the fire. They drew back before me, and +laughed their low horrid laugh. I fed the fire, and feared them not; for +I knew that we were safe within our protections. They could not +approach, me, whilst so armed, nor Madam Mina whilst she remained within +the ring, which she could not leave no more than they could enter. The +horses had ceased to moan, and lay still on the ground; the snow fell on +them softly, and they grew whiter. I knew that there was for the poor +beasts no more of terror. + +And so we remained till the red of the dawn to fall through the +snow-gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror; but +when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again. +At the first coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in the +whirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom moved away +towards the castle, and were lost. + +Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina, intending +to hypnotise her; but she lay in a deep and sudden sleep, from which I +could not wake her. I tried to hypnotise through her sleep, but she made +no response, none at all; and the day broke. I fear yet to stir. I have +made my fire and have seen the horses, they are all dead. To-day I have +much to do here, and I keep waiting till the sun is up high; for there +may be places where I must go, where that sunlight, though snow and mist +obscure it, will be to me a safety. + +I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my terrible +work. Madam Mina still sleeps; and, God be thanked! she is calm in her +sleep.... + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 November, evening._--The accident to the launch has been a terrible +thing for us. Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago; +and by now my dear Mina would have been free. I fear to think of her, +off on the wolds near that horrid place. We have got horses, and we +follow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready. We +have our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean fight. Oh, if only +Morris and Seward were with us. We must only hope! If I write no more +Good-bye, Mina! God bless and keep you. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 November._--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashing +away from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded it in a +cluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is falling lightly +and there is a strange excitement in the air. It may be our own +feelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the howling of +wolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and there are +dangers to all of us, and from all sides. The horses are nearly ready, +and we are soon off. We ride to death of some one. God alone knows who, +or where, or what, or when, or how it may be.... + + +_Dr. Van Helsing's Memorandum._ + +_5 November, afternoon._--I am at least sane. Thank God for that mercy +at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I left +Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the castle. +The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from Veresti was +useful; though the doors were all open I broke them off the rusty +hinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close them, so that +being entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter experience served +me here. By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel, for I +knew that here my work lay. The air was oppressive; it seemed as if +there was some sulphurous fume, which at times made me dizzy. Either +there was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar off the howl of wolves. +Then I bethought me of my dear Madam Mina, and I was in terrible plight. +The dilemma had me between his horns. + +Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe from the +Vampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf! I +resolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we must +submit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death and +freedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself the +choice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in than +the grave of the Vampire! So I make my choice to go on with my work. + +I knew that there were at least three graves to find--graves that are +inhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She lay in her +Vampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I shudder as +though I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in old time, when +such things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as mine, +found at the last his heart fail him, and then his nerve. So he delay, +and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of the +wanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain on and on, till sunset +come, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the beautiful eyes of the fair +woman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a +kiss--and man is weak. And there remain one more victim in the Vampire +fold; one more to swell the grim and grisly ranks of the Un-Dead!... + +There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presence +of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age and +heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour such +as the lairs of the Count have had. Yes, I was moved--I, Van Helsing, +with all my purpose and with my motive for hate--I was moved to a +yearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties and to clog my +very soul. It may have been that the need of natural sleep, and the +strange oppression of the air were beginning to overcome me. Certain it +was that I was lapsing into sleep, the open-eyed sleep of one who yields +to a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled air a +long, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me like the sound +of a clarion. For it was the voice of my dear Madam Mina that I heard. + +Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by wrenching +away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one. I dared not +pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should +begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find in +a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sister +which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of +the mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so +exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls +some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl +with new emotion. But God be thanked, that soul-wail of my dear Madam +Mina had not died out of my ears; and, before the spell could be wrought +further upon me, I had nerved myself to my wild work. By this time I had +searched all the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell; and as +there had been only three of these Un-Dead phantoms around us in the +night, I took it that there were no more of active Un-Dead existent. +There was one great tomb more lordly than all the rest; huge it was, and +nobly proportioned. On it was but one word + + DRACULA. + +This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so many more +were due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what I knew. +Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through my +awful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished +him from it, Un-Dead, for ever. + +Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it. Had it been but one, it +had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I had +been through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweet +Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survived +through centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of the +years; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives.... + +Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work; had I not been nerved by +thoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung such a pall of +fear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble even yet, though +till all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand. Had I not seen +the repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole over it just +ere the final dissolution came, as realisation that the soul had been +won, I could not have gone further with my butchery. I could not have +endured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging of +writhing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled in terror and +left my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls, I can pity them +now and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of death +for a short moment ere fading. For, friend John, hardly had my knife +severed the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away and +crumble in to its native dust, as though the death that should have come +centuries agone had at last assert himself and say at once and loud "I +am here!" + +Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never more can +the Count enter there Un-Dead. + +When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke from her +sleep, and, seeing, me, cried out in pain that I had endured too much. + +"Come!" she said, "come away from this awful place! Let us go to meet my +husband who is, I know, coming towards us." She was looking thin and +pale and weak; but her eyes were pure and glowed with fervour. I was +glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the +fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep. + +And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go eastward to meet +our friends--and _him_--whom Madam Mina tell me that she _know_ are +coming to meet us. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_6 November._--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I +took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming. We did +not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to take +heavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility of being +left without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take some of our +provisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as we +could see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign of +habitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavy +walking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw where the +clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so deep under +the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective of the +Carpathian mountains was far below it. We saw it in all its grandeur, +perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice, and with +seemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the adjacent mountain +on any side. There was something wild and uncanny about the place. We +could hear the distant howling of wolves. They were far off, but the +sound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was +full of terror. I knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching about +that he was trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be less +exposed in case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; we +could trace it through the drifted snow. + +In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and joined +him. He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow in a rock, +with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders. He took me by the +hand and drew me in: "See!" he said, "here you will be in shelter; and +if the wolves do come I can meet them one by one." He brought in our +furs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some provisions and +forced them upon me. But I could not eat; to even try to do so was +repulsive to me, and, much as I would have liked to please him, I could +not bring myself to the attempt. He looked very sad, but did not +reproach me. Taking his field-glasses from the case, he stood on the top +of the rock, and began to search the horizon. Suddenly he called out:-- + +"Look! Madam Mina, look! look!" I sprang up and stood beside him on the +rock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow was now falling +more heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginning +to blow. However, there were times when there were pauses between the +snow flurries and I could see a long way round. From the height where we +were it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond the +white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon in +kinks and curls as it wound its way. Straight in front of us and not far +off--in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before--came a +group of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a +long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail +wagging, with each stern inequality of the road. Outlined against the +snow as they were, I could see from the men's clothes that they were +peasants or gypsies of some kind. + +On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw it, for I +felt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing close, and +well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then imprisoned +there, would take new freedom and could in any of many forms elude all +pursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor; to my consternation, +however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him below me. Round +the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found shelter in last +night. When he had completed it he stood beside me again, saying:-- + +"At least you shall be safe here from _him_!" He took the glasses from +me, and at the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us. +"See," he said, "they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, and +galloping as hard as they can." He paused and went on in a hollow +voice:-- + +"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will be +done!" Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole +landscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and once more his +glasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden cry:-- + +"Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming up from the +south. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look before the snow +blots it all out!" I took it and looked. The two men might be Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan. +At the same time I _knew_ that Jonathan was not far off; looking around +I saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding at +break-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took, +of course, to be Lord Godalming. They, too, were pursuing the party with +the cart. When I told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy, +and, after looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, he +laid his Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at the +opening of our shelter. "They are all converging," he said. "When the +time comes we shall have gypsies on all sides." I got out my revolver +ready to hand, for whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came +louder and closer. When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again. +It was strange to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us, +and beyond, the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank down +towards the far mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I could +see here and there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger +numbers--the wolves were gathering for their prey. + +Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now in +fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us in +circling eddies. At times we could not see an arm's length before us; +but at others, as the hollow-sounding wind swept by us, it seemed to +clear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off. We had of +late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that we knew +with fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that before long the +sun would set. It was hard to believe that by our watches it was less +than an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the various +bodies began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercer +and more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seemingly +had driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts, +the snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each +party, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did +not seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they +seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower +and lower on the mountain tops. + +Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behind +our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determined +that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of our +presence. + +All at once two voices shouted out to: "Halt!" One was my Jonathan's, +raised in a high key of passion; the other Mr. Morris' strong resolute +tone of quiet command. The gypsies may not have known the language, but +there was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the words were +spoken. Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant Lord Godalming +and Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris on the +other. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid-looking fellow who sat his +horse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a fierce voice gave to his +companions some word to proceed. They lashed the horses which sprang +forward; but the four men raised their Winchester rifles, and in an +unmistakable way commanded them to stop. At the same moment Dr. Van +Helsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them. +Seeing that they were surrounded the men tightened their reins and drew +up. The leader turned to them and gave a word at which every man of the +gypsy party drew what weapon he carried, knife or pistol, and held +himself in readiness to attack. Issue was joined in an instant. + +The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out in +front, and pointing first to the sun--now close down on the hill +tops--and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand. +For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their horses +and dashed towards the cart. I should have felt terrible fear at seeing +Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have been +upon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild, +surging desire to do something. Seeing the quick movement of our +parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command; his men instantly +formed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined endeavour, each one +shouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness to carry out the +order. + +In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring +of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it was +evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun +should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither the +levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, nor +the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their +attention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his +purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they +cowered, aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon the +cart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great +box, and flung it over the wheel to the ground. In the meantime, Mr. +Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring of +Szgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had, +with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and had +seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them, and +they cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at first +I thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he sprang +beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could see that +with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the blood was +spurting through his fingers. He did not delay notwithstanding this, for +as Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked one end of the chest, +attempting to prize off the lid with his great Kukri knife, he attacked +the other frantically with his bowie. Under the efforts of both men the +lid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, and +the top of the box was thrown back. + +By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters, +and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and made +no resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the +shadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow. I saw the Count +lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from +the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen +image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I +knew too well. + +As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them +turned to triumph. + +But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. +I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same +moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart. + +It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in the +drawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed from +our sight. + +I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final +dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never +could have imagined might have rested there. + +The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone +of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the +setting sun. + +The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinary +disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away as +if for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped upon the +leiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them. The wolves, +which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their wake, leaving +us alone. + +Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his +hand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through his fingers. I +flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the +two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his +head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand +in that of his own which was unstained. He must have seen the anguish of +my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said:-- + +"I am only too happy to have been of any service! Oh, God!" he cried +suddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and pointing to me, "It was +worth for this to die! Look! look!" + +The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams +fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse +the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all +as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger. The dying man +spoke:-- + +"Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not +more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!" + +And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a +gallant gentleman. + + + + + NOTE + + +Seven years ago we all went through the flames; and the happiness of +some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured. It +is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same +day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the +secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into +him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together; but +we call him Quincey. + +In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania, and went +over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid and +terrible memories. It was almost impossible to believe that the things +which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears were +living truths. Every trace of all that had been was blotted out. The +castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation. + +When we got home we were talking of the old time--which we could all +look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are both happily +married. I took the papers from the safe where they had been ever since +our return so long ago. We were struck with the fact, that in all the +mass of material of which the record is composed, there is hardly one +authentic document; nothing but a mass of typewriting, except the later +note-books of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van Helsing's memorandum. +We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as +proofs of so wild a story. Van Helsing summed it all up as he said, with +our boy on his knee:-- + +"We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy will some day +know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is. Already he knows her +sweetness and loving care; later on he will understand how some men so +loved her, that they did dare much for her sake." + +JONATHAN HARKER. + + THE END + + * * * * * + + _There's More to Follow!_ + + More stories of the sort you like; more, probably, by the author of + this one; more than 500 titles all told by writers of world-wide + reputation, in the Authors' Alphabetical List which you will find + on the _reverse side_ of the wrapper of this book. Look it over + before you lay it aside. There are books here you are sure to + want--some, possibly, that you have _always_ wanted. + + It is a _selected_ list; every book in it has achieved a certain + measure of _success_. + + The Grosset & Dunlap list is not only the greatest Index of Good + Fiction available, it represents in addition a generally accepted + Standard of Value. It will pay you to + + _Look on the Other Side of the Wrapper!_ + + _In case the wrapper is lost write to the publishers for a complete + catalog_ + + * * * * * + +DETECTIVE STORIES BY J. S. FLETCHER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +THE SECRET OF THE BARBICAN + +THE ANNEXATION SOCIETY + +THE WOLVES AND THE LAMB + +GREEN INK + +THE KING versus WARGRAVE + +THE LOST MR. LINTHWAITE + +THE MILL OF MANY WINDOWS + +THE HEAVEN-KISSED HILL + +THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER + +RAVENSDENE COURT + +THE RAYNER-SLADE AMALGAMATION + +THE SAFETY PIN + +THE SECRET WAY + +THE VALLEY OF HEADSTRONG MEN + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +in a very simply way=> in a very simple way {pg 68} + +"The Westminister Gazette," 25 September.=> "The Westminster Gazette," +25 September. {pg 165} + +It have told him=> She must have told him {pg 169} + +from md sight=> from my sight {pg}184 + +Goldaming=> Godalming {pg 226} + +I I did not want to hinder him=> I did not want to hinder him {pg 267} + +They lay in a sort of or-orderly=> They lay in a sort of orderly {pg +279} + +Translyvania=> Transylvania {pg 294} + +this mrrning from Dardanelles=> this morning from Dardanelles {pg 313} + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + +***** This file should be named 345-8.txt or 345-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/345/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20bdbdb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/content/my_content/poe.txt @@ -0,0 +1,887 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven +Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition + Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes + +Author: Edgar Allan Poe + +Release Date: May 19, 2008 [EBook #25525] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Contents and Index of Five Volumes + + +THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE + +TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX OF THE FIVE VOLUMES + +The Raven Edition + + +Project Gutenberg Volumes: +#2147, #2148, #2149, #2150, #2151 + + + +CONTENTS + +INDEX + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME 1 + +EDGAR ALLAN POE + +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE + +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL + +THE GOLD-BUG + +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD + +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE + +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET + +THE BALLOON-HOAX + +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE + +THE OVAL PORTRAIT + +VOLUME 2 + +THE PURLOINED LETTER + +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE + +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM. + +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY + +MESMERIC REVELATION + +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR + +THE BLACK CAT. + +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER + +SILENCE—A FABLE + +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. + +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. + +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE + +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY + +THE ASSIGNATION + +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM + +THE PREMATURE BURIAL + +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM + +LANDOR'S COTTAGE + +WILLIAM WILSON + +THE TELL-TALE HEART. + +BERENICE + +ELEONORA + +VOLUME 3 +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM + +CHAPTER 1 + +CHAPTER 2 + +CHAPTER 3 + +CHAPTER 4 + +CHAPTER 5 + +CHAPTER 6 + +CHAPTER 7 + +CHAPTER 8 + +CHAPTER 9 + +CHAPTER 10 + +CHAPTER 11 + +CHAPTER 12 + +CHAPTER 13 + +CHAPTER 14 + +CHAPTER 15 + +CHAPTER 16 + +CHAPTER 17 + +CHAPTER 18 + +CHAPTER 19 + +CHAPTER 20 + +CHAPTER 21 + +CHAPTER 22 + +CHAPTER 23 + +CHAPTER 24 + +CHAPTER 25 + +Notes + +LIGEIA + +MORELLA + +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS + +THE SPECTACLES + +KING PEST. + +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK + +VOLUME 4 + +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY + +LIONIZING + +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +METZENGERSTEIN + +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER + +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. + +A PREDICAMENT + +MYSTIFICATION + +DIDDLING + +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD + +MELLONTA TAUTA + +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. + +THE OBLONG BOX. + +LOSS OF BREATH + +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. + +THE BUSINESS MAN + +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN + +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER + +THE POWER OF WORDS + +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA + +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION + +SHADOW—A PARABLE + +VOLUME 5 + +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. + +A TALE OF JERUSALEM + +THE SPHINX + +HOP-FROG + +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. + +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD + +THOU ART THE MAN + +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING + +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. + +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE + +OLD ENGLISH POETRY + +POEMS + +PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE + +THE RAVEN. + +THE BELLS. + +ULALUME + +TO HELEN + +ANNABEL LEE. + +A VALENTINE. + +AN ENIGMA + +FOR ANNIE + +TO F——. + +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD + +ELDORADO. + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + +THE SLEEPER. + +NOTES + +POEMS OF MANHOOD + +LENORE + +TO ONE IN PARADISE. + +THE COLISEUM. + +THE HAUNTED PALACE. + +THE CONQUEROR WORM. + +SILENCE + +DREAM-LAND + +HYMN + +TO ZANTE + +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" + +POEMS OF YOUTH + +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 + +LETTER TO MR. B—. + +SONNET—TO SCIENCE + +AL AARAAF + +TAMERLANE + +TO HELEN + +THE VALLEY OF UNREST + +ISRAFEL + +TO —— + +TO —— + +TO THE RIVER—— + +SONG + +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD + +A DREAM + +ROMANCE + +FAIRY-LAND + +THE LAKE —— TO—— + +EVENING STAR + +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." + +IMITATION + +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS + +DREAMS + +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +NOTES + +DOUBTFUL POEMS + +ALONE + +TO ISADORE + +THE VILLAGE STREET + +THE FOREST REVERIE + +NOTES + + + +INDEX + +PROSE +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD +THE ASSIGNATION +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. +THE BUSINESS MAN +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE +EDGAR ALLAN POE +THE BALLOON-HOAX +THE BLACK CAT. +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD +BERENICE +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY +DIDDLING +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. +ELEONORA +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING +THE GOLD-BUG +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM +HOP-FROG +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY +A TALE OF JERUSALEM +KING PEST. +LANDOR'S COTTAGE +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN +LIGEIA +LIONIZING +LOSS OF BREATH +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. +MELLONTA TAUTA +MESMERIC REVELATION +METZENGERSTEIN +MORELLA +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET +MYSTIFICATION +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD +THE OBLONG BOX. +THE OVAL PORTRAIT +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM +THE POWER OF WORDS +A PREDICAMENT +THE PREMATURE BURIAL +THE PURLOINED LETTER +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS +SHADOW—A PARABLE +SILENCE—A FABLE +THE SPECTACLES +THE SPHINX +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER +THE TELL-TALE HEART. +THOU ART THE MAN +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY +WILLIAM WILSON +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +POETRY +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE +OLD ENGLISH POETRY PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE +ANNABEL LEE. +FOR ANNIE +THE BELLS. +THE CITY IN THE SEA. +ELDORADO. +AN ENIGMA +TO F——. +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD +TO HELEN +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +THE RAVEN. +THE SLEEPER. +ULALUME +A VALENTINE. + +POEMS OF MANHOOD +THE COLISEUM. +THE CONQUEROR WORM. +DREAM-LAND +THE HAUNTED PALACE. +HYMN +LENORE +TO ONE IN PARADISE. +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" +SILENCE +TO ZANTE + +POEMS OF YOUTH +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 +LETTER TO MR. B—. +AL AARAAF +A DREAM +DREAMS +EVENING STAR +FAIRY-LAND +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." +TO HELEN +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS +IMITATION +ISRAFEL +THE LAKE —— TO—— +SONG +SONNET—TO SCIENCE +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD +TAMERLANE +TO —— +TO —— +TO THE RIVER—— +ROMANCE +THE VALLEY OF UNREST +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +DOUBTFUL POEMS +ALONE +THE FOREST REVERIE +TO ISADORE +THE VILLAGE STREET + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The +Raven Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + +***** This file should be named 25525-8.txt or 25525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/2/25525/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e921dd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +{ + "id": "info:bb123cd4567", + "head": "v1", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..015162a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a6a5affb5a588ddf11735da4480e6c0865717cd113cec5224654c06a802cf39b95534622863a20604cd0a61b7e317878d66e4eb1cca7c2e7d130768bbda5618e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..803f951 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +{ + "id": "info:bb123cd4567", + "head": "v2", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2020-01-02T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Second version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/a_second_copy_of_dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..60546c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +90e729f565a3a73aa1c077fd8bc774b29560ea469b9d7e26974fe9c2927c0e836539b0b7421a0951250d976e0951f274875e521c696293cdff98a46dec7bb78e inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83f0fd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt @@ -0,0 +1,888 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven +Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition + Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes + +Author: Edgar Allan Poe + +Release Date: May 19, 2008 [EBook #25525] + +Language: English + +This version of the work has had this line inserted to test OCFL object generation. No other changes have been made. + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Contents and Index of Five Volumes + + +THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE + +TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX OF THE FIVE VOLUMES + +The Raven Edition + + +Project Gutenberg Volumes: +#2147, #2148, #2149, #2150, #2151 + + + +CONTENTS + +INDEX + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME 1 + +EDGAR ALLAN POE + +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE + +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL + +THE GOLD-BUG + +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD + +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE + +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET + +THE BALLOON-HOAX + +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE + +THE OVAL PORTRAIT + +VOLUME 2 + +THE PURLOINED LETTER + +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE + +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM. + +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY + +MESMERIC REVELATION + +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR + +THE BLACK CAT. + +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER + +SILENCE—A FABLE + +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. + +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. + +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE + +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY + +THE ASSIGNATION + +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM + +THE PREMATURE BURIAL + +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM + +LANDOR'S COTTAGE + +WILLIAM WILSON + +THE TELL-TALE HEART. + +BERENICE + +ELEONORA + +VOLUME 3 +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM + +CHAPTER 1 + +CHAPTER 2 + +CHAPTER 3 + +CHAPTER 4 + +CHAPTER 5 + +CHAPTER 6 + +CHAPTER 7 + +CHAPTER 8 + +CHAPTER 9 + +CHAPTER 10 + +CHAPTER 11 + +CHAPTER 12 + +CHAPTER 13 + +CHAPTER 14 + +CHAPTER 15 + +CHAPTER 16 + +CHAPTER 17 + +CHAPTER 18 + +CHAPTER 19 + +CHAPTER 20 + +CHAPTER 21 + +CHAPTER 22 + +CHAPTER 23 + +CHAPTER 24 + +CHAPTER 25 + +Notes + +LIGEIA + +MORELLA + +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS + +THE SPECTACLES + +KING PEST. + +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK + +VOLUME 4 + +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY + +LIONIZING + +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +METZENGERSTEIN + +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER + +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. + +A PREDICAMENT + +MYSTIFICATION + +DIDDLING + +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD + +MELLONTA TAUTA + +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. + +THE OBLONG BOX. + +LOSS OF BREATH + +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. + +THE BUSINESS MAN + +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN + +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER + +THE POWER OF WORDS + +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA + +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION + +SHADOW—A PARABLE + +VOLUME 5 + +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. + +A TALE OF JERUSALEM + +THE SPHINX + +HOP-FROG + +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. + +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD + +THOU ART THE MAN + +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING + +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. + +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE + +OLD ENGLISH POETRY + +POEMS + +PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE + +THE RAVEN. + +THE BELLS. + +ULALUME + +TO HELEN + +ANNABEL LEE. + +A VALENTINE. + +AN ENIGMA + +FOR ANNIE + +TO F——. + +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD + +ELDORADO. + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + +THE SLEEPER. + +NOTES + +POEMS OF MANHOOD + +LENORE + +TO ONE IN PARADISE. + +THE COLISEUM. + +THE HAUNTED PALACE. + +THE CONQUEROR WORM. + +SILENCE + +DREAM-LAND + +HYMN + +TO ZANTE + +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" + +POEMS OF YOUTH + +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 + +LETTER TO MR. B—. + +SONNET—TO SCIENCE + +AL AARAAF + +TAMERLANE + +TO HELEN + +THE VALLEY OF UNREST + +ISRAFEL + +TO —— + +TO —— + +TO THE RIVER—— + +SONG + +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD + +A DREAM + +ROMANCE + +FAIRY-LAND + +THE LAKE —— TO—— + +EVENING STAR + +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." + +IMITATION + +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS + +DREAMS + +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +NOTES + +DOUBTFUL POEMS + +ALONE + +TO ISADORE + +THE VILLAGE STREET + +THE FOREST REVERIE + +NOTES + + + +INDEX + +PROSE +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD +THE ASSIGNATION +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. +THE BUSINESS MAN +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE +EDGAR ALLAN POE +THE BALLOON-HOAX +THE BLACK CAT. +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD +BERENICE +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY +DIDDLING +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. +ELEONORA +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING +THE GOLD-BUG +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM +HOP-FROG +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY +A TALE OF JERUSALEM +KING PEST. +LANDOR'S COTTAGE +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN +LIGEIA +LIONIZING +LOSS OF BREATH +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. +MELLONTA TAUTA +MESMERIC REVELATION +METZENGERSTEIN +MORELLA +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET +MYSTIFICATION +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD +THE OBLONG BOX. +THE OVAL PORTRAIT +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM +THE POWER OF WORDS +A PREDICAMENT +THE PREMATURE BURIAL +THE PURLOINED LETTER +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS +SHADOW—A PARABLE +SILENCE—A FABLE +THE SPECTACLES +THE SPHINX +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER +THE TELL-TALE HEART. +THOU ART THE MAN +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY +WILLIAM WILSON +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +POETRY +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE +OLD ENGLISH POETRY PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE +ANNABEL LEE. +FOR ANNIE +THE BELLS. +THE CITY IN THE SEA. +ELDORADO. +AN ENIGMA +TO F——. +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD +TO HELEN +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +THE RAVEN. +THE SLEEPER. +ULALUME +A VALENTINE. + +POEMS OF MANHOOD +THE COLISEUM. +THE CONQUEROR WORM. +DREAM-LAND +THE HAUNTED PALACE. +HYMN +LENORE +TO ONE IN PARADISE. +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" +SILENCE +TO ZANTE + +POEMS OF YOUTH +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 +LETTER TO MR. B—. +AL AARAAF +A DREAM +DREAMS +EVENING STAR +FAIRY-LAND +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." +TO HELEN +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS +IMITATION +ISRAFEL +THE LAKE —— TO—— +SONG +SONNET—TO SCIENCE +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD +TAMERLANE +TO —— +TO —— +TO THE RIVER—— +ROMANCE +THE VALLEY OF UNREST +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +DOUBTFUL POEMS +ALONE +THE FOREST REVERIE +TO ISADORE +THE VILLAGE STREET + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The +Raven Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + +***** This file should be named 25525-8.txt or 25525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/2/25525/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e369f10 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +{ + "id": "info:bb123cd4567", + "head": "v3", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ], + "242a60b18a716f1e88ebbb3a546a119009671dc210317be1cca206650db471c8d84769d495b4e169bfe8200b4d6d60520aa75fe99e401bd7738107b7b0ca0bcd": [ + "v3/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2020-01-02T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Second version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/a_second_copy_of_dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2020-01-03T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Third version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "242a60b18a716f1e88ebbb3a546a119009671dc210317be1cca206650db471c8d84769d495b4e169bfe8200b4d6d60520aa75fe99e401bd7738107b7b0ca0bcd": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f40abaf --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v3/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7c37e5cdb39a7d8b44fab22424c5ba3b09c43b028e4998f18e25225a2398f1ed1892dbb2663ac27a770bddd9f7e8068af160f0ed08d268a4c75ae299083e5fc4 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/content/my_content/dunwich.txt b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/content/my_content/dunwich.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6542979 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/content/my_content/dunwich.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2115 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dunwich Horror, by H. P. Lovecraft + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Dunwich Horror + +Author: H. P. Lovecraft + +Release Date: October 4, 2015 [EBook #50133] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUNWICH HORROR *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _The_ Dunwich Horror + + by H. P. LOVECRAFT + + + "Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras--dire stories of Celæno and + the Harpies--may reproduce themselves in the brain of + superstition--_but they were there before_. They are transcripts, + types--the archetypes are in us, and eternal. How else should the + recital of that which we know in a waking sense to be false come + to affect us at all? Is it that we naturally conceive terror from + such objects, considered in their capacity of being able to + inflict upon us bodily injury? Oh, least of all! _These terrors + are of older standing. They date beyond body_--or without the + body, they would have been the same.... That the kind of fear here + treated is purely spiritual--that it is strong in proportion as it + is objectless on earth, that it predominates in the period of our + sinless infancy--are difficulties the solution of which might + afford some probable insight into our ante-mundane condition, and + a peep at least into the shadowland of pre-existence."--Charles + Lamb: _Witches and Other Night-Fears_. + + +1 + +When a traveler in north central Massachusetts takes the wrong fork +at the junction of the Aylesbury pike just beyond Dean's Corners he +comes upon a lonely and curious country. The ground gets higher, and +the brier-bordered stone walls press closer and closer against the ruts +of the dusty, curving road. The trees of the frequent forest belts +seem too large, and the wild weeds, brambles, and grasses attain a +luxuriance not often found in settled regions. At the same time the +planted fields appear singularly few and barren; while the sparsely +scattered houses wear a surprizing uniform aspect of age, squalor, and +dilapidation. Without knowing why, one hesitates to ask directions +from the gnarled, solitary figures spied now and then on crumbling +doorsteps or in the sloping, rock-strewn meadows. Those figures are +so silent and furtive that one feels somehow confronted by forbidden +things, with which it would be better to have nothing to do. When a +rise in the road brings the mountains in view above the deep woods, +the feeling of strange uneasiness is increased. The summits are too +rounded and symmetrical to give a sense of comfort and naturalness, and +sometimes the sky silhouettes with especial clearness the queer circles +of tall stone pillars with which most of them are crowned. + +Gorges and ravines of problematical depth intersect the way, and the +crude wooden bridges always seem of dubious safety. When the road +dips again there are stretches of marshland that one instinctively +dislikes, and indeed almost fears at evening when unseen whippoorwills +chatter and the fireflies come out in abnormal profusion to dance to +the raucous, creepily insistent rhythms of stridently piping bullfrogs. +The thin, shining line of the Miskatonic's upper reaches has an oddly +serpentlike suggestion as it winds close to the feet of the domed hills +among which it rises. + +As the hills draw nearer, one heeds their wooded sides more than their +stone-crowned tops. Those sides loom up so darkly and precipitously +that one wishes they would keep their distance, but there is no road by +which to escape them. Across a covered bridge one sees a small village +huddled between the stream and the vertical slope of Round Mountain, +and wonders at the cluster of rotting gambrel roofs bespeaking an +earlier architectural period than that of the neighboring region. It +is not reassuring to see, on a closer glance, that most of the houses +are deserted and falling to ruin, and that the broken-steepled church +now harbors the one slovenly mercantile establishment of the hamlet. +One dreads to trust the tenebrous tunnel of the bridge, yet there is no +way to avoid it. Once across, it is hard to prevent the impression of a +faint, malign odor about the village street, as of the massed mold and +decay of centuries. It is always a relief to get clear of the place, +and to follow the narrow road around the base of the hills and across +the level country beyond till it rejoins the Aylesbury pike. Afterward +one sometimes learns that one has been through Dunwich. + +Outsiders visit Dunwich as seldom as possible, and since a certain +season of horror all the signboards pointing toward it have been taken +down. The scenery, judged by any ordinary esthetic canon, is more +than commonly beautiful; yet there is no influx of artists or summer +tourists. Two centuries ago, when talk of witch-blood, Satan-worship, +and strange forest presences was not laughed at, it was the custom to +give reasons for avoiding the locality. In our sensible age--since +the Dunwich horror of 1928 was hushed up by those who had the town's +and the world's welfare at heart--people shun it without knowing +exactly why. Perhaps one reason--though it can not apply to uninformed +strangers--is that the natives are now repellently decadent, having +gone far along that path of retrogression so common in many New England +backwaters. They have come to form a race by themselves, with the +well-defined mental and physical stigmata of degeneracy and inbreeding. +The average of their intelligence is wofully low, whilst their annals +reek of overt viciousness and of half-hidden murders, incests, and +deeds of almost unnamable violence and perversity. The old gentry, +representing the two or three armigerous families which came from +Salem in 1692, have kept somewhat above the general level of decay; +though many branches are sunk into the sordid populace so deeply that +only their names remain as a key to the origin they disgrace. Some of +the Whateleys and Bishops still send their eldest sons to Harvard and +Miskatonic, though those sons seldom return to the moldering gambrel +roofs under which they and their ancestors were born. + +No one, even those who have the facts concerning the recent horror, +can say just what is the matter with Dunwich; though old legends speak +of unhallowed rites and conclaves of the Indians, amidst which they +called forbidden shapes of shadow out of the great rounded hills, and +made wild orgiastic prayers that were answered by loud crackings and +rumblings from the ground below. In 1747 the Reverend Abijah Hoadley, +newly come to the Congregational Church at Dunwich Village, preached a +memorable sermon on the close presence of Satan and his imps, in which +he said: + + It must be allow'd that these Blasphemies of an infernall Train + of Dæmons are Matters of too common Knowledge to be deny'd; the + cursed Voices of _Azazel_ and _Buzrael_, of _Beelzebub_ and + _Belial_, being heard from under Ground by above a Score of + credible Witnesses now living. I myself did not more than a + Fortnight ago catch a very plain Discourse of evill Powers in the + Hill behind my House; wherein there were a Rattling and Rolling, + Groaning, Screeching, and Hissing, such as no Things of this Earth + cou'd raise up, and which must needs have come from those Caves + that only black Magick can discover, and only the Divell unlock. + +Mr. Hoadley disappeared soon after delivering this sermon; but the +text, printed in Springfield, is still extant. Noises in the hills +continued to be reported from year to year, and still form a puzzle to +geologists and physiographers. + +Other traditions tell of foul odors near the hill-crowning circles of +stone pillars, and of rushing airy presences to be heard faintly at +certain hours from stated points at the bottom of the great ravines; +while still others try to explain the Devil's Hop Yard--a bleak, +blasted hillside where no tree, shrub, or grass-blade will grow. Then, +too, the natives are mortally afraid of the numerous whippoorwills +which grow vocal on warm nights. It is vowed that the birds are +psychopomps lying in wait for the souls of the dying, and that they +time their eery cries in unison with the sufferer's struggling breath. +If they can catch the fleeing soul when it leaves the body, they +instantly flutter away chittering in demoniac laughter; but if they +fail, they subside gradually into a disappointed silence. + +These tales, of course, are obsolete and ridiculous; because they come +down from very old times. Dunwich is indeed ridiculously old--older by +far than any of the communities within thirty miles of it. South of the +village one may still spy the cellar walls and chimney of the ancient +Bishop house, which was built before 1700; whilst the ruins of the mill +at the falls, built in 1806, form the most modern piece of architecture +to be seen. Industry did not flourish here, and the Nineteenth Century +factory movement proved short-lived. Oldest of all are the great +rings of rough-hewn stone columns on the hilltops, but these are more +generally attributed to the Indians than to the settlers. Deposits of +skulls and bones, found within these circles and around the sizable +table-like rock on Sentinel Hill, sustain the popular belief that such +spots were once the burial-places of the Pocumtucks; even though many +ethnologists, disregarding the absurd improbability of such a theory, +persist in believing the remains Caucasian. + + +2 + +It was in the township of Dunwich, in a large and partly inhabited +farmhouse set against a hillside four miles from the village and a mile +and a half from any other dwelling, that Wilbur Whateley was born at 5 +a. m. on Sunday, the second of February, 1913. This date was recalled +because it was Candlemas, which people in Dunwich curiously observe +under another name; and because the noises in the hills had sounded, +and all the dogs of the countryside had barked persistently, throughout +the night before. Less worthy of notice was the fact that the mother +was one of the decadent Whateleys, a somewhat deformed, unattractive +albino woman of 35, living with an aged and half-insane father +about whom the most frightful tales of wizardry had been whispered +in his youth. Lavinia Whateley had no known husband, but according +to the custom of the region made no attempt to disavow the child; +concerning the other side of whose ancestry the country folk might--and +did--speculate as widely as they chose. On the contrary, she seemed +strangely proud of the dark, goatish-looking infant who formed such a +contrast to her own sickly and pink-eyed albinism, and was heard to +mutter many curious prophecies about its unusual powers and tremendous +future. + +Lavinia was one who would be apt to mutter such things, for she was a +lone creature given to wandering amidst thunderstorms in the hills and +trying to read the great odorous books which her father had inherited +through two centuries of Whateleys, and which were fast falling to +pieces with age and worm-holes. She had never been to school, but was +filled with disjointed scraps of ancient lore that Old Whateley had +taught her. The remote farmhouse had always been feared because of Old +Whateley's reputation for black magic, and the unexplained death by +violence of Mrs. Whateley when Lavinia was twelve years old had not +helped to make the place popular. Isolated among strange influences, +Lavinia was fond of wild and grandiose daydreams and singular +occupations; nor was her leisure much taken up by household cares in a +home from which all standards of order and cleanliness had long since +disappeared. + +There was a hideous screaming which echoed above even the hill noises +and the dogs' barking on the night Wilbur was born, but no known doctor +or midwife presided at his coming. Neighbors knew nothing of him till +a week afterward, when Old Whateley drove his sleigh through the snow +into Dunwich Village and discoursed incoherently to the group of +loungers at Osborn's general store. There seemed to be a change in the +old man--an added element of furtiveness in the clouded brain which +subtly transformed him from an object to a subject of fear--though he +was not one to be perturbed by any common family event. Amidst it all +he showed some trace of the pride later noticed in his daughter, and +what he said of the child's paternity was remembered by many of his +hearers years afterward. + +"I dun't keer what folks think--ef Lavinny's boy looked like his pa, he +wouldn't look like nothin' ye expeck. Ye needn't think the only folks +is the folks hereabouts. Lavinny's read some, an' has seed some things +the most o' ye only tell abaout. I calc'late her man is as good a +husban' as ye kin find this side of Aylesbury; an' ef ye knowed as much +abaout the hills as I dew, ye wouldn't ast no better church weddin' nor +her'n. Let me tell ye suthin'--_some day yew folks'll hear a child o' +Lavinny's a-callin' its father's name on the top o' Sentinel Hill!_" + +The only persons who saw Wilbur during the first month of his life +were old Zechariah Whateley, of the undecayed Whateleys, and Earl +Sawyer's common-law wife, Mamie Bishop. Mamie's visit was frankly one +of curiosity, and her subsequent tales did justice to her observations; +but Zechariah came to lead a pair of Alderney cows which Old Whateley +had bought of his son Curtis. This marked the beginning of a course of +cattle-buying on the part of small Wilbur's family which ended only +in 1928, when the Dunwich horror came and went; yet at no time did +the ramshackle Whateley barn seem over-crowded with livestock. There +came a period when people were curious enough to steal up and count +the herd that grazed precariously on the steep hillside above the old +farmhouse, and they could never find more than ten or twelve anemic, +bloodless-looking specimens. Evidently some blight or distemper, +perhaps sprung from the unwholesome pasturage or the diseased fungi +and timbers of the filthy barn, caused a heavy mortality amongst the +Whateley animals. Odd wounds or sores, having something of the aspect +of incisions, seemed to afflict the visible cattle; and once or twice +during the earlier months certain callers fancied they could discern +similar sores about the throats of the gray, unshaven old man and his +slatternly, crinkly-haired albino daughter. + +In the spring after Wilbur's birth Lavinia resumed her customary +rambles in the hills, bearing in her misproportioned arms the swarthy +child. Public interest in the Whateleys subsided after most of the +country folk had seen the baby, and no one bothered to comment on the +swift development which that newcomer seemed every day to exhibit. +Wilbur's growth was indeed phenomenal, for within three months of his +birth he had attained a size and muscular power not usually found in +infants under a full year of age. His motions and even his vocal sounds +showed a restraint and deliberateness highly peculiar in an infant, +and no one was really unprepared when, at seven months, he began to +walk unassisted, with falterings which another month was sufficient to +remove. + +It was somewhat after this time--on Hallowe'en--that a great blaze was +seen at midnight on the top of Sentinel Hill where the old table-like +stone stands amidst its tumulus of ancient bones. Considerable talk +was started when Silas Bishop--of the undecayed Bishops--mentioned +having seen the boy running sturdily up that hill ahead of his mother +about an hour before the blaze was remarked. Silas was rounding up a +stray heifer, but he nearly forgot his mission when he fleetingly spied +the two figures in the dim light of his lantern. They darted almost +noiselessly through the underbrush, and the astonished watcher seemed +to think they were entirely unclothed. Afterward he could not be sure +about the boy, who may have had some kind of a fringed belt and a pair +of dark blue trunks or trousers on. Wilbur was never subsequently seen +alive and conscious without complete and tightly buttoned attire, the +disarrangement or threatened disarrangement of which always seemed to +fill him with anger and alarm. His contrast with his squalid mother and +grandfather in this respect was thought very notable until the horror +of 1928 suggested the most valid of reasons. + +The next January gossips were mildly interested in the fact that +"Lavinny's black brat" had commenced to talk, and at the age of only +eleven months. His speech was somewhat remarkable both because of its +difference from the ordinary accents of the region, and because it +displayed a freedom from infantile lisping of which many children of +three or four might well be proud. The boy was not talkative, yet when +he spoke he seemed to reflect some elusive element wholly unpossessed +by Dunwich and its denizens. The strangeness did not reside in what he +said, or even in the simple idioms he used; but seemed vaguely linked +with his intonation or with the internal organs that produced the +spoken sounds. His facial aspect, too, was remarkable for its maturity; +for though he shared his mother's and grandfather's chinlessness, his +firm and precociously shaped nose united with the expression on his +large, dark, almost Latin eyes to give him an air of quasi-adulthood +and well-nigh preternatural intelligence. He was, however, exceedingly +ugly despite his appearance of brilliancy; there being something almost +goatish or animalistic about his thick lips, large-pored, yellowish +skin, coarse crinkly hair, and oddly elongated ears. He was soon +disliked even more decidedly than his mother and grandsire, and all +conjectures about him were spiced with references to the bygone magic +of Old Whateley, and how the hills once shook when he shrieked the +dreadful name of _Yog-Sothoth_ in the midst of a circle of stones with +a great book open in his arms before him. Dogs abhorred the boy, and +he was always obliged to take various defensive measures against their +barking menace. + + +3 + +Meanwhile Old Whateley continued to buy cattle without measurably +increasing the size of his herd. He also cut timber and began to +repair the unused parts of his house--a spacious, peaked-roofed affair +whose rear end was buried entirely in the rocky hillside, and whose +three least-ruined ground-floor rooms had always been sufficient for +himself and his daughter. There must have been prodigious reserves +of strength in the old man to enable him to accomplish so much hard +labor; and though he still babbled dementedly at times, his carpentry +seemed to show the effects of sound calculation. It had really begun +as soon as Wilbur was born, when one of the many tool-sheds had been +put suddenly in order, clapboarded, and fitted with a stout fresh lock. +Now, in restoring the abandoned upper story of the house, he was a no +less thorough craftsman. His mania showed itself only in his tight +boarding-up of all the windows in the reclaimed section--though many +declared that it was a crazy thing to bother with the reclamation at +all. Less inexplicable was his fitting-up of another downstairs room +for his new grandson--a room which several callers saw, though no one +was ever admitted to the closely-boarded upper story. This chamber +he lined with tall, firm shelving; along which he began gradually to +arrange, in apparently careful order, all the rotting ancient books and +parts of books which during his own day had been heaped promiscuously +in odd corners of the various rooms. + +"I made some use of 'em," he would say as he tried to mend a torn +black-letter page with paste prepared on the rusty kitchen stove, "but +the boy's fitten to make better use of 'em. He'd orter hev 'em as well +sot as he kin for they're goin' to be all of his larnin'." + +When Wilbur was a year and seven months old--in September of 1914--his +size and accomplishments were almost alarming. He had grown as large as +a child of four, and was a fluent and incredibly intelligent talker. +He ran freely about the fields and hills, and accompanied his mother +on all her wanderings. At home he would pore diligently over the queer +pictures and charts in his grandfather's books, while Old Whateley +would instruct and catechize him through long, hushed afternoons. By +this time the restoration of the house was finished, and those who +watched it wondered why one of the upper windows had been made into a +solid plank door. It was a window in the rear of the east gable end, +close against the hill; and no one could imagine why a cleated wooden +runway was built up to it from the ground. About the period of this +work's completion people noticed that the old tool-house, tightly +locked and windowlessly clapboarded since Wilbur's birth, had been +abandoned again. The door swung listlessly open, and when Earl Sawyer +once stepped within after a cattle-selling call on Old Whateley he was +quite discomposed by the singular odor he encountered--such a stench, +he averred, as he had never before smelt in all his life except near +the Indian circles on the hills, and which could not come from anything +sane or of this earth. But then, the homes and sheds of Dunwich folk +have never been remarkable for olfactory immaculateness. + +The following months were void of visible events, save that everyone +swore to a slow but steady increase in the mysterious hill noises. On +May Eve of 1915 there were tremors which even the Aylesbury people +felt, whilst the following Hallowe'en produced an underground rumbling +queerly synchronized with bursts of flame--"them witch Whateleys' +doin's"--from the summit of Sentinel Hill. Wilbur was growing up +uncannily, so that he looked like a boy of ten as he entered his +fourth year. He read avidly by himself now; but talked much less than +formerly. A settled taciturnity was absorbing him, and for the first +time people began to speak specifically of the dawning look of evil in +his goatish face. He would sometimes mutter an unfamiliar jargon, and +chant in bizarre rhythms which chilled the listener with a sense of +unexplainable terror. The aversion displayed toward him by dogs had now +become a matter of wide remark, and he was obliged to carry a pistol +in order to traverse the countryside in safety. His occasional use of +the weapon did not enhance his popularity amongst the owners of canine +guardians. + +The few callers at the house would often find Lavinia alone on the +ground floor, while odd cries and footsteps resounded in the boarded-up +second story. She would never tell what her father and the boy were +doing up there, though once she turned pale and displayed an abnormal +degree of fear when a jocose fish-peddler tried the locked door leading +to the stairway. That peddler told the store loungers at Dunwich +Village that he thought he heard a horse stamping on that floor above. +The loungers reflected, thinking of the door and runway, and of +the cattle that so swiftly disappeared. Then they shuddered as they +recalled tales of Old Whateley's youth, and of the strange things that +are called out of the earth when a bullock is sacrificed at the proper +time to certain heathen gods. It had for some time been noticed that +dogs had begun to hate and fear the whole Whateley place as violently +as they hated and feared young Wilbur personally. + +In 1917 the war came, and Squire Sawyer Whateley, as chairman of the +local draft board, had hard work finding a quota of young Dunwich men +fit even to be sent to a development camp. The government, alarmed at +such signs of wholesale regional decadence, sent several officers and +medical experts to investigate; conducting a survey which New England +newspaper readers may still recall. It was the publicity attending this +investigation which set reporters on the track of the Whateleys, and +caused the _Boston Globe_ and _Arkham Advertiser_ to print flamboyant +Sunday stories of young Wilbur's precociousness, Old Whateley's black +magic, the shelves of strange books, the sealed second story of the +ancient farmhouse, and the weirdness of the whole region and its hill +noises. Wilbur was four and a half then, and looked like a lad of +fifteen. His lip and cheek were fuzzy with a coarse dark down, and his +voice had begun to break. Earl Sawyer went out to the Whateley place +with both sets of reporters and camera men, and called their attention +to the queer stench which now seemed to trickle down from the sealed +upper spaces. It was, he said, exactly like a smell he had found in the +tool-shed abandoned when the house was finally repaired, and like the +faint odors which he sometimes thought he caught near the stone circles +on the mountains. Dunwich folk read the stories when they appeared, and +grinned over the obvious mistakes. They wondered, too, why the writers +made so much of the fact that Old Whateley always paid for his cattle +in gold pieces of extremely ancient date. The Whateleys had received +their visitors with ill-concealed distaste, though they did not dare +court further publicity by a violent resistance or refusal to talk. + + +4 + +For a decade the annals of the Whateleys sink indistinguishably into +the general life of a morbid community used to their queer ways and +hardened to their May Eve and All-Hallow orgies. Twice a year they +would light fires on the top of Sentinel Hill, at which times the +mountain rumblings would recur with greater and greater violence; while +at all seasons there were strange and portentous doings at the lonely +farmhouse. In the course of time callers professed to hear sounds +in the sealed upper story even when all the family were downstairs, +and they wondered how swiftly or how lingeringly a cow or bullock +was usually sacrificed. There was talk of a complaint to the Society +for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; but nothing ever came of +it, since Dunwich folk are never anxious to call the outside world's +attention to themselves. + +About 1923, when Wilbur was a boy of ten whose mind, voice, stature, +and bearded face gave all the impressions of maturity, a second great +siege of carpentry went on at the old house. It was all inside the +sealed upper part, and from bits of discarded lumber people concluded +that the youth and his grandfather had knocked out all the partitions +and even removed the attic floor, leaving only one vast open void +between the ground story and the peaked roof. They had torn down the +great central chimney, too, and fitted the rusty range with a flimsy +outside tin stove-pipe. + +In the spring after this event Old Whateley noticed the growing number +of whippoorwills that would come out of Cold Spring Glen to chirp under +his window at night. He seemed to regard the circumstance as one of +great significance, and told the loungers at Osborn's that he thought +his time had almost come. + +"They whistle jest in tune with my breathin' naow," he said, "an' I +guess they're gittin' ready to ketch my soul. They know it's a-goin' +aout, an' dun't calc'late to miss it. Yew'll know, boys, arter I'm +gone, whether they git me er not. Ef they dew, they'll keep up +a-singin' an' laffin' till break o' day. Ef they dun't, they'll kinder +quiet daown like. I expeck them an' the souls they hunts fer hev some +pretty tough tussles sometimes." + +On Lammas Night, 1924, Dr. Houghton of Aylesbury was hastily summoned +by Wilbur Whateley, who had lashed his one remaining horse through the +darkness and telephoned from Osborn's in the village. He found Old +Whateley in a very grave state, with a cardiac action and stertorous +breathing that told of an end not far off. The shapeless albino +daughter and oddly bearded grandson stood by the bedside, whilst from +the vacant abyss overhead there came a disquieting suggestion of +rhythmical surging or lapping, as of the waves on some level beach. The +doctor, though, was chiefly disturbed by the chattering night birds +outside; a seemingly limitless legion of whippoorwills that cried their +endless message in repetitions timed diabolically to the wheezing gasps +of the dying man. It was uncanny and unnatural--too much, thought Dr. +Houghton, like the whole of the region he had entered so reluctantly in +response to the urgent call. + +Toward 1 o'clock Old Whateley gained consciousness, and interrupted his +wheezing to choke out a few words to his grandson. + +"More space, Willy, more space soon. Yew grows--an' _that_ grows +faster. It'll be ready to sarve ye soon, boy. Open up the gates to +Yog-Sothoth with the long chant that ye'll find on page 751 _of the +complete edition_, an' _then_ put a match to the prison. Fire from +airth can't burn it nohaow!" + +He was obviously quite mad. After a pause, during which the flock of +whippoorwills outside adjusted their cries to the altered tempo while +some indications of the strange hill noises came from afar off, he +added another sentence or two. + +"Feed it reg'lar, Willy, an' mind the quantity; but dun't let it grow +too fast fer the place, fer ef it busts quarters or gits aout afore ye +opens to Yog-Sothoth, it's all over an' no use. Only them from beyont +kin make it multiply an' work.... Only them, the old uns as wants to +come back...." + +But speech gave place to gasps again, and Lavinia screamed at the +way the whippoorwills followed the change. It was the same for more +than an hour, when the final throaty rattle came. Dr. Houghton drew +shrunken lids over the glazing gray eyes as the tumult of birds faded +imperceptibly to silence. Lavinia sobbed, but Wilbur only chuckled +whilst the hill noises rumbled faintly. + +"They didn't git him," he muttered in his heavy bass voice. + +Wilbur was by this time a scholar of really tremendous erudition in +his one-sided way, and was quietly known by correspondence to many +librarians in distant places where rare and forbidden books of old days +are kept. He was more and more hated and dreaded around Dunwich because +of certain youthful disappearances which suspicion laid vaguely at his +door; but was always able to silence inquiry through fear or through +use of that fund of old-time gold which still, as in his grandfather's +time, went forth regularly and increasingly for cattle-buying. He +was now tremendously mature of aspect, and his height, having reached +the normal adult limit, seemed inclined to wax beyond that figure. In +1925, when a scholarly correspondent from Miskatonic University called +upon him one day and departed pale and puzzled, he was fully six and +three-quarters feet tall. + +Through all the years Wilbur had treated his half-deformed albino +mother with a growing contempt, finally forbidding her to go to the +hills with him on May Eve and Hallowmass; and in 1926 the poor creature +complained to Mamie Bishop of being afraid of him. + +"They's more abaout him as I knows than I kin tell ye, Mamie," she +said, "an' naowadays they's more nor what I know myself. I vaow afur +Gawd, I dun't know what he wants nor what he's a-tryin' to dew." + +That Hallowe'en the hill noises sounded louder than ever, and fire +burned on Sentinel Hill as usual, but people paid more attention +to the rhythmical screaming of vast flocks of unnaturally belated +whippoorwills which seemed to be assembled near the unlighted Whateley +farmhouse. After midnight their shrill notes burst into a kind of +pandemoniac cachinnation which filled all the countryside, and not +until dawn did they finally quiet down. Then they vanished, hurrying +southward where they were fully a month overdue. What this meant, no +one could quite be certain till later. None of the countryfolk seemed +to have died--but poor Lavinia Whateley, the twisted albino, was never +seen again. + +In the summer of 1927 Wilbur repaired two sheds in the farmyard and +began moving his books and effects out to them. Soon afterward Earl +Sawyer told the loungers at Osborn's that more carpentry was going on +in the Whateley farmhouse. Wilbur was closing all the doors and windows +on the ground floor, and seemed to be taking out partitions as he and +his grandfather had done upstairs four years before. He was living +in one of the sheds, and Sawyer thought he seemed unusually worried +and tremulous. People generally suspected him of knowing something +about his mother's disappearance, and very few ever approached his +neighborhood now. His height had increased to more than seven feet, and +showed no signs of ceasing its development. + + +5 + +The following winter brought an event no less strange than Wilbur's +first trip outside the Dunwich region. Correspondence with the Widener +Library at Harvard, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the British +Museum, the University of Buenos Aires, and the Library of Miskatonic +University at Arkham had failed to get him the loan of a book he +desperately wanted; so at length he set out in person, shabby, dirty, +bearded, and uncouth of dialect, to consult the copy at Miskatonic, +which was the nearest to him geographically. Almost eight feet tall, +and carrying a cheap new valise from Osborn's general store, this +dark and goatish gargoyle appeared one day in Arkham in quest of the +dreaded volume kept under lock and key at the college library--the +hideous _Necronomicon_ of the mad Arab Alhazred in Olaus Wormius' Latin +version, as printed in Spain in the Seventeenth Century. He had never +seen a city before, but had no thought save to find his way to the +university grounds; where, indeed, he passed heedlessly by the great +white-fanged watchdog that barked with unnatural fury and enmity, and +tugged frantically at its stout chain. + +Wilbur had with him the priceless but imperfect copy of Dr. Dee's +English version which his grandfather had bequeathed him, and upon +receiving access to the Latin copy he at once began to collate the two +texts with the aim of discovering a certain passage which would have +come on the 751st page of his own defective volume. This much he could +not civilly refrain from telling the librarian--the same erudite Henry +Armitage (A. M. Miskatonic, Ph. D. Princeton, Litt. D. Johns Hopkins) +who had once called at the farm, and who now politely plied him with +questions. He was looking, he had to admit, for a kind of formula or +incantation containing the frightful name _Yog-Sothoth_, and it puzzled +him to find discrepancies, duplications, and ambiguities which made +the matter of determination far from easy. As he copied the formula +he finally chose, Dr. Armitage looked involuntarily over his shoulder +at the open pages; the left-hand one of which, in the Latin version, +contained such monstrous threats to the peace and sanity of the world. + + Nor is it to be thought [ran the text as Armitage mentally + translated it] that man is either the oldest or the last of earth's + masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. + The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not + in the spaces we know, but _between_ them. They walk serene and + primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. _Yog-Sothoth_ knows the + gate. _Yog-Sothoth_ is the gate. _Yog-Sothoth_ is the key and + guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in + _Yog-Sothoth_. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, + and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have + trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no + one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes + know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, _saving + only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind_; and + of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man's + truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is + _They_. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words + have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. + The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with + Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet + may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the + cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice + desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones + whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen + city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? + Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. _Iä + Shub-Niggurath!_ As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at + your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one + with your guarded threshold. _Yog-Sothoth_ is the key to the gate, + whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They + shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, and + after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall + They reign again. + +Dr. Armitage, associating what he was reading with what he had heard +of Dunwich and its brooding presences, and of Wilbur Whateley and his +dim, hideous aura that stretched from a dubious birth to a cloud of +probable matricide, felt a wave of fright as tangible as a draft of the +tomb's cold clamminess. The bent, goatish giant before him seemed like +the spawn of another planet or dimension; like something only partly of +mankind, and linked to black gulfs of essence and entity that stretch +like titan fantasms beyond all spheres of force and matter, space and +time. + +Presently Wilbur raised his head and began speaking in that strange, +resonant fashion which hinted at sound-producing organs unlike the run +of mankind's. + +"Mr. Armitage," he said, "I calc'late I've got to take that book home. +They's things in it I've got to try under sarten conditions that I +can't git here, an' it 'ud be a mortal sin to let a red-tape rule hold +me up. Let me take it along, sir, an' I'll swar they wun't nobody know +the difference. I dun't need to tell ye I'll take good keer of it. It +wa'n't me that put this Dee copy in the shape it is...." + +He stopped as he saw firm denial on the librarian's face, and his own +goatish features grew crafty. Armitage, half ready to tell him he might +make a copy of what parts he needed, thought suddenly of the possible +consequences and checked himself. There was too much responsibility +in giving such a being the key to such blasphemous outer spheres. +Whateley saw how things stood, and tried to answer lightly. + +"Wal, all right, ef ye feel that way abaout it. Maybe Harvard wun't be +so fussy as yew be." And without saying more he rose and strode out of +the building, stooping at each doorway. + +Armitage heard the savage yelping of the great watchdog, and studied +Whateley's gorilla-like lope as he crossed the bit of campus visible +from the window. He thought of the wild tales he had heard, and +recalled the old Sunday stories in the _Advertiser_; these things, and +the lore he had picked up from Dunwich rustics and villagers during +his one visit there. Unseen things not of earth--or at least not of +tri-dimensional earth--rushed fetid and horrible through New England's +glens, and brooded obscenely on the mountain tops. Of this he had +long felt certain. Now he seemed to sense the close presence of some +terrible part of the intruding horror, and to glimpse a hellish advance +in the black dominion of the ancient and once passive nightmare. He +locked away the _Necronomicon_ with a shudder of disgust, but the room +still reeked with an unholy and unidentifiable stench. "As a foulness +shall ye know them," he quoted. Yes--the odor was the same as that +which had sickened him at the Whateley farmhouse less than three years +before. He thought of Wilbur, goatish and ominous, once again, and +laughed mockingly at the village rumors of his parentage. + +"Inbreeding?" Armitage muttered half aloud to himself. "Great God, what +simpletons! Show them Arthur Machen's _Great God Pan_ and they'll think +it a common Dunwich scandal! But what thing--what cursed shapeless +influence on or off this three-dimensioned earth--was Wilbur Whateley's +father? Born on Candlemas--nine months after May Eve of 1912, when the +talk about the queer earth noises reached clear to Arkham--what walked +on the mountains that May Night? What Roodmas horror fastened itself on +the world in half-human flesh and blood?" + +During the ensuing weeks Dr. Armitage set about to collect all possible +data on Wilbur Whateley and the formless presences around Dunwich. He +got in communication with Dr. Houghton of Aylesbury, who had attended +Old Whateley in his last illness, and found much to ponder over in the +grandfather's last words as quoted by the physician. A visit to Dunwich +Village failed to bring out much that was new; but a close survey of +the _Necronomicon_, in those parts which Wilbur had sought so avidly, +seemed to supply new and terrible clues to the nature, methods, and +desires of the strange evil so vaguely threatening this planet. Talks +with several students of archaic lore in Boston, and letters to many +others elsewhere, gave him a growing amazement which passed slowly +through varied degrees of alarm to a state of really acute spiritual +fear. As the summer drew on he felt dimly that something ought to be +done about the lurking terrors of the upper Miskatonic valley, and +about the monstrous being known to the human world as Wilbur Whateley. + + +6 + +The Dunwich horror itself came between Lammas and the equinox in 1928, +and Dr. Armitage was among those who witnessed its monstrous prologue. +He had heard, meanwhile, of Whateley's grotesque trip to Cambridge, +and of his frantic efforts to borrow or copy from the _Necronomicon_ +at the Widener Library. Those efforts had been in vain, since Armitage +had issued warnings of the keenest intensity to all librarians having +charge of the dreaded volume. Wilbur had been shockingly nervous at +Cambridge; anxious for the book, yet almost equally anxious to get +home again, as if he feared the results of being away long. + +Early in August the half-expected outcome developed, and in the small +hours of the third Dr. Armitage was awakened suddenly by the wild, +fierce cries of the savage watchdog on the college campus. Deep and +terrible, the snarling, half-mad growls and barks continued; always +in mounting volume, but with hideously significant pauses. Then there +rang out a scream from a wholly different throat--such a scream as +roused half the sleepers of Arkham and haunted their dreams ever +afterward--such a scream as could come from no being born of earth, or +wholly of earth. + +Armitage hastened into some clothing and rushed across the street and +lawn to the college buildings, saw that others were ahead of him; and +heard the echoes of a burglar-alarm still shrilling from the library. +An open window showed black and gaping in the moonlight. What had come +had indeed completed its entrance; for the barking and the screaming, +now fast fading into a mixed low growling and moaning, proceeded +unmistakably from within. Some instinct warned Armitage that what was +taking place was not a thing for unfortified eyes to see, so he brushed +back the crowd with authority as he unlocked the vestibule door. Among +the others he saw Professor Warren Rice and Dr. Francis Morgan, men to +whom he had told some of his conjectures and misgivings; and these two +he motioned to accompany him inside. The inward sounds, except for a +watchful, droning whine from the dog, had by this time quite subsided; +but Armitage now perceived with a sudden start that a loud chorus of +whippoorwills among the shrubbery had commenced a damnably rhythmical +piping, as if in unison with the last breath of a dying man. + +The building was full of a frightful stench which Dr. Armitage knew +too well, and the three men rushed across the hall to the small +genealogical reading-room whence the low whining came. For a second +nobody dared to turn on the light; then Armitage summoned up his +courage and snapped the switch. One of the three--it is not certain +which--shrieked aloud at what sprawled before them among disordered +tables and overturned chairs. Professor Rice declares that he wholly +lost consciousness for an instant, though he did not stumble or fall. + +The thing that lay half-bent on its side in a fetid pool of +greenish-yellow ichor and tarry stickiness was almost nine feet tall, +and the dog had torn off all the clothing and some of the skin. It +was not quite dead, but twitched silently and spasmodically while its +chest heaved in monstrous unison with the mad piping of the expectant +whippoorwills outside. Bits of shoe-leather and fragments of apparel +were scattered about the room, and just inside the window an empty +canvas sack lay where it had evidently been thrown. Near the central +desk a revolver had fallen, a dented but undischarged cartridge later +explaining why it had not been fired. The thing itself, however, +crowded out all other images at the time. It would be trite and not +wholly accurate to say that no human pen could describe it, but one may +properly say that it could not be vividly visualized by anyone whose +ideas of aspect and contour are too closely bound up with the common +life-forms of this planet and of the three known dimensions. It was +partly human, beyond a doubt, with very manlike hands and head, and the +goatish, chinless face had the stamp of the Whateleys upon it. But the +torso and lower parts of the body were teratologically fabulous, so +that only generous clothing could ever have enabled it to walk on earth +unchallenged or uneradicated. + +Above the waist it was semi-anthropomorphic; though its chest, where +the dog's rending paws still rested watchfully, had the leathery, +reticulated hide of a crocodile or alligator. The back was piebald +with yellow and black, and dimly suggested the squamous covering of +certain snakes. Below the waist, though, it was the worst; for here +all human resemblance left off and sheer fantasy began. The skin was +thickly covered with coarse black fur, and from the abdomen a score of +long greenish-gray tentacles with red sucking mouths protruded limply. +Their arrangement was odd, and seemed to follow the symmetries of some +cosmic geometry unknown to earth or the solar system. On each of the +hips, deep set in a kind of pinkish, ciliated orbit, was what seemed to +be a rudimentary eye; whilst in lieu of a tail there depended a kind of +trunk or feeler with purple annular markings, and with many evidences +of being an undeveloped mouth or throat. The limbs, save for their +black fur, roughly resembled the hind legs of prehistoric earth's giant +saurians; and terminated in ridgy-veined pads that were neither hooves +nor claws. When the thing breathed, its tail and tentacles rhythmically +changed color, as if from some circulatory cause normal to the +non-human side of its ancestry. In the tentacles this was observable as +a deepening of the greenish tinge, whilst in the tail it was manifest +as a yellowish appearance which alternated with a sickly grayish-white +in the spaces between the purple rings. Of genuine blood there was +none; only the fetid greenish-yellow ichor which trickled along the +painted floor beyond the radius of the stickiness, and left a curious +discoloration behind it. + +As the presence of the three men seemed to rouse the dying thing, it +began to mumble without turning or raising its head. Dr. Armitage +made no written record of its mouthings, but asserts confidently that +nothing in English was uttered. At first the syllables defied all +correlation with any speech of earth, but toward the last there came +some disjointed fragments evidently taken from the _Necronomicon_, +that monstrous blasphemy in quest of which the thing had perished. +Those fragments, as Armitage recalls them, ran something like "_N'gai, +n'gha'ghaa, bugg-shoggog, y'hah; Yog-Sothoth, Yog-Sothoth...._" +They trailed off into nothingness as the whippoorwills shrieked in +rhythmical crescendoes of unholy anticipation. + +Then came a halt in the gasping, and the dog raised his head in a long, +lugubrious howl. A change came over the yellow, goatish face of the +prostrate thing, and the great black eyes fell in appallingly. Outside +the window the shrilling of the whippoorwills had suddenly ceased, and +above the murmurs of the gathering crowd there came the sound of a +panic-struck whirring and fluttering. Against the moon vast clouds of +feathery watchers rose and raced from sight, frantic at that which they +had sought for prey. + +All at once the dog started up abruptly, gave a frightened bark, and +leaped nervously out the window by which it had entered. A cry rose +from the crowd, and Dr. Armitage shouted to the men outside that no +one must be admitted till the police or medical examiner came. He was +thankful that the windows were just too high to permit of peering +in, and drew the dark curtains carefully down over each one. By this +time two policemen had arrived; and Dr. Morgan, meeting them in the +vestibule, was urging them for their own sakes to postpone entrance to +the stench-filled reading-room till the examiner came and the prostrate +thing could be covered up. + +Meanwhile frightful changes were taking place on the floor. One need +not describe the _kind_ and _rate_ of shrinkage and disintegration that +occurred before the eyes of Dr. Armitage and Professor Rice; but it is +permissible to say that, aside from the external appearance of face +and hands, the really human elements in Wilbur Whateley must have been +very small. When the medical examiner came, there was only a sticky +whitish mass on the painted boards, and the monstrous odor had nearly +disappeared. Apparently Whateley had had no skull or bony skeleton; at +least, in any true or stable sense. He had taken somewhat after his +unknown father. + + +7 + +Yet all this was only the prologue of the actual Dunwich horror. +Formalities were gone through by bewildered officials, abnormal details +were duly kept from press and public, and men were sent to Dunwich +and Aylesbury to look up property and notify any who might be heirs +of the late Wilbur Whateley. They found the countryside in great +agitation, both because of the growing rumblings beneath the domed +hills, and because of the unwonted stench and the surging, lapping +sounds which came increasingly from the great empty shell formed by +Whateley's boarded-up farmhouse. Earl Sawyer, who tended the horse and +cattle during Wilbur's absence, had developed a wofully acute case +of nerves. The officials devised excuses not to enter the noisome +boarded place; and were glad to confine their survey of the deceased's +living quarters, the newly mended sheds, to a single visit. They filed +a ponderous report at the court-house in Aylesbury, and litigations +concerning heirship are said to be still in progress amongst the +innumerable Whateleys, decayed and undecayed, of the upper Miskatonic +valley. + +An almost interminable manuscript in strange characters, written in a +huge ledger and adjudged a sort of diary because of the spacing and +the variations in ink and penmanship, presented a baffling puzzle to +those who found it on the old bureau which served as its owner's +desk. After a week of debate it was sent to Miskatonic University, +together with the deceased's collection of strange books, for study +and possible translation; but even the best linguists soon saw that it +was not likely to be unriddled with ease. No trace of the ancient gold +with which Wilbur and Old Whateley always paid their debts has yet been +discovered. + +It was in the dark of September ninth that the horror broke loose. +The hill noises had been very pronounced during the evening, and dogs +barked frantically all night. Early risers on the tenth noticed a +peculiar stench in the air. About 7 o'clock Luther Brown, the hired boy +at George Corey's, between Cold Spring Glen and the village, rushed +frenziedly back from his morning trip to Ten-Acre Meadow with the cows. +He was almost convulsed with fright as he stumbled into the kitchen; +and in the yard outside the no less frightened herd were pawing and +lowing pitifully, having followed the boy back in the panic they shared +with him. Between gasps Luther tried to stammer out his tale to Mrs. +Corey. + +"Up thar in the rud beyont the glen, Mis' Corey--they's suthin' ben +thar! It smells like thunder, an' all the bushes an' little trees is +pushed back from the rud like they'd a haouse ben moved along of it. +An' that ain't the wust, nuther. They's _prints_ in the rud, Mis' +Corey--great raound prints as big as barrel-heads, all sunk daown deep +like a elephant had ben along, _only they's a sight more nor four feet +could make_. I looked at one or two afore I run, an' I see every one +was covered with lines spreadin' aout from one place, like as if big +palm-leaf fans--twict or three times as big as any they is--hed of ben +paounded daown into the rud. An' the smell was awful, like what it is +araound Wizard Whateley's ol' haouse...." + +Here he faltered, and seemed to shiver afresh with the fright that had +sent him flying home. Mrs. Corey, unable to extract more information, +began telephoning the neighbors; thus starting on its rounds the +overture of panic that heralded the major terrors. When she got Sally +Sawyer, housekeeper at Seth Bishop's, the nearest place to Whateley's, +it became her turn to listen instead of transmit; for Sally's boy +Chauncey, who slept poorly, had been up on the hill toward Whateley's, +and had dashed back in terror after one look at the place, and at the +pasturage where Mr. Bishop's cows had been left out all night. + +"Yes, Mis' Corey," came Sally's tremulous voice over the party wire, +"Cha'ncey he just come back a-post-in', and couldn't haff talk fer +bein' scairt! He says Ol' Whateley's haouse is all blowed up, with +the timbers scattered raound like they'd ben dynamite inside; only +the bottom floor ain't through, but is all covered with a kind o' +tarlike stuff that smells awful an' drips daown offen the aidges onto +the graoun' whar the side timbers is blowed away. An' they's awful +kinder marks in the yard, tew--great raound marks bigger raound than a +hogshead, an' all sticky with stuff like is on the blowed-up haouse. +Cha'ncey he says they leads off into the medders, whar a great swath +wider'n a barn is matted daown, an' all the stun walls tumbled every +which way wherever it goes. + +"An' he says, says he, Mis' Corey, as haow he sot to look fer Seth's +caows, frighted ez he was; an' faound 'em in the upper pasture nigh the +Devil's Hop Yard in an awful shape. Haff on 'em's clean gone, an' nigh +haff o' them that's left is sucked most dry o' blood, with sores on 'em +like they's ben on Whateley's cattle ever senct Lavinny's black brat +was born. Seth he's gone aout naow to look at 'em, though I'll vaow he +wun't keer ter git very nigh Wizard Whateley's! Cha'ncey didn't look +keerful ter see whar the big matted-daown swath led arter it leff the +pasturage, but he says he thinks it p'inted towards the glen rud to the +village. + +"I tell ye, Mis' Corey, they's suthin' abroad as hadn't orter be +abroad, an' I fer one think that black Wilbur Whateley, as come to +the bad eend he desarved, is at the bottom of the breedin' of it. He +wa'n't all human hisself, I allus says to everybody; an' I think he an' +Ol' Whateley must a raised suthin' in that there nailed-up haouse as +ain't even so human as he was. They's allus ben unseen things araound +Dunwich--livin' things--as ain't human an' ain't good fer human folks. + +"The graoun' was a'talkin' lass night, an' towards mornin' Cha'ncey +he heerd the whippoorwills so laoud in Col' Spring Glen he couldn't +sleep none. Then he thought he heerd another faintlike saound over +towards Wizard Whateley's--a kinder rippin' or tearin' o' wood, like +some big box or crate was bein' opened fur off. What with this an' +that, he didn't git to sleep at all till sunup, an' no sooner was he +up this mornin', but he's got to go over to Whateley's an' see what's +the matter. He see enough, I tell ye, Mis' Corey! This dun't mean no +good, an' I think as all the men-folks ought to git up a party an' +do suthin'. I know suthin' awful's abaout, an' feel my time is nigh, +though only Gawd knows jest what it is. + +"Did your Luther take accaount o' whar them big tracks led tew? No? +Wal, Mis' Corey, ef they was on the glen rud this side o' the glen, +an' ain't got to your haouse yet, I calc'late they must go into the +glen itself. They would do that. I allus says Col' Spring Glen ain't no +healthy nor decent place. The whippoorwills an' fireflies there never +did act like they was creaters o' Gawd, an' they's them as says ye kin +hear strange things a-rushin' an' a-talkin' in the air daown thar ef ye +stand in the right place, atween the rock falls an' Bear's Den." + + * * * * * + +By that noon fully three-quarters of the men and boys of Dunwich were +trooping over the roads and meadows between the new-made Whateley ruins +and Cold Spring Glen; examining in horror the vast, monstrous prints, +the maimed Bishop cattle, the strange, noisome wreck of the farmhouse, +and the bruised, matted vegetation of the fields and road-sides. +Whatever had burst loose upon the world had assuredly gone down into +the great sinister ravine; for all the trees on the banks were bent and +broken, and a great avenue had been gouged in the precipice-hanging +underbrush. It was as though a house, launched by an avalanche, had +slid down through the tangled growths of the almost vertical slope. +From below no sound came, but only a distant, undefinable fetor; and +it is not to be wondered at that the men preferred to stay on the edge +and argue, rather than descend and beard the unknown Cyclopean horror +in its lair. Three dogs that were with the party had barked furiously +at first, but seemed cowed and reluctant when near the glen. Someone +telephoned the news to the _Aylesbury Transcript_; but the editor, +accustomed to wild tales from Dunwich, did no more than concoct a +humorous paragraph about it; an item soon afterward reproduced by the +Associated Press. + +That night everyone went home, and every house and barn was barricaded +as stoutly as possible. Needless to say, no cattle were allowed to +remain in open pasturage. About 2 in the morning a frightful stench and +the savage barking of the dogs awakened the household at Elmer Frye's, +on the eastern edge of Cold Spring Glen, and all agreed that they +could hear a sort of muffled swishing or lapping sound from somewhere +outside. Mrs. Frye proposed telephoning the neighbors, and Elmer was +about to agree when the noise of splintering wood burst in upon their +deliberations. It came, apparently, from the barn; and was quickly +followed by a hideous screaming and stamping amongst the cattle. The +dogs slavered and crouched close to the feet of the fear-numbed family. +Frye lit a lantern through force of habit, but knew it would be death +to go out into that black farmyard. The children and the women-folk +whimpered, kept from screaming by some obscure, vestigial instinct +of defense which told them their lives depended on silence. At last +the noise of the cattle subsided to a pitiful moaning, and a great +snapping, crashing, and crackling ensued. The Fryes, huddled together +in the sitting-room, did not dare to move until the last echoes died +away far down in Cold Spring Glen. Then, amidst the dismal moans from +the stable and the demoniac piping of late whippoorwills in the glen, +Selina Frye tottered to the telephone and spread what news she could of +the second phase of the horror. + +The next day all the countryside was in a panic; and cowed, +uncommunicative groups came and went where the fiendish thing had +occurred. Two titan swaths of destruction stretched from the glen +to the Frye farmyard, monstrous prints covered the bare patches of +ground, and one side of the old red barn had completely caved in. Of +the cattle, only about a quarter could be found and identified. Some of +these were in curious fragments, and all that survived had to be shot. +Earl Sawyer suggested that help be asked from Aylesbury or Arkham, but +others maintained it would be of no use. Old Zebulon Whateley, of a +branch that hovered about half-way between soundness and decadence, +made darkly wild suggestions about rites that ought to be practised on +the hilltops. He came of a line where tradition ran strong, and his +memories of chantings in the great stone circles were not altogether +connected with Wilbur and his grandfather. + +Darkness fell upon a stricken countryside too passive to organize +for real defense. In a few cases closely related families would band +together and watch in the gloom under one roof; but, in general there +was only a repetition of the barricading of the night before, and a +futile, ineffective gesture of loading muskets and setting pitchforks +handily about. Nothing, however, occurred except some hill noises; and +when the day came there were many who hoped that the new horror had +gone as swiftly as it had come. There were even bold souls who proposed +an offensive expedition down in the glen, though they did not venture +to set an actual example to the still reluctant majority. + +When night came again the barricading was repeated, though there was +less huddling together of families. In the morning both the Frye and +the Seth Bishop households reported excitement among the dogs and vague +sounds and stenches from afar, while early explorers noted with horror +a fresh set of the monstrous tracks in the road skirting Sentinel Hill. +As before, the sides of the road showed a bruising indicative of the +blasphemously stupendous bulk of the horror; whilst the conformation +of the tracks seemed to argue a passage in two directions, as if the +moving mountain had come from Cold Spring Glen and returned to it along +the same path. At the base of the hill a thirty-foot swath of crushed +shrubbery and saplings led steeply upward, and the seekers gasped when +they saw that even the most perpendicular places did not deflect the +inexorable trail. Whatever the horror was, it could scale a sheer stony +cliff of almost complete verticality; and as the investigators climbed +around to the hill's summit by safer routes they saw that the trail +ended--or rather, reversed--there. + +It was here that the Whateleys used to build their hellish fires and +chant their hellish rituals by the table-like stone on May Eve and +Hallowmass. Now that very stone formed the center of a vast space +thrashed around by the mountainous horror, whilst upon its slightly +concave surface was a thick fetid deposit of the same tarry stickiness +observed on the floor of the ruined Whateley farmhouse when the horror +escaped. Men looked at one another and muttered. Then they looked down +the hill. Apparently the horror had descended by a route much the same +as that of its ascent. To speculate was futile. Reason, logic, and +normal ideas of motivation stood confounded. Only old Zebulon, who +was not with the group, could have done justice to the situation or +suggested a plausible explanation. + +Thursday night began much like the others, but it ended less happily. +The whippoorwills in the glen had screamed with such unusual +persistence that many could not sleep, and about 3 a. m. all the party +telephones rang tremulously. Those who took down their receivers +heard a fright-mad voice shriek out, "Help, oh, my Gawd!..." and some +thought a crashing sound followed the breaking off of the exclamation. +There was nothing more. No one dared do anything, and no one knew +till morning whence the call came. Then those who had heard it called +everyone on the line, and found that only the Fryes did not reply. The +truth appeared an hour later, when a hastily assembled group of armed +men trudged out to the Frye place at the head of the glen. It was +horrible, yet hardly a surprize. There were more swaths and monstrous +prints, but there was no longer any house. It had caved in like an +egg-shell, and amongst the ruins nothing living or dead could be +discovered--only a stench and a tarry stickiness. The Elmer Fryes had +been erased from Dunwich. + + +8 + +In the meantime a quieter yet even more spiritually poignant phase of +the horror had been blackly unwinding itself behind the closed door of +a shelf-lined room in Arkham. The curious manuscript record or diary of +Wilbur Whateley, delivered to Miskatonic University for translation, +had caused much worry and bafflement among the experts in languages +both ancient and modern; its very alphabet, notwithstanding a general +resemblance to the heavily shaded Arabic used in Mesopotamia, being +absolutely unknown to any available authority. The final conclusion of +the linguists was that the text represented an artificial alphabet, +giving the effect of a cipher; though none of the usual methods of +cryptographic solution seemed to furnish any clue, even when applied +on the basis of every tongue the writer might conceivably have used. +The ancient books taken from Whateley's quarters, while absorbingly +interesting and in several cases promising to open up new and terrible +lines of research among philosophers and men of science, were of no +assistance whatever in this matter. One of them, a heavy tome with +an iron clasp, was in another unknown alphabet--this one of a very +different cast, and resembling Sanskrit more than anything else. The +old ledger was at length given wholly into the charge of Dr. Armitage, +both because of his peculiar interest in the Whateley matter, and +because of his wide linguistic learning and skill in the mystical +formulæ of antiquity and the Middle Ages. + +Armitage had an idea that the alphabet might be something esoterically +used by certain forbidden cults which have come down from old times, +and which have inherited many forms and traditions from the wizards of +the Saracenic world. That question, however, he did not deem vital; +since it would be unnecessary to know the origin of the symbols if, +as he suspected, they were used as a cipher in a modern language. It +was his belief that, considering the great amount of text involved, the +writer would scarcely have wished the trouble of using another speech +than his own, save perhaps in certain special formulæ and incantations. +Accordingly he attacked the manuscript with the preliminary assumption +that the bulk of it was in English. + +Dr. Armitage knew, from the repeated failures of his colleagues, that +the riddle was a deep and complex one, and that no simple mode of +solution could merit even a trial. All through late August he fortified +himself with the massed lore of cryptography, drawing upon the fullest +resources of his own library, and wading night after night amidst the +arcana of Trithemius' _Poligraphia_, Giambattista Porta's _De Furtivis +Literarum Notis_, De Vigenere's _Traité des Chiffres_, Falconer's +_Cryptomenysis Patefacta_, Davys' and Thicknesse's Eighteenth Century +treatises, and such fairly modern authorities as Blair, von Marten, +and Klüber's _Kryptographik_. He interspersed his study of the books +with attacks on the manuscript itself, and in time became convinced +that he had to deal with one of those subtlest and most ingenious of +cryptograms, in which many separate lists of corresponding letters are +arranged like the multiplication table, and the message built up with +arbitrary key-words known only to the initiated. The older authorities +seemed rather more helpful than the newer ones, and Armitage concluded +that the code of the manuscript was one of great antiquity, no doubt +handed down through a long line of mystical experimenters. Several +times he seemed near daylight, only to be set back by some unforeseen +obstacle. Then, as September approached, the clouds began to clear. +Certain letters, as used in certain parts of the manuscript, emerged +definitely and unmistakably; and it became obvious that the text was +indeed in English. + +On the evening of September second the last major barrier gave way, and +Dr. Armitage read for the first time a continuous passage of Wilbur +Whateley's annals. It was in truth a diary, as all had thought; and +it was couched in a style clearly showing the mixed occult erudition +and general illiteracy of the strange being who wrote it. Almost the +first long passage that Armitage deciphered, an entry dated November +26, 1916, proved highly startling and disquieting. It was written, he +remembered, by a child of three and a half who looked like a lad of +twelve or thirteen. + + Today learned the Aklo for the Sabaoth, [it ran] which did not + like, it being answerable from the hill and not from the air. That + upstairs more ahead of me than I had thought it would be, and is + not like to have much earth brain. Shot Elam Hutchins's collie + Jack when he went to bite me, and Elam says he would kill me if he + dast. I guess he won't. Grandfather kept me saying the Dho formula + last night, and I think I saw the inner city at the 2 magnetic + poles. I shall go to those poles when the earth is cleared off, if + I can't break through with the Dho-Hna formula when I commit it. + They from the air told me at Sabbat that it will be years before I + can clear off the earth, and I guess Grandfather will be dead then, + so I shall have to learn all the angles of the planes and all the + formulas between the Yr and the Nhhngr. They from outside will + help, but they can not take body without human blood. That upstairs + looks it will have the right cast. I can see it a little when I + make the Yoorish sign or blow the power of Ibn Ghazi at it, and it + is near like them at May Eve on the Hill. The other face may wear + off some. I wonder how I shall look when the earth is cleared and + there are no earth beings on it. He that came with the Aklo Sabaoth + said I may be transfigured, there being much of outside to work on. + +Morning found Dr. Armitage in a cold sweat of terror and a frenzy of +wakeful concentration. He had not left the manuscript all night, but +sat at his table under the electric light turning page after page +with shaking hands as fast as he could decipher the cryptic text. He +had nervously telephoned his wife he would not be home, and when she +brought him a breakfast from the house he could scarcely dispose of a +mouthful. All that day he read on, now and then halted maddeningly as +a reapplication of the complex key became necessary. Lunch and dinner +were brought him, but he ate only the smallest fraction of either. +Toward the middle of the next night he drowsed off in his chair, but +soon woke out of a tangle of nightmares almost as hideous as the truths +and menaces to man's existence that he had uncovered. + +On the morning of September fourth Professor Rice and Dr. Morgan +insisted on seeing him for a while, and departed trembling and +ashen-gray. That evening he went to bed, but slept only fitfully. +Wednesday--the next day--he was back at the manuscript, and began to +take copious notes both from the current sections and from those he had +already deciphered. In the small hours of that night he slept a little +in an easy-chair in his office, but was at the manuscript again before +dawn. Some time before noon his physician, Dr. Hartwell, called to see +him and insisted that he cease work. He refused, intimating that it was +of the most vital importance for him to complete the reading of the +diary, and promising an explanation in due course of time. + +That evening, just as twilight fell, he finished his terrible perusal +and sank back exhausted. His wife, bringing his dinner, found him in a +half-comatose state; but he was conscious enough to warn her off with +a sharp cry when he saw her eyes wander toward the notes he had taken. +Weakly rising, he gathered up the scribbled papers and sealed them all +in a great envelope, which he immediately placed in his inside coat +pocket. He had sufficient strength to get home, but was so clearly in +need of medical aid that Dr. Hartwell was summoned at once. As the +doctor put him to bed he could only mutter over and over again, "_But +what, in God's name, can we do?_" + +Dr. Armitage slept, but was partly delirious the next day. He made +no explanations to Hartwell, but in his calmer moments spoke of the +imperative need of a long conference with Rice and Morgan. His wilder +wanderings were very startling indeed, including frantic appeals +that something in a boarded-up farmhouse be destroyed, and fantastic +references to some plan for the extirpation of the entire human race +and all animal and vegetable life from the earth by some terrible elder +race of beings from another dimension. He would shout that the world +was in danger, since the Elder Things wished to strip it and drag it +away from the solar system and cosmos of matter into some other plane +or phase of entity from which it had once fallen, vigintillions of eons +ago. At other times he would call for the dreaded _Necronomicon_ and +the _Dæmonolatreia_ of Remigius, in which he seemed hopeful of finding +some formula to check the peril he conjured up. + +"Stop them, stop them!" he would shout. "Those Whateleys meant to let +them in, and the worst of all is left! Tell Rice and Morgan we must do +something--it's a blind business, but I know how to make the powder.... +It hasn't been fed since the second of August, when Wilbur came here to +his death, and at that rate...." + +But Armitage had a sound physique despite his seventy-three years, and +slept off his disorder that night without developing any real fever. He +woke late Friday, clear of head, though sober, with a gnawing fear and +tremendous sense of responsibility. Saturday afternoon he felt able to +go over to the library and summon Rice and Morgan for a conference, and +the rest of that day and evening the three men tortured their brains +in the wildest speculation and the most desperate debate. Strange and +terrible books were drawn voluminously from the stack shelves and from +secure places of storage, and diagrams and formulæ were copied with +feverish haste and in bewildering abundance. Of skepticism there was +none. All three had seen the body of Wilbur Whateley as it lay on the +floor in a room of that very building, and after that not one of them +could feel even slightly inclined to treat the diary as a madman's +raving. + +Opinions were divided as to notifying the Massachusetts State Police, +and the negative finally won. There were things involved which simply +could not be believed by those who had not seen a sample, as indeed was +made clear during certain subsequent investigations. Late at night the +conference disbanded without having developed a definite plan, but all +day Sunday Armitage was busy comparing formulæ and mixing chemicals +obtained from the college laboratory. The more he reflected on the +hellish diary, the more he was inclined to doubt the efficacy of any +material agent in stamping out the entity which Wilbur Whateley had +left behind him--the earth-threatening entity which, unknown to him, +was to burst forth in a few hours and become the memorable Dunwich +horror. + +Monday was a repetition of Sunday with Dr. Armitage, for the task +in hand required an infinity of research and experiment. Further +consultations of the monstrous diary brought about various changes of +plan, and he knew that even in the end a large amount of uncertainty +must remain. By Tuesday he had a definite line of action mapped out, +and believed he would try a trip to Dunwich within a week. Then, on +Wednesday, the great shock came. Tucked obscurely away in a corner of +the _Arkham Advertiser_ was a facetious little item from the Associated +Press, telling what a record-breaking monster the bootleg whisky of +Dunwich had raised up. Armitage, half stunned, could only telephone +for Rice and Morgan. Far into the night they discussed, and the next +day was a whirlwind of preparation on the part of them all. Armitage +knew he would be meddling with terrible powers, yet saw that there was +no other way to annul the deeper and more malign meddling which others +had done before him. + + +9 + +Friday morning Armitage, Rice and Morgan set out by motor for Dunwich, +arriving at the village about 1 in the afternoon. The day was pleasant, +but even in the brightest sunlight a kind of quiet dread and portent +seemed to hover about the strangely domed hills and the deep, shadowy +ravines of the stricken region. Now and then on some mountain top a +gaunt circle of stones could be glimpsed against the sky. From the +air of hushed fright at Osborn's store they knew something hideous +had happened, and soon learned of the annihilation of the Elmer Frye +house and family. Throughout that afternoon they rode around Dunwich, +questioning the natives concerning all that had occurred, and seeing +for themselves with rising pangs of horror the drear Frye ruins with +their lingering traces of the tarry stickiness, the blasphemous tracks +in the Frye yard, the wounded Seth Bishop cattle, and the enormous +swaths of disturbed vegetation in various places. The trail up and down +Sentinel Hill seemed to Armitage of almost cataclysmic significance, +and he looked long at the sinister altarlike stone on the summit. + +At length the visitors, apprised of a party of State Police which had +come from Aylesbury that morning in response to the first telephone +reports of the Frye tragedy, decided to seek out the officers and +compare notes as far as practicable. This, however, they found more +easily planned than performed; since no sign of the party could be +found in any direction. There had been five of them in a car, but now +the car stood empty near the ruins in the Frye yard. The natives, all +of whom had talked with the policemen, seemed at first as perplexed as +Armitage and his companions. Then old Sam Hutchins thought of something +and turned pale, nudging Fred Farr and pointing to the dank, deep +hollow that yawned close by. + +"Gawd," he gasped, "I telled 'em not ter go daown into the glen, an' I +never thought nobody'd dew it with them tracks an' that smell an' the +whippoorwills a-screechin' daown thar in the dark o' noonday...." + +A cold shudder ran through natives and visitors alike, and every ear +seemed strained in a kind of instinctive, unconscious listening. +Armitage, now that he had actually come upon the horror and its +monstrous work, trembled with the responsibility he felt to be +his. Night would soon fall, and it was then that the mountainous +blasphemy lumbered upon its eldritch course. _Negotium perambulans in +tenebris...._ The old librarian rehearsed the formulæ he had memorized, +and clutched the paper containing the alternative ones he had not +memorized. He saw that his electric flashlight was in working order. +Rice, beside him, took from a valise a metal sprayer of the sort used +in combating insects; whilst Morgan uncased the big-game rifle on which +he relied despite his colleague's warnings that no material weapon +would be of help. + +Armitage, having read the hideous diary, knew painfully well what kind +of a manifestation to expect, but he did not add to the fright of the +Dunwich people by giving any hints or clues. He hoped that it might +be conquered without any revelation to the world of the monstrous +thing it had escaped. As the shadows gathered, the natives commenced +to disperse homeward, anxious to bar themselves indoors despite the +present evidence that all human locks and bolts were useless before a +force that could bend trees and crush houses when it chose. They shook +their heads at the visitors' plan to stand guard at the Frye ruins near +the glen; and as they left, had little expectancy of ever seeing the +watchers again. + +There were rumblings under the hills that night, and the whippoorwills +piped threateningly. Once in a while a wind, sweeping up out of Cold +Spring Glen, would bring a touch of ineffable fetor to the heavy night +air; such a fetor as all three of the watchers had smelled once before, +when they stood above a dying thing that had passed for fifteen years +and a half as a human being. But the looked-for terror did not appear. +Whatever was down there in the glen was biding its time, and Armitage +told his colleagues it would be suicidal to try to attack it in the +dark. + +Morning came wanly, and the night-sounds ceased. It was a gray, bleak +day, with now and then a drizzle of rain; and heavier and heavier +clouds seemed to be piling themselves up beyond the hills to the +northwest. The men from Arkham were undecided what to do. Seeking +shelter from the increasing rainfall beneath one of the few undestroyed +Frye outbuildings, they debated the wisdom of waiting, or of taking the +aggressive and going down into the glen in quest of their nameless, +monstrous quarry. The downpour waxed in heaviness, and distant peals of +thunder sounded from far horizons. Sheet lightning shimmered, and then +a forky bolt flashed near at hand, as if descending into the accursed +glen itself. The sky grew very dark, and the watchers hoped that the +storm would prove a short, sharp one followed by clear weather. + +It was still gruesomely dark when, not much over an hour later, a +confused babel of voices sounded down the road. Another moment brought +to view a frightened group of more than a dozen men, running, shouting, +and even whimpering hysterically. Someone in the lead began sobbing out +words, and the Arkham men started violently when those words developed +a coherent form. + +"Oh, my Gawd, my Gawd!" the voice choked out; "it's a-goin' agin, _an' +this time by day_! It's aout--it's aout an' a-movin' this very minute, +an' only the Lord knows when it'll be on us all!" + +The speaker panted into silence, but another took up his message. + +"Nigh on a haour ago Zeb Whateley here heerd the 'phone a-ringin', an' +it was Mis' Corey, George's wife that lives daown by the junction. +She says the hired boy Luther was aout drivin' in the caows from the +storm arter the big bolt, when he see all the trees a-bendin' at the +maouth o' the glen--opposite side ter this--an' smelt the same awful +smell like he smelt when he faound the big tracks las' Monday mornin'. +An' she says he says they was a swishin', lappin' saound, more nor +what the bendin' trees an' bushes could make, an' all on a suddent the +trees along the rud begun ter git pushed one side, an' they was a awful +stompin' an' splashin' in the mud. But mind ye, Luther he didn't see +nothin' at all, only jest the bendin' trees an' underbrush. + +"Then fur ahead where Bishop's Brook goes under the rud he heerd a +awful creakin' an' strainin' on the bridge, an' says he could tell the +saound o' wood a-startin' to crack an' split. An' all the whiles he +never see a thing, only them trees an' bushes a-bendin'. An' when the +swishin' saound got very fur off--on the rud towards Wizard Whateley's +an' Sentinel Hill--Luther he had the guts ter step up whar he'd heerd +it fust an' look at the graound. It was all mud an' water, an' the sky +was dark, an' the rain was wipin' aout all tracks abaout as fast as +could be; but beginnin' at the glen maouth, whar the trees bed moved, +they was still some o' them awful prints big as bar'ls like he seen +Monday." + +At this point the first excited speaker interrupted. + +"But _that_ ain't the trouble naow--that was only the start. Zeb here +was callin' folks up an' everybody was a-listenin' in when a call from +Seth Bishop's cut in. His haousekeeper Sally was carryin' on fit ter +kill--she'd jest seed the trees a-bendin' beside the rud, an' says +they was a kind o' mushy saound, like a elephant puffin' an' treadin', +a-headin' fer the haouse. Then she up an' spoke suddent of a fearful +smell, an' says her boy Cha'ncey was a-screamin' as haow it was jest +like what he smelt up to the Whateley rewins Monday mornin'. An' the +dogs was all barkin' an' whinin' awful. + +"An' then she let aout a turrible yell, an' says the shed daown the +rud hed jest caved in like the storm hed blowed it over, only the wind +wa'n't strong enough to dew that. Everybody was a-listenin', an' ye +could hear lots o' folks on the wire a-gaspin'. All to onct Sally she +yelled agin, an' says the front yard picket fence bed jest crumpled up, +though they wa'n't no sign o' what done it. Then everybody on the line +could hear Cha'ncey an' ol' Seth Bishop a-yellin', tew, an' Sally was +shriekin' aout that suthin' heavy hed struck the haouse--not lightnin' +nor nothin', but suthin' heavy agin' the front, that kep' a-launchin' +itself agin an' agin, though ye couldn't see nuthin' aout the front +winders. An' then ... an' then...." + +Lines of fright deepened on every face; and Armitage, shaken as he was, +had barely poise enough to prompt the speaker. + +"An' then ... Sally she yelled aout, 'O help, the haouse is a-cavin' +in' ... an' on the wire we could hoar a turrible crashin', an' a hull +flock o' screamin' ... jest like when Elmer Frye's place was took, only +wuss...." + +The man paused, and another of the crowd spoke. + +"That's all--not a saound nor squeak over the 'phone arter that. Jest +still-like. We that heerd it got aout Fords an' wagons an' raounded +up as many able-bodied men-folks as we could get, at Corey's place, +an' come up here ter see what yew thought best ter dew. Not but what I +think it's the Lord's judgment fer our iniquities, that no mortal kin +ever set aside." + +Armitage saw that the time for positive action had come, and spoke +decisively to the faltering group of frightened rustics. + +"We must follow it, boys." He made his voice as reassuring as possible. +"I believe there's a chance of putting it out of business. You men +know that those Whateleys were wizards--well, this thing is a thing +of wizardry, and must be put down by the same means. I've seen Wilbur +Whateley's diary and read some of the strange old books he used to +read, and I think I know the right kind of a spell to recite to make +the thing fade away. Of course, one can't be sure, but we can always +take a chance. It's invisible--I knew it would be--but there's a powder +in this long-distance sprayer that might make it show up for a second. +Later on we'll try it. It's a frightful thing to have alive, but it +isn't as bad as what Wilbur would have let in if he'd lived longer. +You'll never know what the world has escaped. Now we've only this one +thing to fight, and it can't multiply. It can, though, do a lot of +harm; so we mustn't hesitate to rid the community of it. + +"We must follow it--and the way to begin is to go to the place that has +just been wrecked. Let somebody lead the way--I don't know your roads +very well, but I've an idea there might be a shorter cut across lots. +How about it?" + +The men shuffled about a moment, and then Earl Sawyer spoke softly, +pointing with a grimy finger through the steadily lessening rain. + +"I guess ye kin git to Seth Bishop's quickest by cuttin' acrost the +lower medder here, wadin' the brook at the low place, an' climbin' +through Carrier's mowin' an' the timber-lot beyont. That comes aout on +the upper rud mighty nigh Seth's--a leetle t'other side." + +Armitage, with Rice and Morgan, started to walk in the direction +indicated; and most of the natives followed slowly. The sky was growing +lighter, and there were signs that the storm had worn itself away. When +Armitage inadvertently took a wrong direction, Joe Osborn warned him +and walked ahead to show the right one. Courage and confidence were +mounting; though the twilight of the almost perpendicular wooded hill +which lay toward the end of their short cut, and among whose fantastic +ancient trees they had to scramble as if up a ladder, put these +qualities to a severe test. + +At length they emerged on a muddy road to find the sun coming out. +They were a little beyond the Seth Bishop place, but bent trees and +hideously unmistakable tracks showed what had passed by. Only a few +moments were consumed in surveying the ruins just around the bend. It +was the Frye incident all over again, and nothing dead or living was +found in either of the collapsed shells which had been the Bishop house +and barn. No one cared to remain there amidst the stench and the tarry +stickiness, but all turned instinctively to the line of horrible prints +leading on toward the wrecked Whateley farmhouse and the altar-crowned +slopes of Sentinel Hill. + +As the men passed the site of Wilbur Whateley's abode they shuddered +visibly, and seemed again to mix hesitancy with their zeal. It was +no joke tracking down something as big as a house that one could not +see, but that had all the vicious malevolence of a demon. Opposite the +base of Sentinel Hill the tracks left the road, and there was a fresh +bending and matting visible along the broad swath marking the monster's +former route to and from the summit. + +Armitage produced a pocket telescope of considerable power and scanned +the steep green side of the hill. Then he handed the instrument to +Morgan, whose sight was keener. After a moment of gazing Morgan cried +out sharply, passing the glass to Earl Sawyer and indicating a certain +spot on the slope with his finger. Sawyer, as clumsy as most non-users +of optical devices are, fumbled a while; but eventually focused the +lenses with Armitage's aid. When he did so his cry was less restrained +than Morgan's had been. + +"Gawd almighty, the grass an' bushes is a-movin'! It's a-goin' +up--slow-like--creepin' up ter the top this minute, heaven only knows +what fer!" + +Then the germ of panic seemed to spread among the seekers. It was one +thing to chase the nameless entity, but quite another to find it. +Spells might be all right--but suppose they weren't? Voices began +questioning Armitage about what he knew of the thing, and no reply +seemed quite to satisfy. Everyone seemed to feel himself in close +proximity to phases of nature and of being utterly forbidden, and +wholly outside the sane experience of mankind. + + +10 + +In the end the three men from Arkham--old, white-bearded Dr. +Armitage, stocky, iron-gray Professor Rice, and lean, youngish Dr. +Morgan--ascended the mountain alone. After much patient instruction +regarding its focusing and use, they left the telescope with the +frightened group that remained in the road; and as they climbed they +were watched closely by those among whom the glass was passed around. +It was hard going, and Armitage had to be helped more than once. High +above the toiling group the great swath trembled as its hellish maker +repassed with snail-like deliberateness. Then it was obvious that the +pursuers were gaining. + +Curtis Whateley--of the undecayed branch--was holding the telescope +when the Arkham party detoured radically from the swath. He told the +crowd that the men were evidently trying to get to a subordinate peak +which overlooked the swath at a point considerably ahead of where the +shrubbery was now bending. This, indeed, proved to be true; and the +party were seen to gain the minor elevation only a short time after the +invisible blasphemy had passed it. + +Then Wesley Corey, who had taken the glass, cried out that Armitage was +adjusting the sprayer which Rice held, and that something must be about +to happen. The crowd stirred uneasily, recalling that this sprayer was +expected to give the unseen horror a moment of visibility. Two or three +men shut their eyes, but Curtis Whateley snatched back the telescope +and strained his vision to the utmost. He saw that Rice, from the +party's point of vantage above and behind the entity, had an excellent +chance of spreading the potent powder with marvelous effect. + +Those without the telescope saw only an instant's flash of gray +cloud--a cloud about the size of a moderately large building--near the +top of the mountain. Curtis, who had held the instrument, dropped it +with a piercing shriek into the ankle-deep mud of the road. He reeled, +and would have crumpled to the ground had not two or three others +seized and steadied him. All he could do was moan half-inaudibly: + +"Oh, oh, great Gawd ... _that ... that_...." + +[Illustration: "Oh, oh, great Gawd ... that ... that."] + +There was a pandemonium of questioning, and only Henry Wheeler thought +to rescue the fallen telescope and wipe it clean of mud. Curtis was +past all coherence, and even isolated replies were almost too much for +him. + +"Bigger 'n a barn ... all made o' squirmin' ropes ... hull thing sort +o' shaped like a hen's egg bigger'n anything, with dozens o' legs like +hogsheads that haff shut up when they step ... nothin' solid abaout +it--all like jelly, an' made o' sep'rit wrigglin' ropes pushed clost +together ... great bulgin' eyes all over it ... ten or twenty maouths +or trunks a-stickin' aout all along the sides, big as stovepipes, an' +all a-tossin' an' openin' an' shuttin' ... all gray, with kinder blue +or purple rings ... _an' Gawd in Heaven--that haff face on top_!..." + +This final memory, whatever it was, proved too much for poor Curtis, +and he collapsed completely before he could say more. Fred Farr and +Will Hutchins carried him to the roadside and laid him on the damp +grass. Henry Wheeler, trembling, turned the rescued telescope on the +mountain to see what he might. Through the lenses were discernible +three tiny figures, apparently running toward the summit as fast as the +steep incline allowed. Only these--nothing more. Then everyone noticed +a strangely unseasonable noise in the deep valley behind, and even in +the underbrush of Sentinel Hill itself. It was the piping of unnumbered +whippoorwills, and in their shrill chorus there seemed to lurk a note +of tense and evil expectancy. + +Earl Sawyer now took the telescope and reported the three figures as +standing on the topmost ridge, virtually level with the altar-stone +but at a considerable distance from it. One figure, he said, seemed +to be raising its hands above its head at rhythmic intervals; and +as Sawyer mentioned the circumstance the crowd seemed to hear a +faint, half-musical sound from the distance, as if a loud chant +were accompanying the gestures. The weird silhouette on that +remote peak must have been a spectacle of infinite grotesqueness +and impressiveness, but no observer was in a mood for esthetic +appreciation. "I guess he's sayin' the spell," whispered Wheeler as +he snatched back the telescope. The whippoorwills were piping wildly, +and in a singularly curious irregular rhythm quite unlike that of the +visible ritual. + +Suddenly the sunshine seemed to lessen without the intervention of any +discernible cloud. It was a very peculiar phenomenon, and was plainly +marked by all. A rumbling sound seemed brewing beneath the hills, mixed +strangely with a concordant rumbling which clearly came from the sky. +Lightning flashed aloft, and the wondering crowd looked in vain for +the portents of storm. The chanting of the men from Arkham now became +unmistakable, and Wheeler saw through the glass that they were all +raising their arms in the rhythmic incantation. From some farmhouse far +away came the frantic barking of dogs. + +The change in the quality of the daylight increased, and the crowd +gazed about the horizon in wonder. A purplish darkness, born of +nothing more than a spectral deepening of the sky's blue, pressed down +upon the rumbling hills. Then the lightning flashed again, somewhat +brighter than before, and the crowd fancied that it had showed a +certain mistiness around the altar-stone on the distant height. No +one, however, had been using the telescope at that instant. The +whippoorwills continued their irregular pulsation, and the men of +Dunwich braced themselves tensely against some imponderable menace with +which the atmosphere seemed surcharged. + +Without warning came those deep, cracked, raucous vocal sounds which +will never leave the memory of the stricken group who heard them. Not +from any human throat were they born, for the organs of man can yield +no such acoustic perversions. Rather would one have said they came +from the pit itself, had not their source been so unmistakably the +altar-stone on the peak. It is almost erroneous to call them _sounds_ +at all, since so much of their ghastly, infra-bass timbre spoke to +dim seats of consciousness and terror far subtler than the ear; yet +one must do so, since their form was indisputably though vaguely that +of half-articulate _words_. They were loud--loud as the rumblings and +the thunder above which they echoed--yet did they come from no visible +being. And because imagination might suggest a conjectural source in +the world of non-visible beings, the huddled crowd at the mountain's +base huddled still closer, and winced as if in expectation of a blow. + +"_Ygnaiih ... ygnaiih ... thflthkh'ngha ... Yog-Sothoth...._" rang the +hideous croaking out of space. "_Y'bthnk ... h'ehye ... n'grkdl'lh...._" + +The speaking impulse seemed to falter here, as if some frightful +psychic struggle were going on. Henry Wheeler strained his eye at +the telescope, but saw only the three grotesquely silhouetted human +figures on the peak, all moving their arms furiously in strange +gestures as their incantation drew near its culmination. From what +black wells of Acherontic fear or feeling, from what unplumbed gulfs of +extra-cosmic consciousness or obscure, long-latent heredity, were those +half-articulate thunder-croakings drawn? Presently they began to gather +renewed force and coherence as they grew in stark, utter, ultimate +frenzy. + +"_Eh-ya-ya-ya-yahaah ... e'yaya-yayaaaa ... ngh'aaaa ... ngh'aaaa_ ... +h'yuh ... h'yuh ... HELP! HELP! ... _ff--ff--ff_--FATHER! FATHER! +YOG-SOTHOTH!..." + +But that was all. The pallid group in the road, still reeling at +the _indisputably English_ syllables that had poured thickly and +thunderously down from the frantic vacancy beside that shocking +altar-stone, were never to hear such syllables again. Instead, they +jumped violently at the terrific report which seemed to rend the hills; +the deafening, cataclysmic peal whose source, be it inner earth or +sky, no hearer was ever able to place. A single lightning bolt shot +from the purple zenith to the altar-stone, and a great tidal wave of +viewless force and indescribable stench swept down from the hill to +all the countryside. Trees, grass, and underbrush were whipped into a +fury; and the frightened crowd at the mountain's base, weakened by the +lethal fetor that seemed about to asphyxiate them, were almost hurled +off their feet. Dogs howled from the distance, green grass and foliage +wilted to a curious, sickly yellow-gray, and over field and forest were +scattered the bodies of dead whippoorwills. + +The stench left quickly, but the vegetation never came right again. +To this day there is something queer and unholy about the growths on +and around that fearsome hill. Curtis Whateley was only just regaining +consciousness when the Arkham men came slowly down the mountain in the +beams of a sunlight once more brilliant and untainted. They were grave +and quiet, and seemed shaken by memories and reflections even more +terrible than those which had reduced the group of natives to a state +of cowed quivering. In reply to a jumble of questions they only shook +their heads and reaffirmed one vital fact. + +"The thing has gone for ever," Armitage said. "It has been split up +into what it was originally made of, and can never exist again. It was +an impossibility in a normal world. Only the least fraction was really +matter in any sense we know. It was like its father--and most of it has +gone back to him in some vague realm or dimension outside our material +universe; some vague abyss out of which only the most accursed rites of +human blasphemy could ever have called him for a moment on the hills." + +There was a brief silence, and in that pause the scattered senses of +poor Curtis Whateley began to knit back into a sort of continuity; so +that he put his hands to his head with a moan. Memory seemed to pick +itself up where it had left off, and the horror of the sight that had +prostrated him burst in upon him again. + +"_Oh, oh, my Gawd, that haff face ... that haff face on top of it ... +that face with the red eyes an' crinkly albino hair, an' no chin, like +the Whateleys.... It was a octopus, centipede, spider kind o' thing, +but they was a haff-shaped man's face on top of it, an' it looked like +Wizard Whateley's, only it was yards an' yards acrost...._" + +He paused exhausted, as the whole group of natives stared in a +bewilderment not quite crystallized into fresh terror. Only old Zebulon +Whateley, who wanderingly remembered ancient things but who had been +silent heretofore, spoke aloud. + +"Fifteen year' gone," he rambled, "I heerd Ol' Whateley say as haow +some day we'd hear a child o' Lavinny's a-callin' its father's name on +the top o' Sentinel Hill...." + +But Joe Osborn interrupted him to question the Arkham men anew. + +"_What was it, anyhaow_, an' haowever did young Wizard Whateley call it +aout o' the air it come from?" + +Armitage chose his words carefully. + +"It was--well, it was mostly a kind of force that doesn't belong in our +part of space; a kind of force that acts and grows and shapes itself +by other laws than those of our sort of Nature. We have no business +calling in such things from outside, and only very wicked people +and very wicked cults ever try to. There was some of it in Wilbur +Whateley himself--enough to make a devil and a precocious monster of +him, and to make his passing out a pretty terrible sight. I'm going +to burn his accursed diary, and if you men are wise you'll dynamite +that altar-stone up there, and pull down all the rings of standing +stones on the other hills. Things like that brought down the beings +those Whateleys were so fond of--the beings they were going to let in +tangibly to wipe out the human race and drag the earth off to some +nameless place for some nameless purpose. + +"But as to this thing we've just sent back--the Whateleys raised it for +a terrible part in the doings that were to come. It grew fast and big +from the same reason that Wilbur grew fast and big--but it beat him +because it had a greater share of the _outsideness_ in it. You needn't +ask how Wilbur called it out of the air. He didn't call it out. _It was +his twin brother, but it looked more like the father than he did._" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dunwich Horror, by H. P. Lovecraft + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUNWICH HORROR *** + +***** This file should be named 50133-8.txt or 50133-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/1/3/50133/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you + are located before using this ebook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dd8894 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,109 @@ +{ + "id": "info:bb123cd4567", + "head": "v4", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ], + "242a60b18a716f1e88ebbb3a546a119009671dc210317be1cca206650db471c8d84769d495b4e169bfe8200b4d6d60520aa75fe99e401bd7738107b7b0ca0bcd": [ + "v3/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ], + "c70fa23f7447d5a8008ed7324f69d624b6fa376e2373b82f2163d214f27e6f07607ffca505824a78138b491243a84e5ca9b818ed67975427c3a7b0258410efc9": [ + "v4/content/my_content/dunwich.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2020-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "message": "First version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2020-01-02T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Second version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/a_second_copy_of_dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "69f54f2e9f4568f7df4a4c3b07e4cbda4ba3bba7913c5218add6dea891817a80ce829b877d7a84ce47f93cbad8aa522bf7dd8eda2778e16bdf3c47cf49ee3bdf": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2020-01-03T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Third version", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "242a60b18a716f1e88ebbb3a546a119009671dc210317be1cca206650db471c8d84769d495b4e169bfe8200b4d6d60520aa75fe99e401bd7738107b7b0ca0bcd": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v4": { + "created": "2020-01-04T03:03:03Z", + "message": "Ia! Ia! cthulhu fhtagn!", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "ffc150e7944b5cf5ddb899b2f48efffbd490f97632fc258434aefc4afb92aef2e3441ddcceae11404e5805e1b6c804083c9398c28f061c9ba42dd4bac53d5a2e": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "242a60b18a716f1e88ebbb3a546a119009671dc210317be1cca206650db471c8d84769d495b4e169bfe8200b4d6d60520aa75fe99e401bd7738107b7b0ca0bcd": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ], + "c70fa23f7447d5a8008ed7324f69d624b6fa376e2373b82f2163d214f27e6f07607ffca505824a78138b491243a84e5ca9b818ed67975427c3a7b0258410efc9": [ + "my_content/dunwich.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v1/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v1/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b7cc8e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_all_actions/v4/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7329bc7ea440369b5a0e97ab30fb84803bb9b82a93b89bbf828ff823068265f66e15cce68f60f42693360212291518d1f0f834138c1de0aec33fe3182797c64f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d702d21 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "v3/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 2", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2019-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "state": { + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..849d510 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +26228564e610fa2e38082a451a7fd9e3817fae0b99114da88a6ceea6931ff4c9551fbf6a7e4305cbb47c3ada2e3711d850bdab94b2f5c0058668b4e0b5fe1f9f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db70da5 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c16dfd --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +c7b674d476c321d73716d50068d7df6d9d1ed521365c55a871e1be5d69eedb9ccd347a8db17991d2a9bd80662e0a0a897e31df51f40b87dd35b62acd24c316bf inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c38ee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed. diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49758b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 2", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10791d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3900fc2040fe00c139d0676ce75c93774adb4c9da8d690d82ac7c8b2b1c05a26157140119d7df6e93111db121ae1af6e7b0040ef132934af00b99e04b9a469c3 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..829781d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed again! diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/inventory.json b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d702d21 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v3", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "v3/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 2", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v3": { + "created": "2019-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "state": { + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..849d510 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/good-objects/updates_three_versions_one_file/v3/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +26228564e610fa2e38082a451a7fd9e3817fae0b99114da88a6ceea6931ff4c9551fbf6a7e4305cbb47c3ada2e3711d850bdab94b2f5c0058668b4e0b5fe1f9f inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7c9a03 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,109 @@ +{ + "id": "bb123cd4567", + "head": "v0004", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ], + "618ea77f3a74558493f2df1d82fee18073f6458573d58e6b65bade8bd65227fb": [ + "v0003/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ], + "9b4566a0455e76a392c43ec4d8b8e7d636b21ff2cf83b87fe99b97d00a501de0": [ + "v0004/content/my_content/dunwich.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v0001": { + "created": "2019-08-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0002": { + "created": "2019-09-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/a_second_copy_of_dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0003": { + "created": "2019-10-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "618ea77f3a74558493f2df1d82fee18073f6458573d58e6b65bade8bd65227fb": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0004": { + "created": "2019-11-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "Ia! Ia! cthulhu fhtagn!", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "618ea77f3a74558493f2df1d82fee18073f6458573d58e6b65bade8bd65227fb": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ], + "9b4566a0455e76a392c43ec4d8b8e7d636b21ff2cf83b87fe99b97d00a501de0": [ + "my_content/dunwich.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7794315 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +6e46f466bd3cfa04e4cf5dcc4b57844c0d69ba2012cca13380a7dbffd34052ba inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51ee313 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15973 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Dracula + +Author: Bram Stoker + +Release Date: August 16, 2013 [EBook #345] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + DRACULA + + + + + + DRACULA + + _by_ + + Bram Stoker + + [Illustration: colophon] + + NEW YORK + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + _Publishers_ + + Copyright, 1897, in the United States of America, according + to Act of Congress, by Bram Stoker + + [_All rights reserved._] + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES + AT + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + + + TO + + MY DEAR FRIEND + + HOMMY-BEG + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + Page + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 1 + +CHAPTER II + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 14 + +CHAPTER III + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 26 + +CHAPTER IV + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 38 + +CHAPTER V + +Letters--Lucy and Mina 51 + +CHAPTER VI + +Mina Murray's Journal 59 + +CHAPTER VII + +Cutting from "The Dailygraph," 8 August 71 + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mina Murray's Journal 84 + +CHAPTER IX + +Mina Murray's Journal 98 + +CHAPTER X + +Mina Murray's Journal 111 + +CHAPTER XI + +Lucy Westenra's Diary 124 + +CHAPTER XII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 136 + +CHAPTER XIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 152 + +CHAPTER XIV + +Mina Harker's Journal 167 + +CHAPTER XV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 181 + +CHAPTER XVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 194 + +CHAPTER XVII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 204 + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 216 + +CHAPTER XIX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 231 + +CHAPTER XX + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 243 + +CHAPTER XXI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 256 + +CHAPTER XXII + +Jonathan Harker's Journal 269 + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Dr. Seward's Diary 281 + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Dr. Seward's Phonograph Diary, spoken by Van Helsing 294 + +CHAPTER XXV + +Dr. Seward's Diary 308 + +CHAPTER XXVI + +Dr. Seward's Diary 322 + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Mina Harker's Journal 338 + + + + +DRACULA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + +(_Kept in shorthand._) + + +_3 May. Bistritz._--Left Munich at 8:35 P. M., on 1st May, arriving at +Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an +hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I +got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the +streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived +late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The +impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the +East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is +here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish +rule. + +We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. +Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or +rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was +very good but thirsty. (_Mem._, get recipe for Mina.) I asked the +waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and that, as it was a +national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the +Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I +don't know how I should be able to get on without it. + +Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the +British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library +regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the +country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a +nobleman of that country. I find that the district he named is in the +extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, +Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian +mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe. I was +not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the +Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare +with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post +town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter +here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my +travels with Mina. + +In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: +Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the +descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the +East and North. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended +from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered +the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. I +read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the +horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of +imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (_Mem._, I +must ask the Count all about them.) + +I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had +all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my +window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been +the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was +still thirsty. Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous +knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. +I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour +which they said was "mamaliga," and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a +very excellent dish, which they call "impletata." (_Mem._, get recipe +for this also.) I had to hurry breakfast, for the train started a little +before eight, or rather it ought to have done so, for after rushing to +the station at 7:30 I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour +before we began to move. It seems to me that the further east you go the +more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China? + +All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of +beauty of every kind. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the +top of steep hills such as we see in old missals; sometimes we ran by +rivers and streams which seemed from the wide stony margin on each side +of them to be subject to great floods. It takes a lot of water, and +running strong, to sweep the outside edge of a river clear. At every +station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts +of attire. Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I +saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets and round hats +and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque. The women +looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy +about the waist. They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, +and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something +fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of course there +were petticoats under them. The strangest figures we saw were the +Slovaks, who were more barbarian than the rest, with their big cow-boy +hats, great baggy dirty-white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous +heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass +nails. They wore high boots, with their trousers tucked into them, and +had long black hair and heavy black moustaches. They are very +picturesque, but do not look prepossessing. On the stage they would be +set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands. They are, +however, I am told, very harmless and rather wanting in natural +self-assertion. + +It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a +very interesting old place. Being practically on the frontier--for the +Borgo Pass leads from it into Bukovina--it has had a very stormy +existence, and it certainly shows marks of it. Fifty years ago a series +of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate +occasions. At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent +a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war +proper being assisted by famine and disease. + +Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I +found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of +course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. I was +evidently expected, for when I got near the door I faced a +cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress--white +undergarment with long double apron, front, and back, of coloured stuff +fitting almost too tight for modesty. When I came close she bowed and +said, "The Herr Englishman?" "Yes," I said, "Jonathan Harker." She +smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirt-sleeves, +who had followed her to the door. He went, but immediately returned with +a letter:-- + + "My Friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting + you. Sleep well to-night. At three to-morrow the diligence will + start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo + Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust + that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you + will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. + +"Your friend, + +"DRACULA." + + +_4 May._--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, +directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on +making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and +pretended that he could not understand my German. This could not be +true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he +answered my questions exactly as if he did. He and his wife, the old +lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of +way. He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that +was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could +tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, +and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak +further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask +any one else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means +comforting. + +Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a +very hysterical way: + +"Must you go? Oh! young Herr, must you go?" She was in such an excited +state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and +mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all. I +was just able to follow her by asking many questions. When I told her +that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, +she asked again: + +"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. +She shook her head as she said again: + +"Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?" On +my saying that I did not understand, she went on: + +"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when +the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have +full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" +She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but +without effect. Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not +to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very +ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business +to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it. I therefore +tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked +her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go. She then rose and +dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me. I +did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been +taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it +seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a +state of mind. She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the +rosary round my neck, and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out +of the room. I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting +for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still +round my neck. Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly +traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I +am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual. If this book should +ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. Here comes the +coach! + + * * * * * + +_5 May. The Castle._--The grey of the morning has passed, and the sun is +high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or +hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are +mixed. I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, +naturally I write till sleep comes. There are many odd things to put +down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I +left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they +called "robber steak"--bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red +pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple +style of the London cat's meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which +produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not +disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else. + +When I got on the coach the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him +talking with the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every +now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting +on the bench outside the door--which they call by a name meaning +"word-bearer"--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them +pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for +there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my polyglot +dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not +cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"--Satan, "pokol"--hell, +"stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both of which mean the same +thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is +either were-wolf or vampire. (_Mem._, I must ask the Count about these +superstitions) + +When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time +swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and +pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a +fellow-passenger to tell me what they meant; he would not answer at +first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a +charm or guard against the evil eye. This was not very pleasant for me, +just starting for an unknown place to meet an unknown man; but every one +seemed so kind-hearted, and so sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I +could not but be touched. I shall never forget the last glimpse which I +had of the inn-yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing +themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of +rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the +centre of the yard. Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered +the whole front of the box-seat--"gotza" they call them--cracked his big +whip over his four small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on +our journey. + +I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty of the +scene as we drove along, although had I known the language, or rather +languages, which my fellow-passengers were speaking, I might not have +been able to throw them off so easily. Before us lay a green sloping +land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned +with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the +road. There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom--apple, +plum, pear, cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under +the trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out amongst these +green hills of what they call here the "Mittel Land" ran the road, +losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut out by the +straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the +hillsides like tongues of flame. The road was rugged, but still we +seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste. I could not understand then +what the haste meant, but the driver was evidently bent on losing no +time in reaching Borgo Prund. I was told that this road is in summertime +excellent, but that it had not yet been put in order after the winter +snows. In this respect it is different from the general run of roads in +the Carpathians, for it is an old tradition that they are not to be kept +in too good order. Of old the Hospadars would not repair them, lest the +Turk should think that they were preparing to bring in foreign troops, +and so hasten the war which was always really at loading point. + +Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes +of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves. Right +and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon +them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, +deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where +grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and +pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where +the snowy peaks rose grandly. Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the +mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again +the white gleam of falling water. One of my companions touched my arm as +we swept round the base of a hill and opened up the lofty, snow-covered +peak of a mountain, which seemed, as we wound on our serpentine way, to +be right before us:-- + +"Look! Isten szek!"--"God's seat!"--and he crossed himself reverently. + +As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind +us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us. This was +emphasised by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the +sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink. Here and there +we passed Cszeks and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but I noticed +that goitre was painfully prevalent. By the roadside were many crosses, +and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves. Here and there +was a peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine, who did not even +turn round as we approached, but seemed in the self-surrender of +devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the outer world. There were +many things new to me: for instance, hay-ricks in the trees, and here +and there very beautiful masses of weeping birch, their white stems +shining like silver through the delicate green of the leaves. Now and +again we passed a leiter-wagon--the ordinary peasant's cart--with its +long, snake-like vertebra, calculated to suit the inequalities of the +road. On this were sure to be seated quite a group of home-coming +peasants, the Cszeks with their white, and the Slovaks with their +coloured, sheepskins, the latter carrying lance-fashion their long +staves, with axe at end. As the evening fell it began to get very cold, +and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the +gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which +ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the +Pass, the dark firs stood out here and there against the background of +late-lying snow. Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods +that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of +greyness, which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a +peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and +grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset +threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the +Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes the +hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could +only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, +but the driver would not hear of it. "No, no," he said; "you must not +walk here; the dogs are too fierce"; and then he added, with what he +evidently meant for grim pleasantry--for he looked round to catch the +approving smile of the rest--"and you may have enough of such matters +before you go to sleep." The only stop he would make was a moment's +pause to light his lamps. + +When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the +passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as +though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses unmercifully +with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on +to further exertions. Then through the darkness I could see a sort of +patch of grey light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the +hills. The excitement of the passengers grew greater; the crazy coach +rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a +stormy sea. I had to hold on. The road grew more level, and we appeared +to fly along. Then the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each +side and to frown down upon us; we were entering on the Borgo Pass. One +by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed +upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial; these were +certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good +faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that strange mixture of +fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at +Bistritz--the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye. +Then, as we flew along, the driver leaned forward, and on each side the +passengers, craning over the edge of the coach, peered eagerly into the +darkness. It was evident that something very exciting was either +happening or expected, but though I asked each passenger, no one would +give me the slightest explanation. This state of excitement kept on for +some little time; and at last we saw before us the Pass opening out on +the eastern side. There were dark, rolling clouds overhead, and in the +air the heavy, oppressive sense of thunder. It seemed as though the +mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got +into the thunderous one. I was now myself looking out for the conveyance +which was to take me to the Count. Each moment I expected to see the +glare of lamps through the blackness; but all was dark. The only light +was the flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our +hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud. We could see now the sandy +road lying white before us, but there was on it no sign of a vehicle. +The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock +my own disappointment. I was already thinking what I had best do, when +the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something which I +could hardly hear, it was spoken so quietly and in so low a tone; I +thought it was "An hour less than the time." Then turning to me, he said +in German worse than my own:-- + +"There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He will +now come on to Bukovina, and return to-morrow or the next day; better +the next day." Whilst he was speaking the horses began to neigh and +snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up. Then, +amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a universal crossing +of themselves, a calèche, with four horses, drove up behind us, overtook +us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see from the flash of our +lamps, as the rays fell on them, that the horses were coal-black and +splendid animals. They were driven by a tall man, with a long brown +beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide his face from us. I +could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red +in the lamplight, as he turned to us. He said to the driver:-- + +"You are early to-night, my friend." The man stammered in reply:-- + +"The English Herr was in a hurry," to which the stranger replied:-- + +"That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot +deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift." As he +spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with +very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my +companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore":-- + + "Denn die Todten reiten schnell"-- + ("For the dead travel fast.") + +The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a +gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time +putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. "Give me the Herr's +luggage," said the driver; and with exceeding alacrity my bags were +handed out and put in the calèche. Then I descended from the side of the +coach, as the calèche was close alongside, the driver helping me with a +hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel; his strength must have been +prodigious. Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we +swept into the darkness of the Pass. As I looked back I saw the steam +from the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected +against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves. Then +the driver cracked his whip and called to his horses, and off they swept +on their way to Bukovina. As they sank into the darkness I felt a +strange chill, and a lonely feeling came over me; but a cloak was thrown +over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the driver said in +excellent German:-- + +"The night is chill, mein Herr, and my master the Count bade me take all +care of you. There is a flask of slivovitz (the plum brandy of the +country) underneath the seat, if you should require it." I did not take +any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the same. I felt a +little strangely, and not a little frightened. I think had there been +any alternative I should have taken it, instead of prosecuting that +unknown night journey. The carriage went at a hard pace straight along, +then we made a complete turn and went along another straight road. It +seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground +again; and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was +so. I would have liked to have asked the driver what this all meant, but +I really feared to do so, for I thought that, placed as I was, any +protest would have had no effect in case there had been an intention to +delay. By-and-by, however, as I was curious to know how time was +passing, I struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch; it was +within a few minutes of midnight. This gave me a sort of shock, for I +suppose the general superstition about midnight was increased by my +recent experiences. I waited with a sick feeling of suspense. + +Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road--a +long, agonised wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by +another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which +now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed +to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp +it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to +strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly, and they +quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from +sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each +side of us began a louder and a sharper howling--that of wolves--which +affected both the horses and myself in the same way--for I was minded to +jump from the calèche and run, whilst they reared again and plunged +madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them +from bolting. In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to +the sound, and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able +to descend and to stand before them. He petted and soothed them, and +whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse-tamers +doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became +quite manageable again, though they still trembled. The driver again +took his seat, and shaking his reins, started off at a great pace. This +time, after going to the far side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a +narrow roadway which ran sharply to the right. + +Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the +roadway till we passed as through a tunnel; and again great frowning +rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in shelter, we +could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled through the +rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. +It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall, +so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket. The +keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew +fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer +and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. I +grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, +however, was not in the least disturbed; he kept turning his head to +left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. + +Suddenly, away on our left, I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The +driver saw it at the same moment; he at once checked the horses, and, +jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness. I did not know +what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer; but while +I wondered the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a word took +his seat, and we resumed our journey. I think I must have fallen asleep +and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be repeated +endlessly, and now looking back, it is like a sort of awful nightmare. +Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the darkness +around us I could watch the driver's motions. He went rapidly to where +the blue flame arose--it must have been very faint, for it did not seem +to illumine the place around it at all--and gathering a few stones, +formed them into some device. Once there appeared a strange optical +effect: when he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, +for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. This startled me, but +as the effect was only momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me +straining through the darkness. Then for a time there were no blue +flames, and we sped onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the +wolves around us, as though they were following in a moving circle. + +At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he +had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble worse +than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause +for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether; but just +then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the +jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw +around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, +with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more +terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled. +For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man +feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand +their true import. + +All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had +some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared, and +looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see; +but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side; and they +had perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for +it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the +ring and to aid his approach. I shouted and beat the side of the +calèche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from that side, so as +to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came there, I know +not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and +looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway. As he swept his +long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves +fell back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across +the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness. + +When I could see again the driver was climbing into the calèche, and the +wolves had disappeared. This was all so strange and uncanny that a +dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time +seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost complete +darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. We kept on +ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main +always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the +driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a +vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, +and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit +sky. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +_5 May._--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully +awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In +the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark +ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than +it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight. + +When the calèche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand +to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious +strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have +crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps, and placed +them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and +studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of +massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was +massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and +weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the +reins; the horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one +of the dark openings. + +I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell +or knocker there was no sign; through these frowning walls and dark +window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The +time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon +me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? +What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a +customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to +explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor's +clerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor--for just before leaving +London I got word that my examination was successful; and I am now a +full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if +I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I +expected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with +the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and again felt +in the morning after a day of overwork. But my flesh answered the +pinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awake +and among the Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and to +wait the coming of the morning. + +Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching +behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming +light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of +massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise +of long disuse, and the great door swung back. + +Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white +moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck +of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver +lamp, in which the flame burned without chimney or globe of any kind, +throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the +open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with a courtly +gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange intonation:-- + +"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!" He made no +motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his +gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that +I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and +holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, +an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed as cold as +ice--more like the hand of a dead than a living man. Again he said:-- + +"Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the +happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so much akin to +that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that +for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was +speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:-- + +"Count Dracula?" He bowed in a courtly way as he replied:-- + +"I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in; +the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest." As he was +speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, +took my luggage; he had carried it in before I could forestall him. I +protested but he insisted:-- + +"Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not +available. Let me see to your comfort myself." He insisted on carrying +my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and +along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang +heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced +to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper, +and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, +flamed and flared. + +The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing +the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit +by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing +through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a +welcome sight; for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with +another log fire,--also added to but lately, for the top logs were +fresh--which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The Count himself +left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he closed the +door:-- + +"You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your +toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come +into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared." + +The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have +dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal state, +I discovered that I was half famished with hunger; so making a hasty +toilet, I went into the other room. + +I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of the +great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of +his hand to the table, and said:-- + +"I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse +me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup." + +I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me. +He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile, he handed +it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of +pleasure. + +"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant +sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to +come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in +whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy +and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is +discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall +be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take +your instructions in all matters." + +The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I +fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese +and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was +my supper. During the time I was eating it the Count asked me many +questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had +experienced. + +By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn +up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, +at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an +opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked +physiognomy. + +His face was a strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bridge of the +thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and +hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His +eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy +hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I +could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather +cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over +the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a +man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops +extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm +though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. + +Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees +in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeing +them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather +coarse--broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in +the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp +point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not +repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a +horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could +not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back; and with a +grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his +protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the +fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towards the +window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a +strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard as if from +down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes +gleamed, and he said:-- + +"Listen to them--the children of the night. What music they make!" +Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he +added:-- + +"Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the +hunter." Then he rose and said:-- + +"But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow you +shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon; +so sleep well and dream well!" With a courteous bow, he opened for me +himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom.... + +I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, +which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the +sake of those dear to me! + + * * * * * + +_7 May._--It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the +last twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my +own accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had +supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the +pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the table, on which +was written:-- + +"I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.--D." I set to and +enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, so that I +might let the servants know I had finished; but I could not find one. +There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, considering the +extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The table service +is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it must be of immense value. +The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and sofas and the hangings of +my bed are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have +been of fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, +though in excellent order. I saw something like them in Hampton Court, +but there they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of +the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my +table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I +could either shave or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant +anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. +Some time after I had finished my meal--I do not know whether to call it +breakfast or dinner, for it was between five and six o'clock when I had +it--I looked about for something to read, for I did not like to go about +the castle until I had asked the Count's permission. There was +absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing +materials; so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of +library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found it locked. + +In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English +books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and +newspapers. A table in the centre was littered with English magazines +and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The books +were of the most varied kind--history, geography, politics, political +economy, botany, geology, law--all relating to England and English life +and customs and manners. There were even such books of reference as the +London Directory, the "Red" and "Blue" books, Whitaker's Almanac, the +Army and Navy Lists, and--it somehow gladdened my heart to see it--the +Law List. + +Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Count +entered. He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a good +night's rest. Then he went on:-- + +"I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much that +will interest you. These companions"--and he laid his hand on some of +the books--"have been good friends to me, and for some years past, ever +since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many, many hours +of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your great England; and to +know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of +your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of +humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes +it what it is. But alas! as yet I only know your tongue through books. +To you, my friend, I look that I know it to speak." + +"But, Count," I said, "you know and speak English thoroughly!" He bowed +gravely. + +"I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet I +fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I know +the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them." + +"Indeed," I said, "you speak excellently." + +"Not so," he answered. "Well, I know that, did I move and speak in your +London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is not +enough for me. Here I am noble; I am _boyar_; the common people know me, +and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one; men +know him not--and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am +like the rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or pause in his +speaking if he hear my words, 'Ha, ha! a stranger!' I have been so long +master that I would be master still--or at least that none other should +be master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of my friend Peter +Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in London. You +shall, I trust, rest here with me awhile, so that by our talking I may +learn the English intonation; and I would that you tell me when I make +error, even of the smallest, in my speaking. I am sorry that I had to be +away so long to-day; but you will, I know, forgive one who has so many +important affairs in hand." + +Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might +come into that room when I chose. He answered: "Yes, certainly," and +added:-- + +"You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are +locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is reason that +all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with +my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand." I said I was sure of +this, and then he went on:-- + +"We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are +not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from +what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of +what strange things there may be." + +This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he wanted to +talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding +things that had already happened to me or come within my notice. +Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by +pretending not to understand; but generally he answered all I asked most +frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked +him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as, for +instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue +flames. He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a +certain night of the year--last night, in fact, when all evil spirits +are supposed to have unchecked sway--a blue flame is seen over any place +where treasure has been concealed. "That treasure has been hidden," he +went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be +but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by the +Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil +in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, +patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the +Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out +to meet them--men and women, the aged and the children too--and waited +their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep +destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader +was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been +sheltered in the friendly soil." + +"But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when +there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?" +The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, +sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:-- + +"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only +appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he +can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he +would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of who +marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight +even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to +find these places again?" + +"There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where even +to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters. + +"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you +have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went into my +own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in +order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as I +passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp +lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit +in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa, +reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's Guide. When I +came in he cleared the books and papers from the table; and with him I +went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested in +everything, and asked me a myriad questions about the place and its +surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the +subject of the neighbourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much +more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered:-- + +"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there +I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan--nay, pardon me, I +fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first--my friend +Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He will be +in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law with my +other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!" + +We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at +Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the +necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to +Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a +place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which I +inscribe here:-- + +"At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as seemed to +be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place +was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of ancient structure, +built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of +years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with +rust. + +"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old _Quatre +Face_, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of +the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded by +the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which +make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or +small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear and +flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large and of all +periods back, I should say, to mediæval times, for one part is of stone +immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily barred with +iron. It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an old chapel or +church. I could not enter it, as I had not the key of the door leading +to it from the house, but I have taken with my kodak views of it from +various points. The house has been added to, but in a very straggling +way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must +be very great. There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very +large house only recently added to and formed into a private lunatic +asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds." + +When I had finished, he said:-- + +"I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and to +live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable in a +day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice +also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles love +not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. I seek not +gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and +sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I am no longer young; +and my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead, is not +attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken; the +shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken +battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow, and would +be alone with my thoughts when I may." Somehow his words and his look +did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his +smile look malignant and saturnine. + +Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my papers +together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of +the books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally at +England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at it I found in +certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I noticed +that one was near London on the east side, manifestly where his new +estate was situated; the other two were Exeter, and Whitby on the +Yorkshire coast. + +It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned. "Aha!" he +said; "still at your books? Good! But you must not work always. Come; I +am informed that your supper is ready." He took my arm, and we went into +the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on the table. The +Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on his being away from +home. But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted whilst I ate. +After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the Count stayed with +me, chatting and asking questions on every conceivable subject, hour +after hour. I felt that it was getting very late indeed, but I did not +say anything, for I felt under obligation to meet my host's wishes in +every way. I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified +me; but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes over one at +the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. +They say that people who are near death die generally at the change to +the dawn or at the turn of the tide; any one who has when tired, and +tied as it were to his post, experienced this change in the atmosphere +can well believe it. All at once we heard the crow of a cock coming up +with preternatural shrillness through the clear morning air; Count +Dracula, jumping to his feet, said:-- + +"Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so +long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of +England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by +us," and, with a courtly bow, he quickly left me. + +I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little to +notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the +warm grey of quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again, and have +written of this day. + + * * * * * + +_8 May._--I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too +diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for +there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I +cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had +never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling on +me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk to I +could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak with, +and he!--I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. Let +me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me to bear up, and +imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am lost. Let me say +at once how I stand--or seem to. + +I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could +not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window, +and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, +and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good-morning." I started, for +it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass +covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, +but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count's +salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. +This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I +could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in +the mirror! The whole room behind me was displayed; but there was no +sign of a man in it, except myself. This was startling, and, coming on +the top of so many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague +feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at +the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was +trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half +round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my face, his +eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at +my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which +held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed +so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there. + +"Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself. It is more +dangerous than you think in this country." Then seizing the shaving +glass, he went on: "And this is the wretched thing that has done the +mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it!" and +opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung +out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones +of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very +annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or +the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal. + +When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could +not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is strange that +as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very +peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle. I +went out on the stairs, and found a room looking towards the South. The +view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every opportunity +of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A +stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without +touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree +tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and +there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through +the forests. + +But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I +explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and +bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there +an available exit. + +The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me. +I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of +every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my +helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I look back after a +few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much +as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me +that I was helpless I sat down quietly--as quietly as I have ever done +anything in my life--and began to think over what was best to be done. I +am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of +one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making my ideas known to +the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it +himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive +me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only +plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes +open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, +or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and +shall need, all my brains to get through. + +I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below +shut, and knew that the Count had returned. He did not come at once into +the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making +the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along +thought--that there were no servants in the house. When later I saw him +through the chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in the +dining-room, I was assured of it; for if he does himself all these +menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. +This gave me a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it +must have been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that +brought me here. This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it +mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his +hand in silence. How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the +coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the +crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless +that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! for it is a +comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing +which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous +should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there +is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, +a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Some +time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my +mind about it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count +Dracula, as it may help me to understand. To-night he may talk of +himself, if I turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, +however, not to awake his suspicion. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few +questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject +wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of +battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he +afterwards explained by saying that to a _boyar_ the pride of his house +and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their +fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said "we," +and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could put +down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most +fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He +grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his great +white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands as +though he would crush it by main strength. One thing he said which I +shall put down as nearly as I can; for it tells in its way the story of +his race:-- + +"We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood +of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, +in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from +Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their +Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, +and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the +were-wolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found +the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, +till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those +old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the devils in the +desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as +Attila, whose blood is in these veins?" He held up his arms. "Is it a +wonder that we were a conquering race; that we were proud; that when the +Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his +thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when +Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he found us +here when he reached the frontier; that the Honfoglalas was completed +there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were +claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries +was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkey-land; ay, and more +than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for, as the Turks say, +'water sleeps, and enemy is sleepless.' Who more gladly than we +throughout the Four Nations received the 'bloody sword,' or at its +warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was +redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the +flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who +was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat +the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that +his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the +Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, +indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and +again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, +when he was beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had +to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being +slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They +said that he thought only of himself. Bah! what good are peasants +without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart to +conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohács, we threw off the +Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for +our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the +Szekelys--and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains, and +their swords--can boast a record that mushroom growths like the +Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over. +Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace; and +the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told." + +It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. (_Mem._, this +diary seems horribly like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," for +everything has to break off at cockcrow--or like the ghost of Hamlet's +father.) + + * * * * * + +_12 May._--Let me begin with facts--bare, meagre facts, verified by +books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not +confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own +observation, or my memory of them. Last evening when the Count came from +his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the +doing of certain kinds of business. I had spent the day wearily over +books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the +matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn. There was a certain +method in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put them down in +sequence; the knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to me. + +First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more. I +told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not be +wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as only +one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to militate +against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to +ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one man to +attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case +local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking +solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not by any +chance mislead him, so he said:-- + +"I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from under +the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far from +London, buys for me through your good self my place at London. Good! Now +here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange that I have +sought the services of one so far off from London instead of some one +resident there, that my motive was that no local interest might be +served save my wish only; and as one of London residence might, perhaps, +have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus afield to +seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest. Now, suppose +I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to Newcastle, or +Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it not be that it could with more +ease be done by consigning to one in these ports?" I answered that +certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of +agency one for the other, so that local work could be done locally on +instruction from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing +himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by +him without further trouble. + +"But," said he, "I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it not so?" + +"Of course," I replied; and "such is often done by men of business, who +do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person." + +"Good!" he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making +consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of +difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded +against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability, +and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made a +wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of or +foresee. For a man who was never in the country, and who did not +evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were +wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had +spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books +available, he suddenly stood up and said:-- + +"Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter +Hawkins, or to any other?" It was with some bitterness in my heart that +I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of +sending letters to anybody. + +"Then write now, my young friend," he said, laying a heavy hand on my +shoulder: "write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will +please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now." + +"Do you wish me to stay so long?" I asked, for my heart grew cold at the +thought. + +"I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, +employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, +it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not +stinted. Is it not so?" + +What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins's interest, not +mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, while Count +Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing +which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I +could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his +mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but +in his own smooth, resistless way:-- + +"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things +other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please your +friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to getting +home to them. Is it not so?" As he spoke he handed me three sheets of +note-paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest foreign +post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, +with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood +as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for +he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only formal notes +now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for +to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle the Count, if he +did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a +book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to +some books on his table. Then he took up my two and placed them with his +own, and put by his writing materials, after which, the instant the door +had closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which +were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so, for +under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way +I could. + +One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The +Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the third was to +Coutts & Co., London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth, +bankers, Buda-Pesth. The second and fourth were unsealed. I was just +about to look at them when I saw the door-handle move. I sank back in my +seat, having just had time to replace the letters as they had been and +to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter in his +hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped +them carefully, and then turning to me, said:-- + +"I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this +evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish." At the door he +turned, and after a moment's pause said:-- + +"Let me advise you, my dear young friend--nay, let me warn you with all +seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any +chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has +many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be +warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then +haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be +safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then"--He finished his +speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were +washing them. I quite understood; my only doubt was as to whether any +dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom +and mystery which seemed closing around me. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no +doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is +not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed--I imagine that +my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain. + +When he left me I went to my room. After a little while, not hearing any +sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could look out +towards the South. There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, +inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow darkness +of the courtyard. Looking out on this, I felt that I was indeed in +prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air, though it were of +the night. I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. +It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and am full of all +sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is ground for my +terrible fear in this accursed place! I looked out over the beautiful +expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was almost as light as +day. In the soft light the distant hills became melted, and the shadows +in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness. The mere beauty seemed +to cheer me; there was peace and comfort in every breath I drew. As I +leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a storey +below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of +the rooms, that the windows of the Count's own room would look out. The +window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though +weatherworn, was still complete; but it was evidently many a day since +the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework, and looked +carefully out. + +What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not +see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his +back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had +so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and +somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest +and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to +repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the +window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, +_face down_ with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At +first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the +moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept looking, and it could +be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the +stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus +using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable +speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall. + +What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the +semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering +me; I am in fear--in awful fear--and there is no escape for me; I am +encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of.... + + * * * * * + +_15 May._--Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion. +He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good +deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head +had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without +avail--the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I +knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to +explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and +taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had +expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went down the +stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could +pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains; but the +door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's +room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and +escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs +and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two +small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in +them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, +however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it +seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, +and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came +from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door +rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have +again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that +I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right +than the rooms I knew and a storey lower down. From the windows I could +see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the +windows of the end room looking out both west and south. On the latter +side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle +was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was +quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or +bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, +impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the +west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged +mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with +mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and +crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle +occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of +comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the +yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to +see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over +all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My +lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was +glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place +which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better +than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the +presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I +found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak +table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much +thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my +diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is +nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my +senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own +which mere "modernity" cannot kill. + + * * * * * + +_Later: the Morning of 16 May._--God preserve my sanity, for to this I +am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. +Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not +go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it +is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this +hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I +can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his +purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way +lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which +have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant +when he made Hamlet say:-- + + "My tablets! quick, my tablets! + 'Tis meet that I put it down," etc., + +for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock +had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. +The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me. + +The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens +me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold upon +me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say! + +When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book and +pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count's warning came into my mind, +but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me, +and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The soft +moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom +which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the +gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat +and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for +their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great +couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay, I could look +at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring for +the dust, composed myself for sleep. I suppose I must have fallen +asleep; I hope so, but I fear, for all that followed was startlingly +real--so real that now sitting here in the broad, full sunlight of the +morning, I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep. + +I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I +came into it; I could see along the floor, in the brilliant moonlight, +my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of +dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by +their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming +when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they threw +no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some +time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline +noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes that seemed to be +almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was +fair, as fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes +like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it +in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the +moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like +pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something +about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some +deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would +kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some +day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth. +They whispered together, and then they all three laughed--such a +silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have +come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, +tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. +The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her +on. One said:-- + +"Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to +begin." The other added:-- + +"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all." I lay quiet, +looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. +The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement +of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent +the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter +underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood. + +I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under +the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply +gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling +and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips +like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining +on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp +teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of +my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. Then she +paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked +her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the +skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that +is to tickle it approaches nearer--nearer. I could feel the soft, +shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, +and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. +I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited--waited with beating +heart. + +But at that instant, another sensation swept through me as quick as +lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his +being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I +saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with +giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the +white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with +passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to +the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light +in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His +face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; +the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar +of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman +from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating +them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the +wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to +cut through the air and then ring round the room he said:-- + +"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when +I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware +how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me." The fair girl, +with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:-- + +"You yourself never loved; you never love!" On this the other women +joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the +room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure +of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, +and said in a soft whisper:-- + +"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it +not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall +kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work +to be done." + +"Are we to have nothing to-night?" said one of them, with a low laugh, +as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and which +moved as though there were some living thing within it. For answer he +nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my +ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a +half-smothered child. The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with +horror; but as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful +bag. There was no door near them, and they could not have passed me +without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the rays of the +moonlight and pass out through the window, for I could see outside the +dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely faded away. + +Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL--_continued_ + + +I awoke in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must +have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but +could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were +certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by +in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am +rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and +many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been +evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, from some cause or +another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof. Of one +thing I am glad: if it was that the Count carried me here and undressed +me, he must have been hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I +am sure this diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not +have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look round this +room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of +sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who +were--who _are_--waiting to suck my blood. + + * * * * * + +_18 May._--I have been down to look at that room again in daylight, for +I _must_ know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the +stairs I found it closed. It had been so forcibly driven against the +jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered. I could see that the bolt +of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the inside. +I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise. + + * * * * * + +_19 May._--I am surely in the toils. Last night the Count asked me in +the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying that my work here +was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days, +another that I was starting on the next morning from the time of the +letter, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at +Bistritz. I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present state +of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I +am so absolutely in his power; and to refuse would be to excite his +suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and +that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only chance is to +prolong my opportunities. Something may occur which will give me a +chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something of that gathering wrath +which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from him. He explained +to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that my writing now would +ensure ease of mind to my friends; and he assured me with so much +impressiveness that he would countermand the later letters, which would +be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would admit of my +prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have been to create new +suspicion. I therefore pretended to fall in with his views, and asked +him what dates I should put on the letters. He calculated a minute, and +then said:-- + +"The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June +29." + +I know now the span of my life. God help me! + + * * * * * + +_28 May._--There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being able to +send word home. A band of Szgany have come to the castle, and are +encamped in the courtyard. These Szgany are gipsies; I have notes of +them in my book. They are peculiar to this part of the world, though +allied to the ordinary gipsies all the world over. There are thousands +of them in Hungary and Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. +They attach themselves as a rule to some great noble or _boyar_, and +call themselves by his name. They are fearless and without religion, +save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany +tongue. + +I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to have them +posted. I have already spoken them through my window to begin +acquaintanceship. They took their hats off and made obeisance and many +signs, which, however, I could not understand any more than I could +their spoken language.... + + * * * * * + +I have written the letters. Mina's is in shorthand, and I simply ask Mr. +Hawkins to communicate with her. To her I have explained my situation, +but without the horrors which I may only surmise. It would shock and +frighten her to death were I to expose my heart to her. Should the +letters not carry, then the Count shall not yet know my secret or the +extent of my knowledge.... + + * * * * * + +I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars of my window +with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to have them posted. The +man who took them pressed them to his heart and bowed, and then put them +in his cap. I could do no more. I stole back to the study, and began to +read. As the Count did not come in, I have written here.... + + * * * * * + +The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his smoothest +voice as he opened two letters:-- + +"The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not whence they +come, I shall, of course, take care. See!"--he must have looked at +it--"one is from you, and to my friend Peter Hawkins; the other"--here +he caught sight of the strange symbols as he opened the envelope, and +the dark look came into his face, and his eyes blazed wickedly--"the +other is a vile thing, an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is +not signed. Well! so it cannot matter to us." And he calmly held letter +and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed. Then he +went on:-- + +"The letter to Hawkins--that I shall, of course, send on, since it is +yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend, that +unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it again?" He held +out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow handed me a clean +envelope. I could only redirect it and hand it to him in silence. When +he went out of the room I could hear the key turn softly. A minute later +I went over and tried it, and the door was locked. + +When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room, his +coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the sofa. He was very +courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been +sleeping, he said:-- + +"So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. There is the surest rest. I +may not have the pleasure to talk to-night, since there are many labours +to me; but you will sleep, I pray." I passed to my room and went to bed, +and, strange to say, slept without dreaming. Despair has its own calms. + + * * * * * + +_31 May._--This morning when I woke I thought I would provide myself +with some paper and envelopes from my bag and keep them in my pocket, so +that I might write in case I should get an opportunity, but again a +surprise, again a shock! + +Every scrap of paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my memoranda, +relating to railways and travel, my letter of credit, in fact all that +might be useful to me were I once outside the castle. I sat and pondered +awhile, and then some thought occurred to me, and I made search of my +portmanteau and in the wardrobe where I had placed my clothes. + +The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and +rug; I could find no trace of them anywhere. This looked like some new +scheme of villainy.... + + * * * * * + +_17 June._--This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed +cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding +and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard. +With joy I hurried to the window, and saw drive into the yard two great +leiter-wagons, each drawn by eight sturdy horses, and at the head of +each pair a Slovak, with his wide hat, great nail-studded belt, dirty +sheepskin, and high boots. They had also their long staves in hand. I +ran to the door, intending to descend and try and join them through the +main hall, as I thought that way might be opened for them. Again a +shock: my door was fastened on the outside. + +Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked up at me +stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, +and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they +laughed. Henceforth no effort of mine, no piteous cry or agonised +entreaty, would make them even look at me. They resolutely turned away. +The leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick +rope; these were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks +handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved. When +they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one corner of the +yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the Szgany, and spitting on +it for luck, lazily went each to his horse's head. Shortly afterwards, I +heard the cracking of their whips die away in the distance. + + * * * * * + +_24 June, before morning._--Last night the Count left me early, and +locked himself into his own room. As soon as I dared I ran up the +winding stair, and looked out of the window, which opened south. I +thought I would watch for the Count, for there is something going on. +The Szgany are quartered somewhere in the castle and are doing work of +some kind. I know it, for now and then I hear a far-away muffled sound +as of mattock and spade, and, whatever it is, it must be the end of some +ruthless villainy. + +I had been at the window somewhat less than half an hour, when I saw +something coming out of the Count's window. I drew back and watched +carefully, and saw the whole man emerge. It was a new shock to me to +find that he had on the suit of clothes which I had worn whilst +travelling here, and slung over his shoulder the terrible bag which I +had seen the women take away. There could be no doubt as to his quest, +and in my garb, too! This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he will +allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may both leave +evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages posting my own +letters, and that any wickedness which he may do shall by the local +people be attributed to me. + +It makes me rage to think that this can go on, and whilst I am shut up +here, a veritable prisoner, but without that protection of the law which +is even a criminal's right and consolation. + +I thought I would watch for the Count's return, and for a long time sat +doggedly at the window. Then I began to notice that there were some +quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were +like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in +clusters in a nebulous sort of way. I watched them with a sense of +soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me. I leaned back in the +embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy more +fully the aërial gambolling. + +Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far +below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight. Louder it seemed to +ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to +the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to +awake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, +and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I +was becoming hypnotised! Quicker and quicker danced the dust; the +moonbeams seemed to quiver as they went by me into the mass of gloom +beyond. More and more they gathered till they seemed to take dim phantom +shapes. And then I started, broad awake and in full possession of my +senses, and ran screaming from the place. The phantom shapes, which were +becoming gradually materialised from the moonbeams, were those of the +three ghostly women to whom I was doomed. I fled, and felt somewhat +safer in my own room, where there was no moonlight and where the lamp +was burning brightly. + +When a couple of hours had passed I heard something stirring in the +Count's room, something like a sharp wail quickly suppressed; and then +there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me. With a +beating heart, I tried the door; but I was locked in my prison, and +could do nothing. I sat down and simply cried. + +As I sat I heard a sound in the courtyard without--the agonised cry of a +woman. I rushed to the window, and throwing it up, peered out between +the bars. There, indeed, was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her +hands over her heart as one distressed with running. She was leaning +against a corner of the gateway. When she saw my face at the window she +threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace:-- + +"Monster, give me my child!" + +She threw herself on her knees, and raising up her hands, cried the same +words in tones which wrung my heart. Then she tore her hair and beat her +breast, and abandoned herself to all the violences of extravagant +emotion. Finally, she threw herself forward, and, though I could not see +her, I could hear the beating of her naked hands against the door. + +Somewhere high overhead, probably on the tower, I heard the voice of the +Count calling in his harsh, metallic whisper. His call seemed to be +answered from far and wide by the howling of wolves. Before many minutes +had passed a pack of them poured, like a pent-up dam when liberated, +through the wide entrance into the courtyard. + +There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but +short. Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips. + +I could not pity her, for I knew now what had become of her child, and +she was better dead. + +What shall I do? what can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful +thing of night and gloom and fear? + + * * * * * + +_25 June, morning._--No man knows till he has suffered from the night +how sweet and how dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. When the +sun grew so high this morning that it struck the top of the great +gateway opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me +as if the dove from the ark had lighted there. My fear fell from me as +if it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth. I must +take action of some sort whilst the courage of the day is upon me. Last +night one of my post-dated letters went to post, the first of that fatal +series which is to blot out the very traces of my existence from the +earth. + +Let me not think of it. Action! + +It has always been at night-time that I have been molested or +threatened, or in some way in danger or in fear. I have not yet seen the +Count in the daylight. Can it be that he sleeps when others wake, that +he may be awake whilst they sleep? If I could only get into his room! +But there is no possible way. The door is always locked, no way for me. + +Yes, there is a way, if one dares to take it. Where his body has gone +why may not another body go? I have seen him myself crawl from his +window. Why should not I imitate him, and go in by his window? The +chances are desperate, but my need is more desperate still. I shall risk +it. At the worst it can only be death; and a man's death is not a +calf's, and the dreaded Hereafter may still be open to me. God help me +in my task! Good-bye, Mina, if I fail; good-bye, my faithful friend and +second father; good-bye, all, and last of all Mina! + + * * * * * + +_Same day, later._--I have made the effort, and God, helping me, have +come safely back to this room. I must put down every detail in order. I +went whilst my courage was fresh straight to the window on the south +side, and at once got outside on the narrow ledge of stone which runs +around the building on this side. The stones are big and roughly cut, +and the mortar has by process of time been washed away between them. I +took off my boots, and ventured out on the desperate way. I looked down +once, so as to make sure that a sudden glimpse of the awful depth would +not overcome me, but after that kept my eyes away from it. I knew pretty +well the direction and distance of the Count's window, and made for it +as well as I could, having regard to the opportunities available. I did +not feel dizzy--I suppose I was too excited--and the time seemed +ridiculously short till I found myself standing on the window-sill and +trying to raise up the sash. I was filled with agitation, however, when +I bent down and slid feet foremost in through the window. Then I looked +around for the Count, but, with surprise and gladness, made a discovery. +The room was empty! It was barely furnished with odd things, which +seemed to have never been used; the furniture was something the same +style as that in the south rooms, and was covered with dust. I looked +for the key, but it was not in the lock, and I could not find it +anywhere. The only thing I found was a great heap of gold in one +corner--gold of all kinds, Roman, and British, and Austrian, and +Hungarian, and Greek and Turkish money, covered with a film of dust, as +though it had lain long in the ground. None of it that I noticed was +less than three hundred years old. There were also chains and ornaments, +some jewelled, but all of them old and stained. + +At one corner of the room was a heavy door. I tried it, for, since I +could not find the key of the room or the key of the outer door, which +was the main object of my search, I must make further examination, or +all my efforts would be in vain. It was open, and led through a stone +passage to a circular stairway, which went steeply down. I descended, +minding carefully where I went, for the stairs were dark, being only lit +by loopholes in the heavy masonry. At the bottom there was a dark, +tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour, the +odour of old earth newly turned. As I went through the passage the smell +grew closer and heavier. At last I pulled open a heavy door which stood +ajar, and found myself in an old, ruined chapel, which had evidently +been used as a graveyard. The roof was broken, and in two places were +steps leading to vaults, but the ground had recently been dug over, and +the earth placed in great wooden boxes, manifestly those which had been +brought by the Slovaks. There was nobody about, and I made search for +any further outlet, but there was none. Then I went over every inch of +the ground, so as not to lose a chance. I went down even into the +vaults, where the dim light struggled, although to do so was a dread to +my very soul. Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments +of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a +discovery. + +There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a +pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep, I +could not say which--for the eyes were open and stony, but without the +glassiness of death--and the cheeks had the warmth of life through all +their pallor; the lips were as red as ever. But there was no sign of +movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart. I bent over him, +and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain. He could not have lain +there long, for the earthy smell would have passed away in a few hours. +By the side of the box was its cover, pierced with holes here and there. +I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw +the dead eyes, and in them, dead though they were, such a look of hate, +though unconscious of me or my presence, that I fled from the place, and +leaving the Count's room by the window, crawled again up the castle +wall. Regaining my room, I threw myself panting upon the bed and tried +to think.... + + * * * * * + +_29 June._--To-day is the date of my last letter, and the Count has +taken steps to prove that it was genuine, for again I saw him leave the +castle by the same window, and in my clothes. As he went down the wall, +lizard fashion, I wished I had a gun or some lethal weapon, that I might +destroy him; but I fear that no weapon wrought alone by man's hand would +have any effect on him. I dared not wait to see him return, for I feared +to see those weird sisters. I came back to the library, and read there +till I fell asleep. + +I was awakened by the Count, who looked at me as grimly as a man can +look as he said:-- + +"To-morrow, my friend, we must part. You return to your beautiful +England, I to some work which may have such an end that we may never +meet. Your letter home has been despatched; to-morrow I shall not be +here, but all shall be ready for your journey. In the morning come the +Szgany, who have some labours of their own here, and also come some +Slovaks. When they have gone, my carriage shall come for you, and shall +bear you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence from Bukovina to +Bistritz. But I am in hopes that I shall see more of you at Castle +Dracula." I suspected him, and determined to test his sincerity. +Sincerity! It seems like a profanation of the word to write it in +connection with such a monster, so asked him point-blank:-- + +"Why may I not go to-night?" + +"Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away on a mission." + +"But I would walk with pleasure. I want to get away at once." He smiled, +such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was some trick +behind his smoothness. He said:-- + +"And your baggage?" + +"I do not care about it. I can send for it some other time." + +The Count stood up, and said, with a sweet courtesy which made me rub my +eyes, it seemed so real:-- + +"You English have a saying which is close to my heart, for its spirit is +that which rules our _boyars_: 'Welcome the coming; speed the parting +guest.' Come with me, my dear young friend. Not an hour shall you wait +in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that +you so suddenly desire it. Come!" With a stately gravity, he, with the +lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he +stopped. + +"Hark!" + +Close at hand came the howling of many wolves. It was almost as if the +sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great +orchestra seems to leap under the bâton of the conductor. After a pause +of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back +the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it +open. + +To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlocked. Suspiciously, I +looked all round, but could see no key of any kind. + +As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder +and angrier; their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed +feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door. I knew then that +to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such +allies as these at his command, I could do nothing. But still the door +continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gap. +Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my +doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There +was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and +as a last chance I cried out:-- + +"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my +hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. With one sweep of his +powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and the great bolts clanged +and echoed through the hall as they shot back into their places. + +In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went +to my own room. The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand +to me; with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that +Judas in hell might be proud of. + +When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a +whispering at my door. I went to it softly and listened. Unless my ears +deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count:-- + +"Back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have +patience! To-night is mine. To-morrow night is yours!" There was a low, +sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open the door, and saw +without the three terrible women licking their lips. As I appeared they +all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away. + +I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees. It is then so near +the end? To-morrow! to-morrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am +dear! + + * * * * * + +_30 June, morning._--These may be the last words I ever write in this +diary. I slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself +on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me +ready. + +At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the morning +had come. Then came the welcome cock-crow, and I felt that I was safe. +With a glad heart, I opened my door and ran down to the hall. I had seen +that the door was unlocked, and now escape was before me. With hands +that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and drew back the +massive bolts. + +But the door would not move. Despair seized me. I pulled, and pulled, at +the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its +casement. I could see the bolt shot. It had been locked after I left the +Count. + +Then a wild desire took me to obtain that key at any risk, and I +determined then and there to scale the wall again and gain the Count's +room. He might kill me, but death now seemed the happier choice of +evils. Without a pause I rushed up to the east window, and scrambled +down the wall, as before, into the Count's room. It was empty, but that +was as I expected. I could not see a key anywhere, but the heap of gold +remained. I went through the door in the corner and down the winding +stair and along the dark passage to the old chapel. I knew now well +enough where to find the monster I sought. + +The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the lid +was laid on it, not fastened down, but with the nails ready in their +places to be hammered home. I knew I must reach the body for the key, so +I raised the lid, and laid it back against the wall; and then I saw +something which filled my very soul with horror. There lay the Count, +but looking as if his youth had been half renewed, for the white hair +and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, +and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than +ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the +corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, +burning eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches +underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were +simply gorged with blood. He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his +repletion. I shuddered as I bent over to touch him, and every sense in +me revolted at the contact; but I had to search, or I was lost. The +coming night might see my own body a banquet in a similar way to those +horrid three. I felt all over the body, but no sign could I find of the +key. Then I stopped and looked at the Count. There was a mocking smile +on the bloated face which seemed to drive me mad. This was the being I +was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come +he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and +create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the +helpless. The very thought drove me mad. A terrible desire came upon me +to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, +but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the +cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the +hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell full +upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to +paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, +merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my +hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade +caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid +thing from my sight. The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, +blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its +own in the nethermost hell. + +I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed +on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over me. As I +waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices coming +closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and the +cracking of whips; the Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count had +spoken were coming. With a last look around and at the box which +contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count's +room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be opened. +With strained ears, I listened, and heard downstairs the grinding of the +key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy door. There must +have been some other means of entry, or some one had a key for one of +the locked doors. Then there came the sound of many feet tramping and +dying away in some passage which sent up a clanging echo. I turned to +run down again towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance; +but at the moment there seemed to come a violent puff of wind, and the +door to the winding stair blew to with a shock that set the dust from +the lintels flying. When I ran to push it open, I found that it was +hopelessly fast. I was again a prisoner, and the net of doom was closing +round me more closely. + +As I write there is in the passage below a sound of many tramping feet +and the crash of weights being set down heavily, doubtless the boxes, +with their freight of earth. There is a sound of hammering; it is the +box being nailed down. Now I can hear the heavy feet tramping again +along the hall, with many other idle feet coming behind them. + +The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key +in the lock; I can hear the key withdraw: then another door opens and +shuts; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt. + +Hark! in the courtyard and down the rocky way the roll of heavy wheels, +the crack of whips, and the chorus of the Szgany as they pass into the +distance. + +I am alone in the castle with those awful women. Faugh! Mina is a woman, +and there is nought in common. They are devils of the Pit! + +I shall not remain alone with them; I shall try to scale the castle wall +farther than I have yet attempted. I shall take some of the gold with +me, lest I want it later. I may find a way from this dreadful place. + +And then away for home! away to the quickest and nearest train! away +from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his +children still walk with earthly feet! + +At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the +precipice is steep and high. At its foot a man may sleep--as a man. +Good-bye, all! Mina! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Letter from Miss Mina Murray to Miss Lucy Westenra._ + + +"_9 May._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed +with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. +I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together +freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard +lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have +been practising shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I shall +be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I +can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for +him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard. He +and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a +stenographic journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I +shall keep a diary in the same way. I don't mean one of those +two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a +sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I do not +suppose there will be much of interest to other people; but it is not +intended for them. I may show it to Jonathan some day if there is in it +anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try +to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing +descriptions and trying to remember conversations. I am told that, with +a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears +said during a day. However, we shall see. I will tell you of my little +plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan +from Transylvania. He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I +am longing to hear all his news. It must be so nice to see strange +countries. I wonder if we--I mean Jonathan and I--shall ever see them +together. There is the ten o'clock bell ringing. Good-bye. + +"Your loving + +"MINA. + +"Tell me all the news when you write. You have not told me anything for +a long time. I hear rumours, and especially of a tall, handsome, +curly-haired man???" + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_17, Chatham Street_, + +"_Wednesday_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"I must say you tax me _very_ unfairly with being a bad correspondent. I +wrote to you _twice_ since we parted, and your last letter was only your +_second_. Besides, I have nothing to tell you. There is really nothing +to interest you. Town is very pleasant just now, and we go a good deal +to picture-galleries and for walks and rides in the park. As to the +tall, curly-haired man, I suppose it was the one who was with me at the +last Pop. Some one has evidently been telling tales. That was Mr. +Holmwood. He often comes to see us, and he and mamma get on very well +together; they have so many things to talk about in common. We met some +time ago a man that would just _do for you_, if you were not already +engaged to Jonathan. He is an excellent _parti_, being handsome, well +off, and of good birth. He is a doctor and really clever. Just fancy! He +is only nine-and-twenty, and he has an immense lunatic asylum all under +his own care. Mr. Holmwood introduced him to me, and he called here to +see us, and often comes now. I think he is one of the most resolute men +I ever saw, and yet the most calm. He seems absolutely imperturbable. I +can fancy what a wonderful power he must have over his patients. He has +a curious habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to +read one's thoughts. He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter +myself he has got a tough nut to crack. I know that from my glass. Do +you ever try to read your own face? _I do_, and I can tell you it is not +a bad study, and gives you more trouble than you can well fancy if you +have never tried it. He says that I afford him a curious psychological +study, and I humbly think I do. I do not, as you know, take sufficient +interest in dress to be able to describe the new fashions. Dress is a +bore. That is slang again, but never mind; Arthur says that every day. +There, it is all out. Mina, we have told all our secrets to each other +since we were _children_; we have slept together and eaten together, and +laughed and cried together; and now, though I have spoken, I would like +to speak more. Oh, Mina, couldn't you guess? I love him. I am blushing +as I write, for although I _think_ he loves me, he has not told me so in +words. But oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him! There, that +does me good. I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire +undressing, as we used to sit; and I would try to tell you what I feel. +I do not know how I am writing this even to you. I am afraid to stop, +or I should tear up the letter, and I don't want to stop, for I _do_ so +want to tell you all. Let me hear from you _at once_, and tell me all +that you think about it. Mina, I must stop. Good-night. Bless me in your +prayers; and, Mina, pray for my happiness. + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--I need not tell you this is a secret. Good-night again. + +"L." + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray_. + +"_24 May_. + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter. It was so +nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy. + +"My dear, it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. +Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a +proposal till to-day, not a real proposal, and to-day I have had three. +Just fancy! THREE proposals in one day! Isn't it awful! I feel sorry, +really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Mina, I am so +happy that I don't know what to do with myself. And three proposals! +But, for goodness' sake, don't tell any of the girls, or they would be +getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured +and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at +least. Some girls are so vain! You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and +are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can +despise vanity. Well, I must tell you about the three, but you must keep +it a secret, dear, from _every one_, except, of course, Jonathan. You +will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell +Arthur. A woman ought to tell her husband everything--don't you think +so, dear?--and I must be fair. Men like women, certainly their wives, to +be quite as fair as they are; and women, I am afraid, are not always +quite as fair as they should be. Well, my dear, number One came just +before lunch. I told you of him, Dr. John Seward, the lunatic-asylum +man, with the strong jaw and the good forehead. He was very cool +outwardly, but was nervous all the same. He had evidently been schooling +himself as to all sorts of little things, and remembered them; but he +almost managed to sit down on his silk hat, which men don't generally do +when they are cool, and then when he wanted to appear at ease he kept +playing with a lancet in a way that made me nearly scream. He spoke to +me, Mina, very straightforwardly. He told me how dear I was to him, +though he had known me so little, and what his life would be with me to +help and cheer him. He was going to tell me how unhappy he would be if I +did not care for him, but when he saw me cry he said that he was a brute +and would not add to my present trouble. Then he broke off and asked if +I could love him in time; and when I shook my head his hands trembled, +and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared already for any one +else. He put it very nicely, saying that he did not want to wring my +confidence from me, but only to know, because if a woman's heart was +free a man might have hope. And then, Mina, I felt a sort of duty to +tell him that there was some one. I only told him that much, and then he +stood up, and he looked very strong and very grave as he took both my +hands in his and said he hoped I would be happy, and that if I ever +wanted a friend I must count him one of my best. Oh, Mina dear, I can't +help crying: and you must excuse this letter being all blotted. Being +proposed to is all very nice and all that sort of thing, but it isn't at +all a happy thing when you have to see a poor fellow, whom you know +loves you honestly, going away and looking all broken-hearted, and to +know that, no matter what he may say at the moment, you are passing +quite out of his life. My dear, I must stop here at present, I feel so +miserable, though I am so happy. + +"_Evening._ + +"Arthur has just gone, and I feel in better spirits than when I left +off, so I can go on telling you about the day. Well, my dear, number Two +came after lunch. He is such a nice fellow, an American from Texas, and +he looks so young and so fresh that it seems almost impossible that he +has been to so many places and has had such adventures. I sympathise +with poor Desdemona when she had such a dangerous stream poured in her +ear, even by a black man. I suppose that we women are such cowards that +we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him. I know now +what I would do if I were a man and wanted to make a girl love me. No, I +don't, for there was Mr. Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never +told any, and yet---- My dear, I am somewhat previous. Mr. Quincey P. +Morris found me alone. It seems that a man always does find a girl +alone. No, he doesn't, for Arthur tried twice to _make_ a chance, and I +helping him all I could; I am not ashamed to say it now. I must tell you +beforehand that Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang--that is to say, +he never does so to strangers or before them, for he is really well +educated and has exquisite manners--but he found out that it amused me +to hear him talk American slang, and whenever I was present, and there +was no one to be shocked, he said such funny things. I am afraid, my +dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits exactly into whatever else he +has to say. But this is a way slang has. I do not know myself if I shall +ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it, as I have never +heard him use any as yet. Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked +as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see all the same that he was +very nervous. He took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly:-- + +"'Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your +little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you +will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won't +you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road +together, driving in double harness?' + +"Well, he did look so good-humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem +half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward; so I said, as +lightly as I could, that I did not know anything of hitching, and that I +wasn't broken to harness at all yet. Then he said that he had spoken in +a light manner, and he hoped that if he had made a mistake in doing so +on so grave, so momentous, an occasion for him, I would forgive him. He +really did look serious when he was saying it, and I couldn't help +feeling a bit serious too--I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid +flirt--though I couldn't help feeling a sort of exultation that he was +number two in one day. And then, my dear, before I could say a word he +began pouring out a perfect torrent of love-making, laying his very +heart and soul at my feet. He looked so earnest over it that I shall +never again think that a man must be playful always, and never earnest, +because he is merry at times. I suppose he saw something in my face +which checked him, for he suddenly stopped, and said with a sort of +manly fervour that I could have loved him for if I had been free:-- + +"'Lucy, you are an honest-hearted girl, I know. I should not be here +speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit, right +through to the very depths of your soul. Tell me, like one good fellow +to another, is there any one else that you care for? And if there is +I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again, but will be, if you will +let me, a very faithful friend.' + +"My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy +of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great-hearted, true +gentleman. I burst into tears--I am afraid, my dear, you will think +this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one--and I really felt very +badly. Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want +her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say +it. I am glad to say that, though I was crying, I was able to look into +Mr. Morris's brave eyes, and I told him out straight:-- + +"'Yes, there is some one I love, though he has not told me yet that he +even loves me.' I was right to speak to him so frankly, for quite a +light came into his face, and he put out both his hands and took mine--I +think I put them into his--and said in a hearty way:-- + +"'That's my brave girl. It's better worth being late for a chance of +winning you than being in time for any other girl in the world. Don't +cry, my dear. If it's for me, I'm a hard nut to crack; and I take it +standing up. If that other fellow doesn't know his happiness, well, he'd +better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal with me. Little girl, +your honesty and pluck have made me a friend, and that's rarer than a +lover; it's more unselfish anyhow. My dear, I'm going to have a pretty +lonely walk between this and Kingdom Come. Won't you give me one kiss? +It'll be something to keep off the darkness now and then. You can, you +know, if you like, for that other good fellow--he must be a good fellow, +my dear, and a fine fellow, or you could not love him--hasn't spoken +yet.' That quite won me, Mina, for it _was_ brave and sweet of him, and +noble, too, to a rival--wasn't it?--and he so sad; so I leant over and +kissed him. He stood up with my two hands in his, and as he looked down +into my face--I am afraid I was blushing very much--he said:-- + +"'Little girl, I hold your hand, and you've kissed me, and if these +things don't make us friends nothing ever will. Thank you for your sweet +honesty to me, and good-bye.' He wrung my hand, and taking up his hat, +went straight out of the room without looking back, without a tear or a +quiver or a pause; and I am crying like a baby. Oh, why must a man like +that be made unhappy when there are lots of girls about who would +worship the very ground he trod on? I know I would if I were free--only +I don't want to be free. My dear, this quite upset me, and I feel I +cannot write of happiness just at once, after telling you of it; and I +don't wish to tell of the number three until it can be all happy. + +"Ever your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P.S.--Oh, about number Three--I needn't tell you of number Three, need +I? Besides, it was all so confused; it seemed only a moment from his +coming into the room till both his arms were round me, and he was +kissing me. I am very, very happy, and I don't know what I have done to +deserve it. I must only try in the future to show that I am not +ungrateful to God for all His goodness to me in sending to me such a +lover, such a husband, and such a friend. + +"Good-bye." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +(Kept in phonograph) + +_25 May._--Ebb tide in appetite to-day. Cannot eat, cannot rest, so +diary instead. Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty +feeling; nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be worth +the doing.... As I knew that the only cure for this sort of thing was +work, I went down amongst the patients. I picked out one who has +afforded me a study of much interest. He is so quaint that I am +determined to understand him as well as I can. To-day I seemed to get +nearer than ever before to the heart of his mystery. + +I questioned him more fully than I had ever done, with a view to making +myself master of the facts of his hallucination. In my manner of doing +it there was, I now see, something of cruelty. I seemed to wish to keep +him to the point of his madness--a thing which I avoid with the patients +as I would the mouth of hell. + +(_Mem._, under what circumstances would I _not_ avoid the pit of hell?) +_Omnia Romæ venalia sunt._ Hell has its price! _verb. sap._ If there be +anything behind this instinct it will be valuable to trace it afterwards +_accurately_, so I had better commence to do so, therefore-- + +R. M. Renfield, ætat 59.--Sanguine temperament; great physical strength; +morbidly excitable; periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I +cannot make out. I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the +disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish; a possibly +dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men caution +is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of +on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is +balanced with the centrifugal; when duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed +point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of +accidents can balance it. + + +_Letter, Quincey P. Morris to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_25 May._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"We've told yarns by the camp-fire in the prairies; and dressed one +another's wounds after trying a landing at the Marquesas; and drunk +healths on the shore of Titicaca. There are more yarns to be told, and +other wounds to be healed, and another health to be drunk. Won't you let +this be at my camp-fire to-morrow night? I have no hesitation in asking +you, as I know a certain lady is engaged to a certain dinner-party, and +that you are free. There will only be one other, our old pal at the +Korea, Jack Seward. He's coming, too, and we both want to mingle our +weeps over the wine-cup, and to drink a health with all our hearts to +the happiest man in all the wide world, who has won the noblest heart +that God has made and the best worth winning. We promise you a hearty +welcome, and a loving greeting, and a health as true as your own right +hand. We shall both swear to leave you at home if you drink too deep to +a certain pair of eyes. Come! + +"Yours, as ever and always, + +"QUINCEY P. MORRIS." + + +_Telegram from Arthur Holmwood to Quincey P. Morris._ + +"_26 May._ + +"Count me in every time. I bear messages which will make both your ears +tingle. + +"ART." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_24 July. Whitby._--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and +lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in +which they have rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the +Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the +harbour. A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through which the +view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is +beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land +on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to +see down. The houses of the old town--the side away from us--are all +red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the +pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby +Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of +"Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble +ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is +a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. Between it and +the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big +graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in +Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the +harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness +stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that +part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been +destroyed. In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches +out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside +them, through the churchyard; and people go and sit there all day long +looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze. I shall come and +sit here very often myself and work. Indeed, I am writing now, with my +book on my knee, and listening to the talk of three old men who are +sitting beside me. They seem to do nothing all day but sit up here and +talk. + +The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite wall +stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of it, in +the middle of which is a lighthouse. A heavy sea-wall runs along outside +of it. On the near side, the sea-wall makes an elbow crooked inversely, +and its end too has a lighthouse. Between the two piers there is a +narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly widens. + +It is nice at high water; but when the tide is out it shoals away to +nothing, and there is merely the stream of the Esk, running between +banks of sand, with rocks here and there. Outside the harbour on this +side there rises for about half a mile a great reef, the sharp edge of +which runs straight out from behind the south lighthouse. At the end of +it is a buoy with a bell, which swings in bad weather, and sends in a +mournful sound on the wind. They have a legend here that when a ship is +lost bells are heard out at sea. I must ask the old man about this; he +is coming this way.... + +He is a funny old man. He must be awfully old, for his face is all +gnarled and twisted like the bark of a tree. He tells me that he is +nearly a hundred, and that he was a sailor in the Greenland fishing +fleet when Waterloo was fought. He is, I am afraid, a very sceptical +person, for when I asked him about the bells at sea and the White Lady +at the abbey he said very brusquely:-- + +"I wouldn't fash masel' about them, miss. Them things be all wore out. +Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say that they wasn't in +my time. They be all very well for comers and trippers, an' the like, +but not for a nice young lady like you. Them feet-folks from York and +Leeds that be always eatin' cured herrin's an' drinkin' tea an' lookin' +out to buy cheap jet would creed aught. I wonder masel' who'd be +bothered tellin' lies to them--even the newspapers, which is full of +fool-talk." I thought he would be a good person to learn interesting +things from, so I asked him if he would mind telling me something about +the whale-fishing in the old days. He was just settling himself to begin +when the clock struck six, whereupon he laboured to get up, and said:-- + +"I must gang ageeanwards home now, miss. My grand-daughter doesn't like +to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to +crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em; an', miss, I lack +belly-timber sairly by the clock." + +He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could, down +the steps. The steps are a great feature on the place. They lead from +the town up to the church, there are hundreds of them--I do not know how +many--and they wind up in a delicate curve; the slope is so gentle that +a horse could easily walk up and down them. I think they must originally +have had something to do with the abbey. I shall go home too. Lucy went +out visiting with her mother, and as they were only duty calls, I did +not go. They will be home by this. + + * * * * * + +_1 August._--I came up here an hour ago with Lucy, and we had a most +interesting talk with my old friend and the two others who always come +and join him. He is evidently the Sir Oracle of them, and I should think +must have been in his time a most dictatorial person. He will not admit +anything, and downfaces everybody. If he can't out-argue them he bullies +them, and then takes their silence for agreement with his views. Lucy +was looking sweetly pretty in her white lawn frock; she has got a +beautiful colour since she has been here. I noticed that the old men did +not lose any time in coming up and sitting near her when we sat down. +She is so sweet with old people; I think they all fell in love with her +on the spot. Even my old man succumbed and did not contradict her, but +gave me double share instead. I got him on the subject of the legends, +and he went off at once into a sort of sermon. I must try to remember it +and put it down:-- + +"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that's what it be, an' +nowt else. These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' barguests an' bogles +an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women +a-belderin'. They be nowt but air-blebs. They, an' all grims an' signs +an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome beuk-bodies an' +railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do +somethin' that they don't other incline to. It makes me ireful to think +o' them. Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on paper +an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them on the +tombstones. Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them +steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, +is acant--simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on +them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of +them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' +the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less +sacred. Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or another! My +gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they +come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an' tryin' to +drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them +trimmlin' and ditherin', with their hands that dozzened an' slippy from +lyin' in the sea that they can't even keep their grup o' them." + +I could see from the old fellow's self-satisfied air and the way in +which he looked round for the approval of his cronies that he was +"showing off," so I put in a word to keep him going:-- + +"Oh, Mr. Swales, you can't be serious. Surely these tombstones are not +all wrong?" + +"Yabblins! There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin' where they make +out the people too good; for there be folk that do think a balm-bowl be +like the sea, if only it be their own. The whole thing be only lies. Now +look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth." I +nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite +understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church. +He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be +happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again. "Then that be just where +the lie comes in. Why, there be scores of these lay-beds that be toom as +old Dun's 'bacca-box on Friday night." He nudged one of his companions, +and they all laughed. "And my gog! how could they be otherwise? Look at +that one, the aftest abaft the bier-bank: read it!" I went over and +read:-- + +"Edward Spencelagh, master mariner, murdered by pirates off the coast of +Andres, April, 1854, æt. 30." When I came back Mr. Swales went on:-- + +"Who brought him home, I wonder, to hap him here? Murdered off the coast +of Andres! an' you consated his body lay under! Why, I could name ye a +dozen whose bones lie in the Greenland seas above"--he pointed +northwards--"or where the currents may have drifted them. There be the +steans around ye. Ye can, with your young eyes, read the small-print of +the lies from here. This Braithwaite Lowrey--I knew his father, lost in +the _Lively_ off Greenland in '20; or Andrew Woodhouse, drowned in the +same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year +later; or old John Rawlings, whose grandfather sailed with me, drowned +in the Gulf of Finland in '50. Do ye think that all these men will have +to make a rush to Whitby when the trumpet sounds? I have me antherums +aboot it! I tell ye that when they got here they'd be jommlin' an' +jostlin' one another that way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice +in the old days, when we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' +tryin' to tie up our cuts by the light of the aurora borealis." This was +evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his +cronies joined in with gusto. + +"But," I said, "surely you are not quite correct, for you start on the +assumption that all the poor people, or their spirits, will have to +take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment. Do you think +that will be really necessary?" + +"Well, what else be they tombstones for? Answer me that, miss!" + +"To please their relatives, I suppose." + +"To please their relatives, you suppose!" This he said with intense +scorn. "How will it pleasure their relatives to know that lies is wrote +over them, and that everybody in the place knows that they be lies?" He +pointed to a stone at our feet which had been laid down as a slab, on +which the seat was rested, close to the edge of the cliff. "Read the +lies on that thruff-stean," he said. The letters were upside down to me +from where I sat, but Lucy was more opposite to them, so she leant over +and read:-- + +"Sacred to the memory of George Canon, who died, in the hope of a +glorious resurrection, on July, 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at +Kettleness. This tomb was erected by his sorrowing mother to her dearly +beloved son. 'He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.' +Really, Mr. Swales, I don't see anything very funny in that!" She spoke +her comment very gravely and somewhat severely. + +"Ye don't see aught funny! Ha! ha! But that's because ye don't gawm the +sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was +acrewk'd--a regular lamiter he was--an' he hated her so that he +committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put on +his life. He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that +they had for scarin' the crows with. 'Twarn't for crows then, for it +brought the clegs and the dowps to him. That's the way he fell off the +rocks. And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often heard him +say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was so pious +that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to addle where +she was. Now isn't that stean at any rate"--he hammered it with his +stick as he spoke--"a pack of lies? and won't it make Gabriel keckle +when Geordie comes pantin' up the grees with the tombstean balanced on +his hump, and asks it to be took as evidence!" + +I did not know what to say, but Lucy turned the conversation as she +said, rising up:-- + +"Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favourite seat, and I cannot +leave it; and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a +suicide." + +"That won't harm ye, my pretty; an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome to +have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap. That won't hurt ye. Why, I've +sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't done me +no harm. Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie +there either! It'll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the +tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field. +There's the clock, an' I must gang. My service to ye, ladies!" And off +he hobbled. + +Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we +took hands as we sat; and she told me all over again about Arthur and +their coming marriage. That made me just a little heart-sick, for I +haven't heard from Jonathan for a whole month. + + * * * * * + +_The same day._ I came up here alone, for I am very sad. There was no +letter for me. I hope there cannot be anything the matter with Jonathan. +The clock has just struck nine. I see the lights scattered all over the +town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and sometimes singly; +they run right up the Esk and die away in the curve of the valley. To my +left the view is cut off by a black line of roof of the old house next +the abbey. The sheep and lambs are bleating in the fields away behind +me, and there is a clatter of a donkey's hoofs up the paved road below. +The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further +along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street. +Neither of the bands hears the other, but up here I hear and see them +both. I wonder where Jonathan is and if he is thinking of me! I wish he +were here. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 June._--The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to +understand the man. He has certain qualities very largely developed; +selfishness, secrecy, and purpose. I wish I could get at what is the +object of the latter. He seems to have some settled scheme of his own, +but what it is I do not yet know. His redeeming quality is a love of +animals, though, indeed, he has such curious turns in it that I +sometimes imagine he is only abnormally cruel. His pets are of odd +sorts. Just now his hobby is catching flies. He has at present such a +quantity that I have had myself to expostulate. To my astonishment, he +did not break out into a fury, as I expected, but took the matter in +simple seriousness. He thought for a moment, and then said: "May I have +three days? I shall clear them away." Of course, I said that would do. I +must watch him. + + * * * * * + +_18 June._--He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several +very big fellows in a box. He keeps feeding them with his flies, and +the number of the latter is becoming sensibly diminished, although he +has used half his food in attracting more flies from outside to his +room. + + * * * * * + +_1 July._--His spiders are now becoming as great a nuisance as his +flies, and to-day I told him that he must get rid of them. He looked +very sad at this, so I said that he must clear out some of them, at all +events. He cheerfully acquiesced in this, and I gave him the same time +as before for reduction. He disgusted me much while with him, for when a +horrid blow-fly, bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, +he caught it, held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger +and thumb, and, before I knew what he was going to do, put it in his +mouth and ate it. I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it +was very good and very wholesome; that it was life, strong life, and +gave life to him. This gave me an idea, or the rudiment of one. I must +watch how he gets rid of his spiders. He has evidently some deep problem +in his mind, for he keeps a little note-book in which he is always +jotting down something. Whole pages of it are filled with masses of +figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the +totals added in batches again, as though he were "focussing" some +account, as the auditors put it. + + * * * * * + +_8 July._--There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in +my mind is growing. It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, +unconscious cerebration! you will have to give the wall to your +conscious brother. I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I +might notice if there were any change. Things remain as they were except +that he has parted with some of his pets and got a new one. He has +managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed it. His means +of taming is simple, for already the spiders have diminished. Those that +do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by +tempting them with his food. + + * * * * * + +_19 July._--We are progressing. My friend has now a whole colony of +sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated. When I came +in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour--a very, +very great favour; and as he spoke he fawned on me like a dog. I asked +him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his voice and +bearing:-- + +"A kitten, a nice little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, +and teach, and feed--and feed--and feed!" I was not unprepared for this +request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and +vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows +should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and the spiders; so +I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a +cat than a kitten. His eagerness betrayed him as he answered:-- + +"Oh, yes, I would like a cat! I only asked for a kitten lest you should +refuse me a cat. No one would refuse me a kitten, would they?" I shook +my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but +that I would see about it. His face fell, and I could see a warning of +danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong look which meant +killing. The man is an undeveloped homicidal maniac. I shall test him +with his present craving and see how it will work out; then I shall know +more. + + * * * * * + +_10 p. m._--I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner +brooding. When I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and +implored me to let him have a cat; that his salvation depended upon it. +I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon +he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the corner +where I had found him. I shall see him in the morning early. + + * * * * * + +_20 July._--Visited Renfield very early, before the attendant went his +rounds. Found him up and humming a tune. He was spreading out his sugar, +which he had saved, in the window, and was manifestly beginning his +fly-catching again; and beginning it cheerfully and with a good grace. I +looked around for his birds, and not seeing them, asked him where they +were. He replied, without turning round, that they had all flown away. +There were a few feathers about the room and on his pillow a drop of +blood. I said nothing, but went and told the keeper to report to me if +there were anything odd about him during the day. + + * * * * * + +_11 a. m._--The attendant has just been to me to say that Renfield has +been very sick and has disgorged a whole lot of feathers. "My belief is, +doctor," he said, "that he has eaten his birds, and that he just took +and ate them raw!" + + * * * * * + +_11 p. m._--I gave Renfield a strong opiate to-night, enough to make +even him sleep, and took away his pocket-book to look at it. The thought +that has been buzzing about my brain lately is complete, and the theory +proved. My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I shall have to +invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoöphagous +(life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he +can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way. He +gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then +wanted a cat to eat the many birds. What would have been his later +steps? It would almost be worth while to complete the experiment. It +might be done if there were only a sufficient cause. Men sneered at +vivisection, and yet look at its results to-day! Why not advance science +in its most difficult and vital aspect--the knowledge of the brain? Had +I even the secret of one such mind--did I hold the key to the fancy of +even one lunatic--I might advance my own branch of science to a pitch +compared with which Burdon-Sanderson's physiology or Ferrier's +brain-knowledge would be as nothing. If only there were a sufficient +cause! I must not think too much of this, or I may be tempted; a good +cause might turn the scale with me, for may not I too be of an +exceptional brain, congenitally? + +How well the man reasoned; lunatics always do within their own scope. I +wonder at how many lives he values a man, or if at only one. He has +closed the account most accurately, and to-day begun a new record. How +many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives? + +To me it seems only yesterday that my whole life ended with my new hope, +and that truly I began a new record. So it will be until the Great +Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a balance to +profit or loss. Oh, Lucy, Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be +angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on +hopeless and work. Work! work! + +If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there--a +good, unselfish cause to make me work--that would be indeed happiness. + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_26 July._--I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here; it +is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time. And +there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it +different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I +had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned; but +yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from +him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said the enclosed +had just been received. It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, +and says that he is just starting for home. That is not like Jonathan; +I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy. Then, too, Lucy, +although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in +her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided +that I am to lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra has +got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and +along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over +with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place. Poor dear, she is +naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy's +father, had the same habit; that he would get up in the night and dress +himself and go out, if he were not stopped. Lucy is to be married in the +autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is +to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan +and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to +make both ends meet. Mr. Holmwood--he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only +son of Lord Godalming--is coming up here very shortly--as soon as he can +leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is +counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up to the seat +on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it +is the waiting which disturbs her; she will be all right when he +arrives. + + * * * * * + +_27 July._--No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him, +though why I should I do not know; but I do wish that he would write, if +it were only a single line. Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I +am awakened by her moving about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so +hot that she cannot get cold; but still the anxiety and the perpetually +being wakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and +wakeful myself. Thank God, Lucy's health keeps up. Mr. Holmwood has been +suddenly called to Ring to see his father, who has been taken seriously +ill. Lucy frets at the postponement of seeing him, but it does not touch +her looks; she is a trifle stouter, and her cheeks are a lovely +rose-pink. She has lost that anæmic look which she had. I pray it will +all last. + + * * * * * + +_3 August._--Another week gone, and no news from Jonathan, not even to +Mr. Hawkins, from whom I have heard. Oh, I do hope he is not ill. He +surely would have written. I look at that last letter of his, but +somehow it does not satisfy me. It does not read like him, and yet it is +his writing. There is no mistake of that. Lucy has not walked much in +her sleep the last week, but there is an odd concentration about her +which I do not understand; even in her sleep she seems to be watching +me. She tries the door, and finding it locked, goes about the room +searching for the key. + +_6 August._--Another three days, and no news. This suspense is getting +dreadful. If I only knew where to write to or where to go to, I should +feel easier; but no one has heard a word of Jonathan since that last +letter. I must only pray to God for patience. Lucy is more excitable +than ever, but is otherwise well. Last night was very threatening, and +the fishermen say that we are in for a storm. I must try to watch it and +learn the weather signs. To-day is a grey day, and the sun as I write is +hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey--except +the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it; grey earthy rock; +grey clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the +grey sea, into which the sand-points stretch like grey fingers. The sea +is tumbling in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, +muffled in the sea-mists drifting inland. The horizon is lost in a grey +mist. All is vastness; the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and +there is a "brool" over the sea that sounds like some presage of doom. +Dark figures are on the beach here and there, sometimes half shrouded in +the mist, and seem "men like trees walking." The fishing-boats are +racing for home, and rise and dip in the ground swell as they sweep into +the harbour, bending to the scuppers. Here comes old Mr. Swales. He is +making straight for me, and I can see, by the way he lifts his hat, that +he wants to talk.... + +I have been quite touched by the change in the poor old man. When he sat +down beside me, he said in a very gentle way:-- + +"I want to say something to you, miss." I could see he was not at ease, +so I took his poor old wrinkled hand in mine and asked him to speak +fully; so he said, leaving his hand in mine:-- + +"I'm afraid, my deary, that I must have shocked you by all the wicked +things I've been sayin' about the dead, and such like, for weeks past; +but I didn't mean them, and I want ye to remember that when I'm gone. We +aud folks that be daffled, and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't +altogether like to think of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it; +an' that's why I've took to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my +own heart a bit. But, Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a +bit; only I don't want to die if I can help it. My time must be nigh at +hand now, for I be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to +expect; and I'm so nigh it that the Aud Man is already whettin' his +scythe. Ye see, I can't get out o' the habit of caffin' about it all at +once; the chafts will wag as they be used to. Some day soon the Angel of +Death will sound his trumpet for me. But don't ye dooal an' greet, my +deary!"--for he saw that I was crying--"if he should come this very +night I'd not refuse to answer his call. For life be, after all, only a +waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin'; and death be all that +we can rightly depend on. But I'm content, for it's comin' to me, my +deary, and comin' quick. It may be comin' while we be lookin' and +wonderin'. Maybe it's in that wind out over the sea that's bringin' with +it loss and wreck, and sore distress, and sad hearts. Look! look!" he +cried suddenly. "There's something in that wind and in the hoast beyont +that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It's in the +air; I feel it comin'. Lord, make me answer cheerful when my call +comes!" He held up his arms devoutly, and raised his hat. His mouth +moved as though he were praying. After a few minutes' silence, he got +up, shook hands with me, and blessed me, and said good-bye, and hobbled +off. It all touched me, and upset me very much. + +I was glad when the coastguard came along, with his spy-glass under his +arm. He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time +kept looking at a strange ship. + +"I can't make her out," he said; "she's a Russian, by the look of her; +but she's knocking about in the queerest way. She doesn't know her mind +a bit; she seems to see the storm coming, but can't decide whether to +run up north in the open, or to put in here. Look there again! She is +steered mighty strangely, for she doesn't mind the hand on the wheel; +changes about with every puff of wind. We'll hear more of her before +this time to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CUTTING FROM "THE DAILYGRAPH," 8 AUGUST + + +(_Pasted in Mina Murray's Journal._) + +From a Correspondent. + +_Whitby_. + +One of the greatest and suddenest storms on record has just been +experienced here, with results both strange and unique. The weather had +been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the month of +August. Saturday evening was as fine as was ever known, and the great +body of holiday-makers laid out yesterday for visits to Mulgrave Woods, +Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes, and the various trips in +the neighbourhood of Whitby. The steamers _Emma_ and _Scarborough_ made +trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of +"tripping" both to and from Whitby. The day was unusually fine till the +afternoon, when some of the gossips who frequent the East Cliff +churchyard, and from that commanding eminence watch the wide sweep of +sea visible to the north and east, called attention to a sudden show of +"mares'-tails" high in the sky to the north-west. The wind was then +blowing from the south-west in the mild degree which in barometrical +language is ranked "No. 2: light breeze." The coastguard on duty at once +made report, and one old fisherman, who for more than half a century has +kept watch on weather signs from the East Cliff, foretold in an emphatic +manner the coming of a sudden storm. The approach of sunset was so very +beautiful, so grand in its masses of splendidly-coloured clouds, that +there was quite an assemblage on the walk along the cliff in the old +churchyard to enjoy the beauty. Before the sun dipped below the black +mass of Kettleness, standing boldly athwart the western sky, its +downward way was marked by myriad clouds of every sunset-colour--flame, +purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold; with here and +there masses not large, but of seemingly absolute blackness, in all +sorts of shapes, as well outlined as colossal silhouettes. The +experience was not lost on the painters, and doubtless some of the +sketches of the "Prelude to the Great Storm" will grace the R. A. and R. +I. walls in May next. More than one captain made up his mind then and +there that his "cobble" or his "mule," as they term the different +classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed. +The wind fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there +was a dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity which, on +the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive nature. There +were but few lights in sight at sea, for even the coasting steamers, +which usually "hug" the shore so closely, kept well to seaward, and but +few fishing-boats were in sight. The only sail noticeable was a foreign +schooner with all sails set, which was seemingly going westwards. The +foolhardiness or ignorance of her officers was a prolific theme for +comment whilst she remained in sight, and efforts were made to signal +her to reduce sail in face of her danger. Before the night shut down she +was seen with sails idly flapping as she gently rolled on the undulating +swell of the sea, + + "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." + +Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite +oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a sheep +inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly heard, and the +band on the pier, with its lively French air, was like a discord in the +great harmony of nature's silence. A little after midnight came a +strange sound from over the sea, and high overhead the air began to +carry a strange, faint, hollow booming. + +Then without warning the tempest broke. With a rapidity which, at the +time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible to realize, +the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed. The waves rose in +growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till in a very few minutes +the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and devouring monster. +White-crested waves beat madly on the level sands and rushed up the +shelving cliffs; others broke over the piers, and with their spume swept +the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise from the end of either pier +of Whitby Harbour. The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such +force that it was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, +or clung with grim clasp to the iron stanchions. It was found necessary +to clear the entire piers from the mass of onlookers, or else the +fatalities of the night would have been increased manifold. To add to +the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came +drifting inland--white, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, +so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of +imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were +touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and many +a one shuddered as the wreaths of sea-mist swept by. At times the mist +cleared, and the sea for some distance could be seen in the glare of the +lightning, which now came thick and fast, followed by such sudden peals +of thunder that the whole sky overhead seemed trembling under the shock +of the footsteps of the storm. + +Some of the scenes thus revealed were of immeasurable grandeur and of +absorbing interest--the sea, running mountains high, threw skywards with +each wave mighty masses of white foam, which the tempest seemed to +snatch at and whirl away into space; here and there a fishing-boat, with +a rag of sail, running madly for shelter before the blast; now and again +the white wings of a storm-tossed sea-bird. On the summit of the East +Cliff the new searchlight was ready for experiment, but had not yet been +tried. The officers in charge of it got it into working order, and in +the pauses of the inrushing mist swept with it the surface of the sea. +Once or twice its service was most effective, as when a fishing-boat, +with gunwale under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance +of the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the +piers. As each boat achieved the safety of the port there was a shout of +joy from the mass of people on shore, a shout which for a moment seemed +to cleave the gale and was then swept away in its rush. + +Before long the searchlight discovered some distance away a schooner +with all sails set, apparently the same vessel which had been noticed +earlier in the evening. The wind had by this time backed to the east, +and there was a shudder amongst the watchers on the cliff as they +realized the terrible danger in which she now was. Between her and the +port lay the great flat reef on which so many good ships have from time +to time suffered, and, with the wind blowing from its present quarter, +it would be quite impossible that she should fetch the entrance of the +harbour. It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so +great that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost +visible, and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with such +speed that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up somewhere, +if it was only in hell." Then came another rush of sea-fog, greater than +any hitherto--a mass of dank mist, which seemed to close on all things +like a grey pall, and left available to men only the organ of hearing, +for the roar of the tempest, and the crash of the thunder, and the +booming of the mighty billows came through the damp oblivion even louder +than before. The rays of the searchlight were kept fixed on the harbour +mouth across the East Pier, where the shock was expected, and men waited +breathless. The wind suddenly shifted to the north-east, and the remnant +of the sea-fog melted in the blast; and then, _mirabile dictu_, between +the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, +swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and +gained the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed her, and a +shudder ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the helm was a +corpse, with drooping head, which swung horribly to and fro at each +motion of the ship. No other form could be seen on deck at all. A great +awe came on all as they realised that the ship, as if by a miracle, had +found the harbour, unsteered save by the hand of a dead man! However, +all took place more quickly than it takes to write these words. The +schooner paused not, but rushing across the harbour, pitched herself on +that accumulation of sand and gravel washed by many tides and many +storms into the south-east corner of the pier jutting under the East +Cliff, known locally as Tate Hill Pier. + +There was of course a considerable concussion as the vessel drove up on +the sand heap. Every spar, rope, and stay was strained, and some of the +"top-hammer" came crashing down. But, strangest of all, the very instant +the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as +if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow +on the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard +hangs over the laneway to the East Pier so steeply that some of the flat +tombstones--"thruff-steans" or "through-stones," as they call them in +the Whitby vernacular--actually project over where the sustaining cliff +has fallen away, it disappeared in the darkness, which seemed +intensified just beyond the focus of the searchlight. + +It so happened that there was no one at the moment on Tate Hill Pier, as +all those whose houses are in close proximity were either in bed or were +out on the heights above. Thus the coastguard on duty on the eastern +side of the harbour, who at once ran down to the little pier, was the +first to climb on board. The men working the searchlight, after scouring +the entrance of the harbour without seeing anything, then turned the +light on the derelict and kept it there. The coastguard ran aft, and +when he came beside the wheel, bent over to examine it, and recoiled at +once as though under some sudden emotion. This seemed to pique general +curiosity, and quite a number of people began to run. It is a good way +round from the West Cliff by the Drawbridge to Tate Hill Pier, but your +correspondent is a fairly good runner, and came well ahead of the crowd. +When I arrived, however, I found already assembled on the pier a crowd, +whom the coastguard and police refused to allow to come on board. By the +courtesy of the chief boatman, I was, as your correspondent, permitted +to climb on deck, and was one of a small group who saw the dead seaman +whilst actually lashed to the wheel. + +It was no wonder that the coastguard was surprised, or even awed, for +not often can such a sight have been seen. The man was simply fastened +by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between +the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix, the set of beads on which it +was fastened being around both wrists and wheel, and all kept fast by +the binding cords. The poor fellow may have been seated at one time, but +the flapping and buffeting of the sails had worked through the rudder of +the wheel and dragged him to and fro, so that the cords with which he +was tied had cut the flesh to the bone. Accurate note was made of the +state of things, and a doctor--Surgeon J. M. Caffyn, of 33, East Elliot +Place--who came immediately after me, declared, after making +examination, that the man must have been dead for quite two days. In his +pocket was a bottle, carefully corked, empty save for a little roll of +paper, which proved to be the addendum to the log. The coastguard said +the man must have tied up his own hands, fastening the knots with his +teeth. The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some +complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot +claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a +derelict. Already, however, the legal tongues are wagging, and one young +law student is loudly asserting that the rights of the owner are already +completely sacrificed, his property being held in contravention of the +statutes of mortmain, since the tiller, as emblemship, if not proof, of +delegated possession, is held in a _dead hand_. It is needless to say +that the dead steersman has been reverently removed from the place where +he held his honourable watch and ward till death--a steadfastness as +noble as that of the young Casabianca--and placed in the mortuary to +await inquest. + +Already the sudden storm is passing, and its fierceness is abating; +crowds are scattering homeward, and the sky is beginning to redden over +the Yorkshire wolds. I shall send, in time for your next issue, further +details of the derelict ship which found her way so miraculously into +harbour in the storm. + +_Whitby_ + +_9 August._--The sequel to the strange arrival of the derelict in the +storm last night is almost more startling than the thing itself. It +turns out that the schooner is a Russian from Varna, and is called the +_Demeter_. She is almost entirely in ballast of silver sand, with only a +small amount of cargo--a number of great wooden boxes filled with mould. +This cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor, Mr. S. F. Billington, of +7, The Crescent, who this morning went aboard and formally took +possession of the goods consigned to him. The Russian consul, too, +acting for the charter-party, took formal possession of the ship, and +paid all harbour dues, etc. Nothing is talked about here to-day except +the strange coincidence; the officials of the Board of Trade have been +most exacting in seeing that every compliance has been made with +existing regulations. As the matter is to be a "nine days' wonder," they +are evidently determined that there shall be no cause of after +complaint. A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which +landed when the ship struck, and more than a few of the members of the +S. P. C. A., which is very strong in Whitby, have tried to befriend the +animal. To the general disappointment, however, it was not to be found; +it seems to have disappeared entirely from the town. It may be that it +was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it is still +hiding in terror. There are some who look with dread on such a +possibility, lest later on it should in itself become a danger, for it +is evidently a fierce brute. Early this morning a large dog, a half-bred +mastiff belonging to a coal merchant close to Tate Hill Pier, was found +dead in the roadway opposite to its master's yard. It had been fighting, +and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn away, +and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--By the kindness of the Board of Trade inspector, I have been +permitted to look over the log-book of the _Demeter_, which was in order +up to within three days, but contained nothing of special interest +except as to facts of missing men. The greatest interest, however, is +with regard to the paper found in the bottle, which was to-day produced +at the inquest; and a more strange narrative than the two between them +unfold it has not been my lot to come across. As there is no motive for +concealment, I am permitted to use them, and accordingly send you a +rescript, simply omitting technical details of seamanship and +supercargo. It almost seems as though the captain had been seized with +some kind of mania before he had got well into blue water, and that +this had developed persistently throughout the voyage. Of course my +statement must be taken _cum grano_, since I am writing from the +dictation of a clerk of the Russian consul, who kindly translated for +me, time being short. + + LOG OF THE "DEMETER." + + +_Varna to Whitby._ + +_Written 18 July, things so strange happening, that I shall keep +accurate note henceforth till we land._ + + * * * * * + +On 6 July we finished taking in cargo, silver sand and boxes of earth. +At noon set sail. East wind, fresh. Crew, five hands ... two mates, +cook, and myself (captain). + + * * * * * + +On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus. Boarded by Turkish Customs +officers. Backsheesh. All correct. Under way at 4 p. m. + + * * * * * + +On 12 July through Dardanelles. More Customs officers and flagboat of +guarding squadron. Backsheesh again. Work of officers thorough, but +quick. Want us off soon. At dark passed into Archipelago. + + * * * * * + +On 13 July passed Cape Matapan. Crew dissatisfied about something. +Seemed scared, but would not speak out. + + * * * * * + +On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew. Men all steady fellows, who +sailed with me before. Mate could not make out what was wrong; they only +told him there was _something_, and crossed themselves. Mate lost temper +with one of them that day and struck him. Expected fierce quarrel, but +all was quiet. + + * * * * * + +On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of crew, Petrofsky, was +missing. Could not account for it. Took larboard watch eight bells last +night; was relieved by Abramoff, but did not go to bunk. Men more +downcast than ever. All said they expected something of the kind, but +would not say more than there was _something_ aboard. Mate getting very +impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead. + + * * * * * + +On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin, and in +an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a strange man +aboard the ship. He said that in his watch he had been sheltering +behind the deck-house, as there was a rain-storm, when he saw a tall, +thin man, who was not like any of the crew, come up the companion-way, +and go along the deck forward, and disappear. He followed cautiously, +but when he got to bows found no one, and the hatchways were all closed. +He was in a panic of superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may +spread. To allay it, I shall to-day search entire ship carefully from +stem to stern. + + * * * * * + +Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as they +evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would search from +stem to stern. First mate angry; said it was folly, and to yield to such +foolish ideas would demoralise the men; said he would engage to keep +them out of trouble with a handspike. I let him take the helm, while the +rest began thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns: we left +no corner unsearched. As there were only the big wooden boxes, there +were no odd corners where a man could hide. Men much relieved when +search over, and went back to work cheerfully. First mate scowled, but +said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_22 July_.--Rough weather last three days, and all hands busy with +sails--no time to be frightened. Men seem to have forgotten their dread. +Mate cheerful again, and all on good terms. Praised men for work in bad +weather. Passed Gibralter and out through Straits. All well. + + * * * * * + +_24 July_.--There seems some doom over this ship. Already a hand short, +and entering on the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and yet last +night another man lost--disappeared. Like the first, he came off his +watch and was not seen again. Men all in a panic of fear; sent a round +robin, asking to have double watch, as they fear to be alone. Mate +angry. Fear there will be some trouble, as either he or the men will do +some violence. + + * * * * * + +_28 July_.--Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of maelstrom, +and the wind a tempest. No sleep for any one. Men all worn out. Hardly +know how to set a watch, since no one fit to go on. Second mate +volunteered to steer and watch, and let men snatch a few hours' sleep. +Wind abating; seas still terrific, but feel them less, as ship is +steadier. + + * * * * * + +_29 July_.--Another tragedy. Had single watch to-night, as crew too +tired to double. When morning watch came on deck could find no one +except steersman. Raised outcry, and all came on deck. Thorough search, +but no one found. Are now without second mate, and crew in a panic. Mate +and I agreed to go armed henceforth and wait for any sign of cause. + + * * * * * + +_30 July_.--Last night. Rejoiced we are nearing England. Weather fine, +all sails set. Retired worn out; slept soundly; awaked by mate telling +me that both man of watch and steersman missing. Only self and mate and +two hands left to work ship. + + * * * * * + +_1 August_.--Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted. Had hoped when in +the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get in somewhere. +Not having power to work sails, have to run before wind. Dare not lower, +as could not raise them again. We seem to be drifting to some terrible +doom. Mate now more demoralised than either of men. His stronger nature +seems to have worked inwardly against himself. Men are beyond fear, +working stolidly and patiently, with minds made up to worst. They are +Russian, he Roumanian. + + * * * * * + +_2 August, midnight_.--Woke up from few minutes' sleep by hearing a cry, +seemingly outside my port. Could see nothing in fog. Rushed on deck, and +ran against mate. Tells me heard cry and ran, but no sign of man on +watch. One more gone. Lord, help us! Mate says we must be past Straits +of Dover, as in a moment of fog lifting he saw North Foreland, just as +he heard the man cry out. If so we are now off in the North Sea, and +only God can guide us in the fog, which seems to move with us; and God +seems to have deserted us. + + * * * * * + +_3 August_.--At midnight I went to relieve the man at the wheel, and +when I got to it found no one there. The wind was steady, and as we ran +before it there was no yawing. I dared not leave it, so shouted for the +mate. After a few seconds he rushed up on deck in his flannels. He +looked wild-eyed and haggard, and I greatly fear his reason has given +way. He came close to me and whispered hoarsely, with his mouth to my +ear, as though fearing the very air might hear: "_It_ is here; I know +it, now. On the watch last night I saw It, like a man, tall and thin, +and ghastly pale. It was in the bows, and looking out. I crept behind +It, and gave It my knife; but the knife went through It, empty as the +air." And as he spoke he took his knife and drove it savagely into +space. Then he went on: "But It is here, and I'll find It. It is in the +hold, perhaps in one of those boxes. I'll unscrew them one by one and +see. You work the helm." And, with a warning look and his finger on his +lip, he went below. There was springing up a choppy wind, and I could +not leave the helm. I saw him come out on deck again with a tool-chest +and a lantern, and go down the forward hatchway. He is mad, stark, +raving mad, and it's no use my trying to stop him. He can't hurt those +big boxes: they are invoiced as "clay," and to pull them about is as +harmless a thing as he can do. So here I stay, and mind the helm, and +write these notes. I can only trust in God and wait till the fog clears. +Then, if I can't steer to any harbour with the wind that is, I shall cut +down sails and lie by, and signal for help.... + + * * * * * + +It is nearly all over now. Just as I was beginning to hope that the mate +would come out calmer--for I heard him knocking away at something in the +hold, and work is good for him--there came up the hatchway a sudden, +startled scream, which made my blood run cold, and up on the deck he +came as if shot from a gun--a raging madman, with his eyes rolling and +his face convulsed with fear. "Save me! save me!" he cried, and then +looked round on the blanket of fog. His horror turned to despair, and in +a steady voice he said: "You had better come too, captain, before it is +too late. _He_ is there. I know the secret now. The sea will save me +from Him, and it is all that is left!" Before I could say a word, or +move forward to seize him, he sprang on the bulwark and deliberately +threw himself into the sea. I suppose I know the secret too, now. It was +this madman who had got rid of the men one by one, and now he has +followed them himself. God help me! How am I to account for all these +horrors when I get to port? _When_ I get to port! Will that ever be? + + * * * * * + +_4 August._--Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce. I know there is +sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not. I dared not go +below, I dared not leave the helm; so here all night I stayed, and in +the dimness of the night I saw It--Him! God forgive me, but the mate was +right to jump overboard. It was better to die like a man; to die like a +sailor in blue water no man can object. But I am captain, and I must not +leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie +my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with +them I shall tie that which He--It!--dare not touch; and then, come good +wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my honour as a captain. I am +growing weaker, and the night is coming on. If He can look me in the +face again, I may not have time to act.... If we are wrecked, mayhap +this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand; if not, +... well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trust. God +and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying +to do his duty.... + + * * * * * + +Of course the verdict was an open one. There is no evidence to adduce; +and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now +none to say. The folk here hold almost universally that the captain is +simply a hero, and he is to be given a public funeral. Already it is +arranged that his body is to be taken with a train of boats up the Esk +for a piece and then brought back to Tate Hill Pier and up the abbey +steps; for he is to be buried in the churchyard on the cliff. The owners +of more than a hundred boats have already given in their names as +wishing to follow him to the grave. + +No trace has ever been found of the great dog; at which there is much +mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he would, I +believe, be adopted by the town. To-morrow will see the funeral; and so +will end this one more "mystery of the sea." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_8 August._--Lucy was very restless all night, and I, too, could not +sleep. The storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the +chimney-pots, it made me shudder. When a sharp puff came it seemed to be +like a distant gun. Strangely enough, Lucy did not wake; but she got up +twice and dressed herself. Fortunately, each time I awoke in time and +managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bed. It +is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is +thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, +disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her +life. + +Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see +if anything had happened in the night. There were very few people about, +and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, +grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that +topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth +of the harbour--like a bullying man going through a crowd. Somehow I +felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on land. But, +oh, is he on land or sea? Where is he, and how? I am getting fearfully +anxious about him. If I only knew what to do, and could do anything! + + * * * * * + +_10 August._--The funeral of the poor sea-captain to-day was most +touching. Every boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin +was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the +churchyard. Lucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat, whilst +the cortège of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came down +again. We had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the way. +The poor fellow was laid to rest quite near our seat so that we stood on +it when the time came and saw everything. Poor Lucy seemed much upset. +She was restless and uneasy all the time, and I cannot but think that +her dreaming at night is telling on her. She is quite odd in one thing: +she will not admit to me that there is any cause for restlessness; or if +there be, she does not understand it herself. There is an additional +cause in that poor old Mr. Swales was found dead this morning on our +seat, his neck being broken. He had evidently, as the doctor said, +fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of +fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudder. Poor +dear old man! Perhaps he had seen Death with his dying eyes! Lucy is so +sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other +people do. Just now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did +not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals. One of the men +who came up here often to look for the boats was followed by his dog. +The dog is always with him. They are both quiet persons, and I never saw +the man angry, nor heard the dog bark. During the service the dog would +not come to its master, who was on the seat with us, but kept a few +yards off, barking and howling. Its master spoke to it gently, and then +harshly, and then angrily; but it would neither come nor cease to make a +noise. It was in a sort of fury, with its eyes savage, and all its hairs +bristling out like a cat's tail when puss is on the war-path. Finally +the man, too, got angry, and jumped down and kicked the dog, and then +took it by the scruff of the neck and half dragged and half threw it on +the tombstone on which the seat is fixed. The moment it touched the +stone the poor thing became quiet and fell all into a tremble. It did +not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was +in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, +to comfort it. Lucy was full of pity, too, but she did not attempt to +touch the dog, but looked at it in an agonised sort of way. I greatly +fear that she is of too super-sensitive a nature to go through the world +without trouble. She will be dreaming of this to-night, I am sure. The +whole agglomeration of things--the ship steered into port by a dead +man; his attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads; the +touching funeral; the dog, now furious and now in terror--will all +afford material for her dreams. + +I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I +shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and +back. She ought not to have much inclination for sleep-walking then. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL + + +_Same day, 11 o'clock p. m._--Oh, but I am tired! If it were not that I +had made my diary a duty I should not open it to-night. We had a lovely +walk. Lucy, after a while, was in gay spirits, owing, I think, to some +dear cows who came nosing towards us in a field close to the lighthouse, +and frightened the wits out of us. I believe we forgot everything +except, of course, personal fear, and it seemed to wipe the slate clean +and give us a fresh start. We had a capital "severe tea" at Robin Hood's +Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow-window right over +the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand. I believe we should have +shocked the "New Woman" with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless +them! Then we walked home with some, or rather many, stoppages to rest, +and with our hearts full of a constant dread of wild bulls. Lucy was +really tired, and we intended to creep off to bed as soon as we could. +The young curate came in, however, and Mrs. Westenra asked him to stay +for supper. Lucy and I had both a fight for it with the dusty miller; I +know it was a hard fight on my part, and I am quite heroic. I think that +some day the bishops must get together and see about breeding up a new +class of curates, who don't take supper, no matter how they may be +pressed to, and who will know when girls are tired. Lucy is asleep and +breathing softly. She has more colour in her cheeks than usual, and +looks, oh, so sweet. If Mr. Holmwood fell in love with her seeing her +only in the drawing-room, I wonder what he would say if he saw her now. +Some of the "New Women" writers will some day start an idea that men and +women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or +accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to +accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make +of it, too! There's some consolation in that. I am so happy to-night, +because dear Lucy seems better. I really believe she has turned the +corner, and that we are over her troubles with dreaming. I should be +quite happy if I only knew if Jonathan.... God bless and keep him. + + * * * * * + +_11 August, 3 a. m._--Diary again. No sleep now, so I may as well write. +I am too agitated to sleep. We have had such an adventure, such an +agonising experience. I fell asleep as soon as I had closed my diary.... +Suddenly I became broad awake, and sat up, with a horrible sense of fear +upon me, and of some feeling of emptiness around me. The room was dark, +so I could not see Lucy's bed; I stole across and felt for her. The bed +was empty. I lit a match and found that she was not in the room. The +door was shut, but not locked, as I had left it. I feared to wake her +mother, who has been more than usually ill lately, so threw on some +clothes and got ready to look for her. As I was leaving the room it +struck me that the clothes she wore might give me some clue to her +dreaming intention. Dressing-gown would mean house; dress, outside. +Dressing-gown and dress were both in their places. "Thank God," I said +to myself, "she cannot be far, as she is only in her nightdress." I ran +downstairs and looked in the sitting-room. Not there! Then I looked in +all the other open rooms of the house, with an ever-growing fear +chilling my heart. Finally I came to the hall door and found it open. It +was not wide open, but the catch of the lock had not caught. The people +of the house are careful to lock the door every night, so I feared that +Lucy must have gone out as she was. There was no time to think of what +might happen; a vague, overmastering fear obscured all details. I took a +big, heavy shawl and ran out. The clock was striking one as I was in the +Crescent, and there was not a soul in sight. I ran along the North +Terrace, but could see no sign of the white figure which I expected. At +the edge of the West Cliff above the pier I looked across the harbour to +the East Cliff, in the hope or fear--I don't know which--of seeing Lucy +in our favourite seat. There was a bright full moon, with heavy black, +driving clouds, which threw the whole scene into a fleeting diorama of +light and shade as they sailed across. For a moment or two I could see +nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church and all +around it. Then as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the abbey +coming into view; and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as +a sword-cut moved along, the church and the churchyard became gradually +visible. Whatever my expectation was, it was not disappointed, for +there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a +half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too +quick for me to see much, for shadow shut down on light almost +immediately; but it seemed to me as though something dark stood behind +the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, +whether man or beast, I could not tell; I did not wait to catch another +glance, but flew down the steep steps to the pier and along by the +fish-market to the bridge, which was the only way to reach the East +Cliff. The town seemed as dead, for not a soul did I see; I rejoiced +that it was so, for I wanted no witness of poor Lucy's condition. The +time and distance seemed endless, and my knees trembled and my breath +came laboured as I toiled up the endless steps to the abbey. I must have +gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as if my feet were weighted with +lead, and as though every joint in my body were rusty. When I got almost +to the top I could see the seat and the white figure, for I was now +close enough to distinguish it even through the spells of shadow. There +was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the +half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, "Lucy! Lucy!" and +something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face +and red, gleaming eyes. Lucy did not answer, and I ran on to the +entrance of the churchyard. As I entered, the church was between me and +the seat, and for a minute or so I lost sight of her. When I came in +view again the cloud had passed, and the moonlight struck so brilliantly +that I could see Lucy half reclining with her head lying over the back +of the seat. She was quite alone, and there was not a sign of any living +thing about. + +When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips +were parted, and she was breathing--not softly as usual with her, but in +long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every +breath. As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled the +collar of her nightdress close around her throat. Whilst she did so +there came a little shudder through her, as though she felt the cold. I +flung the warm shawl over her, and drew the edges tight round her neck, +for I dreaded lest she should get some deadly chill from the night air, +unclad as she was. I feared to wake her all at once, so, in order to +have my hands free that I might help her, I fastened the shawl at her +throat with a big safety-pin; but I must have been clumsy in my anxiety +and pinched or pricked her with it, for by-and-by, when her breathing +became quieter, she put her hand to her throat again and moaned. When I +had her carefully wrapped up I put my shoes on her feet and then began +very gently to wake her. At first she did not respond; but gradually she +became more and more uneasy in her sleep, moaning and sighing +occasionally. At last, as time was passing fast, and, for many other +reasons, I wished to get her home at once, I shook her more forcibly, +till finally she opened her eyes and awoke. She did not seem surprised +to see me, as, of course, she did not realise all at once where she was. +Lucy always wakes prettily, and even at such a time, when her body must +have been chilled with cold, and her mind somewhat appalled at waking +unclad in a churchyard at night, she did not lose her grace. She +trembled a little, and clung to me; when I told her to come at once with +me home she rose without a word, with the obedience of a child. As we +passed along, the gravel hurt my feet, and Lucy noticed me wince. She +stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes; but I would not. +However, when we got to the pathway outside the churchyard, where there +was a puddle of water, remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet with +mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home, no +one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare feet. + +Fortune favoured us, and we got home without meeting a soul. Once we saw +a man, who seemed not quite sober, passing along a street in front of +us; but we hid in a door till he had disappeared up an opening such as +there are here, steep little closes, or "wynds," as they call them in +Scotland. My heart beat so loud all the time that sometimes I thought I +should faint. I was filled with anxiety about Lucy, not only for her +health, lest she should suffer from the exposure, but for her reputation +in case the story should get wind. When we got in, and had washed our +feet, and had said a prayer of thankfulness together, I tucked her into +bed. Before falling asleep she asked--even implored--me not to say a +word to any one, even her mother, about her sleep-walking adventure. I +hesitated at first to promise; but on thinking of the state of her +mother's health, and how the knowledge of such a thing would fret her, +and thinking, too, of how such a story might become distorted--nay, +infallibly would--in case it should leak out, I thought it wiser to do +so. I hope I did right. I have locked the door, and the key is tied to +my wrist, so perhaps I shall not be again disturbed. Lucy is sleeping +soundly; the reflex of the dawn is high and far over the sea.... + + * * * * * + +_Same day, noon._--All goes well. Lucy slept till I woke her and seemed +not to have even changed her side. The adventure of the night does not +seem to have harmed her; on the contrary, it has benefited her, for she +looks better this morning than she has done for weeks. I was sorry to +notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her. Indeed, it might +have been serious, for the skin of her throat was pierced. I must have +pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are +two little red points like pin-pricks, and on the band of her nightdress +was a drop of blood. When I apologised and was concerned about it, she +laughed and petted me, and said she did not even feel it. Fortunately it +cannot leave a scar, as it is so tiny. + + * * * * * + +_Same day, night._--We passed a happy day. The air was clear, and the +sun bright, and there was a cool breeze. We took our lunch to Mulgrave +Woods, Mrs. Westenra driving by the road and Lucy and I walking by the +cliff-path and joining her at the gate. I felt a little sad myself, for +I could not but feel how _absolutely_ happy it would have been had +Jonathan been with me. But there! I must only be patient. In the evening +we strolled in the Casino Terrace, and heard some good music by Spohr +and Mackenzie, and went to bed early. Lucy seems more restful than she +has been for some time, and fell asleep at once. I shall lock the door +and secure the key the same as before, though I do not expect any +trouble to-night. + + * * * * * + +_12 August._--My expectations were wrong, for twice during the night I +was wakened by Lucy trying to get out. She seemed, even in her sleep, to +be a little impatient at finding the door shut, and went back to bed +under a sort of protest. I woke with the dawn, and heard the birds +chirping outside of the window. Lucy woke, too, and, I was glad to see, +was even better than on the previous morning. All her old gaiety of +manner seemed to have come back, and she came and snuggled in beside me +and told me all about Arthur. I told her how anxious I was about +Jonathan, and then she tried to comfort me. Well, she succeeded +somewhat, for, though sympathy can't alter facts, it can help to make +them more bearable. + + * * * * * + +_13 August._--Another quiet day, and to bed with the key on my wrist as +before. Again I awoke in the night, and found Lucy sitting up in bed, +still asleep, pointing to the window. I got up quietly, and pulling +aside the blind, looked out. It was brilliant moonlight, and the soft +effect of the light over the sea and sky--merged together in one great, +silent mystery--was beautiful beyond words. Between me and the moonlight +flitted a great bat, coming and going in great whirling circles. Once or +twice it came quite close, but was, I suppose, frightened at seeing me, +and flitted away across the harbour towards the abbey. When I came back +from the window Lucy had lain down again, and was sleeping peacefully. +She did not stir again all night. + + * * * * * + +_14 August._--On the East Cliff, reading and writing all day. Lucy seems +to have become as much in love with the spot as I am, and it is hard to +get her away from it when it is time to come home for lunch or tea or +dinner. This afternoon she made a funny remark. We were coming home for +dinner, and had come to the top of the steps up from the West Pier and +stopped to look at the view, as we generally do. The setting sun, low +down in the sky, was just dropping behind Kettleness; the red light was +thrown over on the East Cliff and the old abbey, and seemed to bathe +everything in a beautiful rosy glow. We were silent for a while, and +suddenly Lucy murmured as if to herself:-- + +"His red eyes again! They are just the same." It was such an odd +expression, coming _apropos_ of nothing, that it quite startled me. I +slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare +at her, and saw that she was in a half-dreamy state, with an odd look on +her face that I could not quite make out; so I said nothing, but +followed her eyes. She appeared to be looking over at our own seat, +whereon was a dark figure seated alone. I was a little startled myself, +for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes like +burning flames; but a second look dispelled the illusion. The red +sunlight was shining on the windows of St. Mary's Church behind our +seat, and as the sun dipped there was just sufficient change in the +refraction and reflection to make it appear as if the light moved. I +called Lucy's attention to the peculiar effect, and she became herself +with a start, but she looked sad all the same; it may have been that she +was thinking of that terrible night up there. We never refer to it; so I +said nothing, and we went home to dinner. Lucy had a headache and went +early to bed. I saw her asleep, and went out for a little stroll myself; +I walked along the cliffs to the westward, and was full of sweet +sadness, for I was thinking of Jonathan. When coming home--it was then +bright moonlight, so bright that, though the front of our part of the +Crescent was in shadow, everything could be well seen--I threw a glance +up at our window, and saw Lucy's head leaning out. I thought that +perhaps she was looking out for me, so I opened my handkerchief and +waved it. She did not notice or make any movement whatever. Just then, +the moonlight crept round an angle of the building, and the light fell +on the window. There distinctly was Lucy with her head lying up against +the side of the window-sill and her eyes shut. She was fast asleep, and +by her, seated on the window-sill, was something that looked like a +good-sized bird. I was afraid she might get a chill, so I ran upstairs, +but as I came into the room she was moving back to her bed, fast +asleep, and breathing heavily; she was holding her hand to her throat, +as though to protect it from cold. + +I did not wake her, but tucked her up warmly; I have taken care that the +door is locked and the window securely fastened. + +She looks so sweet as she sleeps; but she is paler than is her wont, and +there is a drawn, haggard look under her eyes which I do not like. I +fear she is fretting about something. I wish I could find out what it +is. + + * * * * * + +_15 August._--Rose later than usual. Lucy was languid and tired, and +slept on after we had been called. We had a happy surprise at breakfast. +Arthur's father is better, and wants the marriage to come off soon. Lucy +is full of quiet joy, and her mother is glad and sorry at once. Later on +in the day she told me the cause. She is grieved to lose Lucy as her +very own, but she is rejoiced that she is soon to have some one to +protect her. Poor dear, sweet lady! She confided to me that she has got +her death-warrant. She has not told Lucy, and made me promise secrecy; +her doctor told her that within a few months, at most, she must die, for +her heart is weakening. At any time, even now, a sudden shock would be +almost sure to kill her. Ah, we were wise to keep from her the affair of +the dreadful night of Lucy's sleep-walking. + + * * * * * + +_17 August._--No diary for two whole days. I have not had the heart to +write. Some sort of shadowy pall seems to be coming over our happiness. +No news from Jonathan, and Lucy seems to be growing weaker, whilst her +mother's hours are numbering to a close. I do not understand Lucy's +fading away as she is doing. She eats well and sleeps well, and enjoys +the fresh air; but all the time the roses in her cheeks are fading, and +she gets weaker and more languid day by day; at night I hear her gasping +as if for air. I keep the key of our door always fastened to my wrist at +night, but she gets up and walks about the room, and sits at the open +window. Last night I found her leaning out when I woke up, and when I +tried to wake her I could not; she was in a faint. When I managed to +restore her she was as weak as water, and cried silently between long, +painful struggles for breath. When I asked her how she came to be at the +window she shook her head and turned away. I trust her feeling ill may +not be from that unlucky prick of the safety-pin. I looked at her throat +just now as she lay asleep, and the tiny wounds seem not to have healed. +They are still open, and, if anything, larger than before, and the +edges of them are faintly white. They are like little white dots with +red centres. Unless they heal within a day or two, I shall insist on the +doctor seeing about them. + + +_Letter, Samuel F. Billington & Son, Solicitors, Whitby, to Messrs. +Carter, Paterson & Co., London._ + +"_17 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"Herewith please receive invoice of goods sent by Great Northern +Railway. Same are to be delivered at Carfax, near Purfleet, immediately +on receipt at goods station King's Cross. The house is at present empty, +but enclosed please find keys, all of which are labelled. + +"You will please deposit the boxes, fifty in number, which form the +consignment, in the partially ruined building forming part of the house +and marked 'A' on rough diagram enclosed. Your agent will easily +recognise the locality, as it is the ancient chapel of the mansion. The +goods leave by the train at 9:30 to-night, and will be due at King's +Cross at 4:30 to-morrow afternoon. As our client wishes the delivery +made as soon as possible, we shall be obliged by your having teams ready +at King's Cross at the time named and forthwith conveying the goods to +destination. In order to obviate any delays possible through any routine +requirements as to payment in your departments, we enclose cheque +herewith for ten pounds (£10), receipt of which please acknowledge. +Should the charge be less than this amount, you can return balance; if +greater, we shall at once send cheque for difference on hearing from +you. You are to leave the keys on coming away in the main hall of the +house, where the proprietor may get them on his entering the house by +means of his duplicate key. + +"Pray do not take us as exceeding the bounds of business courtesy in +pressing you in all ways to use the utmost expedition. + +_"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON."_ + + +_Letter, Messrs. Carter, Paterson & Co., London, to Messrs. Billington & +Son, Whitby._ + +"_21 August._ + +"Dear Sirs,-- + +"We beg to acknowledge £10 received and to return cheque £1 17s. 9d, +amount of overplus, as shown in receipted account herewith. Goods are +delivered in exact accordance with instructions, and keys left in parcel +in main hall, as directed. + +"We are, dear Sirs, + +"Yours respectfully. + +"_Pro_ CARTER, PATERSON & CO." + + +_Mina Murray's Journal._ + +_18 August._--I am happy to-day, and write sitting on the seat in the +churchyard. Lucy is ever so much better. Last night she slept well all +night, and did not disturb me once. The roses seem coming back already +to her cheeks, though she is still sadly pale and wan-looking. If she +were in any way anæmic I could understand it, but she is not. She is in +gay spirits and full of life and cheerfulness. All the morbid reticence +seems to have passed from her, and she has just reminded me, as if I +needed any reminding, of _that_ night, and that it was here, on this +very seat, I found her asleep. As she told me she tapped playfully with +the heel of her boot on the stone slab and said:-- + +"My poor little feet didn't make much noise then! I daresay poor old Mr. +Swales would have told me that it was because I didn't want to wake up +Geordie." As she was in such a communicative humour, I asked her if she +had dreamed at all that night. Before she answered, that sweet, puckered +look came into her forehead, which Arthur--I call him Arthur from her +habit--says he loves; and, indeed, I don't wonder that he does. Then she +went on in a half-dreaming kind of way, as if trying to recall it to +herself:-- + +"I didn't quite dream; but it all seemed to be real. I only wanted to be +here in this spot--I don't know why, for I was afraid of something--I +don't know what. I remember, though I suppose I was asleep, passing +through the streets and over the bridge. A fish leaped as I went by, and +I leaned over to look at it, and I heard a lot of dogs howling--the +whole town seemed as if it must be full of dogs all howling at once--as +I went up the steps. Then I had a vague memory of something long and +dark with red eyes, just as we saw in the sunset, and something very +sweet and very bitter all around me at once; and then I seemed sinking +into deep green water, and there was a singing in my ears, as I have +heard there is to drowning men; and then everything seemed passing away +from me; my soul seemed to go out from my body and float about the air. +I seem to remember that once the West Lighthouse was right under me, +and then there was a sort of agonising feeling, as if I were in an +earthquake, and I came back and found you shaking my body. I saw you do +it before I felt you." + +Then she began to laugh. It seemed a little uncanny to me, and I +listened to her breathlessly. I did not quite like it, and thought it +better not to keep her mind on the subject, so we drifted on to other +subjects, and Lucy was like her old self again. When we got home the +fresh breeze had braced her up, and her pale cheeks were really more +rosy. Her mother rejoiced when she saw her, and we all spent a very +happy evening together. + + * * * * * + +_19 August._--Joy, joy, joy! although not all joy. At last, news of +Jonathan. The dear fellow has been ill; that is why he did not write. I +am not afraid to think it or say it, now that I know. Mr. Hawkins sent +me on the letter, and wrote himself, oh, so kindly. I am to leave in the +morning and go over to Jonathan, and to help to nurse him if necessary, +and to bring him home. Mr. Hawkins says it would not be a bad thing if +we were to be married out there. I have cried over the good Sister's +letter till I can feel it wet against my bosom, where it lies. It is of +Jonathan, and must be next my heart, for he is _in_ my heart. My journey +is all mapped out, and my luggage ready. I am only taking one change of +dress; Lucy will bring my trunk to London and keep it till I send for +it, for it may be that ... I must write no more; I must keep it to say +to Jonathan, my husband. The letter that he has seen and touched must +comfort me till we meet. + + +_Letter, Sister Agatha, Hospital of St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, +Buda-Pesth, to Miss Wilhelmina Murray._ + +"_12 August._ + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I write by desire of Mr. Jonathan Harker, who is himself not strong +enough to write, though progressing well, thanks to God and St. Joseph +and Ste. Mary. He has been under our care for nearly six weeks, +suffering from a violent brain fever. He wishes me to convey his love, +and to say that by this post I write for him to Mr. Peter Hawkins, +Exeter, to say, with his dutiful respects, that he is sorry for his +delay, and that all of his work is completed. He will require some few +weeks' rest in our sanatorium in the hills, but will then return. He +wishes me to say that he has not sufficient money with him, and that he +would like to pay for his staying here, so that others who need shall +not be wanting for help. + +"Believe me, + +"Yours, with sympathy and all blessings, + +"SISTER AGATHA. + +"P. S.--My patient being asleep, I open this to let you know something +more. He has told me all about you, and that you are shortly to be his +wife. All blessings to you both! He has had some fearful shock--so says +our doctor--and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful; of +wolves and poison and blood; of ghosts and demons; and I fear to say of +what. Be careful with him always that there may be nothing to excite him +of this kind for a long time to come; the traces of such an illness as +his do not lightly die away. We should have written long ago, but we +knew nothing of his friends, and there was on him nothing that any one +could understand. He came in the train from Klausenburg, and the guard +was told by the station-master there that he rushed into the station +shouting for a ticket for home. Seeing from his violent demeanour that +he was English, they gave him a ticket for the furthest station on the +way thither that the train reached. + +"Be assured that he is well cared for. He has won all hearts by his +sweetness and gentleness. He is truly getting on well, and I have no +doubt will in a few weeks be all himself. But be careful of him for +safety's sake. There are, I pray God and St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, many, +many, happy years for you both." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_19 August._--Strange and sudden change in Renfield last night. About +eight o'clock he began to get excited and sniff about as a dog does when +setting. The attendant was struck by his manner, and knowing my interest +in him, encouraged him to talk. He is usually respectful to the +attendant and at times servile; but to-night, the man tells me, he was +quite haughty. Would not condescend to talk with him at all. All he +would say was:-- + + "I don't want to talk to you: you don't count now; the Master is at + hand." + +The attendant thinks it is some sudden form of religious mania which has +seized him. If so, we must look out for squalls, for a strong man with +homicidal and religious mania at once might be dangerous. The +combination is a dreadful one. At nine o'clock I visited him myself. His +attitude to me was the same as that to the attendant; in his sublime +self-feeling the difference between myself and attendant seemed to him +as nothing. It looks like religious mania, and he will soon think that +he himself is God. These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man +are too paltry for an Omnipotent Being. How these madmen give themselves +away! The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created +from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow. Oh, +if men only knew! + +For half an hour or more Renfield kept getting excited in greater and +greater degree. I did not pretend to be watching him, but I kept strict +observation all the same. All at once that shifty look came into his +eyes which we always see when a madman has seized an idea, and with it +the shifty movement of the head and back which asylum attendants come to +know so well. He became quite quiet, and went and sat on the edge of his +bed resignedly, and looked into space with lack-lustre eyes. I thought I +would find out if his apathy were real or only assumed, and tried to +lead him to talk of his pets, a theme which had never failed to excite +his attention. At first he made no reply, but at length said testily:-- + +"Bother them all! I don't care a pin about them." + +"What?" I said. "You don't mean to tell me you don't care about +spiders?" (Spiders at present are his hobby and the note-book is filling +up with columns of small figures.) To this he answered enigmatically:-- + +"The bride-maidens rejoice the eyes that wait the coming of the bride; +but when the bride draweth nigh, then the maidens shine not to the eyes +that are filled." + +He would not explain himself, but remained obstinately seated on his bed +all the time I remained with him. + +I am weary to-night and low in spirits. I cannot but think of Lucy, and +how different things might have been. If I don't sleep at once, chloral, +the modern Morpheus--C_{2}HCl_{3}O. H_{2}O! I must be careful not to let +it grow into a habit. No, I shall take none to-night! I have thought of +Lucy, and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two. If need be, +to-night shall be sleepless.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Glad I made the resolution; gladder that I kept to it. I had +lain tossing about, and had heard the clock strike only twice, when the +night-watchman came to me, sent up from the ward, to say that Renfield +had escaped. I threw on my clothes and ran down at once; my patient is +too dangerous a person to be roaming about. Those ideas of his might +work out dangerously with strangers. The attendant was waiting for me. +He said he had seen him not ten minutes before, seemingly asleep in his +bed, when he had looked through the observation-trap in the door. His +attention was called by the sound of the window being wrenched out. He +ran back and saw his feet disappear through the window, and had at once +sent up for me. He was only in his night-gear, and cannot be far off. +The attendant thought it would be more useful to watch where he should +go than to follow him, as he might lose sight of him whilst getting out +of the building by the door. He is a bulky man, and couldn't get through +the window. I am thin, so, with his aid, I got out, but feet foremost, +and, as we were only a few feet above ground, landed unhurt. The +attendant told me the patient had gone to the left, and had taken a +straight line, so I ran as quickly as I could. As I got through the belt +of trees I saw a white figure scale the high wall which separates our +grounds from those of the deserted house. + +I ran back at once, told the watchman to get three or four men +immediately and follow me into the grounds of Carfax, in case our friend +might be dangerous. I got a ladder myself, and crossing the wall, +dropped down on the other side. I could see Renfield's figure just +disappearing behind the angle of the house, so I ran after him. On the +far side of the house I found him pressed close against the old +ironbound oak door of the chapel. He was talking, apparently to some +one, but I was afraid to go near enough to hear what he was saying, lest +I might frighten him, and he should run off. Chasing an errant swarm of +bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic, when the fit of escaping +is upon him! After a few minutes, however, I could see that he did not +take note of anything around him, and so ventured to draw nearer to +him--the more so as my men had now crossed the wall and were closing him +in. I heard him say:-- + +"I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will +reward me, for I shall be faithful. I have worshipped You long and afar +off. Now that You are near, I await Your commands, and You will not pass +me by, will You, dear Master, in Your distribution of good things?" + +He _is_ a selfish old beggar anyhow. He thinks of the loaves and fishes +even when he believes he is in a Real Presence. His manias make a +startling combination. When we closed in on him he fought like a tiger. +He is immensely strong, for he was more like a wild beast than a man. I +never saw a lunatic in such a paroxysm of rage before; and I hope I +shall not again. It is a mercy that we have found out his strength and +his danger in good time. With strength and determination like his, he +might have done wild work before he was caged. He is safe now at any +rate. Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat +that keeps him restrained, and he's chained to the wall in the padded +room. His cries are at times awful, but the silences that follow are +more deadly still, for he means murder in every turn and movement. + +Just now he spoke coherent words for the first time:-- + +"I shall be patient, Master. It is coming--coming--coming!" + +So I took the hint, and came too. I was too excited to sleep, but this +diary has quieted me, and I feel I shall get some sleep to-night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +"_Buda-Pesth, 24 August._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"I know you will be anxious to hear all that has happened since we +parted at the railway station at Whitby. Well, my dear, I got to Hull +all right, and caught the boat to Hamburg, and then the train on here. I +feel that I can hardly recall anything of the journey, except that I +knew I was coming to Jonathan, and, that as I should have to do some +nursing, I had better get all the sleep I could.... I found my dear one, +oh, so thin and pale and weak-looking. All the resolution has gone out +of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his +face has vanished. He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not +remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At +least, he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask. He has had some +terrible shock, and I fear it might tax his poor brain if he were to try +to recall it. Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and a born nurse, +tells me that he raved of dreadful things whilst he was off his head. I +wanted her to tell me what they were; but she would only cross herself, +and say she would never tell; that the ravings of the sick were the +secrets of God, and that if a nurse through her vocation should hear +them, she should respect her trust. She is a sweet, good soul, and the +next day, when she saw I was troubled, she opened up the subject again, +and after saying that she could never mention what my poor dear raved +about, added: 'I can tell you this much, my dear: that it was not about +anything which he has done wrong himself; and you, as his wife to be, +have no cause to be concerned. He has not forgotten you or what he owes +to you. His fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can +treat of.' I do believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my +poor dear should have fallen in love with any other girl. The idea of +_my_ being jealous about Jonathan! And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I +felt a thrill of joy through me when I _knew_ that no other woman was a +cause of trouble. I am now sitting by his bedside, where I can see his +face while he sleeps. He is waking!... + +"When he woke he asked me for his coat, as he wanted to get something +from the pocket; I asked Sister Agatha, and she brought all his things. +I saw that amongst them was his note-book, and was going to ask him to +let me look at it--for I knew then that I might find some clue to his +trouble--but I suppose he must have seen my wish in my eyes, for he sent +me over to the window, saying he wanted to be quite alone for a moment. +Then he called me back, and when I came he had his hand over the +note-book, and he said to me very solemnly:-- + +"'Wilhelmina'--I knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has +never called me by that name since he asked me to marry him--'you know, +dear, my ideas of the trust between husband and wife: there should be no +secret, no concealment. I have had a great shock, and when I try to +think of what it is I feel my head spin round, and I do not know if it +was all real or the dreaming of a madman. You know I have had brain +fever, and that is to be mad. The secret is here, and I do not want to +know it. I want to take up my life here, with our marriage.' For, my +dear, we had decided to be married as soon as the formalities are +complete. 'Are you willing, Wilhelmina, to share my ignorance? Here is +the book. Take it and keep it, read it if you will, but never let me +know; unless, indeed, some solemn duty should come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, sane or mad, recorded here.' He fell +back exhausted, and I put the book under his pillow, and kissed him. I +have asked Sister Agatha to beg the Superior to let our wedding be this +afternoon, and am waiting her reply.... + + * * * * * + +"She has come and told me that the chaplain of the English mission +church has been sent for. We are to be married in an hour, or as soon +after as Jonathan awakes.... + + * * * * * + +"Lucy, the time has come and gone. I feel very solemn, but very, very +happy. Jonathan woke a little after the hour, and all was ready, and he +sat up in bed, propped up with pillows. He answered his 'I will' firmly +and strongly. I could hardly speak; my heart was so full that even those +words seemed to choke me. The dear sisters were so kind. Please God, I +shall never, never forget them, nor the grave and sweet responsibilities +I have taken upon me. I must tell you of my wedding present. When the +chaplain and the sisters had left me alone with my husband--oh, Lucy, it +is the first time I have written the words 'my husband'--left me alone +with my husband, I took the book from under his pillow, and wrapped it +up in white paper, and tied it with a little bit of pale blue ribbon +which was round my neck, and sealed it over the knot with sealing-wax, +and for my seal I used my wedding ring. Then I kissed it and showed it +to my husband, and told him that I would keep it so, and then it would +be an outward and visible sign for us all our lives that we trusted each +other; that I would never open it unless it were for his own dear sake +or for the sake of some stern duty. Then he took my hand in his, and oh, +Lucy, it was the first time he took _his wife's_ hand, and said that it +was the dearest thing in all the wide world, and that he would go +through all the past again to win it, if need be. The poor dear meant to +have said a part of the past, but he cannot think of time yet, and I +shall not wonder if at first he mixes up not only the month, but the +year. + +"Well, my dear, what could I say? I could only tell him that I was the +happiest woman in all the wide world, and that I had nothing to give him +except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these went my love +and duty for all the days of my life. And, my dear, when he kissed me, +and drew me to him with his poor weak hands, it was like a very solemn +pledge between us.... + +"Lucy dear, do you know why I tell you all this? It is not only because +it is all sweet to me, but because you have been, and are, very dear to +me. It was my privilege to be your friend and guide when you came from +the schoolroom to prepare for the world of life. I want you to see now, +and with the eyes of a very happy wife, whither duty has led me; so that +in your own married life you too may be all happy as I am. My dear, +please Almighty God, your life may be all it promises: a long day of +sunshine, with no harsh wind, no forgetting duty, no distrust. I must +not wish you no pain, for that can never be; but I do hope you will be +_always_ as happy as I am _now_. Good-bye, my dear. I shall post this at +once, and, perhaps, write you very soon again. I must stop, for Jonathan +is waking--I must attend to my husband! + +"Your ever-loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Harker._ + +"_Whitby, 30 August._ + +"My dearest Mina,-- + +"Oceans of love and millions of kisses, and may you soon be in your own +home with your husband. I wish you could be coming home soon enough to +stay with us here. The strong air would soon restore Jonathan; it has +quite restored me. I have an appetite like a cormorant, am full of +life, and sleep well. You will be glad to know that I have quite given +up walking in my sleep. I think I have not stirred out of my bed for a +week, that is when I once got into it at night. Arthur says I am getting +fat. By the way, I forgot to tell you that Arthur is here. We have such +walks and drives, and rides, and rowing, and tennis, and fishing +together; and I love him more than ever. He _tells_ me that he loves me +more, but I doubt that, for at first he told me that he couldn't love me +more than he did then. But this is nonsense. There he is, calling to me. +So no more just at present from your loving + +"LUCY. + +"P. S.--Mother sends her love. She seems better, poor dear. "P. P. +S.--We are to be married on 28 September." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 August._--The case of Renfield grows even more interesting. He has +now so far quieted that there are spells of cessation from his passion. +For the first week after his attack he was perpetually violent. Then one +night, just as the moon rose, he grew quiet, and kept murmuring to +himself: "Now I can wait; now I can wait." The attendant came to tell +me, so I ran down at once to have a look at him. He was still in the +strait-waistcoat and in the padded room, but the suffused look had gone +from his face, and his eyes had something of their old pleading--I might +almost say, "cringing"--softness. I was satisfied with his present +condition, and directed him to be relieved. The attendants hesitated, +but finally carried out my wishes without protest. It was a strange +thing that the patient had humour enough to see their distrust, for, +coming close to me, he said in a whisper, all the while looking +furtively at them:-- + +"They think I could hurt you! Fancy _me_ hurting _you_! The fools!" + +It was soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself dissociated +even in the mind of this poor madman from the others; but all the same I +do not follow his thought. Am I to take it that I have anything in +common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together; or has +he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well-being is needful +to him? I must find out later on. To-night he will not speak. Even the +offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat will not tempt him. He will +only say: "I don't take any stock in cats. I have more to think of now, +and I can wait; I can wait." + +After a while I left him. The attendant tells me that he was quiet +until just before dawn, and that then he began to get uneasy, and at +length violent, until at last he fell into a paroxysm which exhausted +him so that he swooned into a sort of coma. + + * * * * * + +... Three nights has the same thing happened--violent all day then quiet +from moonrise to sunrise. I wish I could get some clue to the cause. It +would almost seem as if there was some influence which came and went. +Happy thought! We shall to-night play sane wits against mad ones. He +escaped before without our help; to-night he shall escape with it. We +shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow in case they +are required.... + + * * * * * + +_23 August._--"The unexpected always happens." How well Disraeli knew +life. Our bird when he found the cage open would not fly, so all our +subtle arrangements were for nought. At any rate, we have proved one +thing; that the spells of quietness last a reasonable time. We shall in +future be able to ease his bonds for a few hours each day. I have given +orders to the night attendant merely to shut him in the padded room, +when once he is quiet, until an hour before sunrise. The poor soul's +body will enjoy the relief even if his mind cannot appreciate it. Hark! +The unexpected again! I am called; the patient has once more escaped. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another night adventure. Renfield artfully waited until the +attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past him +and flew down the passage. I sent word for the attendants to follow. +Again he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we found him +in the same place, pressed against the old chapel door. When he saw me +he became furious, and had not the attendants seized him in time, he +would have tried to kill me. As we were holding him a strange thing +happened. He suddenly redoubled his efforts, and then as suddenly grew +calm. I looked round instinctively, but could see nothing. Then I caught +the patient's eye and followed it, but could trace nothing as it looked +into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was flapping its silent and +ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit about, but this one +seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound for or had +some intention of its own. The patient grew calmer every instant, and +presently said:-- + +"You needn't tie me; I shall go quietly!" Without trouble we came back +to the house. I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall +not forget this night.... + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary_ + +_Hillingham, 24 August._--I must imitate Mina, and keep writing things +down. Then we can have long talks when we do meet. I wonder when it will +be. I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy. Last night I +seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby. Perhaps it is the +change of air, or getting home again. It is all dark and horrid to me, +for I can remember nothing; but I am full of vague fear, and I feel so +weak and worn out. When Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved +when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to be cheerful. I wonder +if I could sleep in mother's room to-night. I shall make an excuse and +try. + + * * * * * + +_25 August._--Another bad night. Mother did not seem to take to my +proposal. She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to +worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but when the +clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been falling +asleep. There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I +did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have +fallen asleep. More bad dreams. I wish I could remember them. This +morning I am horribly weak. My face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains +me. It must be something wrong with my lungs, for I don't seem ever to +get air enough. I shall try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I +know he will be miserable to see me so. + + +_Letter, Arthur Holmwood to Dr. Seward._ + +"_Albemarle Hotel, 31 August._ + +"My dear Jack,-- + +"I want you to do me a favour. Lucy is ill; that is, she has no special +disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every day. I have +asked her if there is any cause; I do not dare to ask her mother, for to +disturb the poor lady's mind about her daughter in her present state of +health would be fatal. Mrs. Westenra has confided to me that her doom is +spoken--disease of the heart--though poor Lucy does not know it yet. I +am sure that there is something preying on my dear girl's mind. I am +almost distracted when I think of her; to look at her gives me a pang. I +told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at +first--I know why, old fellow--she finally consented. It will be a +painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it is for _her_ sake, and +I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act. You are to come to lunch at +Hillingham to-morrow, two o'clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in +Mrs. Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being +alone with you. I shall come in for tea, and we can go away together; I +am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I +can after you have seen her. Do not fail! + +"ARTHUR." + + +_Telegram, Arthur Holmwood to Seward._ + +"_1 September._ + +"Am summoned to see my father, who is worse. Am writing. Write me fully +by to-night's post to Ring. Wire me if necessary." + + +_Letter from Dr. Seward to Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My dear old fellow,-- + +"With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at once +that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady +that I know of. At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with +her appearance; she is woefully different from what she was when I saw +her last. Of course you must bear in mind that I did not have full +opportunity of examination such as I should wish; our very friendship +makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can +bridge over. I had better tell you exactly what happened, leaving you to +draw, in a measure, your own conclusions. I shall then say what I have +done and propose doing. + +"I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, +and in a few seconds I made up my mind that she was trying all she knew +to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious. I have no +doubt she guesses, if she does not know, what need of caution there is. +We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we +got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real cheerfulness +amongst us. Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and Lucy was left with +me. We went into her boudoir, and till we got there her gaiety remained, +for the servants were coming and going. As soon as the door was closed, +however, the mask fell from her face, and she sank down into a chair +with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her hand. When I saw that her +high spirits had failed, I at once took advantage of her reaction to +make a diagnosis. She said to me very sweetly:-- + +"'I cannot tell you how I loathe talking about myself.' I reminded her +that a doctor's confidence was sacred, but that you were grievously +anxious about her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that +matter in a word. 'Tell Arthur everything you choose. I do not care for +myself, but all for him!' So I am quite free. + +"I could easily see that she is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see +the usual anæmic signs, and by a chance I was actually able to test the +quality of her blood, for in opening a window which was stiff a cord +gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with broken glass. It was a +slight matter in itself, but it gave me an evident chance, and I secured +a few drops of the blood and have analysed them. The qualitative +analysis gives a quite normal condition, and shows, I should infer, in +itself a vigorous state of health. In other physical matters I was quite +satisfied that there is no need for anxiety; but as there must be a +cause somewhere, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something +mental. She complains of difficulty in breathing satisfactorily at +times, and of heavy, lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but +regarding which she can remember nothing. She says that as a child she +used to walk in her sleep, and that when in Whitby the habit came back, +and that once she walked out in the night and went to East Cliff, where +Miss Murray found her; but she assures me that of late the habit has not +returned. I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of; I +have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of +Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the +world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that all things +were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who you are and your +relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow, is in obedience to +your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to do anything I can for +her. Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal +reason, so, no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his +wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, but this is because he knows +what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a philosopher +and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; +and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron +nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, an indomitable resolution, +self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the +kindliest and truest heart that beats--these form his equipment for the +noble work that he is doing for mankind--work both in theory and +practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy. I +tell you these facts that you may know why I have such confidence in +him. I have asked him to come at once. I shall see Miss Westenra +to-morrow again. She is to meet me at the Stores, so that I may not +alarm her mother by too early a repetition of my call. + +"Yours always, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Letter, Abraham Van Helsing, M. D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc., to Dr. +Seward._ + +"_2 September._ + +"My good Friend,-- + +"When I have received your letter I am already coming to you. By good +fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who have +trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who have +trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those he holds +dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so +swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other +friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my +aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do. But it +is pleasure added to do for him, your friend; it is to you that I come. +Have then rooms for me at the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I may be near +to hand, and please it so arrange that we may see the young lady not too +late on to-morrow, for it is likely that I may have to return here that +night. But if need be I shall come again in three days, and stay longer +if it must. Till then good-bye, my friend John. + + "VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_3 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"Van Helsing has come and gone. He came on with me to Hillingham, and +found that, by Lucy's discretion, her mother was lunching out, so that +we were alone with her. Van Helsing made a very careful examination of +the patient. He is to report to me, and I shall advise you, for of +course I was not present all the time. He is, I fear, much concerned, +but says he must think. When I told him of our friendship and how you +trust to me in the matter, he said: 'You must tell him all you think. +Tell him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will. Nay, I am not +jesting. This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.' I asked +what he meant by that, for he was very serious. This was when we had +come back to town, and he was having a cup of tea before starting on his +return to Amsterdam. He would not give me any further clue. You must not +be angry with me, Art, because his very reticence means that all his +brains are working for her good. He will speak plainly enough when the +time comes, be sure. So I told him I would simply write an account of +our visit, just as if I were doing a descriptive special article for +_The Daily Telegraph_. He seemed not to notice, but remarked that the +smuts in London were not quite so bad as they used to be when he was a +student here. I am to get his report to-morrow if he can possibly make +it. In any case I am to have a letter. + +"Well, as to the visit. Lucy was more cheerful than on the day I first +saw her, and certainly looked better. She had lost something of the +ghastly look that so upset you, and her breathing was normal. She was +very sweet to the professor (as she always is), and tried to make him +feel at ease; though I could see that the poor girl was making a hard +struggle for it. I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw the quick +look under his bushy brows that I knew of old. Then he began to chat of +all things except ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite +geniality that I could see poor Lucy's pretense of animation merge into +reality. Then, without any seeming change, he brought the conversation +gently round to his visit, and suavely said:-- + +"'My dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you are so +much beloved. That is much, my dear, ever were there that which I do not +see. They told me you were down in the spirit, and that you were of a +ghastly pale. To them I say: "Pouf!"' And he snapped his fingers at me +and went on: 'But you and I shall show them how wrong they are. How can +he'--and he pointed at me with the same look and gesture as that with +which once he pointed me out to his class, on, or rather after, a +particular occasion which he never fails to remind me of--'know anything +of a young ladies? He has his madams to play with, and to bring them +back to happiness, and to those that love them. It is much to do, and, +oh, but there are rewards, in that we can bestow such happiness. But the +young ladies! He has no wife nor daughter, and the young do not tell +themselves to the young, but to the old, like me, who have known so many +sorrows and the causes of them. So, my dear, we will send him away to +smoke the cigarette in the garden, whiles you and I have little talk all +to ourselves.' I took the hint, and strolled about, and presently the +professor came to the window and called me in. He looked grave, but +said: 'I have made careful examination, but there is no functional +cause. With you I agree that there has been much blood lost; it has +been, but is not. But the conditions of her are in no way anæmic. I have +asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or two question, +that so I may not chance to miss nothing. I know well what she will say. +And yet there is cause; there is always cause for everything. I must go +back home and think. You must send to me the telegram every day; and if +there be cause I shall come again. The disease--for not to be all well +is a disease--interest me, and the sweet young dear, she interest me +too. She charm me, and for her, if not for you or disease, I come.' + +"As I tell you, he would not say a word more, even when we were alone. +And so now, Art, you know all I know. I shall keep stern watch. I trust +your poor father is rallying. It must be a terrible thing to you, my +dear old fellow, to be placed in such a position between two people who +are both so dear to you. I know your idea of duty to your father, and +you are right to stick to it; but, if need be, I shall send you word to +come at once to Lucy; so do not be over-anxious unless you hear from +me." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_4 September._--Zoöphagous patient still keeps up our interest in him. +He had only one outburst and that was yesterday at an unusual time. Just +before the stroke of noon he began to grow restless. The attendant knew +the symptoms, and at once summoned aid. Fortunately the men came at a +run, and were just in time, for at the stroke of noon he became so +violent that it took all their strength to hold him. In about five +minutes, however, he began to get more and more quiet, and finally sank +into a sort of melancholy, in which state he has remained up to now. The +attendant tells me that his screams whilst in the paroxysm were really +appalling; I found my hands full when I got in, attending to some of the +other patients who were frightened by him. Indeed, I can quite +understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed even me, though I was +some distance away. It is now after the dinner-hour of the asylum, and +as yet my patient sits in a corner brooding, with a dull, sullen, +woe-begone look in his face, which seems rather to indicate than to show +something directly. I cannot quite understand it. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Another change in my patient. At five o'clock I looked in on +him, and found him seemingly as happy and contented as he used to be. He +was catching flies and eating them, and was keeping note of his capture +by making nail-marks on the edge of the door between the ridges of +padding. When he saw me, he came over and apologised for his bad +conduct, and asked me in a very humble, cringing way to be led back to +his own room and to have his note-book again. I thought it well to +humour him: so he is back in his room with the window open. He has the +sugar of his tea spread out on the window-sill, and is reaping quite a +harvest of flies. He is not now eating them, but putting them into a +box, as of old, and is already examining the corners of his room to find +a spider. I tried to get him to talk about the past few days, for any +clue to his thoughts would be of immense help to me; but he would not +rise. For a moment or two he looked very sad, and said in a sort of +far-away voice, as though saying it rather to himself than to me:-- + +"All over! all over! He has deserted me. No hope for me now unless I do +it for myself!" Then suddenly turning to me in a resolute way, he said: +"Doctor, won't you be very good to me and let me have a little more +sugar? I think it would be good for me." + +"And the flies?" I said. + +"Yes! The flies like it, too, and I like the flies; therefore I like +it." And there are people who know so little as to think that madmen do +not argue. I procured him a double supply, and left him as happy a man +as, I suppose, any in the world. I wish I could fathom his mind. + + * * * * * + +_Midnight._--Another change in him. I had been to see Miss Westenra, +whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at our +own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him yelling. As +his room is on this side of the house, I could hear it better than in +the morning. It was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky +beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights and inky shadows +and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds even as on foul +water, and to realise all the grim sternness of my own cold stone +building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own desolate heart +to endure it all. I reached him just as the sun was going down, and from +his window saw the red disc sink. As it sank he became less and less +frenzied; and just as it dipped he slid from the hands that held him, an +inert mass, on the floor. It is wonderful, however, what intellectual +recuperative power lunatics have, for within a few minutes he stood up +quite calmly and looked around him. I signalled to the attendants not to +hold him, for I was anxious to see what he would do. He went straight +over to the window and brushed out the crumbs of sugar; then he took his +fly-box, and emptied it outside, and threw away the box; then he shut +the window, and crossing over, sat down on his bed. All this surprised +me, so I asked him: "Are you not going to keep flies any more?" + +"No," said he; "I am sick of all that rubbish!" He certainly is a +wonderfully interesting study. I wish I could get some glimpse of his +mind or of the cause of his sudden passion. Stop; there may be a clue +after all, if we can find why to-day his paroxysms came on at high noon +and at sunset. Can it be that there is a malign influence of the sun at +periods which affects certain natures--as at times the moon does others? +We shall see. + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_4 September._--Patient still better to-day." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_5 September._--Patient greatly improved. Good appetite; sleeps +naturally; good spirits; colour coming back." + + +_Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam._ + +"_6 September._--Terrible change for the worse. Come at once; do not +lose an hour. I hold over telegram to Holmwood till have seen you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +_Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood._ + +"_6 September._ + +"My dear Art,-- + +"My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a bit. +There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it; Mrs. +Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me +professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told +her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to +stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with +myself; so now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a +shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak +condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with +difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall +come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if you +do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for +news. In haste + +Yours ever, + +"JOHN SEWARD." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_7 September._--The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at +Liverpool Street was:-- + +"Have you said anything to our young friend the lover of her?" + +"No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my telegram. I +wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were coming, as Miss +Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him know if need be." + +"Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as yet; +perhaps he shall never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then he +shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You deal +with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch +as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's madmen, +too--the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what you do nor why +you do it; you tell them not what you think. So you shall keep knowledge +in its place, where it may rest--where it may gather its kind around it +and breed. You and I shall keep as yet what we know here, and here." He +touched me on the heart and on the forehead, and then touched himself +the same way. "I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall +unfold to you." + +"Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at some +decision." He stopped and looked at me, and said:-- + +"My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has +ripened--while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshine +has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the +ear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, +and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the +time comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For reply +he reached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully, as +he used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The good husbandman tell +you so then because he knows, but not till then. But you do not find the +good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is for +the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as of +the work of their life. See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn, +and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, +there's some promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He broke +off, for he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and very +gravely:-- + +"You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever more +full than the rest. You were only student then; now you are master, and +I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, that +knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker. +Even if you have not kept the good practise, let me tell you that this +case of our dear miss is one that may be--mind, I say _may be_--of such +interest to us and others that all the rest may not make him kick the +beam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is too +small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. +Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We +learn from failure, not from success!" + +When I described Lucy's symptoms--the same as before, but infinitely +more marked--he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with him a +bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly paraphernalia +of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of his lectures, the +equipment of a professor of the healing craft. When we were shown in, +Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as I +expected to find her. Nature in one of her beneficent moods has ordained +that even death has some antidote to its own terrors. Here, in a case +where any shock may prove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some +cause or other, the things not personal--even the terrible change in her +daughter to whom she is so attached--do not seem to reach her. It is +something like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an +envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that +which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an ordered +selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one for the vice +of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes than we have +knowledge of. + +I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid down +a rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think of her illness +more than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so readily that +I saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life. Van Helsing and I were +shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, I +was horrified when I saw her to-day. She was ghastly, chalkily pale; the +red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gums, and the bones of +her face stood out prominently; her breathing was painful to see or +hear. Van Helsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged +till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not +seem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. Then +Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the room. The +instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along the passage to +the next door, which was open. Then he pulled me quickly in with him and +closed the door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no time +to be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's +action as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at once. Is +it you or me?" + +"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me." + +"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am prepared." + +I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock at +the hall-door. When we reached the hall the maid had just opened the +door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me, saying in +an eager whisper:-- + +"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter, and +have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran down here to see for +myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so thankful to you, +sir, for coming." When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he had +been angry at his interruption at such a time; but now, as he took in +his stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood which +seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause he said to +him gravely as he held out his hand:-- + +"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss. She is +bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For he +suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are to +help her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is your +best help." + +"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it. My +life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for +her." The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old +knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer:-- + +"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that--not the last!" + +"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostril +quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder. "Come!" +he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want. You are better than +me, better than my friend John." Arthur looked bewildered, and the +Professor went on by explaining in a kindly way:-- + +"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must have +or die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about to perform +what we call transfusion of blood--to transfer from full veins of one to +the empty veins which pine for him. John was to give his blood, as he is +the more young and strong than me"--here Arthur took my hand and wrung +it hard in silence--"but, now you are here, you are more good than us, +old or young, who toil much in the world of thought. Our nerves are not +so calm and our blood not so bright than yours!" Arthur turned to him +and said:-- + +"If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you would +understand----" + +He stopped, with a sort of choke in his voice. + +"Good boy!" said Van Helsing. "In the not-so-far-off you will be happy +that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be silent. You +shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must go; and you +must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame; you know how it is with +her! There must be no shock; any knowledge of this would be one. Come!" + +We all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained outside. +Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing. She was not +asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort. Her eyes spoke +to us; that was all. Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laid +them on a little table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, and +coming over to the bed, said cheerily:-- + +"Now, little miss, here is your medicine. Drink it off, like a good +child. See, I lift you so that to swallow is easy. Yes." She had made +the effort with success. + +It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact, marked +the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until sleep began to +flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the narcotic began to manifest +its potency; and she fell into a deep sleep. When the Professor was +satisfied he called Arthur into the room, and bade him strip off his +coat. Then he added: "You may take that one little kiss whiles I bring +over the table. Friend John, help to me!" So neither of us looked whilst +he bent over her. + +Van Helsing turning to me, said: + +"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not +defibrinate it." + +Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed the +operation. As the transfusion went on something like life seemed to come +back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing pallor the joy +of his face seemed absolutely to shine. After a bit I began to grow +anxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur, strong man as he +was. It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain Lucy's system must +have undergone that what weakened Arthur only partially restored her. +But the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand and with +his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I could hear my own +heart beat. Presently he said in a soft voice: "Do not stir an instant. +It is enough. You attend him; I will look to her." When all was over I +could see how much Arthur was weakened. I dressed the wound and took his +arm to bring him away, when Van Helsing spoke without turning round--the +man seems to have eyes in the back of his head:-- + +"The brave lover, I think, deserve another kiss, which he shall have +presently." And as he had now finished his operation, he adjusted the +pillow to the patient's head. As he did so the narrow black velvet band +which she seems always to wear round her throat, buckled with an old +diamond buckle which her lover had given her, was dragged a little up, +and showed a red mark on her throat. Arthur did not notice it, but I +could hear the deep hiss of indrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing's +ways of betraying emotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned to +me, saying: "Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port +wine, and let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleep +much and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given to +his love. He must not stay here. Hold! a moment. I may take it, sir, +that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you that in all ways +the operation is successful. You have saved her life this time, and you +can go home and rest easy in mind that all that can be is. I shall tell +her all when she is well; she shall love you none the less for what you +have done. Good-bye." + +When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping gently, +but her breathing was stronger; I could see the counterpane move as her +breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking at her intently. +The velvet band again covered the red mark. I asked the Professor in a +whisper:-- + +"What do you make of that mark on her throat?" + +"What do you make of it?" + +"I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there proceeded +to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein there were two +punctures, not large, but not wholesome-looking. There was no sign of +disease, but the edges were white and worn-looking, as if by some +trituration. It at once occurred to me that this wound, or whatever it +was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood; but I abandoned +the idea as soon as formed, for such a thing could not be. The whole bed +would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must +have lost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion. + +"Well?" said Van Helsing. + +"Well," said I, "I can make nothing of it." The Professor stood up. "I +must go back to Amsterdam to-night," he said. "There are books and +things there which I want. You must remain here all the night, and you +must not let your sight pass from her." + +"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked. + +"We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night; see that +she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must not sleep all +the night. Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall be back as soon as +possible. And then we may begin." + +"May begin?" I said. "What on earth do you mean?" + +"We shall see!" he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a moment +later and put his head inside the door and said with warning finger held +up:-- + +"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave her, and harm befall, you +shall not sleep easy hereafter!" + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary--continued._ + +_8 September._--I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked itself +off towards dusk, and she waked naturally; she looked a different being +from what she had been before the operation. Her spirits even were good, +and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see evidences of the +absolute prostration which she had undergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra +that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should sit up with her she +almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her daughter's renewed +strength and excellent spirits. I was firm, however, and made +preparations for my long vigil. When her maid had prepared her for the +night I came in, having in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by +the bedside. She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me +gratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed +sinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together +and shook it off. This was repeated several times, with greater effort +and with shorter pauses as the time moved on. It was apparent that she +did not want to sleep, so I tackled the subject at once:-- + +"You do not want to go to sleep?" + +"No; I am afraid." + +"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave for." + +"Ah, not if you were like me--if sleep was to you a presage of horror!" + +"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?" + +"I don't know; oh, I don't know. And that is what is so terrible. All +this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very thought." + +"But, my dear girl, you may sleep to-night. I am here watching you, and +I can promise that nothing will happen." + +"Ah, I can trust you!" I seized the opportunity, and said: "I promise +you that if I see any evidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once." + +"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I will +sleep!" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief, and sank +back, asleep. + +All night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on and on +in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep. Her lips were +slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity of a +pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was evident that no bad +dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind. + +In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and took +myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I sent a short +wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent result +of the operation. My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all +day to clear off; it was dark when I was able to inquire about my +zoöphagous patient. The report was good; he had been quite quiet for the +past day and night. A telegram came from Van Helsing at Amsterdam whilst +I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at Hillingham to-night, as +it might be well to be at hand, and stating that he was leaving by the +night mail and would join me early in the morning. + + * * * * * + +_9 September_.--I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to +Hillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my +brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral +exhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook hands +with me she looked sharply in my face and said:-- + +"No sitting up to-night for you. You are worn out. I am quite well +again; indeed, I am; and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I who +will sit up with you." I would not argue the point, but went and had my +supper. Lucy came with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I +made an excellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than +excellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room next +her own, where a cozy fire was burning. "Now," she said, "you must stay +here. I shall leave this door open and my door too. You can lie on the +sofa for I know that nothing would induce any of you doctors to go to +bed whilst there is a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I +shall call out, and you can come to me at once." I could not but +acquiesce, for I was "dog-tired," and could not have sat up had I tried. +So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she should want anything, +I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about everything. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_9 September._--I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably weak, +that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after +a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky. Somehow Arthur feels very, +very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about me. I suppose +it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things and turn our inner +eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and strength give Love +rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know +where my thoughts are. If Arthur only knew! My dear, my dear, your ears +must tingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of +last night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching me. +And to-night I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at hand and +within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me! Thank God! +Good-night, Arthur. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_10 September._--I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head, and +started awake all in a second. That is one of the things that we learn +in an asylum, at any rate. + +"And how is our patient?" + +"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered. + +"Come, let us see," he said. And together we went into the room. + +The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van +Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed. + +As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I +heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity, a +deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over he moved back, and +his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no enforcement from +his agonised face. He raised his hand and pointed to the bed, and his +iron face was drawn and ashen white. I felt my knees begin to tremble. + +There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly +white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white, and the gums +seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes see in a +corpse after a prolonged illness. Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp +in anger, but the instinct of his life and all the long years of habit +stood to him, and he put it down again softly. "Quick!" he said. "Bring +the brandy." I flew to the dining-room, and returned with the decanter. +He wetted the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and +wrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonising +suspense said:-- + +"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work is +undone; we must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now; I have +to call on you yourself this time, friend John." As he spoke, he was +dipping into his bag and producing the instruments for transfusion; I +had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt-sleeve. There was no +possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of one; and so, +without a moment's delay, we began the operation. After a time--it did +not seem a short time either, for the draining away of one's blood, no +matter how willingly it be given, is a terrible feeling--Van Helsing +held up a warning finger. "Do not stir," he said, "but I fear that with +growing strength she may wake; and that would make danger, oh, so much +danger. But I shall precaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection +of morphia." He proceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his +intent. The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge +subtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal pride +that I could see a faint tinge of colour steal back into the pallid +cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to +feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves. + +The Professor watched me critically. "That will do," he said. "Already?" +I remonstrated. "You took a great deal more from Art." To which he +smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied:-- + +"He is her lover, her _fiancé_. You have work, much work, to do for her +and for others; and the present will suffice." + +When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied +digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, whilst I waited his +leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sick. By-and-by +he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for +myself. As I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half +whispered:-- + +"Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should turn up +unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once frighten him and +enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!" + +When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said:-- + +"You are not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and +rest awhile; then have much breakfast, and come here to me." + +I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they were. I +had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strength. I +felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at +what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over +and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how +she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign anywhere to +show for it. I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, +sleeping and waking, my thoughts always came back to the little +punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their +edges--tiny though they were. + +Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well and +strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before. When Van Helsing +had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge, with strict +injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment. I could hear his +voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest telegraph office. + +Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that anything +had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested. When her mother +came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change whatever, but +said to me gratefully:-- + +"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you really +must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking pale +yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit; that you +do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only momentarily, +for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long such an unwonted +drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned +imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my +lips; with a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows. + +Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me: +"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself strong. I +stay here to-night, and I shall sit up with little miss myself. You and +I must watch the case, and we must have none other to know. I have grave +reasons. No, do not ask them; think what you will. Do not fear to think +even the most not-probable. Good-night." + +In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either of +them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to let them; and +when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either he or I should sit +up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the "foreign +gentleman." I was much touched by their kindness. Perhaps it is because +I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on Lucy's account, that +their devotion was manifested; for over and over again have I seen +similar instances of woman's kindness. I got back here in time for a +late dinner; went my rounds--all well; and set this down whilst waiting +for sleep. It is coming. + + * * * * * + +_11 September._--This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found Van +Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly after I had +arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor. He opened it +with much impressment--assumed, of course--and showed a great bundle of +white flowers. + +"These are for you, Miss Lucy," he said. + +"For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!" + +"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are medicines." Here +Lucy made a wry face. "Nay, but they are not to take in a decoction or +in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming nose, or I shall +point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have to endure in seeing +so much beauty that he so loves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, +that bring the so nice nose all straight again. This is medicinal, but +you do not know how. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and +hang him round your neck, so that you sleep well. Oh yes! they, like the +lotus flower, make your trouble forgotten. It smell so like the waters +of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought +for in the Floridas, and find him all too late." + +Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and smelling +them. Now she threw them down, saying, with half-laughter, and +half-disgust:-- + +"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why, +these flowers are only common garlic." + +To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his +iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:-- + +"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do; +and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of +others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she might +well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my dear, do not fear +me. I only do for your good; but there is much virtue to you in those so +common flowers. See, I place them myself in your room. I make myself the +wreath that you are to wear. But hush! no telling to others that make so +inquisitive questions. We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience; +and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait +for you. Now sit still awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall +help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, +where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year. +I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here." + +We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's +actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia +that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them +securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over +the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get +in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed +all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round +the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and +presently I said:-- + +"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but +this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he +would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit." + +"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which +Lucy was to wear round her neck. + +We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she +was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her +neck. The last words he said to her were:-- + +"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close, do +not to-night open the window or the door." + +"I promise," said Lucy, "and thank you both a thousand times for all +your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such +friends?" + +As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said:-- + +"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want--two nights of travel, +much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow, +and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the morning early +you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much +more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho! ho!" + +He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights +before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror. It must +have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but +I felt it all the more, like unshed tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + + +_12 September._--How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. +Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He +positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been +right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread +being alone to-night, and I can go to sleep without fear. I shall not +mind any flapping outside the window. Oh, the terrible struggle that I +have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, +or the pain of the fear of sleep, with such unknown horrors as it has +for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no +dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings +nothing but sweet dreams. Well, here I am to-night, hoping for sleep, +and lying like Ophelia in the play, with "virgin crants and maiden +strewments." I never liked garlic before, but to-night it is delightful! +There is peace in its smell; I feel sleep coming already. Good-night, +everybody. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_13 September._--Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual, +up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting. The +Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now. + +Let all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at +eight o'clock. It was a lovely morning; the bright sunshine and all the +fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of nature's +annual work. The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, +but had not yet begun to drop from the trees. When we entered we met +Mrs. Westenra coming out of the morning room. She is always an early +riser. She greeted us warmly and said:-- + +"You will be glad to know that Lucy is better. The dear child is still +asleep. I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go in, lest I +should disturb her." The Professor smiled, and looked quite jubilant. He +rubbed his hands together, and said:-- + +"Aha! I thought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working," to +which she answered:-- + +"You must not take all the credit to yourself, doctor. Lucy's state this +morning is due in part to me." + +"How you do mean, ma'am?" asked the Professor. + +"Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went into +her room. She was sleeping soundly--so soundly that even my coming did +not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There were a lot of those +horrible, strong-smelling flowers about everywhere, and she had actually +a bunch of them round her neck. I feared that the heavy odour would be +too much for the dear child in her weak state, so I took them all away +and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh air. You will be +pleased with her, I am sure." + +She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted early. As +she had spoken, I watched the Professor's face, and saw it turn ashen +grey. He had been able to retain his self-command whilst the poor lady +was present, for he knew her state and how mischievous a shock would be; +he actually smiled on her as he held open the door for her to pass into +her room. But the instant she had disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and +forcibly, into the dining-room and closed the door. + +Then, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break down. He +raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then beat +his palms together in a helpless way; finally he sat down on a chair, +and putting his hands before his face, began to sob, with loud, dry sobs +that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart. Then he raised +his arms again, as though appealing to the whole universe. "God! God! +God!" he said. "What have we done, what has this poor thing done, that +we are so sore beset? Is there fate amongst us still, sent down from the +pagan world of old, that such things must be, and in such way? This poor +mother, all unknowing, and all for the best as she think, does such +thing as lose her daughter body and soul; and we must not tell her, we +must not even warn her, or she die, and then both die. Oh, how we are +beset! How are all the powers of the devils against us!" Suddenly he +jumped to his feet. "Come," he said, "come, we must see and act. Devils +or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him +all the same." He went to the hall-door for his bag; and together we +went up to Lucy's room. + +Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards the bed. +This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face with the same +awful, waxen pallor as before. He wore a look of stern sadness and +infinite pity. + +"As I expected," he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of his which +meant so much. Without a word he went and locked the door, and then +began to set out on the little table the instruments for yet another +operation of transfusion of blood. I had long ago recognised the +necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he stopped me with a +warning hand. "No!" he said. "To-day you must operate. I shall provide. +You are weakened already." As he spoke he took off his coat and rolled +up his shirt-sleeve. + +Again the operation; again the narcotic; again some return of colour to +the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep. This time I +watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and rested. + +Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she must +not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him; that the +flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of their odour +was a part of the system of cure. Then he took over the care of the case +himself, saying that he would watch this night and the next and would +send me word when to come. + +After another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright and +seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal. + +What does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of life +amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain. + + +_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ + +_17 September._--Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so strong +again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed through some +long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and +feel the fresh air of the morning around me. I have a dim +half-remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing; darkness +in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present distress +more poignant: and then long spells of oblivion, and the rising back to +life as a diver coming up through a great press of water. Since, +however, Dr. Van Helsing has been with me, all this bad dreaming seems +to have passed away; the noises that used to frighten me out of my +wits--the flapping against the windows, the distant voices which seemed +so close to me, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and +commanded me to do I know not what--have all ceased. I go to bed now +without any fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown +quite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day from +Haarlem. To-night Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to be for a +day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched; I am well enough to be left +alone. Thank God for mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our +friends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change, for +last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time. I found +him asleep twice when I awoke; but I did not fear to go to sleep again, +although the boughs or bats or something napped almost angrily against +the window-panes. + + +_"The Pall Mall Gazette," 18 September._ + + THE ESCAPED WOLF. + + PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER. + + _Interview with the Keeper in the Zoölogical Gardens._ + +After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and perpetually using +the words "Pall Mall Gazette" as a sort of talisman, I managed to find +the keeper of the section of the Zoölogical Gardens in which the wolf +department is included. Thomas Bilder lives in one of the cottages in +the enclosure behind the elephant-house, and was just sitting down to +his tea when I found him. Thomas and his wife are hospitable folk, +elderly, and without children, and if the specimen I enjoyed of their +hospitality be of the average kind, their lives must be pretty +comfortable. The keeper would not enter on what he called "business" +until the supper was over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the +table was cleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said:-- + +"Now, sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want. You'll excoose me +refoosin' to talk of perfeshunal subjects afore meals. I gives the +wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section their tea afore +I begins to arsk them questions." + +"How do you mean, ask them questions?" I queried, wishful to get him +into a talkative humour. + +"'Ittin' of them over the 'ead with a pole is one way; scratchin' of +their hears is another, when gents as is flush wants a bit of a show-orf +to their gals. I don't so much mind the fust--the 'ittin' with a pole +afore I chucks in their dinner; but I waits till they've 'ad their +sherry and kawffee, so to speak, afore I tries on with the +ear-scratchin'. Mind you," he added philosophically, "there's a deal of +the same nature in us as in them theer animiles. Here's you a-comin' and +arskin' of me questions about my business, and I that grumpy-like that +only for your bloomin' 'arf-quid I'd 'a' seen you blowed fust 'fore I'd +answer. Not even when you arsked me sarcastic-like if I'd like you to +arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me questions. Without offence +did I tell yer to go to 'ell?" + +"You did." + +"An' when you said you'd report me for usin' of obscene language that +was 'ittin' me over the 'ead; but the 'arf-quid made that all right. I +weren't a-goin' to fight, so I waited for the food, and did with my 'owl +as the wolves, and lions, and tigers does. But, Lor' love yer 'art, now +that the old 'ooman has stuck a chunk of her tea-cake in me, an' rinsed +me out with her bloomin' old teapot, and I've lit hup, you may scratch +my ears for all you're worth, and won't git even a growl out of me. +Drive along with your questions. I know what yer a-comin' at, that 'ere +escaped wolf." + +"Exactly. I want you to give me your view of it. Just tell me how it +happened; and when I know the facts I'll get you to say what you +consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole affair will +end." + +"All right, guv'nor. This 'ere is about the 'ole story. That 'ere wolf +what we called Bersicker was one of three grey ones that came from +Norway to Jamrach's, which we bought off him four years ago. He was a +nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk of. I'm more +surprised at 'im for wantin' to get out nor any other animile in the +place. But, there, you can't trust wolves no more nor women." + +"Don't you mind him, sir!" broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery laugh. "'E's +got mindin' the animiles so long that blest if he ain't like a old wolf +'isself! But there ain't no 'arm in 'im." + +"Well, sir, it was about two hours after feedin' yesterday when I first +hear my disturbance. I was makin' up a litter in the monkey-house for a +young puma which is ill; but when I heard the yelpin' and 'owlin' I kem +away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin' like a mad thing at the +bars as if he wanted to get out. There wasn't much people about that +day, and close at hand was only one man, a tall, thin chap, with a 'ook +nose and a pointed beard, with a few white hairs runnin' through it. He +had a 'ard, cold look and red eyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, +for it seemed as if it was 'im as they was hirritated at. He 'ad white +kid gloves on 'is 'ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says: +'Keeper, these wolves seem upset at something.' + +"'Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he give +'isself. He didn't git angry, as I 'oped he would, but he smiled a kind +of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. 'Oh no, they +wouldn't like me,' 'e says. + +"'Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin' of him. 'They always likes a +bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea-time, which you 'as a +bagful.' + +"Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us a-talkin' they +lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let me stroke his ears +same as ever. That there man kem over, and blessed but if he didn't put +in his hand and stroke the old wolf's ears too! + +"'Tyke care,' says I. 'Bersicker is quick.' + +"'Never mind,' he says. 'I'm used to 'em!' + +"'Are you in the business yourself?' I says, tyking off my 'at, for a +man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to keepers. + +"'No' says he, 'not exactly in the business, but I 'ave made pets of +several.' And with that he lifts his 'at as perlite as a lord, and walks +away. Old Bersicker kep' a-lookin' arter 'im till 'e was out of sight, +and then went and lay down in a corner and wouldn't come hout the 'ole +hevening. Well, larst night, so soon as the moon was hup, the wolves +here all began a-'owling. There warn't nothing for them to 'owl at. +There warn't no one near, except some one that was evidently a-callin' a +dog somewheres out back of the gardings in the Park road. Once or twice +I went out to see that all was right, and it was, and then the 'owling +stopped. Just before twelve o'clock I just took a look round afore +turnin' in, an', bust me, but when I kem opposite to old Bersicker's +cage I see the rails broken and twisted about and the cage empty. And +that's all I know for certing." + +"Did any one else see anything?" + +"One of our gard'ners was a-comin' 'ome about that time from a 'armony, +when he sees a big grey dog comin' out through the garding 'edges. At +least, so he says, but I don't give much for it myself, for if he did 'e +never said a word about it to his missis when 'e got 'ome, and it was +only after the escape of the wolf was made known, and we had been up all +night-a-huntin' of the Park for Bersicker, that he remembered seein' +anything. My own belief was that the 'armony 'ad got into his 'ead." + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape of the +wolf?" + +"Well, sir," he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, "I think I can; +but I don't know as 'ow you'd be satisfied with the theory." + +"Certainly I shall. If a man like you, who knows the animals from +experience, can't hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even to try?" + +"Well then, sir, I accounts for it this way; it seems to me that 'ere +wolf escaped--simply because he wanted to get out." + +From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the joke I +could see that it had done service before, and that the whole +explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I couldn't cope in badinage +with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way to his heart, +so I said:-- + +"Now, Mr. Bilder, we'll consider that first half-sovereign worked off, +and this brother of his is waiting to be claimed when you've told me +what you think will happen." + +"Right y'are, sir," he said briskly. "Ye'll excoose me, I know, for +a-chaffin' of ye, but the old woman here winked at me, which was as much +as telling me to go on." + +"Well, I never!" said the old lady. + +"My opinion is this: that 'ere wolf is a-'idin' of, somewheres. The +gard'ner wot didn't remember said he was a-gallopin' northward faster +than a horse could go; but I don't believe him, for, yer see, sir, +wolves don't gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein' built that +way. Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay when they gets +in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more afeared than they is +they can make a devil of a noise and chop it up, whatever it is. But, +Lor' bless you, in real life a wolf is only a low creature, not half so +clever or bold as a good dog; and not half a quarter so much fight in +'im. This one ain't been used to fightin' or even to providin' for +hisself, and more like he's somewhere round the Park a-'idin' an' +a-shiverin' of, and, if he thinks at all, wonderin' where he is to get +his breakfast from; or maybe he's got down some area and is in a +coal-cellar. My eye, won't some cook get a rum start when she sees his +green eyes a-shining at her out of the dark! If he can't get food he's +bound to look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher's +shop in time. If he doesn't, and some nursemaid goes a-walkin' orf with +a soldier, leavin' of the hinfant in the perambulator--well, then I +shouldn't be surprised if the census is one babby the less. That's +all." + +I was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came bobbing up +against the window, and Mr. Bilder's face doubled its natural length +with surprise. + +"God bless me!" he said. "If there ain't old Bersicker come back by +'isself!" + +He went to the door and opened it; a most unnecessary proceeding it +seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so +well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us; a +personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea. + +After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither Bilder nor +his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a dog. The animal +itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all +picture-wolves--Red Riding Hood's quondam friend, whilst moving her +confidence in masquerade. + +The whole scene was an unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos. The +wicked wolf that for half a day had paralysed London and set all the +children in the town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of +penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine +prodigal son. Old Bilder examined him all over with most tender +solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent said:-- + +"There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of trouble; +didn't I say it all along? Here's his head all cut and full of broken +glass. 'E's been a-gettin' over some bloomin' wall or other. It's a +shyme that people are allowed to top their walls with broken bottles. +This 'ere's what comes of it. Come along, Bersicker." + +He took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece of meat that +satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary conditions of the +fatted calf, and went off to report. + +I came off, too, to report the only exclusive information that is given +to-day regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_17 September._--I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up my +books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to Lucy, +had fallen sadly into arrear. Suddenly the door was burst open, and in +rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion. I was +thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord +into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown. Without an instant's +pause he made straight at me. He had a dinner-knife in his hand, and, +as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to keep the table between us. He was +too quick and too strong for me, however; for before I could get my +balance he had struck at me and cut my left wrist rather severely. +Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right and he was +sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled freely, and quite a +little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw that my friend was not +intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist, +keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time. When the +attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his employment +positively sickened me. He was lying on his belly on the floor licking +up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was +easily secured, and, to my surprise, went with the attendants quite +placidly, simply repeating over and over again: "The blood is the life! +The blood is the life!" + +I cannot afford to lose blood just at present; I have lost too much of +late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of Lucy's +illness and its horrible phases is telling on me. I am over-excited and +weary, and I need rest, rest, rest. Happily Van Helsing has not summoned +me, so I need not forego my sleep; to-night I could not well do without +it. + + +_Telegram, Van Helsing, Antwerp, to Seward, Carfax._ + +(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given; delivered late by +twenty-two hours.) + +"_17 September._--Do not fail to be at Hillingham to-night. If not +watching all the time frequently, visit and see that flowers are as +placed; very important; do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as +possible after arrival." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_18 September._--Just off for train to London. The arrival of Van +Helsing's telegram filled me with dismay. A whole night lost, and I know +by bitter experience what may happen in a night. Of course it is +possible that all may be well, but what _may_ have happened? Surely +there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every possible accident +should thwart us in all we try to do. I shall take this cylinder with +me, and then I can complete my entry on Lucy's phonograph. + + +_Memorandum left by Lucy Westenra._ + +_17 September. Night._--I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no +one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact +record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and +have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the +doing. + +I went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were placed as Dr. +Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep. + +I was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after that +sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and which now I +know so well. I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr. Seward was in +the next room--as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be--so that I might have +called him. I tried to go to sleep, but could not. Then there came to me +the old fear of sleep, and I determined to keep awake. Perversely sleep +would try to come then when I did not want it; so, as I feared to be +alone, I opened my door and called out: "Is there anybody there?" There +was no answer. I was afraid to wake mother, and so closed my door again. +Then outside in the shrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog's, but +more fierce and deeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could +see nothing, except a big bat, which had evidently been buffeting its +wings against the window. So I went back to bed again, but determined +not to go to sleep. Presently the door opened, and mother looked in; +seeing by my moving that I was not asleep, came in, and sat by me. She +said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont:-- + +"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you were all +right." + +I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to come in +and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down beside me; she did +not take off her dressing gown, for she said she would only stay a while +and then go back to her own bed. As she lay there in my arms, and I in +hers, the flapping and buffeting came to the window again. She was +startled and a little frightened, and cried out: "What is that?" I tried +to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet; but I could +hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly. After a while there was +the low howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly after there was a +crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass was hurled on the floor. +The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the +aperture of the broken panes there was the head of a great, gaunt grey +wolf. Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting +posture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her. Amongst +other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing +insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me. For a +second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was a strange +and horrible gurgling in her throat; then she fell over--as if struck +with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and made me dizzy for a +moment or two. The room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my +eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole +myriad of little specks seemed to come blowing in through the broken +window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that +travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I tried to +stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear mother's poor body, +which seemed to grow cold already--for her dear heart had ceased to +beat--weighed me down; and I remembered no more for a while. + +The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered +consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling; the +dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling; and in our shrubbery, +seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing. I was dazed and +stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the sound of the +nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort +me. The sounds seemed to have awakened the maids, too, for I could hear +their bare feet pattering outside my door. I called to them, and they +came in, and when they saw what had happened, and what it was that lay +over me on the bed, they screamed out. The wind rushed in through the +broken window, and the door slammed to. They lifted off the body of my +dear mother, and laid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I +had got up. They were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them +to go to the dining-room and have each a glass of wine. The door flew +open for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then went +in a body to the dining-room; and I laid what flowers I had on my dear +mother's breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr. Van Helsing +had told me, but I didn't like to remove them, and, besides, I would +have some of the servants to sit up with me now. I was surprised that +the maids did not come back. I called them, but got no answer, so I went +to the dining-room to look for them. + +My heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay helpless +on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry was on the table +half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about. I was suspicious, +and examined the decanter. It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the +sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for +her--oh! did use--was empty. What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back +in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for +the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I +dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the +broken window. + +The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from +the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God +shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, +where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother +gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not +survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_18 September._--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early. +Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently +and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy or her +mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door. After a while, +finding no response, I knocked and rang again; still no answer. I cursed +the laziness of the servants that they should lie abed at such an +hour--for it was now ten o'clock--and so rang and knocked again, but +more impatiently, but still without response. Hitherto I had blamed only +the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me. Was this +desolation but another link in the chain of doom which seemed drawing +tight around us? Was it indeed a house of death to which I had come, too +late? I knew that minutes, even seconds of delay, might mean hours of +danger to Lucy, if she had had again one of those frightful relapses; +and I went round the house to try if I could find by chance an entry +anywhere. + +I could find no means of ingress. Every window and door was fastened and +locked, and I returned baffled to the porch. As I did so, I heard the +rapid pit-pat of a swiftly driven horse's feet. They stopped at the +gate, and a few seconds later I met Van Helsing running up the avenue. +When he saw me, he gasped out:-- + +"Then it was you, and just arrived. How is she? Are we too late? Did you +not get my telegram?" + +I answered as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got his +telegram early in the morning, and had not lost a minute in coming here, +and that I could not make any one in the house hear me. He paused and +raised his hat as he said solemnly:-- + +"Then I fear we are too late. God's will be done!" With his usual +recuperative energy, he went on: "Come. If there be no way open to get +in, we must make one. Time is all in all to us now." + +We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen +window. The Professor took a small surgical saw from his case, and +handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window. I +attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them. Then +with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the sashes and +opened the window. I helped the Professor in, and followed him. There +was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which were close at +hand. We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in the dining-room, +dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters, found four +servant-women lying on the floor. There was no need to think them dead, +for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the +room left no doubt as to their condition. Van Helsing and I looked at +each other, and as we moved away he said: "We can attend to them later." +Then we ascended to Lucy's room. For an instant or two we paused at the +door to listen, but there was no sound that we could hear. With white +faces and trembling hands, we opened the door gently, and entered the +room. + +How shall I describe what we saw? On the bed lay two women, Lucy and her +mother. The latter lay farthest in, and she was covered with a white +sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the draught through the +broken window, showing the drawn, white face, with a look of terror +fixed upon it. By her side lay Lucy, with face white and still more +drawn. The flowers which had been round her neck we found upon her +mother's bosom, and her throat was bare, showing the two little wounds +which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white and mangled. +Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head almost touching +poor Lucy's breast; then he gave a quick turn of his head, as of one who +listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to me:-- + +"It is not yet too late! Quick! quick! Bring the brandy!" + +I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste +it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I found +on the table. The maids were still breathing, but more restlessly, and I +fancied that the narcotic was wearing off. I did not stay to make sure, +but returned to Van Helsing. He rubbed the brandy, as on another +occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists and the palms of her +hands. He said to me:-- + +"I can do this, all that can be at the present. You go wake those maids. +Flick them in the face with a wet towel, and flick them hard. Make them +get heat and fire and a warm bath. This poor soul is nearly as cold as +that beside her. She will need be heated before we can do anything +more." + +I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the +women. The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently +affected her more strongly, so I lifted her on the sofa and let her +sleep. The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to +them they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner. I was stern with +them, however, and would not let them talk. I told them that one life +was bad enough to lose, and that if they delayed they would sacrifice +Miss Lucy. So, sobbing and crying, they went about their way, half clad +as they were, and prepared fire and water. Fortunately, the kitchen and +boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water. We +got a bath and carried Lucy out as she was and placed her in it. Whilst +we were busy chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall door. One +of the maids ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and opened it. Then +she returned and whispered to us that there was a gentleman who had come +with a message from Mr. Holmwood. I bade her simply tell him that he +must wait, for we could see no one now. She went away with the message, +and, engrossed with our work, I clean forgot all about him. + +I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly +earnest. I knew--as he knew--that it was a stand-up fight with death, +and in a pause told him so. He answered me in a way that I did not +understand, but with the sternest look that his face could wear:-- + +"If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her fade +away into peace, for I see no light in life over her horizon." He went +on with his work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied vigour. + +Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to +be of some effect. Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the +stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement. Van Helsing's +face almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her in +a hot sheet to dry her he said to me:-- + +"The first gain is ours! Check to the King!" + +We took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and laid +her in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat. I noticed +that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round her throat. She was +still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not worse than, we had +ever seen her. + +Van Helsing called in one of the women, and told her to stay with her +and not to take her eyes off her till we returned, and then beckoned me +out of the room. + +"We must consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended the +stairs. In the hall he opened the dining-room door, and we passed in, he +closing the door carefully behind him. The shutters had been opened, but +the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the etiquette of +death which the British woman of the lower classes always rigidly +observes. The room was, therefore, dimly dark. It was, however, light +enough for our purposes. Van Helsing's sternness was somewhat relieved +by a look of perplexity. He was evidently torturing his mind about +something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke:-- + +"What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help? We must have +another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life +won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted already; I am +exhausted too. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have +courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his +veins for her?" + +"What's the matter with me, anyhow?" + +The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought +relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris. Van +Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but his face softened and a +glad look came into his eyes as I cried out: "Quincey Morris!" and +rushed towards him with outstretched hands. + +"What brought you here?" I cried as our hands met. + +"I guess Art is the cause." + +He handed me a telegram:-- + +"Have not heard from Seward for three days, and am terribly anxious. +Cannot leave. Father still in same condition. Send me word how Lucy is. +Do not delay.--HOLMWOOD." + +"I think I came just in the nick of time. You know you have only to tell +me what to do." + +Van Helsing strode forward, and took his hand, looking him straight in +the eyes as he said:-- + +"A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in +trouble. You're a man and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against +us for all he's worth, but God sends us men when we want them." + +Once again we went through that ghastly operation. I have not the heart +to go through with the details. Lucy had got a terrible shock and it +told on her more than before, for though plenty of blood went into her +veins, her body did not respond to the treatment as well as on the other +occasions. Her struggle back into life was something frightful to see +and hear. However, the action of both heart and lungs improved, and Van +Helsing made a subcutaneous injection of morphia, as before, and with +good effect. Her faint became a profound slumber. The Professor watched +whilst I went downstairs with Quincey Morris, and sent one of the maids +to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting. I left Quincey lying down +after having a glass of wine, and told the cook to get ready a good +breakfast. Then a thought struck me, and I went back to the room where +Lucy now was. When I came softly in, I found Van Helsing with a sheet or +two of note-paper in his hand. He had evidently read it, and was +thinking it over as he sat with his hand to his brow. There was a look +of grim satisfaction in his face, as of one who has had a doubt solved. +He handed me the paper saying only: "It dropped from Lucy's breast when +we carried her to the bath." + +When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause +asked him: "In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, +mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it?" I was so bewildered that I +did not know what to say more. Van Helsing put out his hand and took the +paper, saying:-- + +"Do not trouble about it now. Forget it for the present. You shall know +and understand it all in good time; but it will be later. And now what +is it that you came to me to say?" This brought me back to fact, and I +was all myself again. + +"I came to speak about the certificate of death. If we do not act +properly and wisely, there may be an inquest, and that paper would have +to be produced. I am in hopes that we need have no inquest, for if we +had it would surely kill poor Lucy, if nothing else did. I know, and you +know, and the other doctor who attended her knows, that Mrs. Westenra +had disease of the heart, and we can certify that she died of it. Let us +fill up the certificate at once, and I shall take it myself to the +registrar and go on to the undertaker." + +"Good, oh my friend John! Well thought of! Truly Miss Lucy, if she be +sad in the foes that beset her, is at least happy in the friends that +love her. One, two, three, all open their veins for her, besides one old +man. Ah yes, I know, friend John; I am not blind! I love you all the +more for it! Now go." + +In the hall I met Quincey Morris, with a telegram for Arthur telling him +that Mrs. Westenra was dead; that Lucy also had been ill, but was now +going on better; and that Van Helsing and I were with her. I told him +where I was going, and he hurried me out, but as I was going said:-- + +"When you come back, Jack, may I have two words with you all to +ourselves?" I nodded in reply and went out. I found no difficulty about +the registration, and arranged with the local undertaker to come up in +the evening to measure for the coffin and to make arrangements. + +When I got back Quincey was waiting for me. I told him I would see him +as soon as I knew about Lucy, and went up to her room. She was still +sleeping, and the Professor seemingly had not moved from his seat at her +side. From his putting his finger to his lips, I gathered that he +expected her to wake before long and was afraid of forestalling nature. +So I went down to Quincey and took him into the breakfast-room, where +the blinds were not drawn down, and which was a little more cheerful, or +rather less cheerless, than the other rooms. When we were alone, he said +to me:-- + +"Jack Seward, I don't want to shove myself in anywhere where I've no +right to be; but this is no ordinary case. You know I loved that girl +and wanted to marry her; but, although that's all past and gone, I can't +help feeling anxious about her all the same. What is it that's wrong +with her? The Dutchman--and a fine old fellow he is; I can see +that--said, that time you two came into the room, that you must have +_another_ transfusion of blood, and that both you and he were exhausted. +Now I know well that you medical men speak _in camera_, and that a man +must not expect to know what they consult about in private. But this is +no common matter, and, whatever it is, I have done my part. Is not that +so?" + +"That's so," I said, and he went on:-- + +"I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did +to-day. Is not that so?" + +"That's so." + +"And I guess Art was in it too. When I saw him four days ago down at his +own place he looked queer. I have not seen anything pulled down so quick +since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of go to grass +all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at +her in the night, and what with his gorge and the vein left open, there +wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up, and I had to put a +bullet through her as she lay. Jack, if you may tell me without +betraying confidence, Arthur was the first, is not that so?" As he spoke +the poor fellow looked terribly anxious. He was in a torture of suspense +regarding the woman he loved, and his utter ignorance of the terrible +mystery which seemed to surround her intensified his pain. His very +heart was bleeding, and it took all the manhood of him--and there was a +royal lot of it, too--to keep him from breaking down. I paused before +answering, for I felt that I must not betray anything which the +Professor wished kept secret; but already he knew so much, and guessed +so much, that there could be no reason for not answering, so I answered +in the same phrase: "That's so." + +"And how long has this been going on?" + +"About ten days." + +"Ten days! Then I guess, Jack Seward, that that poor pretty creature +that we all love has had put into her veins within that time the blood +of four strong men. Man alive, her whole body wouldn't hold it." Then, +coming close to me, he spoke in a fierce half-whisper: "What took it +out?" + +I shook my head. "That," I said, "is the crux. Van Helsing is simply +frantic about it, and I am at my wits' end. I can't even hazard a guess. +There has been a series of little circumstances which have thrown out +all our calculations as to Lucy being properly watched. But these shall +not occur again. Here we stay until all be well--or ill." Quincey held +out his hand. "Count me in," he said. "You and the Dutchman will tell me +what to do, and I'll do it." + +When she woke late in the afternoon, Lucy's first movement was to feel +in her breast, and, to my surprise, produced the paper which Van Helsing +had given me to read. The careful Professor had replaced it where it had +come from, lest on waking she should be alarmed. Her eye then lit on Van +Helsing and on me too, and gladdened. Then she looked around the room, +and seeing where she was, shuddered; she gave a loud cry, and put her +poor thin hands before her pale face. We both understood what that +meant--that she had realised to the full her mother's death; so we tried +what we could to comfort her. Doubtless sympathy eased her somewhat, but +she was very low in thought and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for +a long time. We told her that either or both of us would now remain with +her all the time, and that seemed to comfort her. Towards dusk she fell +into a doze. Here a very odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep she +took the paper from her breast and tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped +over and took the pieces from her. All the same, however, she went on +with the action of tearing, as though the material were still in her +hands; finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though scattering +the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered as +if in thought, but he said nothing. + + * * * * * + +_19 September._--All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid +to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it. The Professor and +I took it in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment +unattended. Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I knew +that all night long he patrolled round and round the house. + +When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucy's +strength. She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little +nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good. At times she +slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her, between +sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep she looked stronger, although more +haggard, and her breathing was softer; her open mouth showed the pale +gums drawn back from the teeth, which thus looked positively longer and +sharper than usual; when she woke the softness of her eyes evidently +changed the expression, for she looked her own self, although a dying +one. In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him. +Quincey went off to meet him at the station. + +When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full +and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more +colour to the pale cheeks. When he saw her, Arthur was simply choking +with emotion, and none of us could speak. In the hours that had passed, +the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had +grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible +were shortened. Arthur's presence, however, seemed to act as a +stimulant; she rallied a little, and spoke to him more brightly than she +had done since we arrived. He too pulled himself together, and spoke as +cheerily as he could, so that the best was made of everything. + +It was now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with +her. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering +this on Lucy's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I +fear that to-morrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too +great; the poor child cannot rally. God help us all. + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._ + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_17 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"It seems _an age_ since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote. You +will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when you have read all my +budget of news. Well, I got my husband back all right; when we arrived +at Exeter there was a carriage waiting for us, and in it, though he had +an attack of gout, Mr. Hawkins. He took us to his house, where there +were rooms for us all nice and comfortable, and we dined together. After +dinner Mr. Hawkins said:-- + +"'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity; and may every +blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with +love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here +with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child; all are gone, and in +my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and +the old man clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one. + +"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my +bedroom and the drawing-room I can see the great elms of the cathedral +close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow +stone of the cathedral and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and +cawing and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of +rooks--and humans. I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging things and +housekeeping. Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all day; for, now that +Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to tell him all about the +clients. + +"How is your dear mother getting on? I wish I could run up to town for a +day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not go yet, with so much on my +shoulders; and Jonathan wants looking after still. He is beginning to +put some flesh on his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the +long illness; even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in a sudden +way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him back to his usual +placidity. However, thank God, these occasions grow less frequent as the +days go on, and they will in time pass away altogether, I trust. And now +I have told you my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, +and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, +and is it to be a public or a private wedding? Tell me all about it, +dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests +you which will not be dear to me. Jonathan asks me to send his +'respectful duty,' but I do not think that is good enough from the +junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker; and so, as you +love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses +of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead. Good-bye, my dearest +Lucy, and all blessings on you. + +"Yours, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Report from Patrick Hennessey, M. D., M. R. C. S. L. K. Q. C. P. I., +etc., etc., to John Seward, M. D._ + +"_20 September._ + +"My dear Sir,-- + +"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the conditions of +everything left in my charge.... With regard to patient, Renfield, there +is more to say. He has had another outbreak, which might have had a +dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately happened, was unattended +with any unhappy results. This afternoon a carrier's cart with two men +made a call at the empty house whose grounds abut on ours--the house to +which, you will remember, the patient twice ran away. The men stopped at +our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers. I was +myself looking out of the study window, having a smoke after dinner, and +saw one of them come up to the house. As he passed the window of +Renfield's room, the patient began to rate him from within, and called +him all the foul names he could lay his tongue to. The man, who seemed a +decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling him to "shut up for a +foul-mouthed beggar," whereon our man accused him of robbing him and +wanting to murder him and said that he would hinder him if he were to +swing for it. I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, +so he contented himself after looking the place over and making up his +mind as to what kind of a place he had got to by saying: 'Lor' bless +yer, sir, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin' madhouse. I +pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the house with a wild +beast like that.' Then he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him +where the gate of the empty house was; he went away, followed by threats +and curses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I could +make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a +well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind had +ever occurred. I found him, to my astonishment, quite composed and most +genial in his manner. I tried to get him to talk of the incident, but he +blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe +that he was completely oblivious of the affair. It was, I am sorry to +say, however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an +hour I heard of him again. This time he had broken out through the +window of his room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the +attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I feared he was intent +on some mischief. My fear was justified when I saw the same cart which +had passed before coming down the road, having on it some great wooden +boxes. The men were wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the +face, as if with violent exercise. Before I could get up to him the +patient rushed at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to +knock his head against the ground. If I had not seized him just at the +moment I believe he would have killed the man there and then. The other +fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt-end of his +heavy whip. It was a terrible blow; but he did not seem to mind it, but +seized him also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and +fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no light weight, and the others +were both burly men. At first he was silent in his fighting; but as we +began to master him, and the attendants were putting a strait-waistcoat +on him, he began to shout: 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me! +they shan't murder me by inches! I'll fight for my Lord and Master!' and +all sorts of similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable +difficulty that they got him back to the house and put him in the padded +room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken. However, I set +it all right; and he is going on well. + +"The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of actions for +damages, and promised to rain all the penalties of the law on us. Their +threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for +the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman. They said that if it +had not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying and +raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made short work of +him. They gave as another reason for their defeat the extraordinary +state of drouth to which they had been reduced by the dusty nature of +their occupation and the reprehensible distance from the scene of their +labours of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their +drift, and after a stiff glass of grog, or rather more of the same, and +with each a sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore +that they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of +meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent. I took their +names and addresses, in case they might be needed. They are as +follows:--Jack Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, King George's Road, Great +Walworth, and Thomas Snelling, Peter Farley's Row, Guide Court, Bethnal +Green. They are both in the employment of Harris & Sons, Moving and +Shipment Company, Orange Master's Yard, Soho. + +"I shall report to you any matter of interest occurring here, and shall +wire you at once if there is anything of importance. + +"Believe me, dear Sir, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"PATRICK HENNESSEY." + + +_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra_. + +(Unopened by her.) + +"_18 September._ + +"My dearest Lucy,-- + +"Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly. +Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had both come to so love him +that it really seems as though we had lost a father. I never knew either +father or mother, so that the dear old man's death is a real blow to me. +Jonathan is greatly distressed. It is not only that he feels sorrow, +deep sorrow, for the dear, good man who has befriended him all his life, +and now at the end has treated him like his own son and left him a +fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is wealth beyond the +dream of avarice, but Jonathan feels it on another account. He says the +amount of responsibility which it puts upon him makes him nervous. He +begins to doubt himself. I try to cheer him up, and _my_ belief in _him_ +helps him to have a belief in himself. But it is here that the grave +shock that he experienced tells upon him the most. Oh, it is too hard +that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his--a nature which +enabled him by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to master +in a few years--should be so injured that the very essence of its +strength is gone. Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my troubles in +the midst of your own happiness; but, Lucy dear, I must tell some one, +for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan +tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in. I dread coming +up to London, as we must do the day after to-morrow; for poor Mr. +Hawkins left in his will that he was to be buried in the grave with his +father. As there are no relations at all, Jonathan will have to be chief +mourner. I shall try to run over to see you, dearest, if only for a few +minutes. Forgive me for troubling you. With all blessings, + +"Your loving + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_20 September._--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry +to-night. I am too miserable, too low-spirited, too sick of the world +and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard +this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death. And he has +been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late--Lucy's mother +and Arthur's father, and now.... Let me get on with my work. + +I duly relieved Van Helsing in his watch over Lucy. We wanted Arthur to +go to rest also, but he refused at first. It was only when I told him +that we should want him to help us during the day, and that we must not +all break down for want of rest, lest Lucy should suffer, that he agreed +to go. Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he said; +"come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much +mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You +must not be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. +Come to the drawing-room, where there is a big fire, and there are two +sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will +be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we +sleep." Arthur went off with him, casting back a longing look on Lucy's +face, which lay in her pillow, almost whiter than the lawn. She lay +quite still, and I looked round the room to see that all was as it +should be. I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, +as in the other, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the +window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk +handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of +the same odorous flowers. Lucy was breathing somewhat stertorously, and +her face was at its worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums. Her +teeth, in the dim, uncertain light, seemed longer and sharper than they +had been in the morning. In particular, by some trick of the light, the +canine teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest. I sat down by her, +and presently she moved uneasily. At the same moment there came a sort +of dull flapping or buffeting at the window. I went over to it softly, +and peeped out by the corner of the blind. There was a full moonlight, +and I could see that the noise was made by a great bat, which wheeled +round--doubtless attracted by the light, although so dim--and every now +and again struck the window with its wings. When I came back to my seat, +I found that Lucy had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic +flowers from her throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and sat +watching her. + +Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had prescribed. +She took but a little, and that languidly. There did not seem to be with +her now the unconscious struggle for life and strength that had hitherto +so marked her illness. It struck me as curious that the moment she +became conscious she pressed the garlic flowers close to her. It was +certainly odd that whenever she got into that lethargic state, with the +stertorous breathing, she put the flowers from her; but that when she +waked she clutched them close. There was no possibility of making any +mistake about this, for in the long hours that followed, she had many +spells of sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times. + +At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Arthur had then fallen +into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on. When he saw Lucy's face +I could hear the sissing indraw of his breath, and he said to me in a +sharp whisper: "Draw up the blind; I want light!" Then he bent down, +and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her carefully. He +removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat. As +he did so he started back, and I could hear his ejaculation, "Mein +Gott!" as it was smothered in his throat. I bent over and looked, too, +and as I noticed some queer chill came over me. + +The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared. + +For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with his face +at its sternest. Then he turned to me and said calmly:-- + +"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark +me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor boy, and +let him come and see the last; he trusts us, and we have promised him." + +I went to the dining-room and waked him. He was dazed for a moment, but +when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters +he thought he was late, and expressed his fear. I assured him that Lucy +was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that both Van +Helsing and I feared that the end was near. He covered his face with his +hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he remained, +perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders +shook with grief. I took him by the hand and raised him up. "Come," I +said, "my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude: it will be best +and easiest for her." + +When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with +his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making +everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed Lucy's +hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples. When we +came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered +softly:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!" He was stooping to +kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back. "No," he whispered, "not +yet! Hold her hand; it will comfort her more." + +So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best, +with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes. Then +gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a little bit her +breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired child's. + +And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in +the night. Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale +gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever. In a +sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which +were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, +such as I had never heard from her lips:-- + +"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Arthur bent +eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, +had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by +the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which +I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost +across the room. + +"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" And +he stood between them like a lion at bay. + +Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to do +or say; and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realised +the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting. + +I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as +of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champed +together. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily. + +Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and +putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown +one; drawing it to her, she kissed it. "My true friend," she said, in a +faint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend, and his! Oh, +guard him, and give me peace!" + +"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his +hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and said +to him: "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the +forehead, and only once." + +Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted. + +Lucy's eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took +Arthur's arm, and drew him away. + +And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it +ceased. + +"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!" + +I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, where he +sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way that +nearly broke me down to see. + +I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy, and +his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body. +Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had +recovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost their +deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working +of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as +might be. + + "We thought her dying whilst she slept, + And sleeping when she died." + +I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:-- + +"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!" + +He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:-- + +"Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!" + +When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:-- + +"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and +her mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastly +formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff were +afflicted--or blessed--with something of his own obsequious suavity. +Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to +me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out +from the death-chamber:-- + +"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege to +attend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to our +establishment!" + +I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possible from +the disordered state of things in the household. There were no relatives +at hand; and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend at his +father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should have been +bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it upon +ourselves to examine papers, etc. He insisted upon looking over Lucy's +papers himself. I asked him why, for I feared that he, being a +foreigner, might not be quite aware of English legal requirements, and +so might in ignorance make some unnecessary trouble. He answered me:-- + +"I know; I know. You forget that I am a lawyer as well as a doctor. But +this is not altogether for the law. You knew that, when you avoided the +coroner. I have more than him to avoid. There may be papers more--such +as this." + +As he spoke he took from his pocket-book the memorandum which had been +in Lucy's breast, and which she had torn in her sleep. + +"When you find anything of the solicitor who is for the late Mrs. +Westenra, seal all her papers, and write him to-night. For me, I watch +here in the room and in Miss Lucy's old room all night, and I myself +search for what may be. It is not well that her very thoughts go into +the hands of strangers." + +I went on with my part of the work, and in another half hour had found +the name and address of Mrs. Westenra's solicitor and had written to +him. All the poor lady's papers were in order; explicit directions +regarding the place of burial were given. I had hardly sealed the +letter, when, to my surprise, Van Helsing walked into the room, +saying:-- + +"Can I help you, friend John? I am free, and if I may, my service is to +you." + +"Have you got what you looked for?" I asked, to which he replied:-- + +"I did not look for any specific thing. I only hoped to find, and find I +have, all that there was--only some letters and a few memoranda, and a +diary new begun. But I have them here, and we shall for the present say +nothing of them. I shall see that poor lad to-morrow evening, and, with +his sanction, I shall use some." + +When we had finished the work in hand, he said to me:-- + +"And now, friend John, I think we may to bed. We want sleep, both you +and I, and rest to recuperate. To-morrow we shall have much to do, but +for the to-night there is no need of us. Alas!" + +Before turning in we went to look at poor Lucy. The undertaker had +certainly done his work well, for the room was turned into a small +_chapelle ardente_. There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, +and death was made as little repulsive as might be. The end of the +winding-sheet was laid over the face; when the Professor bent over and +turned it gently back, we both started at the beauty before us, the tall +wax candles showing a sufficient light to note it well. All Lucy's +loveliness had come back to her in death, and the hours that had passed, +instead of leaving traces of "decay's effacing fingers," had but +restored the beauty of life, till positively I could not believe my eyes +that I was looking at a corpse. + +The Professor looked sternly grave. He had not loved her as I had, and +there was no need for tears in his eyes. He said to me: "Remain till I +return," and left the room. He came back with a handful of wild garlic +from the box waiting in the hall, but which had not been opened, and +placed the flowers amongst the others on and around the bed. Then he +took from his neck, inside his collar, a little gold crucifix, and +placed it over the mouth. He restored the sheet to its place, and we +came away. + +I was undressing in my own room, when, with a premonitory tap at the +door, he entered, and at once began to speak:-- + +"To-morrow I want you to bring me, before night, a set of post-mortem +knives." + +"Must we make an autopsy?" I asked. + +"Yes and no. I want to operate, but not as you think. Let me tell you +now, but not a word to another. I want to cut off her head and take out +her heart. Ah! you a surgeon, and so shocked! You, whom I have seen with +no tremble of hand or heart, do operations of life and death that make +the rest shudder. Oh, but I must not forget, my dear friend John, that +you loved her; and I have not forgotten it, for it is I that shall +operate, and you must only help. I would like to do it to-night, but for +Arthur I must not; he will be free after his father's funeral to-morrow, +and he will want to see her--to see _it_. Then, when she is coffined +ready for the next day, you and I shall come when all sleep. We shall +unscrew the coffin-lid, and shall do our operation: and then replace +all, so that none know, save we alone." + +"But why do it at all? The girl is dead. Why mutilate her poor body +without need? And if there is no necessity for a post-mortem and nothing +to gain by it--no good to her, to us, to science, to human +knowledge--why do it? Without such it is monstrous." + +For answer he put his hand on my shoulder, and said, with infinite +tenderness:-- + +"Friend John, I pity your poor bleeding heart; and I love you the more +because it does so bleed. If I could, I would take on myself the burden +that you do bear. But there are things that you know not, but that you +shall know, and bless me for knowing, though they are not pleasant +things. John, my child, you have been my friend now many years, and yet +did you ever know me to do any without good cause? I may err--I am but +man; but I believe in all I do. Was it not for these causes that you +send for me when the great trouble came? Yes! Were you not amazed, nay +horrified, when I would not let Arthur kiss his love--though she was +dying--and snatched him away by all my strength? Yes! And yet you saw +how she thanked me, with her so beautiful dying eyes, her voice, too, so +weak, and she kiss my rough old hand and bless me? Yes! And did you not +hear me swear promise to her, that so she closed her eyes grateful? Yes! + +"Well, I have good reason now for all I want to do. You have for many +years trust me; you have believe me weeks past, when there be things so +strange that you might have well doubt. Believe me yet a little, friend +John. If you trust me not, then I must tell what I think; and that is +not perhaps well. And if I work--as work I shall, no matter trust or no +trust--without my friend trust in me, I work with heavy heart and feel, +oh! so lonely when I want all help and courage that may be!" He paused a +moment and went on solemnly: "Friend John, there are strange and +terrible days before us. Let us not be two, but one, that so we work to +a good end. Will you not have faith in me?" + +I took his hand, and promised him. I held my door open as he went away, +and watched him go into his room and close the door. As I stood without +moving, I saw one of the maids pass silently along the passage--she had +her back towards me, so did not see me--and go into the room where Lucy +lay. The sight touched me. Devotion is so rare, and we are so grateful +to those who show it unasked to those we love. Here was a poor girl +putting aside the terrors which she naturally had of death to go watch +alone by the bier of the mistress whom she loved, so that the poor clay +might not be lonely till laid to eternal rest.... + + * * * * * + +I must have slept long and soundly, for it was broad daylight when Van +Helsing waked me by coming into my room. He came over to my bedside and +said:-- + +"You need not trouble about the knives; we shall not do it." + +"Why not?" I asked. For his solemnity of the night before had greatly +impressed me. + +"Because," he said sternly, "it is too late--or too early. See!" Here he +held up the little golden crucifix. "This was stolen in the night." + +"How, stolen," I asked in wonder, "since you have it now?" + +"Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from the +woman who robbed the dead and the living. Her punishment will surely +come, but not through me; she knew not altogether what she did and thus +unknowing, she only stole. Now we must wait." + +He went away on the word, leaving me with a new mystery to think of, a +new puzzle to grapple with. + +The forenoon was a dreary time, but at noon the solicitor came: Mr. +Marquand, of Wholeman, Sons, Marquand & Lidderdale. He was very genial +and very appreciative of what we had done, and took off our hands all +cares as to details. During lunch he told us that Mrs. Westenra had for +some time expected sudden death from her heart, and had put her affairs +in absolute order; he informed us that, with the exception of a certain +entailed property of Lucy's father's which now, in default of direct +issue, went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate, +real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood. When he had +told us so much he went on:-- + +"Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition, and +pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter either +penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a matrimonial +alliance. Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we almost came into +collision, for she asked us if we were or were not prepared to carry out +her wishes. Of course, we had then no alternative but to accept. We were +right in principle, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred we should +have proved, by the logic of events, the accuracy of our judgment. +Frankly, however, I must admit that in this case any other form of +disposition would have rendered impossible the carrying out of her +wishes. For by her predeceasing her daughter the latter would have come +into possession of the property, and, even had she only survived her +mother by five minutes, her property would, in case there were no +will--and a will was a practical impossibility in such a case--have been +treated at her decease as under intestacy. In which case Lord Godalming, +though so dear a friend, would have had no claim in the world; and the +inheritors, being remote, would not be likely to abandon their just +rights, for sentimental reasons regarding an entire stranger. I assure +you, my dear sirs, I am rejoiced at the result, perfectly rejoiced." + +He was a good fellow, but his rejoicing at the one little part--in which +he was officially interested--of so great a tragedy, was an +object-lesson in the limitations of sympathetic understanding. + +He did not remain long, but said he would look in later in the day and +see Lord Godalming. His coming, however, had been a certain comfort to +us, since it assured us that we should not have to dread hostile +criticism as to any of our acts. Arthur was expected at five o'clock, so +a little before that time we visited the death-chamber. It was so in +very truth, for now both mother and daughter lay in it. The undertaker, +true to his craft, had made the best display he could of his goods, and +there was a mortuary air about the place that lowered our spirits at +once. Van Helsing ordered the former arrangement to be adhered to, +explaining that, as Lord Godalming was coming very soon, it would be +less harrowing to his feelings to see all that was left of his _fiancée_ +quite alone. The undertaker seemed shocked at his own stupidity and +exerted himself to restore things to the condition in which we left them +the night before, so that when Arthur came such shocks to his feelings +as we could avoid were saved. + +Poor fellow! He looked desperately sad and broken; even his stalwart +manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his +much-tried emotions. He had, I knew, been very genuinely and devotedly +attached to his father; and to lose him, and at such a time, was a +bitter blow to him. With me he was warm as ever, and to Van Helsing he +was sweetly courteous; but I could not help seeing that there was some +constraint with him. The Professor noticed it, too, and motioned me to +bring him upstairs. I did so, and left him at the door of the room, as I +felt he would like to be quite alone with her, but he took my arm and +led me in, saying huskily:-- + +"You loved her too, old fellow; she told me all about it, and there was +no friend had a closer place in her heart than you. I don't know how to +thank you for all you have done for her. I can't think yet...." + +Here he suddenly broke down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and +laid his head on my breast, crying:-- + +"Oh, Jack! Jack! What shall I do! The whole of life seems gone from me +all at once, and there is nothing in the wide world for me to live for." + +I comforted him as well as I could. In such cases men do not need much +expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the +shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man's +heart. I stood still and silent till his sobs died away, and then I said +softly to him:-- + +"Come and look at her." + +Together we moved over to the bed, and I lifted the lawn from her face. +God! how beautiful she was. Every hour seemed to be enhancing her +loveliness. It frightened and amazed me somewhat; and as for Arthur, he +fell a-trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as with an ague. At +last, after a long pause, he said to me in a faint whisper:-- + +"Jack, is she really dead?" + +I assured him sadly that it was so, and went on to suggest--for I felt +that such a horrible doubt should not have life for a moment longer than +I could help--that it often happened that after death faces became +softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty; that this was +especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or prolonged +suffering. It seemed to quite do away with any doubt, and, after +kneeling beside the couch for a while and looking at her lovingly and +long, he turned aside. I told him that that must be good-bye, as the +coffin had to be prepared; so he went back and took her dead hand in his +and kissed it, and bent over and kissed her forehead. He came away, +fondly looking back over his shoulder at her as he came. + +I left him in the drawing-room, and told Van Helsing that he had said +good-bye; so the latter went to the kitchen to tell the undertaker's men +to proceed with the preparations and to screw up the coffin. When he +came out of the room again I told him of Arthur's question, and he +replied:-- + +"I am not surprised. Just now I doubted for a moment myself!" + +We all dined together, and I could see that poor Art was trying to make +the best of things. Van Helsing had been silent all dinner-time; but +when we had lit our cigars he said-- + +"Lord----"; but Arthur interrupted him:-- + +"No, no, not that, for God's sake! not yet at any rate. Forgive me, sir: +I did not mean to speak offensively; it is only because my loss is so +recent." + +The Professor answered very sweetly:-- + +"I only used that name because I was in doubt. I must not call you +'Mr.,' and I have grown to love you--yes, my dear boy, to love you--as +Arthur." + +Arthur held out his hand, and took the old man's warmly. + +"Call me what you will," he said. "I hope I may always have the title of +a friend. And let me say that I am at a loss for words to thank you for +your goodness to my poor dear." He paused a moment, and went on: "I know +that she understood your goodness even better than I do; and if I was +rude or in any way wanting at that time you acted so--you remember"--the +Professor nodded--"you must forgive me." + +He answered with a grave kindness:-- + +"I know it was hard for you to quite trust me then, for to trust such +violence needs to understand; and I take it that you do not--that you +cannot--trust me now, for you do not yet understand. And there may be +more times when I shall want you to trust when you cannot--and may +not--and must not yet understand. But the time will come when your trust +shall be whole and complete in me, and when you shall understand as +though the sunlight himself shone through. Then you shall bless me from +first to last for your own sake, and for the sake of others and for her +dear sake to whom I swore to protect." + +"And, indeed, indeed, sir," said Arthur warmly, "I shall in all ways +trust you. I know and believe you have a very noble heart, and you are +Jack's friend, and you were hers. You shall do what you like." + +The Professor cleared his throat a couple of times, as though about to +speak, and finally said:-- + +"May I ask you something now?" + +"Certainly." + +"You know that Mrs. Westenra left you all her property?" + +"No, poor dear; I never thought of it." + +"And as it is all yours, you have a right to deal with it as you will. I +want you to give me permission to read all Miss Lucy's papers and +letters. Believe me, it is no idle curiosity. I have a motive of which, +be sure, she would have approved. I have them all here. I took them +before we knew that all was yours, so that no strange hand might touch +them--no strange eye look through words into her soul. I shall keep +them, if I may; even you may not see them yet, but I shall keep them +safe. No word shall be lost; and in the good time I shall give them back +to you. It's a hard thing I ask, but you will do it, will you not, for +Lucy's sake?" + +Arthur spoke out heartily, like his old self:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, you may do what you will. I feel that in saying this I +am doing what my dear one would have approved. I shall not trouble you +with questions till the time comes." + +The old Professor stood up as he said solemnly:-- + +"And you are right. There will be pain for us all; but it will not be +all pain, nor will this pain be the last. We and you too--you most of +all, my dear boy--will have to pass through the bitter water before we +reach the sweet. But we must be brave of heart and unselfish, and do our +duty, and all will be well!" + +I slept on a sofa in Arthur's room that night. Van Helsing did not go to +bed at all. He went to and fro, as if patrolling the house, and was +never out of sight of the room where Lucy lay in her coffin, strewn with +the wild garlic flowers, which sent, through the odour of lily and rose, +a heavy, overpowering smell into the night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_22 September._--In the train to Exeter. Jonathan sleeping. + +It seems only yesterday that the last entry was made, and yet how much +between then, in Whitby and all the world before me, Jonathan away and +no news of him; and now, married to Jonathan, Jonathan a solicitor, a +partner, rich, master of his business, Mr. Hawkins dead and buried, and +Jonathan with another attack that may harm him. Some day he may ask me +about it. Down it all goes. I am rusty in my shorthand--see what +unexpected prosperity does for us--so it may be as well to freshen it up +again with an exercise anyhow.... + +The service was very simple and very solemn. There were only ourselves +and the servants there, one or two old friends of his from Exeter, his +London agent, and a gentleman representing Sir John Paxton, the +President of the Incorporated Law Society. Jonathan and I stood hand in +hand, and we felt that our best and dearest friend was gone from us.... + +We came back to town quietly, taking a 'bus to Hyde Park Corner. +Jonathan thought it would interest me to go into the Row for a while, so +we sat down; but there were very few people there, and it was +sad-looking and desolate to see so many empty chairs. It made us think +of the empty chair at home; so we got up and walked down Piccadilly. +Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in old days +before I went to school. I felt it very improper, for you can't go on +for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other girls without the +pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit; but it was Jonathan, and he +was my husband, and we didn't know anybody who saw us--and we didn't +care if they did--so on we walked. I was looking at a very beautiful +girl, in a big cart-wheel hat, sitting in a victoria outside Guiliano's, +when I felt Jonathan clutch my arm so tight that he hurt me, and he said +under his breath: "My God!" I am always anxious about Jonathan, for I +fear that some nervous fit may upset him again; so I turned to him +quickly, and asked him what it was that disturbed him. + +He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and +half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and +black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the pretty +girl. He was looking at her so hard that he did not see either of us, +and so I had a good view of him. His face was not a good face; it was +hard, and cruel, and sensual, and his big white teeth, that looked all +the whiter because his lips were so red, were pointed like an animal's. +Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I +feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty. I asked +Jonathan why he was disturbed, and he answered, evidently thinking that +I knew as much about it as he did: "Do you see who it is?" + +"No, dear," I said; "I don't know him; who is it?" His answer seemed to +shock and thrill me, for it was said as if he did not know that it was +to me, Mina, to whom he was speaking:-- + +"It is the man himself!" + +The poor dear was evidently terrified at something--very greatly +terrified; I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to +support him he would have sunk down. He kept staring; a man came out of +the shop with a small parcel, and gave it to the lady, who then drove +off. The dark man kept his eyes fixed on her, and when the carriage +moved up Piccadilly he followed in the same direction, and hailed a +hansom. Jonathan kept looking after him, and said, as if to himself:-- + +"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God, if this be +so! Oh, my God! my God! If I only knew! if I only knew!" He was +distressing himself so much that I feared to keep his mind on the +subject by asking him any questions, so I remained silent. I drew him +away quietly, and he, holding my arm, came easily. We walked a little +further, and then went in and sat for a while in the Green Park. It was +a hot day for autumn, and there was a comfortable seat in a shady place. +After a few minutes' staring at nothing, Jonathan's eyes closed, and he +went quietly into a sleep, with his head on my shoulder. I thought it +was the best thing for him, so did not disturb him. In about twenty +minutes he woke up, and said to me quite cheerfully:-- + +"Why, Mina, have I been asleep! Oh, do forgive me for being so rude. +Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere." He had evidently forgotten +all about the dark stranger, as in his illness he had forgotten all that +this episode had reminded him of. I don't like this lapsing into +forgetfulness; it may make or continue some injury to the brain. I must +not ask him, for fear I shall do more harm than good; but I must somehow +learn the facts of his journey abroad. The time is come, I fear, when I +must open that parcel, and know what is written. Oh, Jonathan, you will, +I know, forgive me if I do wrong, but it is for your own dear sake. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--A sad home-coming in every way--the house empty of the dear +soul who was so good to us; Jonathan still pale and dizzy under a slight +relapse of his malady; and now a telegram from Van Helsing, whoever he +may be:-- + +"You will be grieved to hear that Mrs. Westenra died five days ago, and +that Lucy died the day before yesterday. They were both buried to-day." + +Oh, what a wealth of sorrow in a few words! Poor Mrs. Westenra! poor +Lucy! Gone, gone, never to return to us! And poor, poor Arthur, to have +lost such sweetness out of his life! God help us all to bear our +troubles. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_22 September._--It is all over. Arthur has gone back to Ring, and has +taken Quincey Morris with him. What a fine fellow is Quincey! I believe +in my heart of hearts that he suffered as much about Lucy's death as any +of us; but he bore himself through it like a moral Viking. If America +can go on breeding men like that, she will be a power in the world +indeed. Van Helsing is lying down, having a rest preparatory to his +journey. He goes over to Amsterdam to-night, but says he returns +to-morrow night; that he only wants to make some arrangements which can +only be made personally. He is to stop with me then, if he can; he says +he has work to do in London which may take him some time. Poor old +fellow! I fear that the strain of the past week has broken down even his +iron strength. All the time of the burial he was, I could see, putting +some terrible restraint on himself. When it was all over, we were +standing beside Arthur, who, poor fellow, was speaking of his part in +the operation where his blood had been transfused to his Lucy's veins; I +could see Van Helsing's face grow white and purple by turns. Arthur was +saying that he felt since then as if they two had been really married +and that she was his wife in the sight of God. None of us said a word of +the other operations, and none of us ever shall. Arthur and Quincey went +away together to the station, and Van Helsing and I came on here. The +moment we were alone in the carriage he gave way to a regular fit of +hysterics. He has denied to me since that it was hysterics, and insisted +that it was only his sense of humour asserting itself under very +terrible conditions. He laughed till he cried, and I had to draw down +the blinds lest any one should see us and misjudge; and then he cried, +till he laughed again; and laughed and cried together, just as a woman +does. I tried to be stern with him, as one is to a woman under the +circumstances; but it had no effect. Men and women are so different in +manifestations of nervous strength or weakness! Then when his face grew +grave and stern again I asked him why his mirth, and why at such a time. +His reply was in a way characteristic of him, for it was logical and +forceful and mysterious. He said:-- + +"Ah, you don't comprehend, friend John. Do not think that I am not sad, +though I laugh. See, I have cried even when the laugh did choke me. But +no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh he come +just the same. Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your +door and say, 'May I come in?' is not the true laughter. No! he is a +king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person; he choose no +time of suitability. He say, 'I am here.' Behold, in example I grieve my +heart out for that so sweet young girl; I give my blood for her, though +I am old and worn; I give my time, my skill, my sleep; I let my other +sufferers want that so she may have all. And yet I can laugh at her very +grave--laugh when the clay from the spade of the sexton drop upon her +coffin and say 'Thud! thud!' to my heart, till it send back the blood +from my cheek. My heart bleed for that poor boy--that dear boy, so of +the age of mine own boy had I been so blessed that he live, and with his +hair and eyes the same. There, you know now why I love him so. And yet +when he say things that touch my husband-heart to the quick, and make my +father-heart yearn to him as to no other man--not even to you, friend +John, for we are more level in experiences than father and son--yet even +at such moment King Laugh he come to me and shout and bellow in my ear, +'Here I am! here I am!' till the blood come dance back and bring some of +the sunshine that he carry with him to my cheek. Oh, friend John, it is +a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and +troubles; and yet when King Laugh come he make them all dance to the +tune he play. Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and +tears that burn as they fall--all dance together to the music that he +make with that smileless mouth of him. And believe me, friend John, that +he is good to come, and kind. Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn +tight with strain that pull us different ways. Then tears come; and, +like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain +become too great, and we break. But King Laugh he come like the +sunshine, and he ease off the strain again; and we bear to go on with +our labour, what it may be." + +I did not like to wound him by pretending not to see his idea; but, as I +did not yet understand the cause of his laughter, I asked him. As he +answered me his face grew stern, and he said in quite a different +tone:-- + +"Oh, it was the grim irony of it all--this so lovely lady garlanded with +flowers, that looked so fair as life, till one by one we wondered if she +were truly dead; she laid in that so fine marble house in that lonely +churchyard, where rest so many of her kin, laid there with the mother +who loved her, and whom she loved; and that sacred bell going 'Toll! +toll! toll!' so sad and slow; and those holy men, with the white +garments of the angel, pretending to read books, and yet all the time +their eyes never on the page; and all of us with the bowed head. And all +for what? She is dead; so! Is it not?" + +"Well, for the life of me, Professor," I said, "I can't see anything to +laugh at in all that. Why, your explanation makes it a harder puzzle +than before. But even if the burial service was comic, what about poor +Art and his trouble? Why, his heart was simply breaking." + +"Just so. Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins had +made her truly his bride?" + +"Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him." + +"Quite so. But there was a difficulty, friend John. If so that, then +what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist, +and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though +no wits, all gone--even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife, +am bigamist." + +"I don't see where the joke comes in there either!" I said; and I did +not feel particularly pleased with him for saying such things. He laid +his hand on my arm, and said:-- + +"Friend John, forgive me if I pain. I showed not my feeling to others +when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust. +If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; +if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so +now, when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him--for +he go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time--maybe you would +perhaps pity me the most of all." + +I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why. + +"Because I know!" + +And now we are all scattered; and for many a long day loneliness will +sit over our roofs with brooding wings. Lucy lies in the tomb of her +kin, a lordly death-house in a lonely churchyard, away from teeming +London; where the air is fresh, and the sun rises over Hampstead Hill, +and where wild flowers grow of their own accord. + +So I can finish this diary; and God only knows if I shall ever begin +another. If I do, or if I even open this again, it will be to deal with +different people and different themes; for here at the end, where the +romance of my life is told, ere I go back to take up the thread of my +life-work, I say sadly and without hope, + + "FINIS." + + +_"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + A HAMPSTEAD MYSTERY. + + +The neighbourhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with a +series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what +was known to the writers of headlines as "The Kensington Horror," or +"The Stabbing Woman," or "The Woman in Black." During the past two or +three days several cases have occurred of young children straying from +home or neglecting to return from their playing on the Heath. In all +these cases the children were too young to give any properly +intelligible account of themselves, but the consensus of their excuses +is that they had been with a "bloofer lady." It has always been late in +the evening when they have been missed, and on two occasions the +children have not been found until early in the following morning. It is +generally supposed in the neighbourhood that, as the first child missed +gave as his reason for being away that a "bloofer lady" had asked him to +come for a walk, the others had picked up the phrase and used it as +occasion served. This is the more natural as the favourite game of the +little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles. A +correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to +be the "bloofer lady" is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists +might, he says, take a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the +reality and the picture. It is only in accordance with general +principles of human nature that the "bloofer lady" should be the popular +rôle at these _al fresco_ performances. Our correspondent naïvely says +that even Ellen Terry could not be so winningly attractive as some of +these grubby-faced little children pretend--and even imagine +themselves--to be. + +There is, however, possibly a serious side to the question, for some of +the children, indeed all who have been missed at night, have been +slightly torn or wounded in the throat. The wounds seem such as might be +made by a rat or a small dog, and although of not much importance +individually, would tend to show that whatever animal inflicts them has +a system or method of its own. The police of the division have been +instructed to keep a sharp look-out for straying children, especially +when very young, in and around Hampstead Heath, and for any stray dog +which may be about. + + + _"The Westminster Gazette," 25 September._ + + _Extra Special._ + + THE HAMPSTEAD HORROR. + + ANOTHER CHILD INJURED. + + _The "Bloofer Lady."_ + +We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last +night, was only discovered late in the morning under a furze bush at the +Shooter's Hill side of Hampstead Heath, which is, perhaps, less +frequented than the other parts. It has the same tiny wound in the +throat as has been noticed in other cases. It was terribly weak, and +looked quite emaciated. It too, when partially restored, had the common +story to tell of being lured away by the "bloofer lady." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_23 September_.--Jonathan is better after a bad night. I am so glad that +he has plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the terrible +things; and oh, I am rejoiced that he is not now weighed down with the +responsibility of his new position. I knew he would be true to himself, +and now how proud I am to see my Jonathan rising to the height of his +advancement and keeping pace in all ways with the duties that come upon +him. He will be away all day till late, for he said he could not lunch +at home. My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal, +and lock myself up in my room and read it.... + + +_24 September_.--I hadn't the heart to write last night; that terrible +record of Jonathan's upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, +whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth +in it at all. Did he get his brain fever, and then write all those +terrible things, or had he some cause for it all? I suppose I shall +never know, for I dare not open the subject to him.... And yet that man +we saw yesterday! He seemed quite certain of him.... Poor fellow! I +suppose it was the funeral upset him and sent his mind back on some +train of thought.... He believes it all himself. I remember how on our +wedding-day he said: "Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to +the bitter hours, asleep or awake, mad or sane." There seems to be +through it all some thread of continuity.... That fearful Count was +coming to London.... If it should be, and he came to London, with his +teeming millions.... There may be a solemn duty; and if it come we must +not shrink from it.... I shall be prepared. I shall get my typewriter +this very hour and begin transcribing. Then we shall be ready for other +eyes if required. And if it be wanted; then, perhaps, if I am ready, +poor Jonathan may not be upset, for I can speak for him and never let +him be troubled or worried with it at all. If ever Jonathan quite gets +over the nervousness he may want to tell me of it all, and I can ask him +questions and find out things, and see how I may comfort him. + + +_Letter, Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_24 September._ + +(_Confidence_) + +"Dear Madam,-- + +"I pray you to pardon my writing, in that I am so far friend as that I +sent to you sad news of Miss Lucy Westenra's death. By the kindness of +Lord Godalming, I am empowered to read her letters and papers, for I am +deeply concerned about certain matters vitally important. In them I find +some letters from you, which show how great friends you were and how you +love her. Oh, Madam Mina, by that love, I implore you, help me. It is +for others' good that I ask--to redress great wrong, and to lift much +and terrible troubles--that may be more great than you can know. May it +be that I see you? You can trust me. I am friend of Dr. John Seward and +of Lord Godalming (that was Arthur of Miss Lucy). I must keep it private +for the present from all. I should come to Exeter to see you at once if +you tell me I am privilege to come, and where and when. I implore your +pardon, madam. I have read your letters to poor Lucy, and know how good +you are and how your husband suffer; so I pray you, if it may be, +enlighten him not, lest it may harm. Again your pardon, and forgive me. + +"VAN HELSING." + + +_Telegram, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September._--Come to-day by quarter-past ten train if you can catch +it. Can see you any time you call. + +"WILHELMINA HARKER." + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL. + +_25 September._--I cannot help feeling terribly excited as the time +draws near for the visit of Dr. Van Helsing, for somehow I expect that +it will throw some light upon Jonathan's sad experience; and as he +attended poor dear Lucy in her last illness, he can tell me all about +her. That is the reason of his coming; it is concerning Lucy and her +sleep-walking, and not about Jonathan. Then I shall never know the real +truth now! How silly I am. That awful journal gets hold of my +imagination and tinges everything with something of its own colour. Of +course it is about Lucy. That habit came back to the poor dear, and that +awful night on the cliff must have made her ill. I had almost forgotten +in my own affairs how ill she was afterwards. She must have told him +of her sleep-walking adventure on the cliff, and that I knew all about +it; and now he wants me to tell him what she knows, so that he may +understand. I hope I did right in not saying anything of it to Mrs. +Westenra; I should never forgive myself if any act of mine, were it even +a negative one, brought harm on poor dear Lucy. I hope, too, Dr. Van +Helsing will not blame me; I have had so much trouble and anxiety of +late that I feel I cannot bear more just at present. + +I suppose a cry does us all good at times--clears the air as other rain +does. Perhaps it was reading the journal yesterday that upset me, and +then Jonathan went away this morning to stay away from me a whole day +and night, the first time we have been parted since our marriage. I do +hope the dear fellow will take care of himself, and that nothing will +occur to upset him. It is two o'clock, and the doctor will be here soon +now. I shall say nothing of Jonathan's journal unless he asks me. I am +so glad I have type-written out my own journal, so that, in case he asks +about Lucy, I can hand it to him; it will save much questioning. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--He has come and gone. Oh, what a strange meeting, and how it +all makes my head whirl round! I feel like one in a dream. Can it be all +possible, or even a part of it? If I had not read Jonathan's journal +first, I should never have accepted even a possibility. Poor, poor, dear +Jonathan! How he must have suffered. Please the good God, all this may +not upset him again. I shall try to save him from it; but it may be even +a consolation and a help to him--terrible though it be and awful in its +consequences--to know for certain that his eyes and ears and brain did +not deceive him, and that it is all true. It may be that it is the doubt +which haunts him; that when the doubt is removed, no matter +which--waking or dreaming--may prove the truth, he will be more +satisfied and better able to bear the shock. Dr. Van Helsing must be a +good man as well as a clever one if he is Arthur's friend and Dr. +Seward's, and if they brought him all the way from Holland to look after +Lucy. I feel from having seen him that he _is_ good and kind and of a +noble nature. When he comes to-morrow I shall ask him about Jonathan; +and then, please God, all this sorrow and anxiety may lead to a good +end. I used to think I would like to practise interviewing; Jonathan's +friend on "The Exeter News" told him that memory was everything in such +work--that you must be able to put down exactly almost every word +spoken, even if you had to refine some of it afterwards. Here was a rare +interview; I shall try to record it _verbatim_. + +It was half-past two o'clock when the knock came. I took my courage _à +deux mains_ and waited. In a few minutes Mary opened the door, and +announced "Dr. Van Helsing." + +I rose and bowed, and he came towards me; a man of medium weight, +strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and +a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise +of the head strikes one at once as indicative of thought and power; the +head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, +clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large, resolute, mobile +mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive +nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big, bushy brows come down and the +mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost +straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart; +such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, +but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set +widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods. He +said to me:-- + +"Mrs. Harker, is it not?" I bowed assent. + +"That was Miss Mina Murray?" Again I assented. + +"It is Mina Murray that I came to see that was friend of that poor dear +child Lucy Westenra. Madam Mina, it is on account of the dead I come." + +"Sir," I said, "you could have no better claim on me than that you were +a friend and helper of Lucy Westenra." And I held out my hand. He took +it and said tenderly:-- + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I knew that the friend of that poor lily girl must be +good, but I had yet to learn----" He finished his speech with a courtly +bow. I asked him what it was that he wanted to see me about, so he at +once began:-- + +"I have read your letters to Miss Lucy. Forgive me, but I had to begin +to inquire somewhere, and there was none to ask. I know that you were +with her at Whitby. She sometimes kept a diary--you need not look +surprised, Madam Mina; it was begun after you had left, and was in +imitation of you--and in that diary she traces by inference certain +things to a sleep-walking in which she puts down that you saved her. In +great perplexity then I come to you, and ask you out of your so much +kindness to tell me all of it that you can remember." + +"I can tell you, I think, Dr. Van Helsing, all about it." + +"Ah, then you have good memory for facts, for details? It is not always +so with young ladies." + +"No, doctor, but I wrote it all down at the time. I can show it to you +if you like." + +"Oh, Madam Mina, I will be grateful; you will do me much favour." I +could not resist the temptation of mystifying him a bit--I suppose it is +some of the taste of the original apple that remains still in our +mouths--so I handed him the shorthand diary. He took it with a grateful +bow, and said:-- + +"May I read it?" + +"If you wish," I answered as demurely as I could. He opened it, and for +an instant his face fell. Then he stood up and bowed. + +"Oh, you so clever woman!" he said. "I knew long that Mr. Jonathan was a +man of much thankfulness; but see, his wife have all the good things. +And will you not so much honour me and so help me as to read it for me? +Alas! I know not the shorthand." By this time my little joke was over, +and I was almost ashamed; so I took the typewritten copy from my +workbasket and handed it to him. + +"Forgive me," I said: "I could not help it; but I had been thinking that +it was of dear Lucy that you wished to ask, and so that you might not +have time to wait--not on my account, but because I know your time must +be precious--I have written it out on the typewriter for you." + +He took it and his eyes glistened. "You are so good," he said. "And may +I read it now? I may want to ask you some things when I have read." + +"By all means," I said, "read it over whilst I order lunch; and then you +can ask me questions whilst we eat." He bowed and settled himself in a +chair with his back to the light, and became absorbed in the papers, +whilst I went to see after lunch chiefly in order that he might not be +disturbed. When I came back, I found him walking hurriedly up and down +the room, his face all ablaze with excitement. He rushed up to me and +took me by both hands. + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "how can I say what I owe to you? This paper +is as sunshine. It opens the gate to me. I am daze, I am dazzle, with so +much light, and yet clouds roll in behind the light every time. But that +you do not, cannot, comprehend. Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so +clever woman. Madam"--he said this very solemnly--"if ever Abraham Van +Helsing can do anything for you or yours, I trust you will let me know. +It will be pleasure and delight if I may serve you as a friend; as a +friend, but all I have ever learned, all I can ever do, shall be for you +and those you love. There are darknesses in life, and there are lights; +you are one of the lights. You will have happy life and good life, and +your husband will be blessed in you." + +"But, doctor, you praise me too much, and--and you do not know me." + +"Not know you--I, who am old, and who have studied all my life men and +women; I, who have made my specialty the brain and all that belongs to +him and all that follow from him! And I have read your diary that you +have so goodly written for me, and which breathes out truth in every +line. I, who have read your so sweet letter to poor Lucy of your +marriage and your trust, not know you! Oh, Madam Mina, good women tell +all their lives, and by day and by hour and by minute, such things that +angels can read; and we men who wish to know have in us something of +angels' eyes. Your husband is noble nature, and you are noble too, for +you trust, and trust cannot be where there is mean nature. And your +husband--tell me of him. Is he quite well? Is all that fever gone, and +is he strong and hearty?" I saw here an opening to ask him about +Jonathan, so I said:-- + +"He was almost recovered, but he has been greatly upset by Mr. Hawkins's +death." He interrupted:-- + +"Oh, yes, I know, I know. I have read your last two letters." I went +on:-- + +"I suppose this upset him, for when we were in town on Thursday last he +had a sort of shock." + +"A shock, and after brain fever so soon! That was not good. What kind of +a shock was it?" + +"He thought he saw some one who recalled something terrible, something +which led to his brain fever." And here the whole thing seemed to +overwhelm me in a rush. The pity for Jonathan, the horror which he +experienced, the whole fearful mystery of his diary, and the fear that +has been brooding over me ever since, all came in a tumult. I suppose I +was hysterical, for I threw myself on my knees and held up my hands to +him, and implored him to make my husband well again. He took my hands +and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me; he held my +hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetness:-- + +"My life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have not +had much time for friendships; but since I have been summoned to here by +my friend John Seward I have known so many good people and seen such +nobility that I feel more than ever--and it has grown with my advancing +years--the loneliness of my life. Believe, me, then, that I come here +full of respect for you, and you have given me hope--hope, not in what I +am seeking of, but that there are good women still left to make life +happy--good women, whose lives and whose truths may make good lesson for +the children that are to be. I am glad, glad, that I may here be of some +use to you; for if your husband suffer, he suffer within the range of my +study and experience. I promise you that I will gladly do _all_ for him +that I can--all to make his life strong and manly, and your life a happy +one. Now you must eat. You are overwrought and perhaps over-anxious. +Husband Jonathan would not like to see you so pale; and what he like not +where he love, is not to his good. Therefore for his sake you must eat +and smile. You have told me all about Lucy, and so now we shall not +speak of it, lest it distress. I shall stay in Exeter to-night, for I +want to think much over what you have told me, and when I have thought I +will ask you questions, if I may. And then, too, you will tell me of +husband Jonathan's trouble so far as you can, but not yet. You must eat +now; afterwards you shall tell me all." + +After lunch, when we went back to the drawing-room, he said to me:-- + +"And now tell me all about him." When it came to speaking to this great +learned man, I began to fear that he would think me a weak fool, and +Jonathan a madman--that journal is all so strange--and I hesitated to go +on. But he was so sweet and kind, and he had promised to help, and I +trusted him, so I said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, what I have to tell you is so queer that you must not +laugh at me or at my husband. I have been since yesterday in a sort of +fever of doubt; you must be kind to me, and not think me foolish that I +have even half believed some very strange things." He reassured me by +his manner as well as his words when he said:-- + +"Oh, my dear, if you only know how strange is the matter regarding which +I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little +of any one's belief, no matter how strange it be. I have tried to keep +an open mind; and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close +it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that +make one doubt if they be mad or sane." + +"Thank you, thank you, a thousand times! You have taken a weight off my +mind. If you will let me, I shall give you a paper to read. It is long, +but I have typewritten it out. It will tell you my trouble and +Jonathan's. It is the copy of his journal when abroad, and all that +happened. I dare not say anything of it; you will read for yourself and +judge. And then when I see you, perhaps, you will be very kind and tell +me what you think." + +"I promise," he said as I gave him the papers; "I shall in the morning, +so soon as I can, come to see you and your husband, if I may." + +"Jonathan will be here at half-past eleven, and you must come to lunch +with us and see him then; you could catch the quick 3:34 train, which +will leave you at Paddington before eight." He was surprised at my +knowledge of the trains off-hand, but he does not know that I have made +up all the trains to and from Exeter, so that I may help Jonathan in +case he is in a hurry. + +So he took the papers with him and went away, and I sit here +thinking--thinking I don't know what. + + * * * * * + +_Letter (by hand), Van Helsing to Mrs. Harker._ + +"_25 September, 6 o'clock._ + +"Dear Madam Mina,-- + +"I have read your husband's so wonderful diary. You may sleep without +doubt. Strange and terrible as it is, it is _true_! I will pledge my +life on it. It may be worse for others; but for him and you there is no +dread. He is a noble fellow; and let me tell you from experience of men, +that one who would do as he did in going down that wall and to that +room--ay, and going a second time--is not one to be injured in +permanence by a shock. His brain and his heart are all right; this I +swear, before I have even seen him; so be at rest. I shall have much to +ask him of other things. I am blessed that to-day I come to see you, for +I have learn all at once so much that again I am dazzle--dazzle more +than ever, and I must think. + +"Yours the most faithful, + +"ABRAHAM VAN HELSING." + + +_Letter, Mrs. Harker to Van Helsing._ + +"_25 September, 6:30 p. m._ + +"My dear Dr. Van Helsing,-- + +"A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which has taken a great weight +off my mind. And yet, if it be true, what terrible things there are in +the world, and what an awful thing if that man, that monster, be really +in London! I fear to think. I have this moment, whilst writing, had a +wire from Jonathan, saying that he leaves by the 6:25 to-night from +Launceston and will be here at 10:18, so that I shall have no fear +to-night. Will you, therefore, instead of lunching with us, please come +to breakfast at eight o'clock, if this be not too early for you? You can +get away, if you are in a hurry, by the 10:30 train, which will bring +you to Paddington by 2:35. Do not answer this, as I shall take it that, +if I do not hear, you will come to breakfast. + +"Believe me, + +"Your faithful and grateful friend, + +"MINA HARKER." + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_26 September._--I thought never to write in this diary again, but the +time has come. When I got home last night Mina had supper ready, and +when we had supped she told me of Van Helsing's visit, and of her having +given him the two diaries copied out, and of how anxious she has been +about me. She showed me in the doctor's letter that all I wrote down was +true. It seems to have made a new man of me. It was the doubt as to the +reality of the whole thing that knocked me over. I felt impotent, and in +the dark, and distrustful. But, now that I _know_, I am not afraid, even +of the Count. He has succeeded after all, then, in his design in getting +to London, and it was he I saw. He has got younger, and how? Van Helsing +is the man to unmask him and hunt him out, if he is anything like what +Mina says. We sat late, and talked it all over. Mina is dressing, and I +shall call at the hotel in a few minutes and bring him over.... + +He was, I think, surprised to see me. When I came into the room where he +was, and introduced myself, he took me by the shoulder, and turned my +face round to the light, and said, after a sharp scrutiny:-- + +"But Madam Mina told me you were ill, that you had had a shock." It was +so funny to hear my wife called "Madam Mina" by this kindly, +strong-faced old man. I smiled, and said:-- + +"I _was_ ill, I _have_ had a shock; but you have cured me already." + +"And how?" + +"By your letter to Mina last night. I was in doubt, and then everything +took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust, even the +evidence of my own senses. Not knowing what to trust, I did not know +what to do; and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been +the groove of my life. The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted +myself. Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt everything, even +yourself. No, you don't; you couldn't with eyebrows like yours." He +seemed pleased, and laughed as he said:-- + +"So! You are physiognomist. I learn more here with each hour. I am with +so much pleasure coming to you to breakfast; and, oh, sir, you will +pardon praise from an old man, but you are blessed in your wife." I +would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day, so I simply nodded +and stood silent. + +"She is one of God's women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and +other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its +light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an +egoist--and that, let me tell you, is much in this age, so sceptical and +selfish. And you, sir--I have read all the letters to poor Miss Lucy, +and some of them speak of you, so I know you since some days from the +knowing of others; but I have seen your true self since last night. You +will give me your hand, will you not? And let us be friends for all our +lives." + +We shook hands, and he was so earnest and so kind that it made me quite +choky. + +"And now," he said, "may I ask you for some more help? I have a great +task to do, and at the beginning it is to know. You can help me here. +Can you tell me what went before your going to Transylvania? Later on I +may ask more help, and of a different kind; but at first this will do." + +"Look here, sir," I said, "does what you have to do concern the Count?" + +"It does," he said solemnly. + +"Then I am with you heart and soul. As you go by the 10:30 train, you +will not have time to read them; but I shall get the bundle of papers. +You can take them with you and read them in the train." + +After breakfast I saw him to the station. When we were parting he +said:-- + +"Perhaps you will come to town if I send to you, and take Madam Mina +too." + +"We shall both come when you will," I said. + +I had got him the morning papers and the London papers of the previous +night, and while we were talking at the carriage window, waiting for the +train to start, he was turning them over. His eyes suddenly seemed to +catch something in one of them, "The Westminster Gazette"--I knew it by +the colour--and he grew quite white. He read something intently, +groaning to himself: "Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! so soon!" I do not +think he remembered me at the moment. Just then the whistle blew, and +the train moved off. This recalled him to himself, and he leaned out of +the window and waved his hand, calling out: "Love to Madam Mina; I shall +write so soon as ever I can." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_26 September._--Truly there is no such thing as finality. Not a week +since I said "Finis," and yet here I am starting fresh again, or rather +going on with the same record. Until this afternoon I had no cause to +think of what is done. Renfield had become, to all intents, as sane as +he ever was. He was already well ahead with his fly business; and he had +just started in the spider line also; so he had not been of any trouble +to me. I had a letter from Arthur, written on Sunday, and from it I +gather that he is bearing up wonderfully well. Quincey Morris is with +him, and that is much of a help, for he himself is a bubbling well of +good spirits. Quincey wrote me a line too, and from him I hear that +Arthur is beginning to recover something of his old buoyancy; so as to +them all my mind is at rest. As for myself, I was settling down to my +work with the enthusiasm which I used to have for it, so that I might +fairly have said that the wound which poor Lucy left on me was becoming +cicatrised. Everything is, however, now reopened; and what is to be the +end God only knows. I have an idea that Van Helsing thinks he knows, +too, but he will only let out enough at a time to whet curiosity. He +went to Exeter yesterday, and stayed there all night. To-day he came +back, and almost bounded into the room at about half-past five o'clock, +and thrust last night's "Westminster Gazette" into my hand. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked as he stood back and folded his +arms. + +I looked over the paper, for I really did not know what he meant; but he +took it from me and pointed out a paragraph about children being decoyed +away at Hampstead. It did not convey much to me, until I reached a +passage where it described small punctured wounds on their throats. An +idea struck me, and I looked up. "Well?" he said. + +"It is like poor Lucy's." + +"And what do you make of it?" + +"Simply that there is some cause in common. Whatever it was that injured +her has injured them." I did not quite understand his answer:-- + +"That is true indirectly, but not directly." + +"How do you mean, Professor?" I asked. I was a little inclined to take +his seriousness lightly--for, after all, four days of rest and freedom +from burning, harrowing anxiety does help to restore one's spirits--but +when I saw his face, it sobered me. Never, even in the midst of our +despair about poor Lucy, had he looked more stern. + +"Tell me!" I said. "I can hazard no opinion. I do not know what to +think, and I have no data on which to found a conjecture." + +"Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to +what poor Lucy died of; not after all the hints given, not only by +events, but by me?" + +"Of nervous prostration following on great loss or waste of blood." + +"And how the blood lost or waste?" I shook my head. He stepped over and +sat down beside me, and went on:-- + +"You are clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold; +but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears +hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to +you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, +and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But +there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's +eyes, because they know--or think they know--some things which other men +have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to +explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to +explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, +which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend +to be young--like the fine ladies at the opera. I suppose now you do not +believe in corporeal transference. No? Nor in materialisation. No? Nor +in astral bodies. No? Nor in the reading of thought. No? Nor in +hypnotism----" + +"Yes," I said. "Charcot has proved that pretty well." He smiled as he +went on: "Then you are satisfied as to it. Yes? And of course then you +understand how it act, and can follow the mind of the great +Charcot--alas that he is no more!--into the very soul of the patient +that he influence. No? Then, friend John, am I to take it that you +simply accept fact, and are satisfied to let from premise to conclusion +be a blank? No? Then tell me--for I am student of the brain--how you +accept the hypnotism and reject the thought reading. Let me tell you, my +friend, that there are things done to-day in electrical science which +would have been deemed unholy by the very men who discovered +electricity--who would themselves not so long before have been burned +as wizards. There are always mysteries in life. Why was it that +Methuselah lived nine hundred years, and 'Old Parr' one hundred and +sixty-nine, and yet that poor Lucy, with four men's blood in her poor +veins, could not live even one day? For, had she live one more day, we +could have save her. Do you know all the mystery of life and death? Do +you know the altogether of comparative anatomy and can say wherefore the +qualities of brutes are in some men, and not in others? Can you tell me +why, when other spiders die small and soon, that one great spider lived +for centuries in the tower of the old Spanish church and grew and grew, +till, on descending, he could drink the oil of all the church lamps? Can +you tell me why in the Pampas, ay and elsewhere, there are bats that +come at night and open the veins of cattle and horses and suck dry their +veins; how in some islands of the Western seas there are bats which hang +on the trees all day, and those who have seen describe as like giant +nuts or pods, and that when the sailors sleep on the deck, because that +it is hot, flit down on them, and then--and then in the morning are +found dead men, white as even Miss Lucy was?" + +"Good God, Professor!" I said, starting up. "Do you mean to tell me that +Lucy was bitten by such a bat; and that such a thing is here in London +in the nineteenth century?" He waved his hand for silence, and went +on:-- + +"Can you tell me why the tortoise lives more long than generations of +men; why the elephant goes on and on till he have seen dynasties; and +why the parrot never die only of bite of cat or dog or other complaint? +Can you tell me why men believe in all ages and places that there are +some few who live on always if they be permit; that there are men and +women who cannot die? We all know--because science has vouched for the +fact--that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of +years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of +the world. Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to die +and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it, and the +corn reaped and be cut and sown and reaped and cut again, and then men +come and take away the unbroken seal and that there lie the Indian +fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as before?" Here +I interrupted him. I was getting bewildered; he so crowded on my mind +his list of nature's eccentricities and possible impossibilities that my +imagination was getting fired. I had a dim idea that he was teaching me +some lesson, as long ago he used to do in his study at Amsterdam; but +he used then to tell me the thing, so that I could have the object of +thought in mind all the time. But now I was without this help, yet I +wanted to follow him, so I said:-- + +"Professor, let me be your pet student again. Tell me the thesis, so +that I may apply your knowledge as you go on. At present I am going in +my mind from point to point as a mad man, and not a sane one, follows an +idea. I feel like a novice lumbering through a bog in a mist, jumping +from one tussock to another in the mere blind effort to move on without +knowing where I am going." + +"That is good image," he said. "Well, I shall tell you. My thesis is +this: I want you to believe." + +"To believe what?" + +"To believe in things that you cannot. Let me illustrate. I heard once +of an American who so defined faith: 'that faculty which enables us to +believe things which we know to be untrue.' For one, I follow that man. +He meant that we shall have an open mind, and not let a little bit of +truth check the rush of a big truth, like a small rock does a railway +truck. We get the small truth first. Good! We keep him, and we value +him; but all the same we must not let him think himself all the truth in +the universe." + +"Then you want me not to let some previous conviction injure the +receptivity of my mind with regard to some strange matter. Do I read +your lesson aright?" + +"Ah, you are my favourite pupil still. It is worth to teach you. Now +that you are willing to understand, you have taken the first step to +understand. You think then that those so small holes in the children's +throats were made by the same that made the hole in Miss Lucy?" + +"I suppose so." He stood up and said solemnly:-- + +"Then you are wrong. Oh, would it were so! but alas! no. It is worse, +far, far worse." + +"In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what do you mean?" I cried. + +He threw himself with a despairing gesture into a chair, and placed his +elbows on the table, covering his face with his hands as he spoke:-- + +"They were made by Miss Lucy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_. + + +For a while sheer anger mastered me; it was as if he had during her life +struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to +him:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?" He raised his head and looked at me, and +somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once. "Would I were!" he +said. "Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my +friend, why, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell +you so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all +my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, +now so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a +fearful death? Ah no!" + +"Forgive me," said I. He went on:-- + +"My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the breaking to you, +for I know you have loved that so sweet lady. But even yet I do not +expect you to believe. It is so hard to accept at once any abstract +truth, that we may doubt such to be possible when we have always +believed the 'no' of it; it is more hard still to accept so sad a +concrete truth, and of such a one as Miss Lucy. To-night I go to prove +it. Dare you come with me?" + +This staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth; Byron +excepted from the category, jealousy. + + "And prove the very truth he most abhorred." + +He saw my hesitation, and spoke:-- + +"The logic is simple, no madman's logic this time, jumping from tussock +to tussock in a misty bog. If it be not true, then proof will be relief; +at worst it will not harm. If it be true! Ah, there is the dread; yet +very dread should help my cause, for in it is some need of belief. Come, +I tell you what I propose: first, that we go off now and see that child +in the hospital. Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where the papers +say the child is, is friend of mine, and I think of yours since you were +in class at Amsterdam. He will let two scientists see his case, if he +will not let two friends. We shall tell him nothing, but only that we +wish to learn. And then----" + +"And then?" He took a key from his pocket and held it up. "And then we +spend the night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is +the key that lock the tomb. I had it from the coffin-man to give to +Arthur." My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful +ordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what +heart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon was +passing.... + +We found the child awake. It had had a sleep and taken some food, and +altogether was going on well. Dr. Vincent took the bandage from its +throat, and showed us the punctures. There was no mistaking the +similarity to those which had been on Lucy's throat. They were smaller, +and the edges looked fresher; that was all. We asked Vincent to what he +attributed them, and he replied that it must have been a bite of some +animal, perhaps a rat; but, for his own part, he was inclined to think +that it was one of the bats which are so numerous on the northern +heights of London. "Out of so many harmless ones," he said, "there may +be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant species. Some +sailor may have brought one home, and it managed to escape; or even from +the Zoölogical Gardens a young one may have got loose, or one be bred +there from a vampire. These things do occur, you know. Only ten days ago +a wolf got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a +week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the +Heath and in every alley in the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare +came along, since when it has been quite a gala-time with them. Even +this poor little mite, when he woke up to-day, asked the nurse if he +might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted +to play with the 'bloofer lady.'" + +"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child home +you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it. These fancies +to stray are most dangerous; and if the child were to remain out another +night, it would probably be fatal. But in any case I suppose you will +not let it away for some days?" + +"Certainly not, not for a week at least; longer if the wound is not +healed." + +Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned on, and +the sun had dipped before we came out. When Van Helsing saw how dark it +was, he said:-- + +"There is no hurry. It is more late than I thought. Come, let us seek +somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our way." + +We dined at "Jack Straw's Castle" along with a little crowd of +bicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o'clock we +started from the inn. It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps +made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual +radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we were to go, for he +went on unhesitatingly; but, as for me, I was in quite a mixup as to +locality. As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at +last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse +police going their usual suburban round. At last we reached the wall of +the churchyard, which we climbed over. With some little difficulty--for +it was very dark, and the whole place seemed so strange to us--we found +the Westenra tomb. The Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, +and standing back, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to +precede him. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the +courtliness of giving preference on such a ghastly occasion. My +companion followed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after +carefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a spring, +one. In the latter case we should have been in a bad plight. Then he +fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece of candle, +proceeded to make a light. The tomb in the day-time, and when wreathed +with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough; but now, some +days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites +turning to rust and their greens to browns; when the spider and the +beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance; when time-discoloured +stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished +brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a +candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been +imagined. It conveyed irresistibly the idea that life--animal life--was +not the only thing which could pass away. + +Van Helsing went about his work systematically. Holding his candle so +that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm +dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he +made assurance of Lucy's coffin. Another search in his bag, and he took +out a turnscrew. + +"What are you going to do?" I asked. + +"To open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced." Straightway he began +taking out the screws, and finally lifted off the lid, showing the +casing of lead beneath. The sight was almost too much for me. It seemed +to be as much an affront to the dead as it would have been to have +stripped off her clothing in her sleep whilst living; I actually took +hold of his hand to stop him. He only said: "You shall see," and again +fumbling in his bag, took out a tiny fret-saw. Striking the turnscrew +through the lead with a swift downward stab, which made me wince, he +made a small hole, which was, however, big enough to admit the point of +the saw. I had expected a rush of gas from the week-old corpse. We +doctors, who have had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to +such things, and I drew back towards the door. But the Professor never +stopped for a moment; he sawed down a couple of feet along one side of +the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side. Taking the +edge of the loose flange, he bent it back towards the foot of the +coffin, and holding up the candle into the aperture, motioned to me to +look. + +I drew near and looked. The coffin was empty. + +It was certainly a surprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but +Van Helsing was unmoved. He was now more sure than ever of his ground, +and so emboldened to proceed in his task. "Are you satisfied now, friend +John?" he asked. + +I felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake within me as +I answered him:-- + +"I am satisfied that Lucy's body is not in that coffin; but that only +proves one thing." + +"And what is that, friend John?" + +"That it is not there." + +"That is good logic," he said, "so far as it goes. But how do you--how +can you--account for it not being there?" + +"Perhaps a body-snatcher," I suggested. "Some of the undertaker's people +may have stolen it." I felt that I was speaking folly, and yet it was +the only real cause which I could suggest. The Professor sighed. "Ah +well!" he said, "we must have more proof. Come with me." + +He put on the coffin-lid again, gathered up all his things and placed +them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle also in the +bag. We opened the door, and went out. Behind us he closed the door and +locked it. He handed me the key, saying: "Will you keep it? You had +better be assured." I laughed--it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am +bound to say--as I motioned him to keep it. "A key is nothing," I said; +"there may be duplicates; and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock +of that kind." He said nothing, but put the key in his pocket. Then he +told me to watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at +the other. I took up my place behind a yew-tree, and I saw his dark +figure move until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my +sight. + +It was a lonely vigil. Just after I had taken my place I heard a distant +clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two. I was chilled and +unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking me on such an errand +and with myself for coming. I was too cold and too sleepy to be keenly +observant, and not sleepy enough to betray my trust so altogether I had +a dreary, miserable time. + +Suddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a white +streak, moving between two dark yew-trees at the side of the churchyard +farthest from the tomb; at the same time a dark mass moved from the +Professor's side of the ground, and hurriedly went towards it. Then I +too moved; but I had to go round headstones and railed-off tombs, and I +stumbled over graves. The sky was overcast, and somewhere far off an +early cock crew. A little way off, beyond a line of scattered +juniper-trees, which marked the pathway to the church, a white, dim +figure flitted in the direction of the tomb. The tomb itself was hidden +by trees, and I could not see where the figure disappeared. I heard the +rustle of actual movement where I had first seen the white figure, and +coming over, found the Professor holding in his arms a tiny child. When +he saw me he held it out to me, and said:-- + +"Are you satisfied now?" + +"No," I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive. + +"Do you not see the child?" + +"Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here? And is it wounded?" I +asked. + +"We shall see," said the Professor, and with one impulse we took our way +out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child. + +When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump of +trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child's throat. It was +without a scratch or scar of any kind. + +"Was I right?" I asked triumphantly. + +"We were just in time," said the Professor thankfully. + +We had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so consulted +about it. If we were to take it to a police-station we should have to +give some account of our movements during the night; at least, we should +have had to make some statement as to how we had come to find the child. +So finally we decided that we would take it to the Heath, and when we +heard a policeman coming, would leave it where he could not fail to find +it; we would then seek our way home as quickly as we could. All fell out +well. At the edge of Hampstead Heath we heard a policeman's heavy +tramp, and laying the child on the pathway, we waited and watched until +he saw it as he flashed his lantern to and fro. We heard his exclamation +of astonishment, and then we went away silently. By good chance we got a +cab near the "Spaniards," and drove to town. + +I cannot sleep, so I make this entry. But I must try to get a few hours' +sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon. He insists that I shall +go with him on another expedition. + + * * * * * + +_27 September._--It was two o'clock before we found a suitable +opportunity for our attempt. The funeral held at noon was all completed, +and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken themselves lazily +away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump of alder-trees, we saw +the sexton lock the gate after him. We knew then that we were safe till +morning did we desire it; but the Professor told me that we should not +want more than an hour at most. Again I felt that horrid sense of the +reality of things, in which any effort of imagination seemed out of +place; and I realised distinctly the perils of the law which we were +incurring in our unhallowed work. Besides, I felt it was all so useless. +Outrageous as it was to open a leaden coffin, to see if a woman dead +nearly a week were really dead, it now seemed the height of folly to +open the tomb again, when we knew, from the evidence of our own +eyesight, that the coffin was empty. I shrugged my shoulders, however, +and rested silent, for Van Helsing had a way of going on his own road, +no matter who remonstrated. He took the key, opened the vault, and again +courteously motioned me to precede. The place was not so gruesome as +last night, but oh, how unutterably mean-looking when the sunshine +streamed in. Van Helsing walked over to Lucy's coffin, and I followed. +He bent over and again forced back the leaden flange; and then a shock +of surprise and dismay shot through me. + +There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her +funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever; and I +could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red, nay redder than +before; and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom. + +"Is this a juggle?" I said to him. + +"Are you convinced now?" said the Professor in response, and as he spoke +he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder, pulled back the +dead lips and showed the white teeth. + +"See," he went on, "see, they are even sharper than before. With this +and this"--and he touched one of the canine teeth and that below +it--"the little children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend +John?" Once more, argumentative hostility woke within me. I _could_ not +accept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested; so, with an attempt to +argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said:-- + +"She may have been placed here since last night." + +"Indeed? That is so, and by whom?" + +"I do not know. Some one has done it." + +"And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time would not +look so." I had no answer for this, so was silent. Van Helsing did not +seem to notice my silence; at any rate, he showed neither chagrin nor +triumph. He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman, raising +the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening the lips and +examining the teeth. Then he turned to me and said:-- + +"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded; here is +some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by the vampire +when she was in a trance, sleep-walking--oh, you start; you do not know +that, friend John, but you shall know it all later--and in trance could +he best come to take more blood. In trance she died, and in trance she +is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ from all other. Usually when +the Un-Dead sleep at home"--as he spoke he made a comprehensive sweep of +his arm to designate what to a vampire was "home"--"their face show what +they are, but this so sweet that was when she not Un-Dead she go back to +the nothings of the common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so +it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep." This turned my blood +cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I was accepting Van Helsing's +theories; but if she were really dead, what was there of terror in the +idea of killing her? He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in +my face, for he said almost joyously:-- + +"Ah, you believe now?" + +I answered: "Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing to +accept. How will you do this bloody work?" + +"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall +drive a stake through her body." It made me shudder to think of so +mutilating the body of the woman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling +was not so strong as I had expected. I was, in fact, beginning to +shudder at the presence of this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing +called it, and to loathe it. Is it possible that love is all subjective, +or all objective? + +I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he stood as +if wrapped in thought. Presently he closed the catch of his bag with a +snap, and said:-- + +"I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is best. If I +did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment, what is +to be done; but there are other things to follow, and things that are +thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know. This is +simple. She have yet no life taken, though that is of time; and to act +now would be to take danger from her for ever. But then we may have to +want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this? If you, who saw the +wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child's at +the hospital; if you, who saw the coffin empty last night and full +to-day with a woman who have not change only to be more rose and more +beautiful in a whole week, after she die--if you know of this and know +of the white figure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, +and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how, then, can I expect +Arthur, who know none of those things, to believe? He doubted me when I +took him from her kiss when she was dying. I know he has forgiven me +because in some mistaken idea I have done things that prevent him say +good-bye as he ought; and he may think that in some more mistaken idea +this woman was buried alive; and that in most mistake of all we have +killed her. He will then argue back that it is we, mistaken ones, that +have killed her by our ideas; and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet +he never can be sure; and that is the worst of all. And he will +sometimes think that she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint +his dreams with horrors of what she must have suffered; and again, he +will think that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all, +an Un-Dead. No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now, since +I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I know that he +must pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweet. He, poor fellow, +must have one hour that will make the very face of heaven grow black to +him; then we can act for good all round and send him peace. My mind is +made up. Let us go. You return home for to-night to your asylum, and see +that all be well. As for me, I shall spend the night here in this +churchyard in my own way. To-morrow night you will come to me to the +Berkeley Hotel at ten of the clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, +and also that so fine young man of America that gave his blood. Later we +shall all have work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and +there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set." + +So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of the +churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to Piccadilly. + + +_Note left by Van Helsing in his portmanteau, Berkeley Hotel directed to +John Seward, M. D._ + +(Not delivered.) + +"_27 September._ + +"Friend John,-- + +"I write this in case anything should happen. I go alone to watch in +that churchyard. It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss Lucy, shall not +leave to-night, that so on the morrow night she may be more eager. +Therefore I shall fix some things she like not--garlic and a +crucifix--and so seal up the door of the tomb. She is young as Un-Dead, +and will heed. Moreover, these are only to prevent her coming out; they +may not prevail on her wanting to get in; for then the Un-Dead is +desperate, and must find the line of least resistance, whatsoever it may +be. I shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after the sunrise, +and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn it. For Miss +Lucy or from her, I have no fear; but that other to whom is there that +she is Un-Dead, he have now the power to seek her tomb and find shelter. +He is cunning, as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all +along he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and +we lost; and in many ways the Un-Dead are strong. He have always the +strength in his hand of twenty men; even we four who gave our strength +to Miss Lucy it also is all to him. Besides, he can summon his wolf and +I know not what. So if it be that he come thither on this night he shall +find me; but none other shall--until it be too late. But it may be that +he will not attempt the place. There is no reason why he should; his +hunting ground is more full of game than the churchyard where the +Un-Dead woman sleep, and the one old man watch. + +"Therefore I write this in case.... Take the papers that are with this, +the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and then find this +great Un-Dead, and cut off his head and burn his heart or drive a stake +through it, so that the world may rest from him. + +"If it be so, farewell. + +"VAN HELSING." + + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 September._--It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do for +one. Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's monstrous +ideas; but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on +common sense. I have no doubt that he believes it all. I wonder if his +mind can have become in any way unhinged. Surely there must be _some_ +rational explanation of all these mysterious things. Is it possible that +the Professor can have done it himself? He is so abnormally clever that +if he went off his head he would carry out his intent with regard to +some fixed idea in a wonderful way. I am loath to think it, and indeed +it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van +Helsing was mad; but anyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some +light on the mystery. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, morning._.... Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, +Arthur and Quincey came into Van Helsing's room; he told us all that he +wanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if all +our wills were centred in his. He began by saying that he hoped we would +all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be done +there. You were doubtless surprised at my letter?" This query was +directly addressed to Lord Godalming. + +"I was. It rather upset me for a bit. There has been so much trouble +around my house of late that I could do without any more. I have been +curious, too, as to what you mean. Quincey and I talked it over; but the +more we talked, the more puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself +that I'm about up a tree as to any meaning about anything." + +"Me too," said Quincey Morris laconically. + +"Oh," said the Professor, "then you are nearer the beginning, both of +you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back before he can +even get so far as to begin." + +It was evident that he recognised my return to my old doubting frame of +mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other two, he said +with intense gravity:-- + +"I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It is, I +know, much to ask; and when you know what it is I propose to do you will +know, and only then, how much. Therefore may I ask that you promise me +in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be angry with me for a +time--I must not disguise from myself the possibility that such may +be--you shall not blame yourselves for anything." + +"That's frank anyhow," broke in Quincey. "I'll answer for the Professor. +I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest; and that's good +enough for me." + +"I thank you, sir," said Van Helsing proudly. "I have done myself the +honour of counting you one trusting friend, and such endorsement is dear +to me." He held out a hand, which Quincey took. + +Then Arthur spoke out:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to 'buy a pig in a poke,' as they +say in Scotland, and if it be anything in which my honour as a gentleman +or my faith as a Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. +If you can assure me that what you intend does not violate either of +these two, then I give my consent at once; though for the life of me, I +cannot understand what you are driving at." + +"I accept your limitation," said Van Helsing, "and all I ask of you is +that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine, you will first +consider it well and be satisfied that it does not violate your +reservations." + +"Agreed!" said Arthur; "that is only fair. And now that the +_pourparlers_ are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?" + +"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the churchyard at +Kingstead." + +Arthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way:-- + +"Where poor Lucy is buried?" The Professor bowed. Arthur went on: "And +when there?" + +"To enter the tomb!" Arthur stood up. + +"Professor, are you in earnest; or it is some monstrous joke? Pardon me, +I see that you are in earnest." He sat down again, but I could see that +he sat firmly and proudly, as one who is on his dignity. There was +silence until he asked again:-- + +"And when in the tomb?" + +"To open the coffin." + +"This is too much!" he said, angrily rising again. "I am willing to be +patient in all things that are reasonable; but in this--this desecration +of the grave--of one who----" He fairly choked with indignation. The +Professor looked pityingly at him. + +"If I could spare you one pang, my poor friend," he said, "God knows I +would. But this night our feet must tread in thorny paths; or later, and +for ever, the feet you love must walk in paths of flame!" + +Arthur looked up with set white face and said:-- + +"Take care, sir, take care!" + +"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?" said Van Helsing. +"And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose. Shall I go +on?" + +"That's fair enough," broke in Morris. + +After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort:-- + +"Miss Lucy is dead; is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong to +her. But if she be not dead----" + +Arthur jumped to his feet. + +"Good God!" he cried. "What do you mean? Has there been any mistake; has +she been buried alive?" He groaned in anguish that not even hope could +soften. + +"I did not say she was alive, my child; I did not think it. I go no +further than to say that she might be Un-Dead." + +"Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare, or what +is it?" + +"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they +may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the verge of one. But +I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?" + +"Heavens and earth, no!" cried Arthur in a storm of passion. "Not for +the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead body. Dr. +Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to you that you should +torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl do that you should want to +cast such dishonour on her grave? Are you mad that speak such things, or +am I mad to listen to them? Don't dare to think more of such a +desecration; I shall not give my consent to anything you do. I have a +duty to do in protecting her grave from outrage; and, by God, I shall do +it!" + +Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated, and +said, gravely and sternly:-- + +"My Lord Godalming, I, too, have a duty to do, a duty to others, a duty +to you, a duty to the dead; and, by God, I shall do it! All I ask you +now is that you come with me, that you look and listen; and if when +later I make the same request you do not be more eager for its +fulfilment even than I am, then--then I shall do my duty, whatever it +may seem to me. And then, to follow of your Lordship's wishes I shall +hold myself at your disposal to render an account to you, when and where +you will." His voice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of +pity:-- + +"But, I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long life of +acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did wring +my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now. Believe me that if +the time comes for you to change your mind towards me, one look from +you will wipe away all this so sad hour, for I would do what a man can +to save you from sorrow. Just think. For why should I give myself so +much of labour and so much of sorrow? I have come here from my own land +to do what I can of good; at the first to please my friend John, and +then to help a sweet young lady, whom, too, I came to love. For her--I +am ashamed to say so much, but I say it in kindness--I gave what you +gave; the blood of my veins; I gave it, I, who was not, like you, her +lover, but only her physician and her friend. I gave to her my nights +and days--before death, after death; and if my death can do her good +even now, when she is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely." He +said this with a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected +by it. He took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice:-- + +"Oh, it is hard to think of it, and I cannot understand; but at least I +shall go with you and wait." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +It was just a quarter before twelve o'clock when we got into the +churchyard over the low wall. The night was dark with occasional gleams +of moonlight between the rents of the heavy clouds that scudded across +the sky. We all kept somehow close together, with Van Helsing slightly +in front as he led the way. When we had come close to the tomb I looked +well at Arthur, for I feared that the proximity to a place laden with so +sorrowful a memory would upset him; but he bore himself well. I took it +that the very mystery of the proceeding was in some way a counteractant +to his grief. The Professor unlocked the door, and seeing a natural +hesitation amongst us for various reasons, solved the difficulty by +entering first himself. The rest of us followed, and he closed the door. +He then lit a dark lantern and pointed to the coffin. Arthur stepped +forward hesitatingly; Van Helsing said to me:-- + +"You were with me here yesterday. Was the body of Miss Lucy in that +coffin?" + +"It was." The Professor turned to the rest saying:-- + +"You hear; and yet there is no one who does not believe with me." He +took his screwdriver and again took off the lid of the coffin. Arthur +looked on, very pale but silent; when the lid was removed he stepped +forward. He evidently did not know that there was a leaden coffin, or, +at any rate, had not thought of it. When he saw the rent in the lead, +the blood rushed to his face for an instant, but as quickly fell away +again, so that he remained of a ghastly whiteness; he was still silent. +Van Helsing forced back the leaden flange, and we all looked in and +recoiled. + +The coffin was empty! + +For several minutes no one spoke a word. The silence was broken by +Quincey Morris:-- + +"Professor, I answered for you. Your word is all I want. I wouldn't ask +such a thing ordinarily--I wouldn't so dishonour you as to imply a +doubt; but this is a mystery that goes beyond any honour or dishonour. +Is this your doing?" + +"I swear to you by all that I hold sacred that I have not removed nor +touched her. What happened was this: Two nights ago my friend Seward and +I came here--with good purpose, believe me. I opened that coffin, which +was then sealed up, and we found it, as now, empty. We then waited, and +saw something white come through the trees. The next day we came here in +day-time, and she lay there. Did she not, friend John?" + +"Yes." + +"That night we were just in time. One more so small child was missing, +and we find it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves. Yesterday I came +here before sundown, for at sundown the Un-Dead can move. I waited here +all the night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing. It was most probable +that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors garlic, +which the Un-Dead cannot bear, and other things which they shun. Last +night there was no exodus, so to-night before the sundown I took away my +garlic and other things. And so it is we find this coffin empty. But +bear with me. So far there is much that is strange. Wait you with me +outside, unseen and unheard, and things much stranger are yet to be. +So"--here he shut the dark slide of his lantern--"now to the outside." +He opened the door, and we filed out, he coming last and locking the +door behind him. + +Oh! but it seemed fresh and pure in the night air after the terror of +that vault. How sweet it was to see the clouds race by, and the passing +gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing and +passing--like the gladness and sorrow of a man's life; how sweet it was +to breathe the fresh air, that had no taint of death and decay; how +humanising to see the red lighting of the sky beyond the hill, and to +hear far away the muffled roar that marks the life of a great city. Each +in his own way was solemn and overcome. Arthur was silent, and was, I +could see, striving to grasp the purpose and the inner meaning of the +mystery. I was myself tolerably patient, and half inclined again to +throw aside doubt and to accept Van Helsing's conclusions. Quincey +Morris was phlegmatic in the way of a man who accepts all things, and +accepts them in the spirit of cool bravery, with hazard of all he has to +stake. Not being able to smoke, he cut himself a good-sized plug of +tobacco and began to chew. As to Van Helsing, he was employed in a +definite way. First he took from his bag a mass of what looked like +thin, wafer-like biscuit, which was carefully rolled up in a white +napkin; next he took out a double-handful of some whitish stuff, like +dough or putty. He crumbled the wafer up fine and worked it into the +mass between his hands. This he then took, and rolling it into thin +strips, began to lay them into the crevices between the door and its +setting in the tomb. I was somewhat puzzled at this, and being close, +asked him what it was that he was doing. Arthur and Quincey drew near +also, as they too were curious. He answered:-- + +"I am closing the tomb, so that the Un-Dead may not enter." + +"And is that stuff you have put there going to do it?" asked Quincey. +"Great Scott! Is this a game?" + +"It is." + +"What is that which you are using?" This time the question was by +Arthur. Van Helsing reverently lifted his hat as he answered:-- + +"The Host. I brought it from Amsterdam. I have an Indulgence." It was an +answer that appalled the most sceptical of us, and we felt individually +that in the presence of such earnest purpose as the Professor's, a +purpose which could thus use the to him most sacred of things, it was +impossible to distrust. In respectful silence we took the places +assigned to us close round the tomb, but hidden from the sight of any +one approaching. I pitied the others, especially Arthur. I had myself +been apprenticed by my former visits to this watching horror; and yet I, +who had up to an hour ago repudiated the proofs, felt my heart sink +within me. Never did tombs look so ghastly white; never did cypress, or +yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of funereal gloom; never did tree +or grass wave or rustle so ominously; never did bough creak so +mysteriously; and never did the far-away howling of dogs send such a +woeful presage through the night. + +There was a long spell of silence, a big, aching void, and then from the +Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!" He pointed; and far down the avenue of yews +we saw a white figure advance--a dim white figure, which held something +dark at its breast. The figure stopped, and at the moment a ray of +moonlight fell upon the masses of driving clouds and showed in startling +prominence a dark-haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave. +We could not see the face, for it was bent down over what we saw to be a +fair-haired child. There was a pause and a sharp little cry, such as a +child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreams. We +were starting forward, but the Professor's warning hand, seen by us as +he stood behind a yew-tree, kept us back; and then as we looked the +white figure moved forwards again. It was now near enough for us to see +clearly, and the moonlight still held. My own heart grew cold as ice, +and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognised the features of +Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was +turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous +wantonness. Van Helsing stepped out, and, obedient to his gesture, we +all advanced too; the four of us ranged in a line before the door of the +tomb. Van Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide; by the +concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips +were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her +chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe. + +We shuddered with horror. I could see by the tremulous light that even +Van Helsing's iron nerve had failed. Arthur was next to me, and if I had +not seized his arm and held him up, he would have fallen. + +When Lucy--I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her +shape--saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives +when taken unawares; then her eyes ranged over us. Lucy's eyes in form +and colour; but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of +the pure, gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love +passed into hate and loathing; had she then to be killed, I could have +done it with savage delight. As she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy +light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile. Oh, God, +how it made me shudder to see it! With a careless motion, she flung to +the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had +clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls +over a bone. The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning. There +was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from Arthur; when +she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell +back and hid his face in his hands. + +She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, +said:-- + +"Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are +hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!" + +There was something diabolically sweet in her tones--something of the +tingling of glass when struck--which rang through the brains even of us +who heard the words addressed to another. As for Arthur, he seemed under +a spell; moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms. She +was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between +them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a +suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter +the tomb. + +When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if +arrested by some irresistible force. Then she turned, and her face was +shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had now no +quiver from Van Helsing's iron nerves. Never did I see such baffled +malice on a face; and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by +mortal eyes. The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw +out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of +the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, +blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of +the Greeks and Japanese. If ever a face meant death--if looks could +kill--we saw it at that moment. + +And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained +between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of +entry. Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur:-- + +"Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?" + +Arthur threw himself on his knees, and hid his face in his hands, as he +answered:-- + +"Do as you will, friend; do as you will. There can be no horror like +this ever any more;" and he groaned in spirit. Quincey and I +simultaneously moved towards him, and took his arms. We could hear the +click of the closing lantern as Van Helsing held it down; coming close +to the tomb, he began to remove from the chinks some of the sacred +emblem which he had placed there. We all looked on in horrified +amazement as we saw, when he stood back, the woman, with a corporeal +body as real at that moment as our own, pass in through the interstice +where scarce a knife-blade could have gone. We all felt a glad sense of +relief when we saw the Professor calmly restoring the strings of putty +to the edges of the door. + +When this was done, he lifted the child and said: + +"Come now, my friends; we can do no more till to-morrow. There is a +funeral at noon, so here we shall all come before long after that. The +friends of the dead will all be gone by two, and when the sexton lock +the gate we shall remain. Then there is more to do; but not like this of +to-night. As for this little one, he is not much harm, and by to-morrow +night he shall be well. We shall leave him where the police will find +him, as on the other night; and then to home." Coming close to Arthur, +he said:-- + +"My friend Arthur, you have had a sore trial; but after, when you look +back, you will see how it was necessary. You are now in the bitter +waters, my child. By this time to-morrow you will, please God, have +passed them, and have drunk of the sweet waters; so do not mourn +overmuch. Till then I shall not ask you to forgive me." + +Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other +on the way. We had left the child in safety, and were tired; so we all +slept with more or less reality of sleep. + + * * * * * + +_29 September, night._--A little before twelve o'clock we three--Arthur, +Quincey Morris, and myself--called for the Professor. It was odd to +notice that by common consent we had all put on black clothes. Of +course, Arthur wore black, for he was in deep mourning, but the rest of +us wore it by instinct. We got to the churchyard by half-past one, and +strolled about, keeping out of official observation, so that when the +gravediggers had completed their task and the sexton under the belief +that every one had gone, had locked the gate, we had the place all to +ourselves. Van Helsing, instead of his little black bag, had with him a +long leather one, something like a cricketing bag; it was manifestly of +fair weight. + +When we were alone and had heard the last of the footsteps die out up +the road, we silently, and as if by ordered intention, followed the +Professor to the tomb. He unlocked the door, and we entered, closing it +behind us. Then he took from his bag the lantern, which he lit, and also +two wax candles, which, when lighted, he stuck, by melting their own +ends, on other coffins, so that they might give light sufficient to work +by. When he again lifted the lid off Lucy's coffin we all looked--Arthur +trembling like an aspen--and saw that the body lay there in all its +death-beauty. But there was no love in my own heart, nothing but +loathing for the foul Thing which had taken Lucy's shape without her +soul. I could see even Arthur's face grow hard as he looked. Presently +he said to Van Helsing:-- + +"Is this really Lucy's body, or only a demon in her shape?" + +"It is her body, and yet not it. But wait a while, and you all see her +as she was, and is." + +She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there; the pointed teeth, +the bloodstained, voluptuous mouth--which it made one shudder to +see--the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a +devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity. Van Helsing, with his usual +methodicalness, began taking the various contents from his bag and +placing them ready for use. First he took out a soldering iron and some +plumbing solder, and then a small oil-lamp, which gave out, when lit in +a corner of the tomb, gas which burned at fierce heat with a blue +flame; then his operating knives, which he placed to hand; and last a +round wooden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick and about +three feet long. One end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and +was sharpened to a fine point. With this stake came a heavy hammer, such +as in households is used in the coal-cellar for breaking the lumps. To +me, a doctor's preparations for work of any kind are stimulating and +bracing, but the effect of these things on both Arthur and Quincey was +to cause them a sort of consternation. They both, however, kept their +courage, and remained silent and quiet. + +When all was ready, Van Helsing said:-- + +"Before we do anything, let me tell you this; it is out of the lore and +experience of the ancients and of all those who have studied the powers +of the Un-Dead. When they become such, there comes with the change the +curse of immortality; they cannot die, but must go on age after age +adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world; for all that +die from the preying of the Un-Dead becomes themselves Un-Dead, and prey +on their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the +ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met +that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die; or again, last night +when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, +have become _nosferatu_, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would +all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have fill us with horror. +The career of this so unhappy dear lady is but just begun. Those +children whose blood she suck are not as yet so much the worse; but if +she live on, Un-Dead, more and more they lose their blood and by her +power over them they come to her; and so she draw their blood with that +so wicked mouth. But if she die in truth, then all cease; the tiny +wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their plays +unknowing ever of what has been. But of the most blessed of all, when +this now Un-Dead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor +lady whom we love shall again be free. Instead of working wickedness by +night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she +shall take her place with the other Angels. So that, my friend, it will +be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow that sets her free. +To this I am willing; but is there none amongst us who has a better +right? Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in the silence of the +night when sleep is not: 'It was my hand that sent her to the stars; it +was the hand of him that loved her best; the hand that of all she would +herself have chosen, had it been to her to choose?' Tell me if there be +such a one amongst us?" + +We all looked at Arthur. He saw, too, what we all did, the infinite +kindness which suggested that his should be the hand which would restore +Lucy to us as a holy, and not an unholy, memory; he stepped forward and +said bravely, though his hand trembled, and his face was as pale as +snow:-- + +"My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I thank you. Tell me +what I am to do, and I shall not falter!" Van Helsing laid a hand on his +shoulder, and said:-- + +"Brave lad! A moment's courage, and it is done. This stake must be +driven through her. It will be a fearful ordeal--be not deceived in +that--but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more +than your pain was great; from this grim tomb you will emerge as though +you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only +think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for +you all the time." + +"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me what I am to do." + +"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place the point over the +heart, and the hammer in your right. Then when we begin our prayer for +the dead--I shall read him, I have here the book, and the others shall +follow--strike in God's name, that so all may be well with the dead that +we love and that the Un-Dead pass away." + +Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set on +action his hands never trembled nor even quivered. Van Helsing opened +his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we +could. Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could +see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with all his might. + +The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech +came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted +in wild contortions; the sharp white teeth champed together till the +lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur +never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm +rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst +the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it. His +face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; the sight of it +gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little +vault. + +And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the +teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver. Finally it lay still. The +terrible task was over. + +The hammer fell from Arthur's hand. He reeled and would have fallen had +we not caught him. The great drops of sweat sprang from his forehead, +and his breath came in broken gasps. It had indeed been an awful strain +on him; and had he not been forced to his task by more than human +considerations he could never have gone through with it. For a few +minutes we were so taken up with him that we did not look towards the +coffin. When we did, however, a murmur of startled surprise ran from one +to the other of us. We gazed so eagerly that Arthur rose, for he had +been seated on the ground, and came and looked too; and then a glad, +strange light broke over his face and dispelled altogether the gloom of +horror that lay upon it. + +There, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing that we had so dreaded +and grown to hate that the work of her destruction was yielded as a +privilege to the one best entitled to it, but Lucy as we had seen her in +her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity. True that +there were there, as we had seen them in life, the traces of care and +pain and waste; but these were all dear to us, for they marked her truth +to what we knew. One and all we felt that the holy calm that lay like +sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and +symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever. + +Van Helsing came and laid his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and said to +him:-- + +"And now, Arthur my friend, dear lad, am I not forgiven?" + +The reaction of the terrible strain came as he took the old man's hand +in his, and raising it to his lips, pressed it, and said:-- + +"Forgiven! God bless you that you have given my dear one her soul again, +and me peace." He put his hands on the Professor's shoulder, and laying +his head on his breast, cried for a while silently, whilst we stood +unmoving. When he raised his head Van Helsing said to him:-- + +"And now, my child, you may kiss her. Kiss her dead lips if you will, as +she would have you to, if for her to choose. For she is not a grinning +devil now--not any more a foul Thing for all eternity. No longer she is +the devil's Un-Dead. She is God's true dead, whose soul is with Him!" + +Arthur bent and kissed her, and then we sent him and Quincey out of the +tomb; the Professor and I sawed the top off the stake, leaving the point +of it in the body. Then we cut off the head and filled the mouth with +garlic. We soldered up the leaden coffin, screwed on the coffin-lid, +and gathering up our belongings, came away. When the Professor locked +the door he gave the key to Arthur. + +Outside the air was sweet, the sun shone, and the birds sang, and it +seemed as if all nature were tuned to a different pitch. There was +gladness and mirth and peace everywhere, for we were at rest ourselves +on one account, and we were glad, though it was with a tempered joy. + +Before we moved away Van Helsing said:-- + +"Now, my friends, one step of our work is done, one the most harrowing +to ourselves. But there remains a greater task: to find out the author +of all this our sorrow and to stamp him out. I have clues which we can +follow; but it is a long task, and a difficult, and there is danger in +it, and pain. Shall you not all help me? We have learned to believe, all +of us--is it not so? And since so, do we not see our duty? Yes! And do +we not promise to go on to the bitter end?" + +Each in turn, we took his hand, and the promise was made. Then said the +Professor as we moved off:-- + +"Two nights hence you shall meet with me and dine together at seven of +the clock with friend John. I shall entreat two others, two that you +know not as yet; and I shall be ready to all our work show and our plans +unfold. Friend John, you come with me home, for I have much to consult +about, and you can help me. To-night I leave for Amsterdam, but shall +return to-morrow night. And then begins our great quest. But first I +shall have much to say, so that you may know what is to do and to dread. +Then our promise shall be made to each other anew; for there is a +terrible task before us, and once our feet are on the ploughshare we +must not draw back." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_ + + +When we arrived at the Berkeley Hotel, Van Helsing found a telegram +waiting for him:-- + + "Am coming up by train. Jonathan at Whitby. Important news.--MINA + HARKER." + +The Professor was delighted. "Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina," he said, +"pearl among women! She arrive, but I cannot stay. She must go to your +house, friend John. You must meet her at the station. Telegraph her _en +route_, so that she may be prepared." + +When the wire was despatched he had a cup of tea; over it he told me of +a diary kept by Jonathan Harker when abroad, and gave me a typewritten +copy of it, as also of Mrs. Harker's diary at Whitby. "Take these," he +said, "and study them well. When I have returned you will be master of +all the facts, and we can then better enter on our inquisition. Keep +them safe, for there is in them much of treasure. You will need all your +faith, even you who have had such an experience as that of to-day. What +is here told," he laid his hand heavily and gravely on the packet of +papers as he spoke, "may be the beginning of the end to you and me and +many another; or it may sound the knell of the Un-Dead who walk the +earth. Read all, I pray you, with the open mind; and if you can add in +any way to the story here told do so, for it is all-important. You have +kept diary of all these so strange things; is it not so? Yes! Then we +shall go through all these together when we meet." He then made ready +for his departure, and shortly after drove off to Liverpool Street. I +took my way to Paddington, where I arrived about fifteen minutes before +the train came in. + +The crowd melted away, after the bustling fashion common to arrival +platforms; and I was beginning to feel uneasy, lest I might miss my +guest, when a sweet-faced, dainty-looking girl stepped up to me, and, +after a quick glance, said: "Dr. Seward, is it not?" + +"And you are Mrs. Harker!" I answered at once; whereupon she held out +her hand. + +"I knew you from the description of poor dear Lucy; but----" She stopped +suddenly, and a quick blush overspread her face. + +The blush that rose to my own cheeks somehow set us both at ease, for it +was a tacit answer to her own. I got her luggage, which included a +typewriter, and we took the Underground to Fenchurch Street, after I had +sent a wire to my housekeeper to have a sitting-room and bedroom +prepared at once for Mrs. Harker. + +In due time we arrived. She knew, of course, that the place was a +lunatic asylum, but I could see that she was unable to repress a shudder +when we entered. + +She told me that, if she might, she would come presently to my study, as +she had much to say. So here I am finishing my entry in my phonograph +diary whilst I await her. As yet I have not had the chance of looking at +the papers which Van Helsing left with me, though they lie open before +me. I must get her interested in something, so that I may have an +opportunity of reading them. She does not know how precious time is, or +what a task we have in hand. I must be careful not to frighten her. Here +she is! + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After I had tidied myself, I went down to Dr. Seward's +study. At the door I paused a moment, for I thought I heard him talking +with some one. As, however, he had pressed me to be quick, I knocked at +the door, and on his calling out, "Come in," I entered. + +To my intense surprise, there was no one with him. He was quite alone, +and on the table opposite him was what I knew at once from the +description to be a phonograph. I had never seen one, and was much +interested. + +"I hope I did not keep you waiting," I said; "but I stayed at the door +as I heard you talking, and thought there was some one with you." + +"Oh," he replied with a smile, "I was only entering my diary." + +"Your diary?" I asked him in surprise. + +"Yes," he answered. "I keep it in this." As he spoke he laid his hand on +the phonograph. I felt quite excited over it, and blurted out:-- + +"Why, this beats even shorthand! May I hear it say something?" + +"Certainly," he replied with alacrity, and stood up to put it in train +for speaking. Then he paused, and a troubled look overspread his face. + +"The fact is," he began awkwardly, "I only keep my diary in it; and as +it is entirely--almost entirely--about my cases, it may be awkward--that +is, I mean----" He stopped, and I tried to help him out of his +embarrassment:-- + +"You helped to attend dear Lucy at the end. Let me hear how she died; +for all that I know of her, I shall be very grateful. She was very, very +dear to me." + +To my surprise, he answered, with a horrorstruck look in his face:-- + +"Tell you of her death? Not for the wide world!" + +"Why not?" I asked, for some grave, terrible feeling was coming over me. +Again he paused, and I could see that he was trying to invent an excuse. +At length he stammered out:-- + +"You see, I do not know how to pick out any particular part of the +diary." Even while he was speaking an idea dawned upon him, and he said +with unconscious simplicity, in a different voice, and with the naïveté +of a child: "That's quite true, upon my honour. Honest Indian!" I could +not but smile, at which he grimaced. "I gave myself away that time!" he +said. "But do you know that, although I have kept the diary for months +past, it never once struck me how I was going to find any particular +part of it in case I wanted to look it up?" By this time my mind was +made up that the diary of a doctor who attended Lucy might have +something to add to the sum of our knowledge of that terrible Being, and +I said boldly:-- + +"Then, Dr. Seward, you had better let me copy it out for you on my +typewriter." He grew to a positively deathly pallor as he said:-- + +"No! no! no! For all the world, I wouldn't let you know that terrible +story!" + +Then it was terrible; my intuition was right! For a moment I thought, +and as my eyes ranged the room, unconsciously looking for something or +some opportunity to aid me, they lit on a great batch of typewriting on +the table. His eyes caught the look in mine, and, without his thinking, +followed their direction. As they saw the parcel he realised my meaning. + +"You do not know me," I said. "When you have read those papers--my own +diary and my husband's also, which I have typed--you will know me +better. I have not faltered in giving every thought of my own heart in +this cause; but, of course, you do not know me--yet; and I must not +expect you to trust me so far." + +He is certainly a man of noble nature; poor dear Lucy was right about +him. He stood up and opened a large drawer, in which were arranged in +order a number of hollow cylinders of metal covered with dark wax, and +said:-- + +"You are quite right. I did not trust you because I did not know you. +But I know you now; and let me say that I should have known you long +ago. I know that Lucy told you of me; she told me of you too. May I make +the only atonement in my power? Take the cylinders and hear them--the +first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they will not horrify +you; then you will know me better. Dinner will by then be ready. In the +meantime I shall read over some of these documents, and shall be better +able to understand certain things." He carried the phonograph himself up +to my sitting-room and adjusted it for me. Now I shall learn something +pleasant, I am sure; for it will tell me the other side of a true love +episode of which I know one side already.... + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_29 September._--I was so absorbed in that wonderful diary of Jonathan +Harker and that other of his wife that I let the time run on without +thinking. Mrs. Harker was not down when the maid came to announce +dinner, so I said: "She is possibly tired; let dinner wait an hour," and +I went on with my work. I had just finished Mrs. Harker's diary, when +she came in. She looked sweetly pretty, but very sad, and her eyes were +flushed with crying. This somehow moved me much. Of late I have had +cause for tears, God knows! but the relief of them was denied me; and +now the sight of those sweet eyes, brightened with recent tears, went +straight to my heart. So I said as gently as I could:-- + +"I greatly fear I have distressed you." + +"Oh, no, not distressed me," she replied, "but I have been more touched +than I can say by your grief. That is a wonderful machine, but it is +cruelly true. It told me, in its very tones, the anguish of your heart. +It was like a soul crying out to Almighty God. No one must hear them +spoken ever again! See, I have tried to be useful. I have copied out the +words on my typewriter, and none other need now hear your heart beat, as +I did." + +"No one need ever know, shall ever know," I said in a low voice. She +laid her hand on mine and said very gravely:-- + +"Ah, but they must!" + +"Must! But why?" I asked. + +"Because it is a part of the terrible story, a part of poor dear Lucy's +death and all that led to it; because in the struggle which we have +before us to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all +the knowledge and all the help which we can get. I think that the +cylinders which you gave me contained more than you intended me to know; +but I can see that there are in your record many lights to this dark +mystery. You will let me help, will you not? I know all up to a certain +point; and I see already, though your diary only took me to 7 September, +how poor Lucy was beset, and how her terrible doom was being wrought +out. Jonathan and I have been working day and night since Professor Van +Helsing saw us. He is gone to Whitby to get more information, and he +will be here to-morrow to help us. We need have no secrets amongst us; +working together and with absolute trust, we can surely be stronger than +if some of us were in the dark." She looked at me so appealingly, and at +the same time manifested such courage and resolution in her bearing, +that I gave in at once to her wishes. "You shall," I said, "do as you +like in the matter. God forgive me if I do wrong! There are terrible +things yet to learn of; but if you have so far travelled on the road to +poor Lucy's death, you will not be content, I know, to remain in the +dark. Nay, the end--the very end--may give you a gleam of peace. Come, +there is dinner. We must keep one another strong for what is before us; +we have a cruel and dreadful task. When you have eaten you shall learn +the rest, and I shall answer any questions you ask--if there be anything +which you do not understand, though it was apparent to us who were +present." + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September._--After dinner I came with Dr. Seward to his study. He +brought back the phonograph from my room, and I took my typewriter. He +placed me in a comfortable chair, and arranged the phonograph so that I +could touch it without getting up, and showed me how to stop it in case +I should want to pause. Then he very thoughtfully took a chair, with his +back to me, so that I might be as free as possible, and began to read. I +put the forked metal to my ears and listened. + +When the terrible story of Lucy's death, and--and all that followed, was +done, I lay back in my chair powerless. Fortunately I am not of a +fainting disposition. When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped up with a +horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking a case-bottle from a +cupboard, gave me some brandy, which in a few minutes somewhat restored +me. My brain was all in a whirl, and only that there came through all +the multitude of horrors, the holy ray of light that my dear, dear Lucy +was at last at peace, I do not think I could have borne it without +making a scene. It is all so wild, and mysterious, and strange that if I +had not known Jonathan's experience in Transylvania I could not have +believed. As it was, I didn't know what to believe, and so got out of my +difficulty by attending to something else. I took the cover off my +typewriter, and said to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Let me write this all out now. We must be ready for Dr. Van Helsing +when he comes. I have sent a telegram to Jonathan to come on here when +he arrives in London from Whitby. In this matter dates are everything, +and I think that if we get all our material ready, and have every item +put in chronological order, we shall have done much. You tell me that +Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris are coming too. Let us be able to tell him +when they come." He accordingly set the phonograph at a slow pace, and I +began to typewrite from the beginning of the seventh cylinder. I used +manifold, and so took three copies of the diary, just as I had done with +all the rest. It was late when I got through, but Dr. Seward went about +his work of going his round of the patients; when he had finished he +came back and sat near me, reading, so that I did not feel too lonely +whilst I worked. How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of +good men--even if there _are_ monsters in it. Before I left him I +remembered what Jonathan put in his diary of the Professor's +perturbation at reading something in an evening paper at the station at +Exeter; so, seeing that Dr. Seward keeps his newspapers, I borrowed the +files of "The Westminster Gazette" and "The Pall Mall Gazette," and took +them to my room. I remember how much "The Dailygraph" and "The Whitby +Gazette," of which I had made cuttings, helped us to understand the +terrible events at Whitby when Count Dracula landed, so I shall look +through the evening papers since then, and perhaps I shall get some new +light. I am not sleepy, and the work will help to keep me quiet. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_30 September._--Mr. Harker arrived at nine o'clock. He had got his +wife's wire just before starting. He is uncommonly clever, if one can +judge from his face, and full of energy. If this journal be true--and +judging by one's own wonderful experiences, it must be--he is also a man +of great nerve. That going down to the vault a second time was a +remarkable piece of daring. After reading his account of it I was +prepared to meet a good specimen of manhood, but hardly the quiet, +business-like gentleman who came here to-day. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--After lunch Harker and his wife went back to their own room, +and as I passed a while ago I heard the click of the typewriter. They +are hard at it. Mrs. Harker says that they are knitting together in +chronological order every scrap of evidence they have. Harker has got +the letters between the consignee of the boxes at Whitby and the +carriers in London who took charge of them. He is now reading his wife's +typescript of my diary. I wonder what they make out of it. Here it +is.... + + Strange that it never struck me that the very next house might be + the Count's hiding-place! Goodness knows that we had enough clues + from the conduct of the patient Renfield! The bundle of letters + relating to the purchase of the house were with the typescript. Oh, + if we had only had them earlier we might have saved poor Lucy! + Stop; that way madness lies! Harker has gone back, and is again + collating his material. He says that by dinner-time they will be + able to show a whole connected narrative. He thinks that in the + meantime I should see Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of + index to the coming and going of the Count. I hardly see this yet, + but when I get at the dates I suppose I shall. What a good thing + that Mrs. Harker put my cylinders into type! We never could have + found the dates otherwise.... + + I found Renfield sitting placidly in his room with his hands + folded, smiling benignly. At the moment he seemed as sane as any + one I ever saw. I sat down and talked with him on a lot of + subjects, all of which he treated naturally. He then, of his own + accord, spoke of going home, a subject he has never mentioned to my + knowledge during his sojourn here. In fact, he spoke quite + confidently of getting his discharge at once. I believe that, had I + not had the chat with Harker and read the letters and the dates of + his outbursts, I should have been prepared to sign for him after a + brief time of observation. As it is, I am darkly suspicious. All + those outbreaks were in some way linked with the proximity of the + Count. What then does this absolute content mean? Can it be that + his instinct is satisfied as to the vampire's ultimate triumph? + Stay; he is himself zoöphagous, and in his wild ravings outside the + chapel door of the deserted house he always spoke of "master." This + all seems confirmation of our idea. However, after a while I came + away; my friend is just a little too sane at present to make it + safe to probe him too deep with questions. He might begin to think, + and then--! So I came away. I mistrust these quiet moods of his; so + I have given the attendant a hint to look closely after him, and to + have a strait-waistcoat ready in case of need. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_29 September, in train to London._--When I received Mr. Billington's +courteous message that he would give me any information in his power I +thought it best to go down to Whitby and make, on the spot, such +inquiries as I wanted. It was now my object to trace that horrid cargo +of the Count's to its place in London. Later, we may be able to deal +with it. Billington junior, a nice lad, met me at the station, and +brought me to his father's house, where they had decided that I must +stay the night. They are hospitable, with true Yorkshire hospitality: +give a guest everything, and leave him free to do as he likes. They all +knew that I was busy, and that my stay was short, and Mr. Billington had +ready in his office all the papers concerning the consignment of boxes. +It gave me almost a turn to see again one of the letters which I had +seen on the Count's table before I knew of his diabolical plans. +Everything had been carefully thought out, and done systematically and +with precision. He seemed to have been prepared for every obstacle which +might be placed by accident in the way of his intentions being carried +out. To use an Americanism, he had "taken no chances," and the absolute +accuracy with which his instructions were fulfilled, was simply the +logical result of his care. I saw the invoice, and took note of it: +"Fifty cases of common earth, to be used for experimental purposes." +Also the copy of letter to Carter Paterson, and their reply; of both of +these I got copies. This was all the information Mr. Billington could +give me, so I went down to the port and saw the coastguards, the Customs +officers and the harbour-master. They had all something to say of the +strange entry of the ship, which is already taking its place in local +tradition; but no one could add to the simple description "Fifty cases +of common earth." I then saw the station-master, who kindly put me in +communication with the men who had actually received the boxes. Their +tally was exact with the list, and they had nothing to add except that +the boxes were "main and mortal heavy," and that shifting them was dry +work. One of them added that it was hard lines that there wasn't any +gentleman "such-like as yourself, squire," to show some sort of +appreciation of their efforts in a liquid form; another put in a rider +that the thirst then generated was such that even the time which had +elapsed had not completely allayed it. Needless to add, I took care +before leaving to lift, for ever and adequately, this source of +reproach. + + * * * * * + +_30 September._--The station-master was good enough to give me a line to +his old companion the station-master at King's Cross, so that when I +arrived there in the morning I was able to ask him about the arrival of +the boxes. He, too, put me at once in communication with the proper +officials, and I saw that their tally was correct with the original +invoice. The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here +limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was +compelled to deal with the result in an _ex post facto_ manner. + +From thence I went on to Carter Paterson's central office, where I met +with the utmost courtesy. They looked up the transaction in their +day-book and letter-book, and at once telephoned to their King's Cross +office for more details. By good fortune, the men who did the teaming +were waiting for work, and the official at once sent them over, sending +also by one of them the way-bill and all the papers connected with the +delivery of the boxes at Carfax. Here again I found the tally agreeing +exactly; the carriers' men were able to supplement the paucity of the +written words with a few details. These were, I shortly found, connected +almost solely with the dusty nature of the job, and of the consequent +thirst engendered in the operators. On my affording an opportunity, +through the medium of the currency of the realm, of the allaying, at a +later period, this beneficial evil, one of the men remarked:-- + +"That 'ere 'ouse, guv'nor, is the rummiest I ever was in. Blyme! but it +ain't been touched sence a hundred years. There was dust that thick in +the place that you might have slep' on it without 'urtin' of yer bones; +an' the place was that neglected that yer might 'ave smelled ole +Jerusalem in it. But the ole chapel--that took the cike, that did! Me +and my mate, we thort we wouldn't never git out quick enough. Lor', I +wouldn't take less nor a quid a moment to stay there arter dark." + +Having been in the house, I could well believe him; but if he knew what +I know, he would, I think, have raised his terms. + +Of one thing I am now satisfied: that _all_ the boxes which arrived at +Whitby from Varna in the _Demeter_ were safely deposited in the old +chapel at Carfax. There should be fifty of them there, unless any have +since been removed--as from Dr. Seward's diary I fear. + +I shall try to see the carter who took away the boxes from Carfax when +Renfield attacked them. By following up this clue we may learn a good +deal. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Mina and I have worked all day, and we have put all the papers +into order. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal_ + +_30 September._--I am so glad that I hardly know how to contain myself. +It is, I suppose, the reaction from the haunting fear which I have had: +that this terrible affair and the reopening of his old wound might act +detrimentally on Jonathan. I saw him leave for Whitby with as brave a +face as I could, but I was sick with apprehension. The effort has, +however, done him good. He was never so resolute, never so strong, never +so full of volcanic energy, as at present. It is just as that dear, good +Professor Van Helsing said: he is true grit, and he improves under +strain that would kill a weaker nature. He came back full of life and +hope and determination; we have got everything in order for to-night. I +feel myself quite wild with excitement. I suppose one ought to pity any +thing so hunted as is the Count. That is just it: this Thing is not +human--not even beast. To read Dr. Seward's account of poor Lucy's +death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in +one's heart. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris arrived earlier than we +expected. Dr. Seward was out on business, and had taken Jonathan with +him, so I had to see them. It was to me a painful meeting, for it +brought back all poor dear Lucy's hopes of only a few months ago. Of +course they had heard Lucy speak of me, and it seemed that Dr. Van +Helsing, too, has been quite "blowing my trumpet," as Mr. Morris +expressed it. Poor fellows, neither of them is aware that I know all +about the proposals they made to Lucy. They did not quite know what to +say or do, as they were ignorant of the amount of my knowledge; so they +had to keep on neutral subjects. However, I thought the matter over, and +came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do would be to post +them in affairs right up to date. I knew from Dr. Seward's diary that +they had been at Lucy's death--her real death--and that I need not fear +to betray any secret before the time. So I told them, as well as I +could, that I had read all the papers and diaries, and that my husband +and I, having typewritten them, had just finished putting them in order. +I gave them each a copy to read in the library. When Lord Godalming got +his and turned it over--it does make a pretty good pile--he said:-- + +"Did you write all this, Mrs. Harker?" + +I nodded, and he went on:-- + +"I don't quite see the drift of it; but you people are all so good and +kind, and have been working so earnestly and so energetically, that all +I can do is to accept your ideas blindfold and try to help you. I have +had one lesson already in accepting facts that should make a man humble +to the last hour of his life. Besides, I know you loved my poor Lucy--" +Here he turned away and covered his face with his hands. I could hear +the tears in his voice. Mr. Morris, with instinctive delicacy, just laid +a hand for a moment on his shoulder, and then walked quietly out of the +room. I suppose there is something in woman's nature that makes a man +free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or +emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood; for when +Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat down on the sofa and +gave way utterly and openly. I sat down beside him and took his hand. I +hope he didn't think it forward of me, and that if he ever thinks of it +afterwards he never will have such a thought. There I wrong him; I +_know_ he never will--he is too true a gentleman. I said to him, for I +could see that his heart was breaking:-- + +"I loved dear Lucy, and I know what she was to you, and what you were to +her. She and I were like sisters; and now she is gone, will you not let +me be like a sister to you in your trouble? I know what sorrows you have +had, though I cannot measure the depth of them. If sympathy and pity can +help in your affliction, won't you let me be of some little service--for +Lucy's sake?" + +In an instant the poor dear fellow was overwhelmed with grief. It seemed +to me that all that he had of late been suffering in silence found a +vent at once. He grew quite hysterical, and raising his open hands, beat +his palms together in a perfect agony of grief. He stood up and then sat +down again, and the tears rained down his cheeks. I felt an infinite +pity for him, and opened my arms unthinkingly. With a sob he laid his +head on my shoulder and cried like a wearied child, whilst he shook with +emotion. + +We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above +smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked; I felt this big +sorrowing man's head resting on me, as though it were that of the baby +that some day may lie on my bosom, and I stroked his hair as though he +were my own child. I never thought at the time how strange it all was. + +After a little bit his sobs ceased, and he raised himself with an +apology, though he made no disguise of his emotion. He told me that for +days and nights past--weary days and sleepless nights--he had been +unable to speak with any one, as a man must speak in his time of +sorrow. There was no woman whose sympathy could be given to him, or with +whom, owing to the terrible circumstance with which his sorrow was +surrounded, he could speak freely. "I know now how I suffered," he said, +as he dried his eyes, "but I do not know even yet--and none other can +ever know--how much your sweet sympathy has been to me to-day. I shall +know better in time; and believe me that, though I am not ungrateful +now, my gratitude will grow with my understanding. You will let me be +like a brother, will you not, for all our lives--for dear Lucy's sake?" + +"For dear Lucy's sake," I said as we clasped hands. "Ay, and for your +own sake," he added, "for if a man's esteem and gratitude are ever worth +the winning, you have won mine to-day. If ever the future should bring +to you a time when you need a man's help, believe me, you will not call +in vain. God grant that no such time may ever come to you to break the +sunshine of your life; but if it should ever come, promise me that you +will let me know." He was so earnest, and his sorrow was so fresh, that +I felt it would comfort him, so I said:-- + +"I promise." + +As I came along the corridor I saw Mr. Morris looking out of a window. +He turned as he heard my footsteps. "How is Art?" he said. Then noticing +my red eyes, he went on: "Ah, I see you have been comforting him. Poor +old fellow! he needs it. No one but a woman can help a man when he is in +trouble of the heart; and he had no one to comfort him." + +He bore his own trouble so bravely that my heart bled for him. I saw the +manuscript in his hand, and I knew that when he read it he would realise +how much I knew; so I said to him:-- + +"I wish I could comfort all who suffer from the heart. Will you let me +be your friend, and will you come to me for comfort if you need it? You +will know, later on, why I speak." He saw that I was in earnest, and +stooping, took my hand, and raising it to his lips, kissed it. It seemed +but poor comfort to so brave and unselfish a soul, and impulsively I +bent over and kissed him. The tears rose in his eyes, and there was a +momentary choking in his throat; he said quite calmly:-- + +"Little girl, you will never regret that true-hearted kindness, so long +as ever you live!" Then he went into the study to his friend. + +"Little girl!"--the very words he had used to Lucy, and oh, but he +proved himself a friend! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_30 September._--I got home at five o'clock, and found that Godalming +and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied the transcript +of the various diaries and letters which Harker and his wonderful wife +had made and arranged. Harker had not yet returned from his visit to the +carriers' men, of whom Dr. Hennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave +us a cup of tea, and I can honestly say that, for the first time since I +have lived in it, this old house seemed like _home_. When we had +finished, Mrs. Harker said:-- + +"Dr. Seward, may I ask a favour? I want to see your patient, Mr. +Renfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your diary +interests me so much!" She looked so appealing and so pretty that I +could not refuse her, and there was no possible reason why I should; so +I took her with me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a +lady would like to see him; to which he simply answered: "Why?" + +"She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in it," I +answered. "Oh, very well," he said; "let her come in, by all means; but +just wait a minute till I tidy up the place." His method of tidying was +peculiar: he simply swallowed all the flies and spiders in the boxes +before I could stop him. It was quite evident that he feared, or was +jealous of, some interference. When he had got through his disgusting +task, he said cheerfully: "Let the lady come in," and sat down on the +edge of his bed with his head down, but with his eyelids raised so that +he could see her as she entered. For a moment I thought that he might +have some homicidal intent; I remembered how quiet he had been just +before he attacked me in my own study, and I took care to stand where I +could seize him at once if he attempted to make a spring at her. She +came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command +the respect of any lunatic--for easiness is one of the qualities mad +people most respect. She walked over to him, smiling pleasantly, and +held out her hand. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Renfield," said she. "You see, I know you, for Dr. +Seward has told me of you." He made no immediate reply, but eyed her all +over intently with a set frown on his face. This look gave way to one +of wonder, which merged in doubt; then, to my intense astonishment, he +said:-- + +"You're not the girl the doctor wanted to marry, are you? You can't be, +you know, for she's dead." Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied:-- + +"Oh no! I have a husband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever +saw Dr. Seward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker." + +"Then what are you doing here?" + +"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward." + +"Then don't stay." + +"But why not?" I thought that this style of conversation might not be +pleasant to Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in:-- + +"How did you know I wanted to marry any one?" His reply was simply +contemptuous, given in a pause in which he turned his eyes from Mrs. +Harker to me, instantly turning them back again:-- + +"What an asinine question!" + +"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield," said Mrs. Harker, at once +championing me. He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as +he had shown contempt to me:-- + +"You will, of course, understand, Mrs. Harker, that when a man is so +loved and honoured as our host is, everything regarding him is of +interest in our little community. Dr. Seward is loved not only by his +household and his friends, but even by his patients, who, being some of +them hardly in mental equilibrium, are apt to distort causes and +effects. Since I myself have been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I +cannot but notice that the sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates +lean towards the errors of _non causa_ and _ignoratio elenchi_." I +positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my own pet +lunatic--the most pronounced of his type that I had ever met +with--talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a polished +gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which had touched +some chord in his memory. If this new phase was spontaneous, or in any +way due to her unconscious influence, she must have some rare gift or +power. + +We continued to talk for some time; and, seeing that he was seemingly +quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me questioningly as she +began, to lead him to his favourite topic. I was again astonished, for +he addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of the +completest sanity; he even took himself as an example when he mentioned +certain things. + +"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief. Indeed, +it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on my being +put under control. I used to fancy that life was a positive and +perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of live things, no +matter how low in the scale of creation, one might indefinitely prolong +life. At times I held the belief so strongly that I actually tried to +take human life. The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I +tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by +the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his +blood--relying, of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is +the life.' Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has +vulgarised the truism to the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, +doctor?" I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to +either think or say; it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat up +his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my watch, I +saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, so I told Mrs. +Harker that it was time to leave. She came at once, after saying +pleasantly to Mr. Renfield: "Good-bye, and I hope I may see you often, +under auspices pleasanter to yourself," to which, to my astonishment, he +replied:-- + +"Good-bye, my dear. I pray God I may never see your sweet face again. +May He bless and keep you!" + +When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys behind +me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy first took +ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self than he has been for +many a long day. + +Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness of a +boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying:-- + +"Ah, friend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come +here to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I have +much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine husband? And +Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too? Good!" + +As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of how my own +diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's suggestion; at +which the Professor interrupted me:-- + +"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain--a brain that a man +should have were he much gifted--and a woman's heart. The good God +fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good +combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made that woman of help +to us; after to-night she must not have to do with this so terrible +affair. It is not good that she run a risk so great. We men are +determined--nay, are we not pledged?--to destroy this monster; but it is +no part for a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her +in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer--both in +waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams. And, besides, +she is young woman and not so long married; there may be other things to +think of some time, if not now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she +must consult with us; but to-morrow she say good-bye to this work, and +we go alone." I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we +had found in his absence: that the house which Dracula had bought was +the very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern seemed +to come on him. "Oh that we had known it before!" he said, "for then we +might have reached him in time to save poor Lucy. However, 'the milk +that is spilt cries not out afterwards,' as you say. We shall not think +of that, but go on our way to the end." Then he fell into a silence that +lasted till we entered my own gateway. Before we went to prepare for +dinner he said to Mrs. Harker:-- + +"I am told, Madam Mina, by my friend John that you and your husband have +put up in exact order all things that have been, up to this moment." + +"Not up to this moment, Professor," she said impulsively, "but up to +this morning." + +"But why not up to now? We have seen hitherto how good light all the +little things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet no one who +has told is the worse for it." + +Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets, she +said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it must go in. It +is my record of to-day. I too have seen the need of putting down at +present everything, however trivial; but there is little in this except +what is personal. Must it go in?" The Professor read it over gravely, +and handed it back, saying:-- + +"It need not go in if you do not wish it; but I pray that it may. It can +but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your friends, more +honour you--as well as more esteem and love." She took it back with +another blush and a bright smile. + +And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are complete +and in order. The Professor took away one copy to study after dinner, +and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock. The rest of us +have already read everything; so when we meet in the study we shall all +be informed as to facts, and can arrange our plan of battle with this +terrible and mysterious enemy. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 September._--When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after +dinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a sort of +board or committee. Professor Van Helsing took the head of the table, to +which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the room. He made me sit +next to him on his right, and asked me to act as secretary; Jonathan sat +next to me. Opposite us were Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. +Morris--Lord Godalming being next the Professor, and Dr. Seward in the +centre. The Professor said:-- + +"I may, I suppose, take it that we are all acquainted with the facts +that are in these papers." We all expressed assent, and he went on:-- + +"Then it were, I think good that I tell you something of the kind of +enemy with which we have to deal. I shall then make known to you +something of the history of this man, which has been ascertained for me. +So we then can discuss how we shall act, and can take our measure +according. + +"There are such beings as vampires; some of us have evidence that they +exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the +teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane +peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic. Were it not that +through long years I have train myself to keep an open mind, I could not +have believe until such time as that fact thunder on my ear. 'See! see! +I prove; I prove.' Alas! Had I known at the first what now I know--nay, +had I even guess at him--one so precious life had been spared to many of +us who did love her. But that is gone; and we must so work, that other +poor souls perish not, whilst we can save. The _nosferatu_ do not die +like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger; and being +stronger, have yet more power to work evil. This vampire which is +amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men; he is of +cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages; he have +still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the +divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are +for him at command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in +callous, and the heart of him is not; he can, within limitations, appear +at will when, and where, and in any of the forms that are to him; he +can, within his range, direct the elements; the storm, the fog, the +thunder; he can command all the meaner things: the rat, and the owl, and +the bat--the moth, and the fox, and the wolf; he can grow and become +small; and he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to +begin our strike to destroy him? How shall we find his where; and having +found it, how can we destroy? My friends, this is much; it is a terrible +task that we undertake, and there may be consequence to make the brave +shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must surely win; and then +where end we? Life is nothings; I heed him not. But to fail here, is not +mere life or death. It is that we become as him; that we henceforward +become foul things of the night like him--without heart or conscience, +preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love best. To us for +ever are the gates of heaven shut; for who shall open them to us again? +We go on for all time abhorred by all; a blot on the face of God's +sunshine; an arrow in the side of Him who died for man. But we are face +to face with duty; and in such case must we shrink? For me, I say, no; +but then I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair places, his +song of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind. You others are +young. Some have seen sorrow; but there are fair days yet in store. What +say you?" + +Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand. I feared, oh so +much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him when I +saw his hand stretch out; but it was life to me to feel its touch--so +strong, so self-reliant, so resolute. A brave man's hand can speak for +itself; it does not even need a woman's love to hear its music. + +When the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my eyes, and I +in his; there was no need for speaking between us. + +"I answer for Mina and myself," he said. + +"Count me in, Professor," said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically as usual. + +"I am with you," said Lord Godalming, "for Lucy's sake, if for no other +reason." + +Dr. Seward simply nodded. The Professor stood up and, after laying his +golden crucifix on the table, held out his hand on either side. I took +his right hand, and Lord Godalming his left; Jonathan held my right with +his left and stretched across to Mr. Morris. So as we all took hands our +solemn compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not even +occur to me to draw back. We resumed our places, and Dr. Van Helsing +went on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the serious work +had begun. It was to be taken as gravely, and in as businesslike a way, +as any other transaction of life:-- + +"Well, you know what we have to contend against; but we, too, are not +without strength. We have on our side power of combination--a power +denied to the vampire kind; we have sources of science; we are free to +act and think; and the hours of the day and the night are ours equally. +In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are +free to use them. We have self-devotion in a cause, and an end to +achieve which is not a selfish one. These things are much. + +"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us are +restrict, and how the individual cannot. In fine, let us consider the +limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one in particular. + +"All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions. These do not +at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and death--nay +of more than either life or death. Yet must we be satisfied; in the +first place because we have to be--no other means is at our control--and +secondly, because, after all, these things--tradition and +superstition--are everything. Does not the belief in vampires rest for +others--though not, alas! for us--on them? A year ago which of us would +have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, +sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth century? We even scouted a belief +that we saw justified under our very eyes. Take it, then, that the +vampire, and the belief in his limitations and his cure, rest for the +moment on the same base. For, let me tell you, he is known everywhere +that men have been. In old Greece, in old Rome; he flourish in Germany +all over, in France, in India, even in the Chernosese; and in China, so +far from us in all ways, there even is he, and the peoples fear him at +this day. He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the +devil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, the Magyar. So far, then, we +have all we may act upon; and let me tell you that very much of the +beliefs are justified by what we have seen in our own so unhappy +experience. The vampire live on, and cannot die by mere passing of the +time; he can flourish when that he can fatten on the blood of the +living. Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can even grow +younger; that his vital faculties grow strenuous, and seem as though +they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty. But he +cannot flourish without this diet; he eat not as others. Even friend +Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him to eat, never! +He throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect, as again +Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of his hand--witness again +Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him +from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather +from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog; he can be as +bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John +saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at +the window of Miss Lucy. He can come in mist which he create--that noble +ship's captain proved him of this; but, from what we know, the distance +he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself. He +come on moonlight rays as elemental dust--as again Jonathan saw those +sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small--we ourselves saw +Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a hairbreadth space at the +tomb door. He can, when once he find his way, come out from anything or +into anything, no matter how close it be bound or even fused up with +fire--solder you call it. He can see in the dark--no small power this, +in a world which is one half shut from the light. Ah, but hear me +through. He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay; he is even +more prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell. +He cannot go where he lists; he who is not of nature has yet to obey +some of nature's laws--why we know not. He may not enter anywhere at the +first, unless there be some one of the household who bid him to come; +though afterwards he can come as he please. His power ceases, as does +that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times +can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is +bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset. +These things are we told, and in this record of ours we have proof by +inference. Thus, whereas he can do as he will within his limit, when he +have his earth-home, his coffin-home, his hell-home, the place +unhallowed, as we saw when he went to the grave of the suicide at +Whitby; still at other time he can only change when the time come. It is +said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood +of the tide. Then there are things which so afflict him that he has no +power, as the garlic that we know of; and as for things sacred, as this +symbol, my crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to +them he is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and +silent with respect. There are others, too, which I shall tell you of, +lest in our seeking we may need them. The branch of wild rose on his +coffin keep him that he move not from it; a sacred bullet fired into the +coffin kill him so that he be true dead; and as for the stake through +him, we know already of its peace; or the cut-off head that giveth rest. +We have seen it with our eyes. + +"Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can confine +him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know. But he is +clever. I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to +make his record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he +has been. He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his +name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of +Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man; for in that time, +and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most +cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the +forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his +grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says +Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who +were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They +learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake +Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the +records are such words as 'stregoica'--witch, 'ordog,' and +'pokol'--Satan and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is +spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well. There have been +from the loins of this very one great men and good women, and their +graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness can dwell. For it +is not the least of its terrors that this evil thing is rooted deep in +all good; in soil barren of holy memories it cannot rest." + +Whilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the window, +and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room. There was a little +pause, and then the Professor went on:-- + +"And now we must settle what we do. We have here much data, and we must +proceed to lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry of Jonathan +that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all of which +were delivered at Carfax; we also know that at least some of these boxes +have been removed. It seems to me, that our first step should be to +ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond that wall +where we look to-day; or whether any more have been removed. If the +latter, we must trace----" + +Here we were interrupted in a very startling way. Outside the house came +the sound of a pistol-shot; the glass of the window was shattered with a +bullet, which, ricochetting from the top of the embrasure, struck the +far wall of the room. I am afraid I am at heart a coward, for I shrieked +out. The men all jumped to their feet; Lord Godalming flew over to the +window and threw up the sash. As he did so we heard Mr. Morris's voice +without:-- + +"Sorry! I fear I have alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about +it." A minute later he came in and said:-- + +"It was an idiotic thing of me to do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. +Harker, most sincerely; I fear I must have frightened you terribly. But +the fact is that whilst the Professor was talking there came a big bat +and sat on the window-sill. I have got such a horror of the damned +brutes from recent events that I cannot stand them, and I went out to +have a shot, as I have been doing of late of evenings, whenever I have +seen one. You used to laugh at me for it then, Art." + +"Did you hit it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing. + +"I don't know; I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood." Without +saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began to resume his +statement:-- + +"We must trace each of these boxes; and when we are ready, we must +either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to +speak, sterilise the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it. +Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours of +noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most weak. + +"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. +You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part to-night, you +no more must question. We shall tell you all in good time. We are men +and are able to bear; but you must be our star and our hope, and we +shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we +are." + +All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved; but it did not seem to me +good that they should brave danger and, perhaps, lessen their +safety--strength being the best safety--through care of me; but their +minds were made up, and, though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, +I could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me. + +Mr. Morris resumed the discussion:-- + +"As there is no time to lose, I vote we have a look at his house right +now. Time is everything with him; and swift action on our part may save +another victim." + +I own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action came so +close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear that if I +appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even leave +me out of their counsels altogether. They have now gone off to Carfax, +with means to get into the house. + +Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep; as if a woman can +sleep when those she loves are in danger! I shall lie down and pretend +to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he returns. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October, 4 a. m._--Just as we were about to leave the house, an +urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see +him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me. +I told the messenger to say that I would attend to his wishes in the +morning; I was busy just at the moment. The attendant added:-- + +"He seems very importunate, sir. I have never seen him so eager. I don't +know but what, if you don't see him soon, he will have one of his +violent fits." I knew the man would not have said this without some +cause, so I said: "All right; I'll go now"; and I asked the others to +wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and see my "patient." + +"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your +diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on _our_ +case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is +disturbed." + +"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming. + +"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and +we all went down the passage together. + +We found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more +rational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him. There was an +unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything I had ever +met with in a lunatic; and he took it for granted that his reasons would +prevail with others entirely sane. We all four went into the room, but +none of the others at first said anything. His request was that I would +at once release him from the asylum and send him home. This he backed up +with arguments regarding his complete recovery, and adduced his own +existing sanity. "I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, +perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have +not introduced me." I was so much astonished, that the oddness of +introducing a madman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment; and, +besides, there was a certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of +the habit of equality, that I at once made the introduction: "Lord +Godalming; Professor Van Helsing; Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas; Mr. +Renfield." He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn:-- + +"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the +Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no +more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his +youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much +patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great +state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have +far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold +alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a +vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true +place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at +meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of +conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics +by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, +conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to +one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by +the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective +places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at +least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. +And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as +well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to +be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last +appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own +charm. + +I think we were all staggered. For my own part, I was under the +conviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and history, +that his reason had been restored; and I felt under a strong impulse to +tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity, and would see about the +necessary formalities for his release in the morning. I thought it +better to wait, however, before making so grave a statement, for of old +I knew the sudden changes to which this particular patient was liable. +So I contented myself with making a general statement that he appeared +to be improving very rapidly; that I would have a longer chat with him +in the morning, and would then see what I could do in the direction of +meeting his wishes. This did not at all satisfy him, for he said +quickly:-- + +"But I fear, Dr. Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish. I desire to +go at once--here--now--this very hour--this very moment, if I may. Time +presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman it is of +the essence of the contract. I am sure it is only necessary to put +before so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward so simple, yet so +momentous a wish, to ensure its fulfilment." He looked at me keenly, and +seeing the negative in my face, turned to the others, and scrutinised +them closely. Not meeting any sufficient response, he went on:-- + +"Is it possible that I have erred in my supposition?" + +"You have," I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt, brutally. +There was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly:-- + +"Then I suppose I must only shift my ground of request. Let me ask for +this concession--boon, privilege, what you will. I am content to implore +in such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of others. I +am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons; but you may, I +assure you, take it from me that they are good ones, sound and +unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty. Could you look, +sir, into my heart, you would approve to the full the sentiments which +animate me. Nay, more, you would count me amongst the best and truest of +your friends." Again he looked at us all keenly. I had a growing +conviction that this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was +but yet another form or phase of his madness, and so determined to let +him go on a little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like +all lunatics, give himself away in the end. Van Helsing was gazing at +him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting +with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone +which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it +afterwards--for it was as of one addressing an equal:-- + +"Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be free +to-night? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me--a stranger, +without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open mind--Dr. +Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own responsibility, the +privilege you seek." He shook his head sadly, and with a look of +poignant regret on his face. The Professor went on:-- + +"Come, sir, bethink yourself. You claim the privilege of reason in the +highest degree, since you seek to impress us with your complete +reasonableness. You do this, whose sanity we have reason to doubt, since +you are not yet released from medical treatment for this very defect. If +you will not help us in our effort to choose the wisest course, how can +we perform the duty which you yourself put upon us? Be wise, and help +us; and if we can we shall aid you to achieve your wish." He still shook +his head as he said:-- + +"Dr. Van Helsing, I have nothing to say. Your argument is complete, and +if I were free to speak I should not hesitate a moment; but I am not my +own master in the matter. I can only ask you to trust me. If I am +refused, the responsibility does not rest with me." I thought it was now +time to end the scene, which was becoming too comically grave, so I went +towards the door, simply saying:-- + +"Come, my friends, we have work to do. Good-night." + +As, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the patient. He +moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I feared that he was +about to make another homicidal attack. My fears, however, were +groundless, for he held up his two hands imploringly, and made his +petition in a moving manner. As he saw that the very excess of his +emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old +relations, he became still more demonstrative. I glanced at Van Helsing, +and saw my conviction reflected in his eyes; so I became a little more +fixed in my manner, if not more stern, and motioned to him that his +efforts were unavailing. I had previously seen something of the same +constantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some request of +which at the time he had thought much, such, for instance, as when he +wanted a cat; and I was prepared to see the collapse into the same +sullen acquiescence on this occasion. My expectation was not realised, +for, when he found that his appeal would not be successful, he got into +quite a frantic condition. He threw himself on his knees, and held up +his hands, wringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a +torrent of entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his +whole face and form expressive of the deepest emotion:-- + +"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out +of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; +send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a +strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go +out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am +speaking from the depths of my heart--of my very soul. You don't know +whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. +By all you hold sacred--by all you hold dear--by your love that is +lost--by your hope that lives--for the sake of the Almighty, take me out +of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you +understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and +earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting +for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!" + +I thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get, and so +would bring on a fit; so I took him by the hand and raised him up. + +"Come," I said sternly, "no more of this; we have had quite enough +already. Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly." + +He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several moments. Then, +without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on the side of the +bed. The collapse had come, as on former occasion, just as I had +expected. + +When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in a +quiet, well-bred voice:-- + +"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later +on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, 5 a. m._--I went with the party to the search with an easy +mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well. I am +so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work. +Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful business at +all; but now that her work is done, and that it is due to her energy and +brains and foresight that the whole story is put together in such a way +that every point tells, she may well feel that her part is finished, and +that she can henceforth leave the rest to us. We were, I think, all a +little upset by the scene with Mr. Renfield. When we came away from his +room we were silent till we got back to the study. Then Mr. Morris said +to Dr. Seward:-- + +"Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the +sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had some +serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to get a +chance." Lord Godalming and I were silent, but Dr. Van Helsing added:-- + +"Friend John, you know more of lunatics than I do, and I'm glad of it, +for I fear that if it had been to me to decide I would before that last +hysterical outburst have given him free. But we live and learn, and in +our present task we must take no chance, as my friend Quincey would say. +All is best as they are." Dr. Seward seemed to answer them both in a +dreamy kind of way:-- + +"I don't know but that I agree with you. If that man had been an +ordinary lunatic I would have taken my chance of trusting him; but he +seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way that I am +afraid of doing anything wrong by helping his fads. I can't forget how +he prayed with almost equal fervour for a cat, and then tried to tear my +throat out with his teeth. Besides, he called the Count 'lord and +master,' and he may want to get out to help him in some diabolical way. +That horrid thing has the wolves and the rats and his own kind to help +him, so I suppose he isn't above trying to use a respectable lunatic. He +certainly did seem earnest, though. I only hope we have done what is +best. These things, in conjunction with the wild work we have in hand, +help to unnerve a man." The Professor stepped over, and laying his hand +on his shoulder, said in his grave, kindly way:-- + +"Friend John, have no fear. We are trying to do our duty in a very sad +and terrible case; we can only do as we deem best. What else have we to +hope for, except the pity of the good God?" Lord Godalming had slipped +away for a few minutes, but now he returned. He held up a little silver +whistle, as he remarked:-- + +"That old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote on +call." Having passed the wall, we took our way to the house, taking care +to keep in the shadows of the trees on the lawn when the moonlight shone +out. When we got to the porch the Professor opened his bag and took out +a lot of things, which he laid on the step, sorting them into four +little groups, evidently one for each. Then he spoke:-- + +"My friends, we are going into a terrible danger, and we need arms of +many kinds. Our enemy is not merely spiritual. Remember that he has the +strength of twenty men, and that, though our necks or our windpipes are +of the common kind--and therefore breakable or crushable--his are not +amenable to mere strength. A stronger man, or a body of men more strong +in all than him, can at certain times hold him; but they cannot hurt him +as we can be hurt by him. We must, therefore, guard ourselves from his +touch. Keep this near your heart"--as he spoke he lifted a little silver +crucifix and held it out to me, I being nearest to him--"put these +flowers round your neck"--here he handed to me a wreath of withered +garlic blossoms--"for other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this +knife; and for aid in all, these so small electric lamps, which you can +fasten to your breast; and for all, and above all at the last, this, +which we must not desecrate needless." This was a portion of Sacred +Wafer, which he put in an envelope and handed to me. Each of the others +was similarly equipped. "Now," he said, "friend John, where are the +skeleton keys? If so that we can open the door, we need not break house +by the window, as before at Miss Lucy's." + +Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical dexterity as a +surgeon standing him in good stead. Presently he got one to suit; after +a little play back and forward the bolt yielded, and, with a rusty +clang, shot back. We pressed on the door, the rusty hinges creaked, and +it slowly opened. It was startlingly like the image conveyed to me in +Dr. Seward's diary of the opening of Miss Westenra's tomb; I fancy that +the same idea seemed to strike the others, for with one accord they +shrank back. The Professor was the first to move forward, and stepped +into the open door. + +"_In manus tuas, Domine!_" he said, crossing himself as he passed over +the threshold. We closed the door behind us, lest when we should have +lit our lamps we should possibly attract attention from the road. The +Professor carefully tried the lock, lest we might not be able to open it +from within should we be in a hurry making our exit. Then we all lit our +lamps and proceeded on our search. + +The light from the tiny lamps fell in all sorts of odd forms, as the +rays crossed each other, or the opacity of our bodies threw great +shadows. I could not for my life get away from the feeling that there +was some one else amongst us. I suppose it was the recollection, so +powerfully brought home to me by the grim surroundings, of that terrible +experience in Transylvania. I think the feeling was common to us all, +for I noticed that the others kept looking over their shoulders at every +sound and every new shadow, just as I felt myself doing. + +The whole place was thick with dust. The floor was seemingly inches +deep, except where there were recent footsteps, in which on holding down +my lamp I could see marks of hobnails where the dust was cracked. The +walls were fluffy and heavy with dust, and in the corners were masses of +spider's webs, whereon the dust had gathered till they looked like old +tattered rags as the weight had torn them partly down. On a table in the +hall was a great bunch of keys, with a time-yellowed label on each. They +had been used several times, for on the table were several similar rents +in the blanket of dust, similar to that exposed when the Professor +lifted them. He turned to me and said:-- + +"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know +it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an +idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to +get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings +found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. +"This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small +map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence +regarding the purchase. With a little trouble we found the key on the +bunch and opened the door. We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for +as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale +through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we +encountered. None of the others had met the Count at all at close +quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of +his existence in his rooms or, when he was gloated with fresh blood, in +a ruined building open to the air; but here the place was small and +close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul. There was +an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler +air. But as to the odour itself, how shall I describe it? It was not +alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the +pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had +become itself corrupt. Faugh! it sickens me to think of it. Every breath +exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and +intensified its loathsomeness. + +Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our +enterprise to an end; but this was no ordinary case, and the high and +terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength which rose +above merely physical considerations. After the involuntary shrinking +consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set about our +work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses. + +We made an accurate examination of the place, the Professor saying as we +began:-- + +"The first thing is to see how many of the boxes are left; we must then +examine every hole and corner and cranny and see if we cannot get some +clue as to what has become of the rest." A glance was sufficient to show +how many remained, for the great earth chests were bulky, and there was +no mistaking them. + +There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty! Once I got a fright, +for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of the vaulted +door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and for an instant my +heart stood still. Somewhere, looking out from the shadow, I seemed to +see the high lights of the Count's evil face, the ridge of the nose, the +red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor. It was only for a moment, for, +as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I saw a face, but it was only the +shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I turned my lamp in the direction, +and stepped into the passage. There was no sign of any one; and as there +were no corners, no doors, no aperture of any kind, but only the solid +walls of the passage, there could be no hiding-place even for _him_. I +took it that fear had helped imagination, and said nothing. + +A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a corner, which +he was examining. We all followed his movements with our eyes, for +undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and we saw a whole mass +of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars. We all instinctively drew +back. The whole place was becoming alive with rats. + +For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was +seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great +iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, +and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the +huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver +whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered +from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a +minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house. +Unconsciously we had all moved towards the door, and as we moved I +noticed that the dust had been much disturbed: the boxes which had been +taken out had been brought this way. But even in the minute that had +elapsed the number of the rats had vastly increased. They seemed to +swarm over the place all at once, till the lamplight, shining on their +moving dark bodies and glittering, baleful eyes, made the place look +like a bank of earth set with fireflies. The dogs dashed on, but at the +threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then, simultaneously lifting +their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion. The rats were +multiplying in thousands, and we moved out. + +Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in, placed him +on the floor. The instant his feet touched the ground he seemed to +recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies. They fled before +him so fast that before he had shaken the life out of a score, the other +dogs, who had by now been lifted in the same manner, had but small prey +ere the whole mass had vanished. + +With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had departed, for +the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they made sudden darts at +their prostrate foes, and turned them over and over and tossed them in +the air with vicious shakes. We all seemed to find our spirits rise. +Whether it was the purifying of the deadly atmosphere by the opening of +the chapel door, or the relief which we experienced by finding ourselves +in the open I know not; but most certainly the shadow of dread seemed to +slip from us like a robe, and the occasion of our coming lost something +of its grim significance, though we did not slacken a whit in our +resolution. We closed the outer door and barred and locked it, and +bringing the dogs with us, began our search of the house. We found +nothing throughout except dust in extraordinary proportions, and all +untouched save for my own footsteps when I had made my first visit. +Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of uneasiness, and even when +we returned to the chapel they frisked about as though they had been +rabbit-hunting in a summer wood. + +The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the front. +Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall-door from the bunch, and +locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into his pocket +when he had done. + +"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful. No harm has +come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained how +many boxes are missing. More than all do I rejoice that this, our +first--and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous--step has been +accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina or +troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds and +smells of horror which she might never forget. One lesson, too, we have +learned, if it be allowable to argue _a particulari_: that the brute +beasts which are to the Count's command are yet themselves not amenable +to his spiritual power; for look, these rats that would come to his +call, just as from his castle top he summon the wolves to your going and +to that poor mother's cry, though they come to him, they run pell-mell +from the so little dogs of my friend Arthur. We have other matters +before us, other dangers, other fears; and that monster--he has not used +his power over the brute world for the only or the last time to-night. +So be it that he has gone elsewhere. Good! It has given us opportunity +to cry 'check' in some ways in this chess game, which we play for the +stake of human souls. And now let us go home. The dawn is close at hand, +and we have reason to be content with our first night's work. It may be +ordained that we have many nights and days to follow, if full of peril; +but we must go on, and from no danger shall we shrink." + +The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who +was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound +from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, +after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain. + +I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so +softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than +usual. I hope the meeting to-night has not upset her. I am truly +thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of our +deliberations. It is too great a strain for a woman to bear. I did not +think so at first, but I know better now. Therefore I am glad that it is +settled. There may be things which would frighten her to hear; and yet +to conceal them from her might be worse than to tell her if once she +suspected that there was any concealment. Henceforth our work is to be a +sealed book to her, till at least such time as we can tell her that all +is finished, and the earth free from a monster of the nether world. I +daresay it will be difficult to begin to keep silence after such +confidence as ours; but I must be resolute, and to-morrow I shall keep +dark over to-night's doings, and shall refuse to speak of anything that +has happened. I rest on the sofa, so as not to disturb her. + + * * * * * + +_1 October, later._--I suppose it was natural that we should have all +overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had no +rest at all. Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I slept +till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call two or +three times before she awoke. Indeed, she was so sound asleep that for a +few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with a sort of +blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad dream. She +complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest till later in the +day. We now know of twenty-one boxes having been removed, and if it be +that several were taken in any of these removals we may be able to trace +them all. Such will, of course, immensely simplify our labour, and the +sooner the matter is attended to the better. I shall look up Thomas +Snelling to-day. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--It was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor +walking into my room. He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and it +is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of the +brooding weight off his mind. After going over the adventure of the +night he suddenly said:-- + +"Your patient interests me much. May it be that with you I visit him +this morning? Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it may +be. It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk philosophy, +and reason so sound." I had some work to do which pressed, so I told him +that if he would go alone I would be glad, as then I should not have to +keep him waiting; so I called an attendant and gave him the necessary +instructions. Before the Professor left the room I cautioned him against +getting any false impression from my patient. "But," he answered, "I +want him to talk of himself and of his delusion as to consuming live +things. He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your diary of yesterday, that +he had once had such a belief. Why do you smile, friend John?" + +"Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here." I laid my hand on the +type-written matter. "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very +statement of how he _used_ to consume life, his mouth was actually +nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before Mrs. +Harker entered the room." Van Helsing smiled in turn. "Good!" he said. +"Your memory is true, friend John. I should have remembered. And yet it +is this very obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease +such a fascinating study. Perhaps I may gain more knowledge out of the +folly of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise. +Who knows?" I went on with my work, and before long was through that in +hand. It seemed that the time had been very short indeed, but there was +Van Helsing back in the study. "Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he +stood at the door. + +"Not at all," I answered. "Come in. My work is finished, and I am free. +I can go with you now, if you like. + +"It is needless; I have seen him!" + +"Well?" + +"I fear that he does not appraise me at much. Our interview was short. +When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the centre, with +his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture of sullen +discontent. I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and with such a +measure of respect as I could assume. He made no reply whatever. "Don't +you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well +enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself +and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed +Dutchmen!" Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable +sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at +all. Thus departed for this time my chance of much learning from this so +clever lunatic; so I shall go, if I may, and cheer myself with a few +happy words with that sweet soul Madam Mina. Friend John, it does +rejoice me unspeakable that she is no more to be pained, no more to be +worried with our terrible things. Though we shall much miss her help, it +is better so." + +"I agree with you with all my heart," I answered earnestly, for I did +not want him to weaken in this matter. "Mrs. Harker is better out of it. +Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have +been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, +and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time +infallibly have wrecked her." + +So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs. Harker and Harker; Quincey +and Art are all out following up the clues as to the earth-boxes. I +shall finish my round of work and we shall meet to-night. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_1 October._--It is strange to me to be kept in the dark as I am to-day; +after Jonathan's full confidence for so many years, to see him +manifestly avoid certain matters, and those the most vital of all. This +morning I slept late after the fatigues of yesterday, and though +Jonathan was late too, he was the earlier. He spoke to me before he went +out, never more sweetly or tenderly, but he never mentioned a word of +what had happened in the visit to the Count's house. And yet he must +have known how terribly anxious I was. Poor dear fellow! I suppose it +must have distressed him even more than it did me. They all agreed that +it was best that I should not be drawn further into this awful work, and +I acquiesced. But to think that he keeps anything from me! And now I am +crying like a silly fool, when I _know_ it comes from my husband's great +love and from the good, good wishes of those other strong men. + +That has done me good. Well, some day Jonathan will tell me all; and +lest it should ever be that he should think for a moment that I kept +anything from him, I still keep my journal as usual. Then if he has +feared of my trust I shall show it to him, with every thought of my +heart put down for his dear eyes to read. I feel strangely sad and +low-spirited to-day. I suppose it is the reaction from the terrible +excitement. + +Last night I went to bed when the men had gone, simply because they told +me to. I didn't feel sleepy, and I did feel full of devouring anxiety. I +kept thinking over everything that has been ever since Jonathan came to +see me in London, and it all seems like a horrible tragedy, with fate +pressing on relentlessly to some destined end. Everything that one does +seems, no matter how right it may be, to bring on the very thing which +is most to be deplored. If I hadn't gone to Whitby, perhaps poor dear +Lucy would be with us now. She hadn't taken to visiting the churchyard +till I came, and if she hadn't come there in the day-time with me she +wouldn't have walked there in her sleep; and if she hadn't gone there at +night and asleep, that monster couldn't have destroyed her as he did. +Oh, why did I ever go to Whitby? There now, crying again! I wonder what +has come over me to-day. I must hide it from Jonathan, for if he knew +that I had been crying twice in one morning--I, who never cried on my +own account, and whom he has never caused to shed a tear--the dear +fellow would fret his heart out. I shall put a bold face on, and if I do +feel weepy, he shall never see it. I suppose it is one of the lessons +that we poor women have to learn.... + +I can't quite remember how I fell asleep last night. I remember hearing +the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like praying +on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is somewhere +under this. And then there was silence over everything, silence so +profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out of the window. +All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by the moonlight +seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a thing seemed to be +stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate; so that a thin +streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness +across the grass towards the house, seemed to have a sentience and a +vitality of its own. I think that the digression of my thoughts must +have done me good, for when I got back to bed I found a lethargy +creeping over me. I lay a while, but could not quite sleep, so I got out +and looked out of the window again. The mist was spreading, and was now +close up to the house, so that I could see it lying thick against the +wall, as though it were stealing up to the windows. The poor man was +more loud than ever, and though I could not distinguish a word he said, +I could in some way recognise in his tones some passionate entreaty on +his part. Then there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the +attendants were dealing with him. I was so frightened that I crept into +bed, and pulled the clothes over my head, putting my fingers in my ears. +I was not then a bit sleepy, at least so I thought; but I must have +fallen asleep, for, except dreams, I do not remember anything until the +morning, when Jonathan woke me. I think that it took me an effort and a +little time to realise where I was, and that it was Jonathan who was +bending over me. My dream was very peculiar, and was almost typical of +the way that waking thoughts become merged in, or continued in, dreams. + +I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come back. I +was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my feet, and my +hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at the +usual pace. And so I slept uneasily and thought. Then it began to dawn +upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold. I put back the +clothes from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was dim +around. The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but turned down, +came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which had evidently +grown thicker and poured into the room. Then it occurred to me that I +had shut the window before I had come to bed. I would have got out to +make certain on the point, but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my +limbs and even my will. I lay still and endured; that was all. I closed +my eyes, but could still see through my eyelids. (It is wonderful what +tricks our dreams play us, and how conveniently we can imagine.) The +mist grew thicker and thicker and I could see now how it came in, for I +could see it like smoke--or with the white energy of boiling +water--pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of +the door. It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became +concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the top +of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red eye. Things +began to whirl through my brain just as the cloudy column was now +whirling in the room, and through it all came the scriptural words "a +pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night." Was it indeed some such +spiritual guidance that was coming to me in my sleep? But the pillar was +composed of both the day and the night-guiding, for the fire was in the +red eye, which at the thought got a new fascination for me; till, as I +looked, the fire divided, and seemed to shine on me through the fog like +two red eyes, such as Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering +when, on the cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's +Church. Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan +had seen those awful women growing into reality through the whirling mist +in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all became +black darkness. The last conscious effort which imagination made was to +show me a livid white face bending over me out of the mist. I must be +careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one's reason if there were +too much of them. I would get Dr. Van Helsing or Dr. Seward to prescribe +something for me which would make me sleep, only that I fear to alarm +them. Such a dream at the present time would become woven into their +fears for me. To-night I shall strive hard to sleep naturally. If I do +not, I shall to-morrow night get them to give me a dose of chloral; that +cannot hurt me for once, and it will give me a good night's sleep. Last +night tired me more than if I had not slept at all. + + * * * * * + +_2 October 10 p. m._--Last night I slept, but did not dream. I must have +slept soundly, for I was not waked by Jonathan coming to bed; but the +sleep has not refreshed me, for to-day I feel terribly weak and +spiritless. I spent all yesterday trying to read, or lying down dozing. +In the afternoon Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me. Poor man, he was +very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and bade God bless +me. Some way it affected me much; I am crying when I think of him. This +is a new weakness, of which I must be careful. Jonathan would be +miserable if he knew I had been crying. He and the others were out till +dinner-time, and they all came in tired. I did what I could to brighten +them up, and I suppose that the effort did me good, for I forgot how +tired I was. After dinner they sent me to bed, and all went off to smoke +together, as they said, but I knew that they wanted to tell each other +of what had occurred to each during the day; I could see from Jonathan's +manner that he had something important to communicate. I was not so +sleepy as I should have been; so before they went I asked Dr. Seward to +give me a little opiate of some kind, as I had not slept well the night +before. He very kindly made me up a sleeping draught, which he gave to +me, telling me that it would do me no harm, as it was very mild.... I +have taken it, and am waiting for sleep, which still keeps aloof. I hope +I have not done wrong, for as sleep begins to flirt with me, a new fear +comes: that I may have been foolish in thus depriving myself of the +power of waking. I might want it. Here comes sleep. Good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 October, evening._--I found Thomas Snelling in his house at Bethnal +Green, but unhappily he was not in a condition to remember anything. The +very prospect of beer which my expected coming had opened to him had +proved too much, and he had begun too early on his expected debauch. I +learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor soul, that he +was only the assistant to Smollet, who of the two mates was the +responsible person. So off I drove to Walworth, and found Mr. Joseph +Smollet at home and in his shirtsleeves, taking a late tea out of a +saucer. He is a decent, intelligent fellow, distinctly a good, reliable +type of workman, and with a headpiece of his own. He remembered all +about the incident of the boxes, and from a wonderful dog's-eared +notebook, which he produced from some mysterious receptacle about the +seat of his trousers, and which had hieroglyphical entries in thick, +half-obliterated pencil, he gave me the destinations of the boxes. There +were, he said, six in the cartload which he took from Carfax and left at +197, Chicksand Street, Mile End New Town, and another six which he +deposited at Jamaica Lane, Bermondsey. If then the Count meant to +scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were +chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more +fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that +he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now +fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern +shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to +be left out of his diabolical scheme--let alone the City itself and the +very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west. I went back +to Smollet, and asked him if he could tell us if any other boxes had +been taken from Carfax. + +He replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, you've treated me wery 'an'some"--I had given him half a +sovereign--"an' I'll tell yer all I know. I heard a man by the name of +Bloxam say four nights ago in the 'Are an' 'Ounds, in Pincher's Alley, +as 'ow he an' his mate 'ad 'ad a rare dusty job in a old 'ouse at +Purfect. There ain't a-many such jobs as this 'ere, an' I'm thinkin' +that maybe Sam Bloxam could tell ye summut." I asked if he could tell me +where to find him. I told him that if he could get me the address it +would be worth another half-sovereign to him. So he gulped down the rest +of his tea and stood up, saying that he was going to begin the search +then and there. At the door he stopped, and said:-- + +"Look 'ere, guv'nor, there ain't no sense in me a-keepin' you 'ere. I +may find Sam soon, or I mayn't; but anyhow he ain't like to be in a way +to tell ye much to-night. Sam is a rare one when he starts on the booze. +If you can give me a envelope with a stamp on it, and put yer address on +it, I'll find out where Sam is to be found and post it ye to-night. But +ye'd better be up arter 'im soon in the mornin', or maybe ye won't ketch +'im; for Sam gets off main early, never mind the booze the night afore." + +This was all practical, so one of the children went off with a penny to +buy an envelope and a sheet of paper, and to keep the change. When she +came back, I addressed the envelope and stamped it, and when Smollet had +again faithfully promised to post the address when found, I took my way +to home. We're on the track anyhow. I am tired to-night, and want sleep. +Mina is fast asleep, and looks a little too pale; her eyes look as +though she had been crying. Poor dear, I've no doubt it frets her to be +kept in the dark, and it may make her doubly anxious about me and the +others. But it is best as it is. It is better to be disappointed and +worried in such a way now than to have her nerve broken. The doctors +were quite right to insist on her being kept out of this dreadful +business. I must be firm, for on me this particular burden of silence +must rest. I shall not ever enter on the subject with her under any +circumstances. Indeed, it may not be a hard task, after all, for she +herself has become reticent on the subject, and has not spoken of the +Count or his doings ever since we told her of our decision. + + * * * * * + +_2 October, evening._--A long and trying and exciting day. By the first +post I got my directed envelope with a dirty scrap of paper enclosed, on +which was written with a carpenter's pencil in a sprawling hand:-- + +"Sam Bloxam, Korkrans, 4, Poters Cort, Bartel Street, Walworth. Arsk for +the depite." + +I got the letter in bed, and rose without waking Mina. She looked heavy +and sleepy and pale, and far from well. I determined not to wake her, +but that, when I should return from this new search, I would arrange for +her going back to Exeter. I think she would be happier in our own home, +with her daily tasks to interest her, than in being here amongst us and +in ignorance. I only saw Dr. Seward for a moment, and told him where I +was off to, promising to come back and tell the rest so soon as I should +have found out anything. I drove to Walworth and found, with some +difficulty, Potter's Court. Mr. Smollet's spelling misled me, as I asked +for Poter's Court instead of Potter's Court. However, when I had found +the court, I had no difficulty in discovering Corcoran's lodging-house. +When I asked the man who came to the door for the "depite," he shook his +head, and said: "I dunno 'im. There ain't no such a person 'ere; I never +'eard of 'im in all my bloomin' days. Don't believe there ain't nobody +of that kind livin' ere or anywheres." I took out Smollet's letter, and +as I read it it seemed to me that the lesson of the spelling of the name +of the court might guide me. "What are you?" I asked. + +"I'm the depity," he answered. I saw at once that I was on the right +track; phonetic spelling had again misled me. A half-crown tip put the +deputy's knowledge at my disposal, and I learned that Mr. Bloxam, who +had slept off the remains of his beer on the previous night at +Corcoran's, had left for his work at Poplar at five o'clock that +morning. He could not tell me where the place of work was situated, but +he had a vague idea that it was some kind of a "new-fangled ware'us"; +and with this slender clue I had to start for Poplar. It was twelve +o'clock before I got any satisfactory hint of such a building, and this +I got at a coffee-shop, where some workmen were having their dinner. One +of these suggested that there was being erected at Cross Angel Street a +new "cold storage" building; and as this suited the condition of a +"new-fangled ware'us," I at once drove to it. An interview with a surly +gatekeeper and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the +coin of the realm, put me on the track of Bloxam; he was sent for on my +suggesting that I was willing to pay his day's wages to his foreman for +the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter. He was +a smart enough fellow, though rough of speech and bearing. When I had +promised to pay for his information and given him an earnest, he told me +that he had made two journeys between Carfax and a house in Piccadilly, +and had taken from this house to the latter nine great boxes--"main +heavy ones"--with a horse and cart hired by him for this purpose. I +asked him if he could tell me the number of the house in Piccadilly, to +which he replied:-- + +"Well, guv'nor, I forgits the number, but it was only a few doors from a +big white church or somethink of the kind, not long built. It was a +dusty old 'ouse, too, though nothin' to the dustiness of the 'ouse we +tooked the bloomin' boxes from." + +"How did you get into the houses if they were both empty?" + +"There was the old party what engaged me a-waitin' in the 'ouse at +Purfleet. He 'elped me to lift the boxes and put them in the dray. Curse +me, but he was the strongest chap I ever struck, an' him a old feller, +with a white moustache, one that thin you would think he couldn't throw +a shadder." + +How this phrase thrilled through me! + +"Why, 'e took up 'is end o' the boxes like they was pounds of tea, and +me a-puffin' an' a-blowin' afore I could up-end mine anyhow--an' I'm no +chicken, neither." + +"How did you get into the house in Piccadilly?" I asked. + +"He was there too. He must 'a' started off and got there afore me, for +when I rung of the bell he kem an' opened the door 'isself an' 'elped me +to carry the boxes into the 'all." + +"The whole nine?" I asked. + +"Yus; there was five in the first load an' four in the second. It was +main dry work, an' I don't so well remember 'ow I got 'ome." I +interrupted him:-- + +"Were the boxes left in the hall?" + +"Yus; it was a big 'all, an' there was nothin' else in it." I made one +more attempt to further matters:-- + +"You didn't have any key?" + +"Never used no key nor nothink. The old gent, he opened the door 'isself +an' shut it again when I druv off. I don't remember the last time--but +that was the beer." + +"And you can't remember the number of the house?" + +"No, sir. But ye needn't have no difficulty about that. It's a 'igh 'un +with a stone front with a bow on it, an' 'igh steps up to the door. I +know them steps, 'avin' 'ad to carry the boxes up with three loafers +what come round to earn a copper. The old gent give them shillin's, an' +they seein' they got so much, they wanted more; but 'e took one of them +by the shoulder and was like to throw 'im down the steps, till the lot +of them went away cussin'." I thought that with this description I could +find the house, so, having paid my friend for his information, I started +off for Piccadilly. I had gained a new painful experience; the Count +could, it was evident, handle the earth-boxes himself. If so, time was +precious; for, now that he had achieved a certain amount of +distribution, he could, by choosing his own time, complete the task +unobserved. At Piccadilly Circus I discharged my cab, and walked +westward; beyond the Junior Constitutional I came across the house +described, and was satisfied that this was the next of the lairs +arranged by Dracula. The house looked as though it had been long +untenanted. The windows were encrusted with dust, and the shutters were +up. All the framework was black with time, and from the iron the paint +had mostly scaled away. It was evident that up to lately there had been +a large notice-board in front of the balcony; it had, however, been +roughly torn away, the uprights which had supported it still remaining. +Behind the rails of the balcony I saw there were some loose boards, +whose raw edges looked white. I would have given a good deal to have +been able to see the notice-board intact, as it would, perhaps, have +given some clue to the ownership of the house. I remembered my +experience of the investigation and purchase of Carfax, and I could not +but feel that if I could find the former owner there might be some means +discovered of gaining access to the house. + +There was at present nothing to be learned from the Piccadilly side, and +nothing could be done; so I went round to the back to see if anything +could be gathered from this quarter. The mews were active, the +Piccadilly houses being mostly in occupation. I asked one or two of the +grooms and helpers whom I saw around if they could tell me anything +about the empty house. One of them said that he heard it had lately been +taken, but he couldn't say from whom. He told me, however, that up to +very lately there had been a notice-board of "For Sale" up, and that +perhaps Mitchell, Sons, & Candy, the house agents, could tell me +something, as he thought he remembered seeing the name of that firm on +the board. I did not wish to seem too eager, or to let my informant know +or guess too much, so, thanking him in the usual manner, I strolled +away. It was now growing dusk, and the autumn night was closing in, so I +did not lose any time. Having learned the address of Mitchell, Sons, & +Candy from a directory at the Berkeley, I was soon at their office in +Sackville Street. + +The gentleman who saw me was particularly suave in manner, but +uncommunicative in equal proportion. Having once told me that the +Piccadilly house--which throughout our interview he called a +"mansion"--was sold, he considered my business as concluded. When I +asked who had purchased it, he opened his eyes a thought wider, and +paused a few seconds before replying:-- + +"It is sold, sir." + +"Pardon me," I said, with equal politeness, "but I have a special reason +for wishing to know who purchased it." + +Again he paused longer, and raised his eyebrows still more. "It is sold, +sir," was again his laconic reply. + +"Surely," I said, "you do not mind letting me know so much." + +"But I do mind," he answered. "The affairs of their clients are +absolutely safe in the hands of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy." This was +manifestly a prig of the first water, and there was no use arguing with +him. I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so I said:-- + +"Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian of their +confidence. I am myself a professional man." Here I handed him my card. +"In this instance I am not prompted by curiosity; I act on the part of +Lord Godalming, who wishes to know something of the property which was, +he understood, lately for sale." These words put a different complexion +on affairs. He said:-- + +"I would like to oblige you if I could, Mr. Harker, and especially would +I like to oblige his lordship. We once carried out a small matter of +renting some chambers for him when he was the Honourable Arthur +Holmwood. If you will let me have his lordship's address I will consult +the House on the subject, and will, in any case, communicate with his +lordship by to-night's post. It will be a pleasure if we can so far +deviate from our rules as to give the required information to his +lordship." + +I wanted to secure a friend, and not to make an enemy, so I thanked him, +gave the address at Dr. Seward's and came away. It was now dark, and I +was tired and hungry. I got a cup of tea at the Aërated Bread Company +and came down to Purfleet by the next train. + +I found all the others at home. Mina was looking tired and pale, but she +made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerful, it wrung my heart to +think that I had had to keep anything from her and so caused her +inquietude. Thank God, this will be the last night of her looking on at +our conferences, and feeling the sting of our not showing our +confidence. It took all my courage to hold to the wise resolution of +keeping her out of our grim task. She seems somehow more reconciled; or +else the very subject seems to have become repugnant to her, for when +any accidental allusion is made she actually shudders. I am glad we +made our resolution in time, as with such a feeling as this, our growing +knowledge would be torture to her. + +I could not tell the others of the day's discovery till we were alone; +so after dinner--followed by a little music to save appearances even +amongst ourselves--I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bed. +The dear girl was more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me +as though she would detain me; but there was much to be talked of and I +came away. Thank God, the ceasing of telling things has made no +difference between us. + +When I came down again I found the others all gathered round the fire in +the study. In the train I had written my diary so far, and simply read +it off to them as the best means of letting them get abreast of my own +information; when I had finished Van Helsing said:-- + +"This has been a great day's work, friend Jonathan. Doubtless we are on +the track of the missing boxes. If we find them all in that house, then +our work is near the end. But if there be some missing, we must search +until we find them. Then shall we make our final _coup_, and hunt the +wretch to his real death." We all sat silent awhile and all at once Mr. +Morris spoke:-- + +"Say! how are we going to get into that house?" + +"We got into the other," answered Lord Godalming quickly. + +"But, Art, this is different. We broke house at Carfax, but we had night +and a walled park to protect us. It will be a mighty different thing to +commit burglary in Piccadilly, either by day or night. I confess I don't +see how we are going to get in unless that agency duck can find us a key +of some sort; perhaps we shall know when you get his letter in the +morning." Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked +about the room. By-and-by he stopped and said, turning from one to +another of us:-- + +"Quincey's head is level. This burglary business is getting serious; we +got off once all right; but we have now a rare job on hand--unless we +can find the Count's key basket." + +As nothing could well be done before morning, and as it would be at +least advisable to wait till Lord Godalming should hear from Mitchell's, +we decided not to take any active step before breakfast time. For a good +while we sat and smoked, discussing the matter in its various lights and +bearings; I took the opportunity of bringing this diary right up to the +moment. I am very sleepy and shall go to bed.... + +Just a line. Mina sleeps soundly and her breathing is regular. Her +forehead is puckered up into little wrinkles, as though she thinks even +in her sleep. She is still too pale, but does not look so haggard as she +did this morning. To-morrow will, I hope, mend all this; she will be +herself at home in Exeter. Oh, but I am sleepy! + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_1 October._--I am puzzled afresh about Renfield. His moods change so +rapidly that I find it difficult to keep touch of them, and as they +always mean something more than his own well-being, they form a more +than interesting study. This morning, when I went to see him after his +repulse of Van Helsing, his manner was that of a man commanding destiny. +He was, in fact, commanding destiny--subjectively. He did not really +care for any of the things of mere earth; he was in the clouds and +looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor mortals. I +thought I would improve the occasion and learn something, so I asked +him:-- + +"What about the flies these times?" He smiled on me in quite a superior +sort of way--such a smile as would have become the face of Malvolio--as +he answered me:-- + +"The fly, my dear sir, has one striking feature; its wings are typical +of the aërial powers of the psychic faculties. The ancients did well +when they typified the soul as a butterfly!" + +I thought I would push his analogy to its utmost logically, so I said +quickly:-- + +"Oh, it is a soul you are after now, is it?" His madness foiled his +reason, and a puzzled look spread over his face as, shaking his head +with a decision which I had but seldom seen in him, he said:-- + +"Oh, no, oh no! I want no souls. Life is all I want." Here he brightened +up; "I am pretty indifferent about it at present. Life is all right; I +have all I want. You must get a new patient, doctor, if you wish to +study zoöphagy!" + +This puzzled me a little, so I drew him on:-- + +"Then you command life; you are a god, I suppose?" He smiled with an +ineffably benign superiority. + +"Oh no! Far be it from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the +Deity. I am not even concerned in His especially spiritual doings. If I +may state my intellectual position I am, so far as concerns things +purely terrestrial, somewhat in the position which Enoch occupied +spiritually!" This was a poser to me. I could not at the moment recall +Enoch's appositeness; so I had to ask a simple question, though I felt +that by so doing I was lowering myself in the eyes of the lunatic:-- + +"And why with Enoch?" + +"Because he walked with God." I could not see the analogy, but did not +like to admit it; so I harked back to what he had denied:-- + +"So you don't care about life and you don't want souls. Why not?" I put +my question quickly and somewhat sternly, on purpose to disconcert him. +The effort succeeded; for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into his +old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon me as +he replied:-- + +"I don't want any souls, indeed, indeed! I don't. I couldn't use them if +I had them; they would be no manner of use to me. I couldn't eat them +or----" He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his +face, like a wind-sweep on the surface of the water. "And doctor, as to +life, what is it after all? When you've got all you require, and you +know that you will never want, that is all. I have friends--good +friends--like you, Dr. Seward"; this was said with a leer of +inexpressible cunning. "I know that I shall never lack the means of +life!" + +I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some +antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as +he--a dogged silence. After a short time I saw that for the present it +was useless to speak to him. He was sulky, and so I came away. + +Later in the day he sent for me. Ordinarily I would not have come +without special reason, but just at present I am so interested in him +that I would gladly make an effort. Besides, I am glad to have anything +to help to pass the time. Harker is out, following up clues; and so are +Lord Godalming and Quincey. Van Helsing sits in my study poring over the +record prepared by the Harkers; he seems to think that by accurate +knowledge of all details he will light upon some clue. He does not wish +to be disturbed in the work, without cause. I would have taken him with +me to see the patient, only I thought that after his last repulse he +might not care to go again. There was also another reason: Renfield +might not speak so freely before a third person as when he and I were +alone. + +I found him sitting out in the middle of the floor on his stool, a pose +which is generally indicative of some mental energy on his part. When I +came in, he said at once, as though the question had been waiting on his +lips:-- + +"What about souls?" It was evident then that my surmise had been +correct. Unconscious cerebration was doing its work, even with the +lunatic. I determined to have the matter out. "What about them +yourself?" I asked. He did not reply for a moment but looked all round +him, and up and down, as though he expected to find some inspiration for +an answer. + +"I don't want any souls!" he said in a feeble, apologetic way. The +matter seemed preying on his mind, and so I determined to use it--to "be +cruel only to be kind." So I said:-- + +"You like life, and you want life?" + +"Oh yes! but that is all right; you needn't worry about that!" + +"But," I asked, "how are we to get the life without getting the soul +also?" This seemed to puzzle him, so I followed it up:-- + +"A nice time you'll have some time when you're flying out there, with +the souls of thousands of flies and spiders and birds and cats buzzing +and twittering and miauing all round you. You've got their lives, you +know, and you must put up with their souls!" Something seemed to affect +his imagination, for he put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes, +screwing them up tightly just as a small boy does when his face is being +soaped. There was something pathetic in it that touched me; it also gave +me a lesson, for it seemed that before me was a child--only a child, +though the features were worn, and the stubble on the jaws was white. It +was evident that he was undergoing some process of mental disturbance, +and, knowing how his past moods had interpreted things seemingly foreign +to himself, I thought I would enter into his mind as well as I could and +go with him. The first step was to restore confidence, so I asked him, +speaking pretty loud so that he would hear me through his closed ears:-- + +"Would you like some sugar to get your flies round again?" He seemed to +wake up all at once, and shook his head. With a laugh he replied:-- + +"Not much! flies are poor things, after all!" After a pause he added, +"But I don't want their souls buzzing round me, all the same." + +"Or spiders?" I went on. + +"Blow spiders! What's the use of spiders? There isn't anything in them +to eat or"--he stopped suddenly, as though reminded of a forbidden +topic. + +"So, so!" I thought to myself, "this is the second time he has suddenly +stopped at the word 'drink'; what does it mean?" Renfield seemed himself +aware of having made a lapse, for he hurried on, as though to distract +my attention from it:-- + +"I don't take any stock at all in such matters. 'Rats and mice and such +small deer,' as Shakespeare has it, 'chicken-feed of the larder' they +might be called. I'm past all that sort of nonsense. You might as well +ask a man to eat molecules with a pair of chop-sticks, as to try to +interest me about the lesser carnivora, when I know of what is before +me." + +"I see," I said. "You want big things that you can make your teeth meet +in? How would you like to breakfast on elephant?" + +"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!" He was getting too wide +awake, so I thought I would press him hard. "I wonder," I said +reflectively, "what an elephant's soul is like!" + +The effect I desired was obtained, for he at once fell from his +high-horse and became a child again. + +"I don't want an elephant's soul, or any soul at all!" he said. For a +few moments he sat despondently. Suddenly he jumped to his feet, with +his eyes blazing and all the signs of intense cerebral excitement. "To +hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about +souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, +without thinking of souls!" He looked so hostile that I thought he was +in for another homicidal fit, so I blew my whistle. The instant, +however, that I did so he became calm, and said apologetically:-- + +"Forgive me, Doctor; I forgot myself. You do not need any help. I am so +worried in my mind that I am apt to be irritable. If you only knew the +problem I have to face, and that I am working out, you would pity, and +tolerate, and pardon me. Pray do not put me in a strait-waistcoat. I +want to think and I cannot think freely when my body is confined. I am +sure you will understand!" He had evidently self-control; so when the +attendants came I told them not to mind, and they withdrew. Renfield +watched them go; when the door was closed he said, with considerable +dignity and sweetness:-- + +"Dr. Seward, you have been very considerate towards me. Believe me that +I am very, very grateful to you!" I thought it well to leave him in this +mood, and so I came away. There is certainly something to ponder over in +this man's state. Several points seem to make what the American +interviewer calls "a story," if one could only get them in proper order. +Here they are:-- + +Will not mention "drinking." + +Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything. + +Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future. + +Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being +haunted by their souls. + +Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind +that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence--the +burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to! + +And the assurance--? + +Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of +terror afoot! + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I went after my round to Van Helsing and told him my +suspicion. He grew very grave; and, after thinking the matter over for a +while asked me to take him to Renfield. I did so. As we came to the door +we heard the lunatic within singing gaily, as he used to do in the time +which now seems so long ago. When we entered we saw with amazement that +he had spread out his sugar as of old; the flies, lethargic with the +autumn, were beginning to buzz into the room. We tried to make him talk +of the subject of our previous conversation, but he would not attend. He +went on with his singing, just as though we had not been present. He had +got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book. We had to come +away as ignorant as we went in. + +His is a curious case indeed; we must watch him to-night. + + +_Letter, Mitchell, Sons and Candy to Lord Godalming._ + +_"1 October._ + +"My Lord, + +"We are at all times only too happy to meet your wishes. We beg, with +regard to the desire of your Lordship, expressed by Mr. Harker on your +behalf, to supply the following information concerning the sale and +purchase of No. 347, Piccadilly. The original vendors are the executors +of the late Mr. Archibald Winter-Suffield. The purchaser is a foreign +nobleman, Count de Ville, who effected the purchase himself paying the +purchase money in notes 'over the counter,' if your Lordship will pardon +us using so vulgar an expression. Beyond this we know nothing whatever +of him. + +"We are, my Lord, + +"Your Lordship's humble servants, + +"MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 October._--I placed a man in the corridor last night, and told him to +make an accurate note of any sound he might hear from Renfield's room, +and gave him instructions that if there should be anything strange he +was to call me. After dinner, when we had all gathered round the fire +in the study--Mrs. Harker having gone to bed--we discussed the attempts +and discoveries of the day. Harker was the only one who had any result, +and we are in great hopes that his clue may be an important one. + +Before going to bed I went round to the patient's room and looked in +through the observation trap. He was sleeping soundly, and his heart +rose and fell with regular respiration. + +This morning the man on duty reported to me that a little after midnight +he was restless and kept saying his prayers somewhat loudly. I asked him +if that was all; he replied that it was all he heard. There was +something about his manner so suspicious that I asked him point blank if +he had been asleep. He denied sleep, but admitted to having "dozed" for +a while. It is too bad that men cannot be trusted unless they are +watched. + +To-day Harker is out following up his clue, and Art and Quincey are +looking after horses. Godalming thinks that it will be well to have +horses always in readiness, for when we get the information which we +seek there will be no time to lose. We must sterilise all the imported +earth between sunrise and sunset; we shall thus catch the Count at his +weakest, and without a refuge to fly to. Van Helsing is off to the +British Museum looking up some authorities on ancient medicine. The old +physicians took account of things which their followers do not accept, +and the Professor is searching for witch and demon cures which may be +useful to us later. + +I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity in +strait-waistcoats. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--We have met again. We seem at last to be on the track, and our +work of to-morrow may be the beginning of the end. I wonder if +Renfield's quiet has anything to do with this. His moods have so +followed the doings of the Count, that the coming destruction of the +monster may be carried to him in some subtle way. If we could only get +some hint as to what passed in his mind, between the time of my argument +with him to-day and his resumption of fly-catching, it might afford us a +valuable clue. He is now seemingly quiet for a spell.... Is he?---- That +wild yell seemed to come from his room.... + + * * * * * + +The attendant came bursting into my room and told me that Renfield had +somehow met with some accident. He had heard him yell; and when he went +to him found him lying on his face on the floor, all covered with blood. +I must go at once.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well +as I can remember it, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that I +can recall must be forgotten; in all calmness I must proceed. + +When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his +left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it +became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries; +there seemed none of that unity of purpose between the parts of the body +which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see +that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the +floor--indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood +originated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as +we turned him over:-- + +"I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and +the whole side of his face are paralysed." How such a thing could have +happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure. He seemed quite +bewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said:-- + +"I can't understand the two things. He could mark his face like that by +beating his own head on the floor. I saw a young woman do it once at the +Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her. And I suppose he +might have broke his neck by falling out of bed, if he got in an awkward +kink. But for the life of me I can't imagine how the two things +occurred. If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his head; and if his +face was like that before the fall out of bed, there would be marks of +it." I said to him:-- + +"Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here at once. I want +him without an instant's delay." The man ran off, and within a few +minutes the Professor, in his dressing gown and slippers, appeared. When +he saw Renfield on the ground, he looked keenly at him a moment, and +then turned to me. I think he recognised my thought in my eyes, for he +said very quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant:-- + +"Ah, a sad accident! He will need very careful watching, and much +attention. I shall stay with you myself; but I shall first dress myself. +If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you." + +The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that +he had suffered some terrible injury. Van Helsing returned with +extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He had +evidently been thinking and had his mind made up; for, almost before he +looked at the patient, he whispered to me:-- + +"Send the attendant away. We must be alone with him when he becomes +conscious, after the operation." So I said:-- + +"I think that will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can at +present. You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing will operate. +Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere." + +The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient. +The wounds of the face was superficial; the real injury was a depressed +fracture of the skull, extending right up through the motor area. The +Professor thought a moment and said:-- + +"We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as far +as can be; the rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of +his injury. The whole motor area seems affected. The suffusion of the +brain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be +too late." As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door. I +went over and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur and +Quincey in pajamas and slippers: the former spoke:-- + +"I heard your man call up Dr. Van Helsing and tell him of an accident. +So I woke Quincey or rather called for him as he was not asleep. Things +are moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us +these times. I've been thinking that to-morrow night will not see things +as they have been. We'll have to look back--and forward a little more +than we have done. May we come in?" I nodded, and held the door open +till they had entered; then I closed it again. When Quincey saw the +attitude and state of the patient, and noted the horrible pool on the +floor, he said softly:-- + +"My God! what has happened to him? Poor, poor devil!" I told him +briefly, and added that we expected he would recover consciousness after +the operation--for a short time, at all events. He went at once and sat +down on the edge of the bed, with Godalming beside him; we all watched +in patience. + +"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best +spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove +the blood clot; for it is evident that the hæmorrhage is increasing." + +The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness. I had a +horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I gathered +that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. I dreaded +the words that Renfield might speak. I was positively afraid to think; +but the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have read of men +who have heard the death-watch. The poor man's breathing came in +uncertain gasps. Each instant he seemed as though he would open his eyes +and speak; but then would follow a prolonged stertorous breath, and he +would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I was to sick +beds and death, this suspense grew, and grew upon me. I could almost +hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging through my +temples sounded like blows from a hammer. The silence finally became +agonising. I looked at my companions, one after another, and saw from +their flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equal +torture. There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overhead +some dread bell would peal out powerfully when we should least expect +it. + +At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was +sinking fast; he might die at any moment. I looked up at the Professor +and caught his eyes fixed on mine. His face was sternly set as he +spoke:-- + +"There is no time to lose. His words may be worth many lives; I have +been thinking so, as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake! +We shall operate just above the ear." + +Without another word he made the operation. For a few moments the +breathing continued to be stertorous. Then there came a breath so +prolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest. +Suddenly his eyes opened, and became fixed in a wild, helpless stare. +This was continued for a few moments; then it softened into a glad +surprise, and from the lips came a sigh of relief. He moved +convulsively, and as he did so, said:-- + +"I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait-waistcoat. I +have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot +move. What's wrong with my face? it feels all swollen, and it smarts +dreadfully." He tried to turn his head; but even with the effort his +eyes seemed to grow glassy again so I gently put it back. Then Van +Helsing said in a quiet grave tone:-- + +"Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield." As he heard the voice his face +brightened, through its mutilation, and he said:-- + +"That is Dr. Van Helsing. How good it is of you to be here. Give me some +water, my lips are dry; and I shall try to tell you. I dreamed"--he +stopped and seemed fainting, I called quietly to Quincey--"The +brandy--it is in my study--quick!" He flew and returned with a glass, +the decanter of brandy and a carafe of water. We moistened the parched +lips, and the patient quickly revived. It seemed, however, that his poor +injured brain had been working in the interval, for, when he was quite +conscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonised confusion which I +shall never forget, and said:-- + +"I must not deceive myself; it was no dream, but all a grim reality." +Then his eyes roved round the room; as they caught sight of the two +figures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed he went on:-- + +"If I were not sure already, I would know from them." For an instant his +eyes closed--not with pain or sleep but voluntarily, as though he were +bringing all his faculties to bear; when he opened them he said, +hurriedly, and with more energy than he had yet displayed:-- + +"Quick, Doctor, quick. I am dying! I feel that I have but a few minutes; +and then I must go back to death--or worse! Wet my lips with brandy +again. I have something that I must say before I die; or before my poor +crushed brain dies anyhow. Thank you! It was that night after you left +me, when I implored you to let me go away. I couldn't speak then, for I +felt my tongue was tied; but I was as sane then, except in that way, as +I am now. I was in an agony of despair for a long time after you left +me; it seemed hours. Then there came a sudden peace to me. My brain +seemed to become cool again, and I realised where I was. I heard the +dogs bark behind our house, but not where He was!" As he spoke, Van +Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out and met mine and +gripped it hard. He did not, however, betray himself; he nodded slightly +and said: "Go on," in a low voice. Renfield proceeded:-- + +"He came up to the window in the mist, as I had seen him often before; +but he was solid then--not a ghost, and his eyes were fierce like a +man's when angry. He was laughing with his red mouth; the sharp white +teeth glinted in the moonlight when he turned to look back over the belt +of trees, to where the dogs were barking. I wouldn't ask him to come in +at first, though I knew he wanted to--just as he had wanted all along. +Then he began promising me things--not in words but by doing them." He +was interrupted by a word from the Professor:-- + +"How?" + +"By making them happen; just as he used to send in the flies when the +sun was shining. Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their +wings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on their +backs." Van Helsing nodded to him as he whispered to me unconsciously:-- + +"The _Acherontia Aitetropos of the Sphinges_--what you call the +'Death's-head Moth'?" The patient went on without stopping. + +"Then he began to whisper: 'Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, +millions of them, and every one a life; and dogs to eat them, and cats +too. All lives! all red blood, with years of life in it; and not merely +buzzing flies!' I laughed at him, for I wanted to see what he could do. +Then the dogs howled, away beyond the dark trees in His house. He +beckoned me to the window. I got up and looked out, and He raised his +hands, and seemed to call out without using any words. A dark mass +spread over the grass, coming on like the shape of a flame of fire; and +then He moved the mist to the right and left, and I could see that there +were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red--like His, only +smaller. He held up his hand, and they all stopped; and I thought he +seemed to be saying: 'All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more +and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship +me!' And then a red cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close +over my eyes; and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening +the sash and saying to Him: 'Come in, Lord and Master!' The rats were +all gone, but He slid into the room through the sash, though it was only +open an inch wide--just as the Moon herself has often come in through +the tiniest crack and has stood before me in all her size and +splendour." + +His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again, and +he continued; but it seemed as though his memory had gone on working in +the interval for his story was further advanced. I was about to call him +back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me: "Let him go on. Do +not interrupt him; he cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all +if once he lost the thread of his thought." He proceeded:-- + +"All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, not +even a blow-fly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him. +When he slid in through the window, though it was shut, and did not even +knock, I got mad with him. He sneered at me, and his white face looked +out of the mist with his red eyes gleaming, and he went on as though he +owned the whole place, and I was no one. He didn't even smell the same +as he went by me. I couldn't hold him. I thought that, somehow, Mrs. +Harker had come into the room." + +The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behind +him so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better. +They were both silent, but the Professor started and quivered; his face, +however, grew grimmer and sterner still. Renfield went on without +noticing:-- + +"When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon she wasn't the same; +it was like tea after the teapot had been watered." Here we all moved, +but no one said a word; he went on:-- + +"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look the +same. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood +in them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of it +at the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad +to know that He had been taking the life out of her." I could feel that +the rest quivered, as I did, but we remained otherwise still. "So when +He came to-night I was ready for Him. I saw the mist stealing in, and I +grabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength; and +as I knew I was a madman--at times anyhow--I resolved to use my power. +Ay, and He felt it too, for He had to come out of the mist to struggle +with me. I held tight; and I thought I was going to win, for I didn't +mean Him to take any more of her life, till I saw His eyes. They burned +into me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, and +when I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down. There +was a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed +to steal away under the door." His voice was becoming fainter and his +breath more stertorous. Van Helsing stood up instinctively. + +"We know the worst now," he said. "He is here, and we know his purpose. +It may not be too late. Let us be armed--the same as we were the other +night, but lose no time; there is not an instant to spare." There was no +need to put our fear, nay our conviction, into words--we shared them in +common. We all hurried and took from our rooms the same things that we +had when we entered the Count's house. The Professor had his ready, and +as we met in the corridor he pointed to them significantly as he said:-- + +"They never leave me; and they shall not till this unhappy business is +over. Be wise also, my friends. It is no common enemy that we deal with. +Alas! alas! that that dear Madam Mina should suffer!" He stopped; his +voice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated in +my own heart. + +Outside the Harkers' door we paused. Art and Quincey held back, and the +latter said:-- + +"Should we disturb her?" + +"We must," said Van Helsing grimly. "If the door be locked, I shall +break it in." + +"May it not frighten her terribly? It is unusual to break into a lady's +room!" + +Van Helsing said solemnly, "You are always right; but this is life and +death. All chambers are alike to the doctor; and even were they not they +are all as one to me to-night. Friend John, when I turn the handle, if +the door does not open, do you put your shoulder down and shove; and you +too, my friends. Now!" + +He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threw +ourselves against it; with a crash it burst open, and we almost fell +headlong into the room. The Professor did actually fall, and I saw +across him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I saw +appalled me. I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my neck, +and my heart seemed to stand still. + +The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind the room +was light enough to see. On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan +Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor. +Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad +figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. +His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw we all recognised +the Count--in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left +hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms +at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, +forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared +with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which +was shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible +resemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to +compel it to drink. As we burst into the room, the Count turned his +face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap +into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils +of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the +white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, +champed together like those of a wild beast. With a wrench, which threw +his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned +and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, +and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred +Wafer. The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside +the tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, +lifting our crucifixes, advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a +great black cloud sailed across the sky; and when the gaslight sprang up +under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as we +looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its bursting +open, had swung back to its old position. Van Helsing, Art, and I moved +forward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time had drawn her breath and with +it had given a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so despairing that it +seems to me now that it will ring in my ears till my dying day. For a +few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and disarray. Her face was +ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which smeared +her lips and cheeks and chin; from her throat trickled a thin stream of +blood; her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her +poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the +Count's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate wail +which made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression of an +endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and drew the coverlet gently +over her body, whilst Art, after looking at her face for an instant +despairingly, ran out of the room. Van Helsing whispered to me:-- + +"Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce. We can +do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a few moments till she recovers +herself; I must wake him!" He dipped the end of a towel in cold water +and with it began to flick him on the face, his wife all the while +holding her face between her hands and sobbing in a way that was +heart-breaking to hear. I raised the blind, and looked out of the +window. There was much moonshine; and as I looked I could see Quincey +Morris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great +yew-tree. It puzzled me to think why he was doing this; but at the +instant I heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial +consciousness, and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might well +be, was a look of wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and +then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he +started up. His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to +him with her arms stretched out, as though to embrace him; instantly, +however, she drew them in again, and putting her elbows together, held +her hands before her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook. + +"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out. "Dr. Seward, Dr. +Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is wrong? Mina, dear, +what is it? What does that blood mean? My God, my God! has it come to +this!" and, raising himself to his knees, he beat his hands wildly +together. "Good God help us! help her! oh, help her!" With a quick +movement he jumped from bed, and began to pull on his clothes,--all the +man in him awake at the need for instant exertion. "What has happened? +Tell me all about it!" he cried without pausing. "Dr. Van Helsing, you +love Mina, I know. Oh, do something to save her. It cannot have gone too +far yet. Guard her while I look for _him_!" His wife, through her terror +and horror and distress, saw some sure danger to him: instantly +forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of him and cried out:-- + +"No! no! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enough +to-night, God knows, without the dread of his harming you. You must stay +with me. Stay with these friends who will watch over you!" Her +expression became frantic as she spoke; and, he yielding to her, she +pulled him down sitting on the bed side, and clung to him fiercely. + +Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both. The Professor held up his +little golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness:-- + +"Do not fear, my dear. We are here; and whilst this is close to you no +foul thing can approach. You are safe for to-night; and we must be calm +and take counsel together." She shuddered and was silent, holding down +her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his white +night-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where +the thin open wound in her neck had sent forth drops. The instant she +saw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking +sobs:-- + +"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it +should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have +most cause to fear." To this he spoke out resolutely:-- + +"Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not +hear it of you; and I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my +deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, +if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out +his arms and folded her to his breast; and for a while she lay there +sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked +damply above his quivering nostrils; his mouth was set as steel. After a +while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then he said to +me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his nervous +power to the utmost:-- + +"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it. Too well I know the broad +fact; tell me all that has been." I told him exactly what had happened, +and he listened with seeming impassiveness; but his nostrils twitched +and his eyes blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had +held his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to +the open wound in his breast. It interested me, even at that moment, to +see, that, whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over +the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled +hair. Just as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at the door. +They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing looked at me +questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of +their coming to divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappy husband +and wife from each other and from themselves; so on nodding acquiescence +to him he asked them what they had seen or done. To which Lord Godalming +answered:-- + +"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our rooms. I +looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had gone. He had, +however----" He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping figure on +the bed. Van Helsing said gravely:-- + +"Go on, friend Arthur. We want here no more concealments. Our hope now +is in knowing all. Tell freely!" So Art went on:-- + +"He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few +seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the manuscript had been +burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes; the +cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax +had helped the flames." Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is the +other copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he +went on: "I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I looked +into Renfield's room; but there was no trace there except----!" Again he +paused. "Go on," said Harker hoarsely; so he bowed his head and +moistening his lips with his tongue, added: "except that the poor fellow +is dead." Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of +us she said solemnly:-- + +"God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping back +something; but, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing. +Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked:-- + +"And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?" + +"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at present I +can't say. I thought it well to know if possible where the Count would +go when he left the house. I did not see him; but I saw a bat rise from +Renfield's window, and flap westward. I expected to see him in some +shape go back to Carfax; but he evidently sought some other lair. He +will not be back to-night; for the sky is reddening in the east, and the +dawn is close. We must work to-morrow!" + +He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of perhaps +a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that I could +hear the sound of our hearts beating; then Van Helsing said, placing his +hand very tenderly on Mrs. Harker's head:-- + +"And now, Madam Mina--poor, dear, dear Madam Mina--tell us exactly what +happened. God knows that I do not want that you be pained; but it is +need that we know all. For now more than ever has all work to be done +quick and sharp, and in deadly earnest. The day is close to us that must +end all, if it may be so; and now is the chance that we may live and +learn." + +The poor, dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves +as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and +lower still on his breast. Then she raised her head proudly, and held +out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his, and, after stooping and +kissing it reverently, held it fast. The other hand was locked in that +of her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her protectingly. +After a pause in which she was evidently ordering her thoughts, she +began:-- + +"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, but for a +long time it did not act. I seemed to become more wakeful, and myriads +of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mind--all of them +connected with death, and vampires; with blood, and pain, and trouble." +Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and said +lovingly: "Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me +through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me +to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I +need your help. Well, I saw I must try to help the medicine to its work +with my will, if it was to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to +sleep. Sure enough sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no +more. Jonathan coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when +next I remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I +had before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this; you will find +it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague +terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some presence. +I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so soundly that it +seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping draught, and not I. I +tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I +looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me: beside +the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist--or rather as if the mist +had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared--stood a +tall, thin man, all in black. I knew him at once from the description of +the others. The waxen face; the high aquiline nose, on which the light +fell in a thin white line; the parted red lips, with the sharp white +teeth showing between; and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the +sunset on the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby. I knew, too, the +red scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant +my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was +paralysed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper, +pointing as he spoke to Jonathan:-- + +"'Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out +before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or +say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulder +and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did +so, 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well +be quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have +appeased my thirst!' I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not +want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that +such is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity +me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned +again. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as if +he were the injured one, and went on:-- + +"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How long +this horrible thing lasted I know not; but it seemed that a long time +must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away. I +saw it drip with the fresh blood!" The remembrance seemed for a while to +overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her +husband's sustaining arm. With a great effort she recovered herself and +went on:-- + +"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would play +your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and +frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in part already, +and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path. They +should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they +played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, and intrigued +for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were +born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now +to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin; my bountiful +wine-press for a while; and shall be later on my companion and my +helper. You shall be avenged in turn; for not one of them but shall +minister to your needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what you +have done. You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to my +call. When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or sea to +do my bidding; and to that end this!' With that he pulled open his +shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When +the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding +them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to +the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the---- Oh +my God! my God! what have I done? What have I done to deserve such a +fate, I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my +days. God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril; +and in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub her +lips as though to cleanse them from pollution. + +As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to quicken, +and everything became more and more clear. Harker was still and quiet; +but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look +which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first +red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out +against the whitening hair. + +We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappy +pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action. + +Of this I am sure: the sun rises to-day on no more miserable house in +all the great round of its daily course. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_3 October._--As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary. It +is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and +take something to eat; for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed +that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best will be, God +knows, required to-day. I must keep writing at every chance, for I dare +not stop to think. All, big and little, must go down; perhaps at the end +the little things may teach us most. The teaching, big or little, could +not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we are to-day. However, +we must trust and hope. Poor Mina told me just now, with the tears +running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and trial that our +faith is tested--that we must keep on trusting; and that God will aid us +up to the end. The end! oh my God! what end?... To work! To work! + +When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing poor +Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr. Seward +told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room below +they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a heap. His face was +all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the neck were broken. + +Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if he had +heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down--he confessed to +half dozing--when he heard loud voices in the room, and then Renfield +had called out loudly several times, "God! God! God!" after that there +was a sound of falling, and when he entered the room he found him lying +on the floor, face down, just as the doctors had seen him. Van Helsing +asked if he had heard "voices" or "a voice," and he said he could not +say; that at first it had seemed to him as if there were two, but as +there was no one in the room it could have been only one. He could swear +to it, if required, that the word "God" was spoken by the patient. Dr. +Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish to go into +the matter; the question of an inquest had to be considered, and it +would never do to put forward the truth, as no one would believe it. As +it was, he thought that on the attendant's evidence he could give a +certificate of death by misadventure in falling from bed. In case the +coroner should demand it, there would be a formal inquest, necessarily +to the same result. + +When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our next +step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full +confidence; that nothing of any sort--no matter how painful--should be +kept from her. She herself agreed as to its wisdom, and it was pitiful +to see her so brave and yet so sorrowful, and in such a depth of +despair. "There must be no concealment," she said, "Alas! we have had +too much already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that can +give me more pain than I have already endured--than I suffer now! +Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!" +Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said, suddenly +but quietly:-- + +"But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid; not for yourself, but for +others from yourself, after what has happened?" Her face grew set in its +lines, but her eyes shone with the devotion of a martyr as she +answered:-- + +"Ah no! for my mind is made up!" + +"To what?" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still; for each in +our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she meant. Her answer +came with direct simplicity, as though she were simply stating a fact:-- + +"Because if I find in myself--and I shall watch keenly for it--a sign of +harm to any that I love, I shall die!" + +"You would not kill yourself?" he asked, hoarsely. + +"I would; if there were no friend who loved me, who would save me such a +pain, and so desperate an effort!" She looked at him meaningly as she +spoke. He was sitting down; but now he rose and came close to her and +put his hand on her head as he said solemnly: + +"My child, there is such an one if it were for your good. For myself I +could hold it in my account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, +even at this moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my +child----" For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his +throat; he gulped it down and went on:-- + +"There are here some who would stand between you and death. You must not +die. You must not die by any hand; but least of all by your own. Until +the other, who has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not +die; for if he is still with the quick Un-Dead, your death would make +you even as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to +live, though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death +himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy; by the day, or the +night; in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you that you +do not die--nay, nor think of death--till this great evil be past." The +poor dear grew white as death, and shock and shivered, as I have seen a +quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide. We were all +silent; we could do nothing. At length she grew more calm and turning to +him said, sweetly, but oh! so sorrowfully, as she held out her hand:-- + +"I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will let me live, I shall +strive to do so; till, if it may be in His good time, this horror may +have passed away from me." She was so good and brave that we all felt +that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her, and we +began to discuss what we were to do. I told her that she was to have all +the papers in the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we +might hereafter use; and was to keep the record as she had done before. +She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do--if "pleased" could +be used in connection with so grim an interest. + +As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was +prepared with an exact ordering of our work. + +"It is perhaps well," he said, "that at our meeting after our visit to +Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth-boxes that lay +there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our purpose, and +would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such an +effort with regard to the others; but now he does not know our +intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such a +power exists to us as can sterilise his lairs, so that he cannot use +them as of old. We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as +to their disposition that, when we have examined the house in +Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them. To-day, then, is ours; +and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning +guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must +retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations +of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear +through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he +must open the door like a mortal. And so we have this day to hunt out +all his lairs and sterilise them. So we shall, if we have not yet catch +him and destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching +and the destroying shall be, in time, sure." Here I started up for I +could not contain myself at the thought that the minutes and seconds so +preciously laden with Mina's life and happiness were flying from us, +since whilst we talked action was impossible. But Van Helsing held up +his hand warningly. "Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the +quickest way home is the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all +act and act with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in +all probable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly. +The Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will have +deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper that he +write on; he will have his book of cheques. There are many belongings +that he must have somewhere; why not in this place so central, so quiet, +where he come and go by the front or the back at all hour, when in the +very vast of the traffic there is none to notice. We shall go there and +search that house; and when we learn what it holds, then we do what our +friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt 'stop the earths' and so we +run down our old fox--so? is it not?" + +"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious, +precious time!" The Professor did not move, but simply said:-- + +"And how are we to get into that house in Piccadilly?" + +"Any way!" I cried. "We shall break in if need be." + +"And your police; where will they be, and what will they say?" + +I was staggered; but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a good +reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could:-- + +"Don't wait more than need be; you know, I am sure, what torture I am +in." + +"Ah, my child, that I do; and indeed there is no wish of me to add to +your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the world be at +movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and thought, and it +seems to me that the simplest way is the best of all. Now we wish to get +into the house, but we have no key; is it not so?" I nodded. + +"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and could +not still get it; and think there was to you no conscience of the +housebreaker, what would you do?" + +"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the +lock for me." + +"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?" + +"Oh, no! not if they knew the man was properly employed." + +"Then," he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, "all that is in doubt is +the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your policemen as to +whether or no that employer has a good conscience or a bad one. Your +police must indeed be zealous men and clever--oh, so clever!--in reading +the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter. No, no, my +friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty house in this +your London, or of any city in the world; and if you do it as such +things are rightly done, and at the time such things are rightly done, +no one will interfere. I have read of a gentleman who owned a so fine +house in London, and when he went for months of summer to Switzerland +and lock up his house, some burglar came and broke window at back and +got in. Then he went and made open the shutters in front and walk out +and in through the door, before the very eyes of the police. Then he +have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice; +and when the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of +that other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell him +that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take all away +within a certain time. And your police and other authority help him all +they can. And when that owner come back from his holiday in Switzerland +he find only an empty hole where his house had been. This was all done +_en règle_; and in our work we shall be _en règle_ too. We shall not go +so early that the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem +it strange; but we shall go after ten o'clock, when there are many +about, and such things would be done were we indeed owners of the +house." + +I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Mina's +face became relaxed a thought; there was hope in such good counsel. Van +Helsing went on:-- + +"When once within that house we may find more clues; at any rate some of +us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places where there be +more earth-boxes--at Bermondsey and Mile End." + +Lord Godalming stood up. "I can be of some use here," he said. "I shall +wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most +convenient." + +"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to have all +ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don't you think that one +of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byway of +Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes? +It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south or east; and +even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are going to." + +"Friend Quincey is right!" said the Professor. "His head is what you +call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we go to +do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may." + +Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to see +that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the +terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale--almost +ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in +somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last, lest it should give +her needless pain; but it made my blood run cold in my veins to think of +what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood. As +yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper; but the time as yet +was short, and there was time for fear. + +When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of the +disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt. It was +finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should destroy the +Count's lair close at hand. In case he should find it out too soon, we +should thus be still ahead of him in our work of destruction; and his +presence in his purely material shape, and at his weakest, might give us +some new clue. + +As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that, +after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in Piccadilly; +that the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming +and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed them. +It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the Count +might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we might be +able to cope with him then and there. At any rate, we might be able to +follow him in force. To this plan I strenuously objected, and so far as +my going was concerned, for I said that I intended to stay and protect +Mina, I thought that my mind was made up on the subject; but Mina would +not listen to my objection. She said that there might be some law matter +in which I could be useful; that amongst the Count's papers might be +some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania; +and that, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to +cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for Mina's +resolution was fixed; she said that it was the last hope for _her_ that +we should all work together. "As for me," she said, "I have no fear. +Things have been as bad as they can be; and whatever may happen must +have in it some element of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if +He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any one present." So I +started up crying out: "Then in God's name let us come at once, for we +are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier than we +think." + +"Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand. + +"But why?" I asked. + +"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last night he +banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?" + +Did I forget! shall I ever--can I ever! Can any of us ever forget that +terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance; but +the pain overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and +shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had not intended to recall her +frightful experience. He had simply lost sight of her and her part in +the affair in his intellectual effort. When it struck him what he said, +he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her. "Oh, +Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I of all who so +reverence you should have said anything so forgetful. These stupid old +lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so; but you will +forget it, will you not?" He bent low beside her as he spoke; she took +his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely:-- + +"No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember; and with it I +have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all +together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is ready, and we +must all eat that we may be strong." + +Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful and +encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of +us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:-- + +"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we +all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's +lair; armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured +him. "Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case _quite_ safe +here until the sunset; and before then we shall return--if---- We shall +return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attack. I +have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing +of things of which we know, so that He may not enter. Now let me guard +yourself. On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the +name of the Father, the Son, and----" + +There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear. As he +had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it--had burned +into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. My poor +darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as +her nerves received the pain of it; and the two so overwhelmed her that +her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream. But the +words to her thought came quickly; the echo of the scream had not ceased +to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her +knees on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair +over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out:-- + +"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must +bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day." They +all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless +grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our +sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away +their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said +gravely; so gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some +way inspired, and was stating things outside himself:-- + +"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, +as He most surely shall, on the Judgment Day, to redress all wrongs of +the earth and of His children that He has placed thereon. And oh, Madam +Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that +red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, +and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as +we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the +burden that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did +in obedience to His Will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of +His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other +through stripes and shame; through tears and blood; through doubts and +fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man." + +There was hope in his words, and comfort; and they made for resignation. +Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old +man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then without a word we all +knelt down together, and, all holding hands, swore to be true to each +other. We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the +head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved; and we prayed for help +and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us. + +It was then time to start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which +neither of us shall forget to our dying day; and we set out. + +To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a +vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible +land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant +many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so +the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks. + +We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on +the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic +surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such +fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been made up, and had there +not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded +with our task. We found no papers, or any sign of use in the house; and +in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them last. +Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before them:-- + +"And now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilise this +earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far +distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has +been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more +holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to +God." As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and +very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth smelled +musty and close; but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention +was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his box a piece of the +Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down +the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked. + +One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left +them as we had found them to all appearance; but in each was a portion +of the Host. + +When we closed the door behind us, the Professor said solemnly:-- + +"So much is already done. If it may be that with all the others we can +be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may shine on Madam +Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!" + +As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our +train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly, and in the +window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her, and nodded to +tell that our work there was successfully accomplished. She nodded in +reply to show that she understood. The last I saw, she was waving her +hand in farewell. It was with a heavy heart that we sought the station +and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the +platform. + +I have written this in the train. + + * * * * * + +_Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock._--Just before we reached Fenchurch Street +Lord Godalming said to me:-- + +"Quincey and I will find a locksmith. You had better not come with us in +case there should be any difficulty; for under the circumstances it +wouldn't seem so bad for us to break into an empty house. But you are a +solicitor and the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you +should have known better." I demurred as to my not sharing any danger +even of odium, but he went on: "Besides, it will attract less attention +if there are not too many of us. My title will make it all right with +the locksmith, and with any policeman that may come along. You had +better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park, +somewhere in sight of the house; and when you see the door opened and +the smith has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the +lookout for you, and shall let you in." + +"The advice is good!" said Van Helsing, so we said no more. Godalming +and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another. At the corner +of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into the Green +Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was +centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst +its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours. We sat down on a bench +within good view, and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little +attention as possible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we +waited for the coming of the others. + +At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in leisurely +fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris; and down from the box descended +a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of tools. Morris paid +the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away. Together the two +ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he wanted done. +The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it on one of the spikes +of the rail, saying something to a policeman who just then sauntered +along. The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the man kneeling down +placed his bag beside him. After searching through it, he took out a +selection of tools which he produced to lay beside him in orderly +fashion. Then he stood up, looked into the keyhole, blew into it, and +turning to his employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and +the man lifted a good-sized bunch of keys; selecting one of them, he +began to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling +about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once the +door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two others +entered the hall. We sat still; my own cigar burnt furiously, but Van +Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited patiently as we saw the +workman come out and bring in his bag. Then he held the door partly +open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he fitted a key to the lock. +This he finally handed to Lord Godalming, who took out his purse and +gave him something. The man touched his hat, took his bag, put on his +coat and departed; not a soul took the slightest notice of the whole +transaction. + +When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and knocked at +the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom stood +Lord Godalming lighting a cigar. + +"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in. It did +indeed smell vilely--like the old chapel at Carfax--and with our +previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using the +place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all keeping together +in case of attack; for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy to deal +with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be in the +house. In the dining-room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found +eight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine, which we sought! +Our work was not over, and would never be until we should have found the +missing box. First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out +across a narrow stone-flagged yard at the blank face of a stable, +pointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no +windows in it, so we were not afraid of being over-looked. We did not +lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we had +brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as we had +treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us that the +Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to search for +any of his effects. + +After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement to attic, +we came to the conclusion that the dining-room contained any effects +which might belong to the Count; and so we proceeded to minutely examine +them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the great dining-room +table. There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great bundle; +deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and Bermondsey; +note-paper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were covered up in thin +wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There were also a clothes +brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin--the latter containing +dirty water which was reddened as if with blood. Last of all was a +little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes, probably those belonging to +the other houses. When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming +and Quincey Morris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the +houses in the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great +bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest of us +are, with what patience we can, waiting their return--or the coming of +the Count. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_3 October._--The time seemed terrible long whilst we were waiting for +the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep +our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent +purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. +The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. +Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful +face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. To-day he is a drawn, +haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning +eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in +fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for, if +all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period; he will then, +in a kind of way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I +thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his----! The Professor knows +this well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind active. What he +has been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interest. So +well as I can remember, here it is:-- + +"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands, all +the papers relating to this monster; and the more I have studied, the +greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out. All through there +are signs of his advance; not only of his power, but of his knowledge of +it. As I learned from the researches of my friend Arminus of Buda-Pesth, +he was in life a most wonderful man. Soldier, statesman, and +alchemist--which latter was the highest development of the +science-knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond +compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse. He dared even to +attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time +that he did not essay. Well, in him the brain powers survived the +physical death; though it would seem that memory was not all complete. +In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is +growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of +man's stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well; and if it had not +been that we have crossed his path he would be yet--he may be yet if we +fail--the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must +lead through Death, not Life." + +Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my darling! +But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him!" + +"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but +surely; that big child-brain of his is working. Well for us, it is, as +yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain +things he would long ago have been beyond our power. However, he means +to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait +and to go slow. _Festina lente_ may well be his motto." + +"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "Oh, do be more plain to +me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain." + +The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke:-- + +"Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late, this +monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How he has been +making use of the zoöphagous patient to effect his entry into friend +John's home; for your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when +and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto by +an inmate. But these are not his most important experiments. Do we not +see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others. He +knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great +child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he +might not himself move the box. So he began to help; and then, when he +found that this be all-right, he try to move them all alone. And so he +progress, and he scatter these graves of him; and none but he know where +they are hidden. He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So +that he only use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his +form, they do him equal well; and none may know these are his +hiding-place! But, my child, do not despair; this knowledge come to him +just too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilise as for him; +and before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no place where he +can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we might be sure. Is +there not more at stake for us than for him? Then why we not be even +more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be +well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us. To-day is our +day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance. See! there are +five of us when those absent ones return." + +Whilst he was speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door, the +double postman's knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved out to the +hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us to +keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The boy handed in a +despatch. The Professor closed the door again, and, after looking at the +direction, opened it and read aloud. + +"Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and +hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the round and may want +to see you: Mina." + +There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice:-- + +"Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!" Van Helsing turned to him +quickly and said:-- + +"God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice +as yet; for what we wish for at the moment may be our undoings." + +"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this +brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!" + +"Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing. "God does not purchase +souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep +faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your +devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her pain would be +doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not fear any of us, we are +all devoted to this cause, and to-day shall see the end. The time is +coming for action; to-day this Vampire is limit to the powers of man, +and till sunset he may not change. It will take him time to arrive +here--see, it is twenty minutes past one--and there are yet some times +before he can hither come, be he never so quick. What we must hope for +is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first." + +About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram, there +came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an ordinary +knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made +the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. We looked at each other, and +together moved out into the hall; we each held ready to use our various +armaments--the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right. Van +Helsing pulled back the latch, and, holding the door half open, stood +back, having both hands ready for action. The gladness of our hearts +must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we +saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed +the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the +hall:-- + +"It is all right. We found both places; six boxes in each and we +destroyed them all!" + +"Destroyed?" asked the Professor. + +"For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said:-- + +"There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn't turn up +by five o'clock, we must start off; for it won't do to leave Mrs. Harker +alone after sunset." + +"He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been +consulting his pocket-book. "_Nota bene_, in Madam's telegram he went +south from Carfax, that means he went to cross the river, and he could +only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one +o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is as yet only +suspicious; and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would +suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a +short time before him. That he is not here already shows that he went to +Mile End next. This took him some time; for he would then have to be +carried over the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not +have long to wait now. We should have ready some plan of attack, so that +we may throw away no chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your +arms! Be ready!" He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could +hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door. + +I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a +dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and +adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always +been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been +accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be +renewed instinctively. With a swift glance around the room, he at once +laid out our plan of attack, and, without speaking a word, with a +gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing, Harker, and I were +just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could +guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door. +Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to +move in front of the window. We waited in a suspense that made the +seconds pass with nightmare slowness. The slow, careful steps came along +the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise--at least +he feared it. + +Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room, winning a way past +us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There was something +so panther-like in the movement--something so unhuman, that it seemed +to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was +Harker, who, with a quick movement, threw himself before the door +leading into the room in the front of the house. As the Count saw us, a +horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth long +and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of +lion-like disdain. His expression again changed as, with a single +impulse, we all advanced upon him. It was a pity that we had not some +better organised plan of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what +we were to do. I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would +avail us anything. Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had +ready his great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The +blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's +leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had shorne +through his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat, +making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of gold +fell out. The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that for a +moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife +aloft again for another stroke. Instinctively I moved forward with a +protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I +felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise that I +saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously +by each one of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of +hate and baffled malignity--of anger and hellish rage--which came over +the Count's face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast +of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the +pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next instant, with a sinuous +dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere his blow could fall, and, grasping +a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room, threw +himself at the window. Amid the crash and glitter of the falling glass, +he tumbled into the flagged area below. Through the sound of the +shivering glass I could hear the "ting" of the gold, as some of the +sovereigns fell on the flagging. + +We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up +the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door. +There he turned and spoke to us:-- + +"You think to baffle me, you--with your pale faces all in a row, like +sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You think +you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is +just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your +girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and +others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my +jackals when I want to feed. Bah!" With a contemptuous sneer, he passed +quickly through the door, and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he +fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut. The first of us +to speak was the Professor, as, realising the difficulty of following +him through the stable, we moved toward the hall. + +"We have learnt something--much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he +fears us; he fear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His +very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take that money? You +follow quick. You are hunters of wild beast, and understand it so. For +me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use to him, if so that he +return." As he spoke he put the money remaining into his pocket; took +the title-deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the +remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with +a match. + +Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker had +lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had, however, +bolted the stable door; and by the time they had forced it open there +was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back +of the house; but the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart. + +It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We had to +recognise that our game was up; with heavy hearts we agreed with the +Professor when he said:-- + +"Let us go back to Madam Mina--poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do +just now is done; and we can there, at least, protect her. But we need +not despair. There is but one more earth-box, and we must try to find +it; when that is done all may yet be well." I could see that he spoke as +bravely as he could to comfort Harker. The poor fellow was quite broken +down; now and again he gave a low groan which he could not suppress--he +was thinking of his wife. + +With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker +waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her +bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her own became as +pale as death: for a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were +in secret prayer; and then she said cheerfully:-- + +"I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling!" As she spoke, +she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed it--"Lay your +poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well, dear! God will protect +us if He so will it in His good intent." The poor fellow groaned. There +was no place for words in his sublime misery. + +We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered us +all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to hungry +people--for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast--or the sense +of companionship may have helped us; but anyhow we were all less +miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope. True to +our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed; and +although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to +threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion to her was +manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness. When we came to the +part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly, she clung to +her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could +protect him from any harm that might come. She said nothing, however, +till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought right up +to the present time. Then without letting go her husband's hand she +stood up amongst us and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the +scene; of that sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty +of her youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which +she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our +teeth--remembering whence and how it came; her loving kindness against +our grim hate; her tender faith against all our fears and doubting; and +we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and +purity and faith, was outcast from God. + +"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips it was +so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you all my true, +true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all this +dreadful time. I know that you must fight--that you must destroy even as +you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter; +but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this +misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when +he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have +spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too, though it may +not hold your hands from his destruction." + +As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together, as +though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core. +Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer, till his +knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain which I knew she +must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes that were more appealing +than ever. As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing +his hand from hers as he spoke:-- + +"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that +earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send +his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!" + +"Oh, hush! oh, hush! in the name of the good God. Don't say such things, +Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just +think, my dear--I have been thinking all this long, long day of it--that +... perhaps ... some day ... I, too, may need such pity; and that some +other like you--and with equal cause for anger--may deny it to me! Oh, +my husband! my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought +had there been another way; but I pray that God may not have treasured +your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a very loving and +sorely stricken man. Oh, God, let these poor white hairs go in evidence +of what he has suffered, who all his life has done no wrong, and on whom +so many sorrows have come." + +We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and we wept +openly. She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed. +Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and putting his arms +round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress. Van Helsing beckoned +to us and we stole out of the room, leaving the two loving hearts alone +with their God. + +Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming +of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace. +She tried to school herself to the belief, and, manifestly for her +husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle; and was, +I think and believe, not without its reward. Van Helsing had placed at +hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency. +When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should +sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the +poor stricken lady. The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us +shall be off to bed as soon as we can. Godalming has already turned in, +for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done I, too, shall go +to bed. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_3-4 October, close to midnight._--I thought yesterday would never end. +There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind belief +that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any change must +now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed what our next step +was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All we knew was that one +earth-box remained, and that the Count alone knew where it was. If he +chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years; and in the +meantime!--the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of it even now. +This I know: that if ever there was a woman who was all perfection, that +one is my poor wronged darling. I love her a thousand times more for her +sweet pity of last night, a pity that made my own hate of the monster +seem despicable. Surely God will not permit the world to be the poorer +by the loss of such a creature. This is hope to me. We are all drifting +reefwards now, and faith is our only anchor. Thank God! Mina is +sleeping, and sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be +like, with such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so +calm, within my seeing, since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came +over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of March. +I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red sunset on her +face, but somehow now I think it has a deeper meaning. I am not sleepy +myself, though I am weary--weary to death. However, I must try to sleep; +for there is to-morrow to think of, and there is no rest for me +until.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awaked by Mina, who was +sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could see easily, +for we did not leave the room in darkness; she had placed a warning hand +over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear:-- + +"Hush! there is someone in the corridor!" I got up softly, and crossing +the room, gently opened the door. + +Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake. He +raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me:-- + +"Hush! go back to bed; it is all right. One of us will be here all +night. We don't mean to take any chances!" + +His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina. +She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor, pale +face as she put her arms round me and said softly:-- + +"Oh, thank God for good brave men!" With a sigh she sank back again to +sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again. + + * * * * * + +_4 October, morning._--Once again during the night I was wakened by +Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming +dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas flame was +like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:-- + +"Go, call the Professor. I want to see him at once." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured +without my knowing it. He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I +shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest; the time is getting close." I +went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing +me, he sprang to his feet. + +"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm. + +"No," I replied; "but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once." + +"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room. + +In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his +dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at +the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a smile--a +positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as he +said:-- + +"Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See! friend Jonathan, +we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day!" Then +turning to her, he said, cheerfully: "And what am I do for you? For at +this hour you do not want me for nothings." + +"I want you to hypnotise me!" she said. "Do it before the dawn, for I +feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is +short!" Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed. + +Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her, +from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn. Mina +gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat +like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually +her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of +her bosom could one know that she was alive. The Professor made a few +more passes and then stopped, and I could see that his forehead was +covered with great beads of perspiration. Mina opened her eyes; but she +did not seem the same woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and +her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to +impose silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. +They came on tip-toe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the +foot of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The +stillness was broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone +which would not break the current of her thoughts:-- + +"Where are you?" The answer came in a neutral way:-- + +"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own." For several +minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood +staring at her fixedly; the rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room +was growing lighter; without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van +Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed +just upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse +itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke again:-- + +"Where are you now?" The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it +were as though she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the +same tone when reading her shorthand notes. + +"I do not know. It is all strange to me!" + +"What do you see?" + +"I can see nothing; it is all dark." + +"What do you hear?" I could detect the strain in the Professor's patient +voice. + +"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can +hear them on the outside." + +"Then you are on a ship?" We all looked at each other, trying to glean +something each from the other. We were afraid to think. The answer came +quick:-- + +"Oh, yes!" + +"What else do you hear?" + +"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the +creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan +falls into the rachet." + +"What are you doing?" + +"I am still--oh, so still. It is like death!" The voice faded away into +a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again. + +By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of +day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid her +head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a sleeping child for a few +moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder to see +us all around her. "Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said. +She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling, though she +was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the +conversation, and she said:-- + +"Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late!" Mr. +Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor's calm +voice called them back:-- + +"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor +whilst she spoke. There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in +your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek? God be +thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead us we +know not. We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of men, +since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking +forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen! Alas, but +that sentence is a puddle; is it not? We can know now what was in the +Count's mind, when he seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce +knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear +me, ESCAPE! He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men +following like dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He +have take his last earth-box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He +think to escape, but no! we follow him. Tally Ho! as friend Arthur would +say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily; oh! so wily, and +we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a +little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters +between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he +would--unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or +slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to +us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need, +and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with +us." Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:-- + +"But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?" He +took her hand and patted it as he replied:-- + +"Ask me nothings as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all +questions." He would say no more, and we separated to dress. + +After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her gravely for +a minute and then said sorrowfully:-- + +"Because my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him +even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!" She grew paler as +she asked faintly:-- + +"Why?" + +"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you are +but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark +upon your throat." + +I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY, SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING + + +This to Jonathan Harker. + +You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our +search--if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we +seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her to-day. +This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him +here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, +for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away; he have gone back +to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of +fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and +that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the +money; for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun +go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that +he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him. +But there was not of time. When that fail he make straight for his last +resource--his last earth-work I might say did I wish _double entente_. +He is clever, oh, so clever! he know that his game here was finish; and +so he decide he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came, +and he go in it. We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound; +when we have discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will +comfort you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope +when you think it over: that all is not lost. This very creature that we +pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London; and yet in +one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is +finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. +But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong +together. Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is +but begun, and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high +to watch over His children. Therefore be of much comfort till we return. + +VAN HELSING. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 October._--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the +phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the +certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort; +and comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that his horrible +danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to +believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem +like a long-forgotten dream. Here in the crisp autumn air in the bright +sunlight---- + +Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on +the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst that lasts, +there can be no disbelief. And afterwards the very memory of it will +keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle, so we have been +over all the diaries again and again. Somehow, although the reality +seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less. There is +something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting. +Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may +be! I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other +yet of the future. It is better to wait till we see the Professor and +the others after their investigations. + +The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run +for me again. It is now three o'clock. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, 5 p. m._--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van +Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan +Harker, Mina Harker. + +Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to +discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape:-- + +"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure that +he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea, since +by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne +ignotum pro magnifico_; and so with heavy hearts we start to find what +ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He was in sailing ship, since +Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in +your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go, by suggestion of +Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail, +however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound ship go +out with the tide. She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail from +Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence on to other parts and up the +Danube. 'Soh!' said I, 'this is the ship whereon is the Count.' So off +we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office of wood +so small that the man look bigger than the office. From him we inquire +of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much, and he red face +and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same; and when Quincey +give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up, and +put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing, he +still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us, and ask +many men who are rough and hot; these be better fellows too when they +have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom, and of +others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but +nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know. + +"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five +o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with high nose +and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning. That he be all in +black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the +time. That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what ship +sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some took him to the office and +then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at shore end of +gang-plank, and ask that the captain come to him. The captain come, when +told that he will be pay well; and though he swear much at the first he +agree to term. Then the thin man go and some one tell him where horse +and cart can be hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself +driving cart on which a great box; this he himself lift down, though it +take several to put it on truck for the ship. He give much talk to +captain as to how and where his box is to be place; but the captain like +it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him that if he like he +can come and see where it shall be. But he say 'no'; that he come not +yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the captain tell him that he +had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will leave the +place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then the thin +man smile and say that of course he must go when he think fit; but he +will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear again, +polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he +will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the +sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues tell +him that he doesn't want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and also +with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after asking +where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase ship +forms, he departed. + +"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared,' as they said, for +they had something else to think of--well with blood again; for it soon +became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as +was expected. A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it grew, +and grew; till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around her. +The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and +blood; but he could do nothing. The water rose and rose; and he began to +fear that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly mood, +when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank again and +asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain replied +that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and +blood--were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and went down +with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and stood awhile +on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him. +Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away, and +all was clear again. My friends of the thirst and the language that was +of bloom and blood laughed, as they told how the captain's swears +exceeded even his usual polyglot, and was more than ever full of +picturesque, when on questioning other mariners who were on movement up +and down on the river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any +of fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However, the ship +went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the +river mouth. She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea. + +"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for +our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way to the +Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she never so quick; and when +we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there. Our best hope +is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset; for then +he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There +are days for us, in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about +where he go; for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us +invoices and all papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in +Varna, and to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present +his credentials; and so our merchant friend will have done his part. +When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and +have inquiry made at Varna, we say 'no'; for what is to be done is not +for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone and in our own +way." + +When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain +that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied: "We have the +best proof of that: your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance this +morning." I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should +pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that +he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing passion, +at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more +forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some +of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst +men:-- + +"Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary! For your sake in the first, +and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done much harm +already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short +time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in +darkness and not knowing. All this have I told these others; you, my +dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or +in that of your husband. I have told them how the measure of leaving his +own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life +of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the +work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do +what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have +been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of +nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in +some wondrous way. The very place, where he have been alive, Un-Dead for +all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical +world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither. +There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters +of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless, +there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of +occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in +himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike +time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain, +more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in +strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and +thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which +is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from, +and are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have +infect you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for +good of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do +no more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and +so in time, death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction, +shall make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together +that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the +world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, +whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one +soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem +more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if +we fall, we fall in good cause." He paused and I said:-- + +"But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely? Since he has been driven +from England, will he not avoid it, as a tiger does the village from +which he has been hunted?" + +"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall +adopt him. Your man-eater, as they of India call the tiger who has once +tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other prey, but prowl +unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from our village is a +tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay, in himself he +is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life, he go +over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be +beaten back, but did he stay? No! He come again, and again, and again. +Look at his persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was to +him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What +does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise for +him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task. He +find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers. He +study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old +ways, the politic, the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a new +land and a new people who have come to be since he was. His glimpse that +he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it help +him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he was at +the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone! from a +ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater +world of thought is open to him. He that can smile at death, as we know +him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole +peoples. Oh, if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil, +what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours. But we +are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence, and our +efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believe not +even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest +strength. It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons +to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even our own souls +for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind, and for the +honour and glory of God." + +After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing +be definitely settled; that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to +think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow, at breakfast, we are to +meet again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another, we +shall decide on some definite cause of action. + + * * * * * + +I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting +presence were removed from me. Perhaps ... + +My surmise was not finished, could not be; for I caught sight in the +mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still +unclean. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 October._--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for +each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was more +general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience +again. + +It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let +any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way--even by +death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment. More +than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder whether +the whole of the past days had not been a dream. It was only when I +caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that I was +brought back to reality. Even now, when I am gravely revolving the +matter, it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all our +trouble is still existent. Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her +trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again, when something +recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar. We are to +meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of +action. I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct +rather than reason: we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear +that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I _know_ +that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can +guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not, or +cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing, and +he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is some of +that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work. The +Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called "the +Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be a poison that distils +itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is +a mystery we should not wonder at anything! One thing I know: that if my +instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a +terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us. The same +power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think +further; for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman! + +Van Helsing is coming to my study a little before the others. I shall +try to open the subject with him. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of +things. I could see that he had something on his mind which he wanted to +say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject. After beating +about the bush a little, he said suddenly:-- + +"Friend John, there is something that you and I must talk of alone, just +at the first at any rate. Later, we may have to take the others into our +confidence"; then he stopped, so I waited; he went on:-- + +"Madam Mina, our poor, dear Madam Mina is changing." A cold shiver ran +through me to find my worst fears thus endorsed. Van Helsing +continued:-- + +"With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be warned +before things go too far. Our task is now in reality more difficult than +ever, and this new trouble makes every hour of the direst importance. I +can see the characteristics of the vampire coming in her face. It is now +but very, very slight; but it is to be seen if we have eyes to notice +without to prejudge. Her teeth are some sharper, and at times her eyes +are more hard. But these are not all, there is to her the silence now +often; as so it was with Miss Lucy. She did not speak, even when she +wrote that which she wished to be known later. Now my fear is this. If +it be that she can, by our hypnotic trance, tell what the Count see and +hear, is it not more true that he who have hypnotise her first, and who +have drink of her very blood and make her drink of his, should, if he +will, compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?" I nodded +acquiescence; he went on:-- + +"Then, what we must do is to prevent this; we must keep her ignorant of +our intent, and so she cannot tell what she know not. This is a painful +task! Oh, so painful that it heart-break me to think of; but it must be. +When to-day we meet, I must tell her that for reason which we will not +to speak she must not more be of our council, but be simply guarded by +us." He wiped his forehead, which had broken out in profuse perspiration +at the thought of the pain which he might have to inflict upon the poor +soul already so tortured. I knew that it would be some sort of comfort +to him if I told him that I also had come to the same conclusion; for at +any rate it would take away the pain of doubt. I told him, and the +effect was as I expected. + +It is now close to the time of our general gathering. Van Helsing has +gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful part of it. I +really believe his purpose is to be able to pray alone. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was +experienced by both Van Helsing and myself. Mrs. Harker had sent a +message by her husband to say that she would not join us at present, as +she thought it better that we should be free to discuss our movements +without her presence to embarrass us. The Professor and I looked at each +other for an instant, and somehow we both seemed relieved. For my own +part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker realised the danger herself, it was +much pain as well as much danger averted. Under the circumstances we +agreed, by a questioning look and answer, with finger on lip, to +preserve silence in our suspicions, until we should have been able to +confer alone again. We went at once into our Plan of Campaign. Van +Helsing roughly put the facts before us first:-- + +"The _Czarina Catherine_ left the Thames yesterday morning. It will take +her at the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to +reach Varna; but we can travel overland to the same place in three days. +Now, if we allow for two days less for the ship's voyage, owing to such +weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to bear; and if +we allow a whole day and night for any delays which may occur to us, +then we have a margin of nearly two weeks. Thus, in order to be quite +safe, we must leave here on 17th at latest. Then we shall at any rate +be in Varna a day before the ship arrives, and able to make such +preparations as may be necessary. Of course we shall all go armed--armed +against evil things, spiritual as well as physical." Here Quincey Morris +added:-- + +"I understand that the Count comes from a wolf country, and it may be +that he shall get there before us. I propose that we add Winchesters to +our armament. I have a kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any +trouble of that sort around. Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack +after us at Tobolsk? What wouldn't we have given then for a repeater +apiece!" + +"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be. Quincey's head is +level at all times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more +dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man. In the meantime we +can do nothing here; and as I think that Varna is not familiar to any of +us, why not go there more soon? It is as long to wait here as there. +To-night and to-morrow we can get ready, and then, if all be well, we +four can set out on our journey." + +"We four?" said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to another of +us. + +"Of course!" answered the Professor quickly, "you must remain to take +care of your so sweet wife!" Harker was silent for awhile and then said +in a hollow voice:-- + +"Let us talk of that part of it in the morning. I want to consult with +Mina." I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not +to disclose our plans to her; but he took no notice. I looked at him +significantly and coughed. For answer he put his finger on his lips and +turned away. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_5 October, afternoon._--For some time after our meeting this morning I +could not think. The new phases of things leave my mind in a state of +wonder which allows no room for active thought. Mina's determination not +to take any part in the discussion set me thinking; and as I could not +argue the matter with her, I could only guess. I am as far as ever from +a solution now. The way the others received it, too, puzzled me; the +last time we talked of the subject we agreed that there was to be no +more concealment of anything amongst us. Mina is sleeping now, calmly +and sweetly like a little child. Her lips are curved and her face beams +with happiness. Thank God, there are such moments still for her. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--How strange it all is. I sat watching Mina's happy sleep, and +came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be. As the +evening drew on, and the earth took its shadows from the sun sinking +lower, the silence of the room grew more and more solemn to me. All at +once Mina opened her eyes, and looking at me tenderly, said:-- + +"Jonathan, I want you to promise me something on your word of honour. A +promise made to me, but made holily in God's hearing, and not to be +broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter +tears. Quick, you must make it to me at once." + +"Mina," I said, "a promise like that, I cannot make at once. I may have +no right to make it." + +"But, dear one," she said, with such spiritual intensity that her eyes +were like pole stars, "it is I who wish it; and it is not for myself. +You can ask Dr. Van Helsing if I am not right; if he disagrees you may +do as you will. Nay, more, if you all agree, later, you are absolved +from the promise." + +"I promise!" I said, and for a moment she looked supremely happy; though +to me all happiness for her was denied by the red scar on her forehead. +She said:-- + +"Promise me that you will not tell me anything of the plans formed for +the campaign against the Count. Not by word, or inference, or +implication; not at any time whilst this remains to me!" and she +solemnly pointed to the scar. I saw that she was in earnest, and said +solemnly:-- + +"I promise!" and as I said it I felt that from that instant a door had +been shut between us. + + * * * * * + +_Later, midnight._--Mina has been bright and cheerful all the evening. +So much so that all the rest seemed to take courage, as if infected +somewhat with her gaiety; as a result even I myself felt as if the pall +of gloom which weighs us down were somewhat lifted. We all retired +early. Mina is now sleeping like a little child; it is a wonderful thing +that her faculty of sleep remains to her in the midst of her terrible +trouble. Thank God for it, for then at least she can forget her care. +Perhaps her example may affect me as her gaiety did to-night. I shall +try it. Oh! for a dreamless sleep. + + * * * * * + +_6 October, morning._--Another surprise. Mina woke me early, about the +same time as yesterday, and asked me to bring Dr. Van Helsing. I thought +that it was another occasion for hypnotism, and without question went +for the Professor. He had evidently expected some such call, for I found +him dressed in his room. His door was ajar, so that he could hear the +opening of the door of our room. He came at once; as he passed into the +room, he asked Mina if the others might come, too. + +"No," she said quite simply, "it will not be necessary. You can tell +them just as well. I must go with you on your journey." + +Dr. Van Helsing was as startled as I was. After a moment's pause he +asked:-- + +"But why?" + +"You must take me with you. I am safer with you, and you shall be safer, +too." + +"But why, dear Madam Mina? You know that your safety is our solemnest +duty. We go into danger, to which you are, or may be, more liable than +any of us from--from circumstances--things that have been." He paused, +embarrassed. + +As she replied, she raised her finger and pointed to her forehead:-- + +"I know. That is why I must go. I can tell you now, whilst the sun is +coming up; I may not be able again. I know that when the Count wills me +I must go. I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by +wile; by any device to hoodwink--even Jonathan." God saw the look that +she turned on me as she spoke, and if there be indeed a Recording Angel +that look is noted to her everlasting honour. I could only clasp her +hand. I could not speak; my emotion was too great for even the relief of +tears. She went on:-- + +"You men are brave and strong. You are strong in your numbers, for you +can defy that which would break down the human endurance of one who had +to guard alone. Besides, I may be of service, since you can hypnotise me +and so learn that which even I myself do not know." Dr. Van Helsing said +very gravely:-- + +"Madam Mina, you are, as always, most wise. You shall with us come; and +together we shall do that which we go forth to achieve." When he had +spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her. She had fallen +back on her pillow asleep; she did not even wake when I had pulled up +the blind and let in the sunlight which flooded the room. Van Helsing +motioned to me to come with him quietly. We went to his room, and within +a minute Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris were with us also. +He told them what Mina had said, and went on:-- + +"In the morning we shall leave for Varna. We have now to deal with a +new factor: Madam Mina. Oh, but her soul is true. It is to her an agony +to tell us so much as she has done; but it is most right, and we are +warned in time. There must be no chance lost, and in Varna we must be +ready to act the instant when that ship arrives." + +"What shall we do exactly?" asked Mr. Morris laconically. The Professor +paused before replying:-- + +"We shall at the first board that ship; then, when we have identified +the box, we shall place a branch of the wild rose on it. This we shall +fasten, for when it is there none can emerge; so at least says the +superstition. And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was +man's faith in the early, and it have its root in faith still. Then, +when we get the opportunity that we seek, when none are near to see, we +shall open the box, and--and all will be well." + +"I shall not wait for any opportunity," said Morris. "When I see the box +I shall open it and destroy the monster, though there were a thousand +men looking on, and if I am to be wiped out for it the next moment!" I +grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a piece of steel. +I think he understood my look; I hope he did. + +"Good boy," said Dr. Van Helsing. "Brave boy. Quincey is all man. God +bless him for it. My child, believe me none of us shall lag behind or +pause from any fear. I do but say what we may do--what we must do. But, +indeed, indeed we cannot say what we shall do. There are so many things +which may happen, and their ways and their ends are so various that +until the moment we may not say. We shall all be armed, in all ways; and +when the time for the end has come, our effort shall not be lack. Now +let us to-day put all our affairs in order. Let all things which touch +on others dear to us, and who on us depend, be complete; for none of us +can tell what, or when, or how, the end may be. As for me, my own +affairs are regulate; and as I have nothing else to do, I shall go make +arrangements for the travel. I shall have all tickets and so forth for +our journey." + +There was nothing further to be said, and we parted. I shall now settle +up all my affairs of earth, and be ready for whatever may come.... + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It is all done; my will is made, and all complete. Mina if she +survive is my sole heir. If it should not be so, then the others who +have been so good to us shall have remainder. + +It is now drawing towards the sunset; Mina's uneasiness calls my +attention to it. I am sure that there is something on her mind which the +time of exact sunset will reveal. These occasions are becoming harrowing +times for us all, for each sunrise and sunset opens up some new +danger--some new pain, which, however, may in God's will be means to a +good end. I write all these things in the diary since my darling must +not hear them now; but if it may be that she can see them again, they +shall be ready. + +She is calling to me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_11 October, Evening._--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this, as he +says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record kept. + +I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs. +Harker a little before the time of sunset. We have of late come to +understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar freedom; +when her old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing +or restraining her, or inciting her to action. This mood or condition +begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise or sunset, and lasts +till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds are still aglow with +the rays streaming above the horizon. At first there is a sort of +negative condition, as if some tie were loosened, and then the absolute +freedom quickly follows; when, however, the freedom ceases the +change-back or relapse comes quickly, preceded only by a spell of +warning silence. + +To-night, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the +signs of an internal struggle. I put it down myself to her making a +violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so. A very few +minutes, however, gave her complete control of herself; then, motioning +her husband to sit beside her on the sofa where she was half reclining, +she made the rest of us bring chairs up close. Taking her husband's hand +in hers began:-- + +"We are all here together in freedom, for perhaps the last time! I know, +dear; I know that you will always be with me to the end." This was to +her husband whose hand had, as we could see, tightened upon hers. "In +the morning we go out upon our task, and God alone knows what may be in +store for any of us. You are going to be so good to me as to take me +with you. I know that all that brave earnest men can do for a poor weak +woman, whose soul perhaps is lost--no, no, not yet, but is at any rate +at stake--you will do. But you must remember that I am not as you are. +There is a poison in my blood, in my soul, which may destroy me; which +must destroy me, unless some relief comes to us. Oh, my friends, you +know as well as I do, that my soul is at stake; and though I know there +is one way out for me, you must not and I must not take it!" She looked +appealingly to us all in turn, beginning and ending with her husband. + +"What is that way?" asked Van Helsing in a hoarse voice. "What is that +way, which we must not--may not--take?" + +"That I may die now, either by my own hand or that of another, before +the greater evil is entirely wrought. I know, and you know, that were I +once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit, even as you +did my poor Lucy's. Were death, or the fear of death, the only thing +that stood in the way I would not shrink to die here, now, amidst the +friends who love me. But death is not all. I cannot believe that to die +in such a case, when there is hope before us and a bitter task to be +done, is God's will. Therefore, I, on my part, give up here the +certainty of eternal rest, and go out into the dark where may be the +blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" We were all +silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a prelude. The +faces of the others were set and Harker's grew ashen grey; perhaps he +guessed better than any of us what was coming. She continued:-- + +"This is what I can give into the hotch-pot." I could not but note the +quaint legal phrase which she used in such a place, and with all +seriousness. "What will each of you give? Your lives I know," she went +on quickly, "that is easy for brave men. Your lives are God's, and you +can give them back to Him; but what will you give to me?" She looked +again questioningly, but this time avoided her husband's face. Quincey +seemed to understand; he nodded, and her face lit up. "Then I shall tell +you plainly what I want, for there must be no doubtful matter in this +connection between us now. You must promise me, one and all--even you, +my beloved husband--that, should the time come, you will kill me." + +"What is that time?" The voice was Quincey's, but it was low and +strained. + +"When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better that +I die that I may live. When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, +without a moment's delay, drive a stake through me and cut off my head; +or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!" + +Quincey was the first to rise after the pause. He knelt down before her +and taking her hand in his said solemnly:-- + +"I'm only a rough fellow, who hasn't, perhaps, lived as a man should to +win such a distinction, but I swear to you by all that I hold sacred and +dear that, should the time ever come, I shall not flinch from the duty +that you have set us. And I promise you, too, that I shall make all +certain, for if I am only doubtful I shall take it that the time has +come!" + +"My true friend!" was all she could say amid her fast-falling tears, as, +bending over, she kissed his hand. + +"I swear the same, my dear Madam Mina!" said Van Helsing. + +"And I!" said Lord Godalming, each of them in turn kneeling to her to +take the oath. I followed, myself. Then her husband turned to her +wan-eyed and with a greenish pallor which subdued the snowy whiteness of +his hair, and asked:-- + +"And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?" + +"You too, my dearest," she said, with infinite yearning of pity in her +voice and eyes. "You must not shrink. You are nearest and dearest and +all the world to me; our souls are knit into one, for all life and all +time. Think, dear, that there have been times when brave men have killed +their wives and their womenkind, to keep them from falling into the +hands of the enemy. Their hands did not falter any the more because +those that they loved implored them to slay them. It is men's duty +towards those whom they love, in such times of sore trial! And oh, my +dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it be at +the hand of him that loves me best. Dr. Van Helsing, I have not +forgotten your mercy in poor Lucy's case to him who loved"--she stopped +with a flying blush, and changed her phrase--"to him who had best right +to give her peace. If that time shall come again, I look to you to make +it a happy memory of my husband's life that it was his loving hand which +set me free from the awful thrall upon me." + +"Again I swear!" came the Professor's resonant voice. Mrs. Harker +smiled, positively smiled, as with a sigh of relief she leaned back and +said:-- + +"And now one word of warning, a warning which you must never forget: +this time, if it ever come, may come quickly and unexpectedly, and in +such case you must lose no time in using your opportunity. At such a +time I myself might be--nay! if the time ever comes, _shall be_--leagued +with your enemy against you." + +"One more request;" she became very solemn as she said this, "it is not +vital and necessary like the other, but I want you to do one thing for +me, if you will." We all acquiesced, but no one spoke; there was no need +to speak:-- + +"I want you to read the Burial Service." She was interrupted by a deep +groan from her husband; taking his hand in hers, she held it over her +heart, and continued: "You must read it over me some day. Whatever may +be the issue of all this fearful state of things, it will be a sweet +thought to all or some of us. You, my dearest, will I hope read it, for +then it will be in your voice in my memory for ever--come what may!" + +"But oh, my dear one," he pleaded, "death is afar off from you." + +"Nay," she said, holding up a warning hand. "I am deeper in death at +this moment than if the weight of an earthly grave lay heavy upon me!" + +"Oh, my wife, must I read it?" he said, before he began. + +"It would comfort me, my husband!" was all she said; and he began to +read when she had got the book ready. + +"How can I--how could any one--tell of that strange scene, its +solemnity, its gloom, its sadness, its horror; and, withal, its +sweetness. Even a sceptic, who can see nothing but a travesty of bitter +truth in anything holy or emotional, would have been melted to the heart +had he seen that little group of loving and devoted friends kneeling +round that stricken and sorrowing lady; or heard the tender passion of +her husband's voice, as in tones so broken with emotion that often he +had to pause, he read the simple and beautiful service from the Burial +of the Dead. I--I cannot go on--words--and--v-voice--f-fail m-me!" + + * * * * * + +She was right in her instinct. Strange as it all was, bizarre as it may +hereafter seem even to us who felt its potent influence at the time, it +comforted us much; and the silence, which showed Mrs. Harker's coming +relapse from her freedom of soul, did not seem so full of despair to any +of us as we had dreaded. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_15 October, Varna._--We left Charing Cross on the morning of the 12th, +got to Paris the same night, and took the places secured for us in the +Orient Express. We travelled night and day, arriving here at about five +o'clock. Lord Godalming went to the Consulate to see if any telegram had +arrived for him, whilst the rest of us came on to this hotel--"the +Odessus." The journey may have had incidents; I was, however, too eager +to get on, to care for them. Until the _Czarina Catherine_ comes into +port there will be no interest for me in anything in the wide world. +Thank God! Mina is well, and looks to be getting stronger; her colour is +coming back. She sleeps a great deal; throughout the journey she slept +nearly all the time. Before sunrise and sunset, however, she is very +wakeful and alert; and it has become a habit for Van Helsing to +hypnotise her at such times. At first, some effort was needed, and he +had to make many passes; but now, she seems to yield at once, as if by +habit, and scarcely any action is needed. He seems to have power at +these particular moments to simply will, and her thoughts obey him. He +always asks her what she can see and hear. She answers to the first:-- + +"Nothing; all is dark." And to the second:-- + +"I can hear the waves lapping against the ship, and the water rushing +by. Canvas and cordage strain and masts and yards creak. The wind is +high--I can hear it in the shrouds, and the bow throws back the foam." +It is evident that the _Czarina Catherine_ is still at sea, hastening on +her way to Varna. Lord Godalming has just returned. He had four +telegrams, one each day since we started, and all to the same effect: +that the _Czarina Catherine_ had not been reported to Lloyd's from +anywhere. He had arranged before leaving London that his agent should +send him every day a telegram saying if the ship had been reported. He +was to have a message even if she were not reported, so that he might be +sure that there was a watch being kept at the other end of the wire. + +We had dinner and went to bed early. To-morrow we are to see the +Vice-Consul, and to arrange, if we can, about getting on board the ship +as soon as she arrives. Van Helsing says that our chance will be to get +on the boat between sunrise and sunset. The Count, even if he takes the +form of a bat, cannot cross the running water of his own volition, and +so cannot leave the ship. As he dare not change to man's form without +suspicion--which he evidently wishes to avoid--he must remain in the +box. If, then, we can come on board after sunrise, he is at our mercy; +for we can open the box and make sure of him, as we did of poor Lucy, +before he wakes. What mercy he shall get from us will not count for +much. We think that we shall not have much trouble with officials or the +seamen. Thank God! this is the country where bribery can do anything, +and we are well supplied with money. We have only to make sure that the +ship cannot come into port between sunset and sunrise without our being +warned, and we shall be safe. Judge Moneybag will settle this case, I +think! + + * * * * * + +_16 October._--Mina's report still the same: lapping waves and rushing +water, darkness and favouring winds. We are evidently in good time, and +when we hear of the _Czarina Catherine_ we shall be ready. As she must +pass the Dardanelles we are sure to have some report. + + * * * * * + +_17 October._--Everything is pretty well fixed now, I think, to welcome +the Count on his return from his tour. Godalming told the shippers that +he fancied that the box sent aboard might contain something stolen from +a friend of his, and got a half consent that he might open it at his own +risk. The owner gave him a paper telling the Captain to give him every +facility in doing whatever he chose on board the ship, and also a +similar authorisation to his agent at Varna. We have seen the agent, who +was much impressed with Godalming's kindly manner to him, and we are all +satisfied that whatever he can do to aid our wishes will be done. We +have already arranged what to do in case we get the box open. If the +Count is there, Van Helsing and Seward will cut off his head at once and +drive a stake through his heart. Morris and Godalming and I shall +prevent interference, even if we have to use the arms which we shall +have ready. The Professor says that if we can so treat the Count's body, +it will soon after fall into dust. In such case there would be no +evidence against us, in case any suspicion of murder were aroused. But +even if it were not, we should stand or fall by our act, and perhaps +some day this very script may be evidence to come between some of us and +a rope. For myself, I should take the chance only too thankfully if it +were to come. We mean to leave no stone unturned to carry out our +intent. We have arranged with certain officials that the instant the +_Czarina Catherine_ is seen, we are to be informed by a special +messenger. + + * * * * * + +_24 October._--A whole week of waiting. Daily telegrams to Godalming, +but only the same story: "Not yet reported." Mina's morning and evening +hypnotic answer is unvaried: lapping waves, rushing water, and creaking +masts. + +_Telegram, October 24th._ + +_Rufus Smith, Lloyd's, London, to Lord Godalming, care of H. B. M. +Vice-Consul, Varna._ + +"_Czarina Catherine_ reported this morning from Dardanelles." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_25 October._--How I miss my phonograph! To write diary with a pen is +irksome to me; but Van Helsing says I must. We were all wild with +excitement yesterday when Godalming got his telegram from Lloyd's. I +know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heard. Mrs. +Harker, alone of our party, did not show any signs of emotion. After +all, it is not strange that she did not; for we took special care not to +let her know anything about it, and we all tried not to show any +excitement when we were in her presence. In old days she would, I am +sure, have noticed, no matter how we might have tried to conceal it; but +in this way she is greatly changed during the past three weeks. The +lethargy grows upon her, and though she seems strong and well, and is +getting back some of her colour, Van Helsing and I are not satisfied. We +talk of her often; we have not, however, said a word to the others. It +would break poor Harker's heart--certainly his nerve--if he knew that we +had even a suspicion on the subject. Van Helsing examines, he tells me, +her teeth very carefully, whilst she is in the hypnotic condition, for +he says that so long as they do not begin to sharpen there is no active +danger of a change in her. If this change should come, it would be +necessary to take steps!... We both know what those steps would have to +be, though we do not mention our thoughts to each other. We should +neither of us shrink from the task--awful though it be to contemplate. +"Euthanasia" is an excellent and a comforting word! I am grateful to +whoever invented it. + +It is only about 24 hours' sail from the Dardanelles to here, at the +rate the _Czarina Catherine_ has come from London. She should therefore +arrive some time in the morning; but as she cannot possibly get in +before then, we are all about to retire early. We shall get up at one +o'clock, so as to be ready. + + * * * * * + +_25 October, Noon_.--No news yet of the ship's arrival. Mrs. Harker's +hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible +that we may get news at any moment. We men are all in a fever of +excitement, except Harker, who is calm; his hands are cold as ice, and +an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife +which he now always carries with him. It will be a bad lookout for the +Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat, driven by +that stern, ice-cold hand! + +Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about Mrs. Harker to-day. About +noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not like; although we +kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy about it. She +had been restless all the morning, so that we were at first glad to know +that she was sleeping. When, however, her husband mentioned casually +that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not wake her, we went to +her room to see for ourselves. She was breathing naturally and looked so +well and peaceful that we agreed that the sleep was better for her than +anything else. Poor girl, she has so much to forget that it is no wonder +that sleep, if it brings oblivion to her, does her good. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep +of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had +been for days. At sunset she made the usual hypnotic report. Wherever he +may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his destination. To +his doom, I trust! + + * * * * * + +_26 October._--Another day and no tidings of the _Czarina Catherine_. +She ought to be here by now. That she is still journeying _somewhere_ is +apparent, for Mrs. Harker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the +same. It is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for fog; +some of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches of fog +both to north and south of the port. We must continue our watching, as +the ship may now be signalled any moment. + + * * * * * + +_27 October, Noon._--Most strange; no news yet of the ship we wait for. +Mrs. Harker reported last night and this morning as usual: "lapping +waves and rushing water," though she added that "the waves were very +faint." The telegrams from London have been the same: "no further +report." Van Helsing is terribly anxious, and told me just now that he +fears the Count is escaping us. He added significantly:-- + +"I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina's. Souls and memories can do +strange things during trance." I was about to ask him more, but Harker +just then came in, and he held up a warning hand. We must try to-night +at sunset to make her speak more fully when in her hypnotic state. + + * * * * * + + _28 October._--Telegram. _Rufus Smith, London, to Lord Godalming, + care H. B. M. Vice Consul, Varna._ + + "_Czarina Catherine_ reported entering Galatz at one o'clock + to-day." + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_28 October._--When the telegram came announcing the arrival in Galatz I +do not think it was such a shock to any of us as might have been +expected. True, we did not know whence, or how, or when, the bolt would +come; but I think we all expected that something strange would happen. +The delay of arrival at Varna made us individually satisfied that things +would not be just as we had expected; we only waited to learn where the +change would occur. None the less, however, was it a surprise. I suppose +that nature works on such a hopeful basis that we believe against +ourselves that things will be as they ought to be, not as we should know +that they will be. Transcendentalism is a beacon to the angels, even if +it be a will-o'-the-wisp to man. It was an odd experience and we all +took it differently. Van Helsing raised his hand over his head for a +moment, as though in remonstrance with the Almighty; but he said not a +word, and in a few seconds stood up with his face sternly set. Lord +Godalming grew very pale, and sat breathing heavily. I was myself half +stunned and looked in wonder at one after another. Quincey Morris +tightened his belt with that quick movement which I knew so well; in our +old wandering days it meant "action." Mrs. Harker grew ghastly white, so +that the scar on her forehead seemed to burn, but she folded her hands +meekly and looked up in prayer. Harker smiled--actually smiled--the +dark, bitter smile of one who is without hope; but at the same time his +action belied his words, for his hands instinctively sought the hilt of +the great Kukri knife and rested there. "When does the next train start +for Galatz?" said Van Helsing to us generally. + +"At 6:30 to-morrow morning!" We all started, for the answer came from +Mrs. Harker. + +"How on earth do you know?" said Art. + +"You forget--or perhaps you do not know, though Jonathan does and so +does Dr. Van Helsing--that I am the train fiend. At home in Exeter I +always used to make up the time-tables, so as to be helpful to my +husband. I found it so useful sometimes, that I always make a study of +the time-tables now. I knew that if anything were to take us to Castle +Dracula we should go by Galatz, or at any rate through Bucharest, so I +learned the times very carefully. Unhappily there are not many to learn, +as the only train to-morrow leaves as I say." + +"Wonderful woman!" murmured the Professor. + +"Can't we get a special?" asked Lord Godalming. Van Helsing shook his +head: "I fear not. This land is very different from yours or mine; even +if we did have a special, it would probably not arrive as soon as our +regular train. Moreover, we have something to prepare. We must think. +Now let us organize. You, friend Arthur, go to the train and get the +tickets and arrange that all be ready for us to go in the morning. Do +you, friend Jonathan, go to the agent of the ship and get from him +letters to the agent in Galatz, with authority to make search the ship +just as it was here. Morris Quincey, you see the Vice-Consul, and get +his aid with his fellow in Galatz and all he can do to make our way +smooth, so that no times be lost when over the Danube. John will stay +with Madam Mina and me, and we shall consult. For so if time be long you +may be delayed; and it will not matter when the sun set, since I am here +with Madam to make report." + +"And I," said Mrs. Harker brightly, and more like her old self than she +had been for many a long day, "shall try to be of use in all ways, and +shall think and write for you as I used to do. Something is shifting +from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have been of late!" +The three younger men looked happier at the moment as they seemed to +realise the significance of her words; but Van Helsing and I, turning to +each other, met each a grave and troubled glance. We said nothing at the +time, however. + +When the three men had gone out to their tasks Van Helsing asked Mrs. +Harker to look up the copy of the diaries and find him the part of +Harker's journal at the Castle. She went away to get it; when the door +was shut upon her he said to me:-- + +"We mean the same! speak out!" + +"There is some change. It is a hope that makes me sick, for it may +deceive us." + +"Quite so. Do you know why I asked her to get the manuscript?" + +"No!" said I, "unless it was to get an opportunity of seeing me alone." + +"You are in part right, friend John, but only in part. I want to tell +you something. And oh, my friend, I am taking a great--a terrible--risk; +but I believe it is right. In the moment when Madam Mina said those +words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration came to me. In +the trance of three days ago the Count sent her his spirit to read her +mind; or more like he took her to see him in his earth-box in the ship +with water rushing, just as it go free at rise and set of sun. He learn +then that we are here; for she have more to tell in her open life with +eyes to see and ears to hear than he, shut, as he is, in his coffin-box. +Now he make his most effort to escape us. At present he want her not. + +"He is sure with his so great knowledge that she will come at his call; +but he cut her off--take her, as he can do, out of his own power, that +so she come not to him. Ah! there I have hope that our man-brains that +have been of man so long and that have not lost the grace of God, will +come higher than his child-brain that lie in his tomb for centuries, +that grow not yet to our stature, and that do only work selfish and +therefore small. Here comes Madam Mina; not a word to her of her trance! +She know it not; and it would overwhelm her and make despair just when +we want all her hope, all her courage; when most we want all her great +brain which is trained like man's brain, but is of sweet woman and have +a special power which the Count give her, and which he may not take away +altogether--though he think not so. Hush! let me speak, and you shall +learn. Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits. I fear, as I never +feared before. We can only trust the good God. Silence! here she comes!" + +I thought that the Professor was going to break down and have hysterics, +just as he had when Lucy died, but with a great effort he controlled +himself and was at perfect nervous poise when Mrs. Harker tripped into +the room, bright and happy-looking and, in the doing of work, seemingly +forgetful of her misery. As she came in, she handed a number of sheets +of typewriting to Van Helsing. He looked over them gravely, his face +brightening up as he read. Then holding the pages between his finger and +thumb he said:-- + +"Friend John, to you with so much of experience already--and you, too, +dear Madam Mina, that are young--here is a lesson: do not fear ever to +think. A half-thought has been buzzing often in my brain, but I fear to +let him loose his wings. Here now, with more knowledge, I go back to +where that half-thought come from and I find that he be no half-thought +at all; that be a whole thought, though so young that he is not yet +strong to use his little wings. Nay, like the "Ugly Duck" of my friend +Hans Andersen, he be no duck-thought at all, but a big swan-thought that +sail nobly on big wings, when the time come for him to try them. See I +read here what Jonathan have written:-- + +"That other of his race who, in a later age, again and again, brought +his forces over The Great River into Turkey Land; who, when he was +beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come +alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, +since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph." + +"What does this tell us? Not much? no! The Count's child-thought see +nothing; therefore he speak so free. Your man-thought see nothing; my +man-thought see nothing, till just now. No! But there comes another word +from some one who speak without thought because she, too, know not what +it mean--what it _might_ mean. Just as there are elements which rest, +yet when in nature's course they move on their way and they touch--then +pouf! and there comes a flash of light, heaven wide, that blind and kill +and destroy some; but that show up all earth below for leagues and +leagues. Is it not so? Well, I shall explain. To begin, have you ever +study the philosophy of crime? 'Yes' and 'No.' You, John, yes; for it is +a study of insanity. You, no, Madam Mina; for crime touch you not--not +but once. Still, your mind works true, and argues not _a particulari ad +universale_. There is this peculiarity in criminals. It is so constant, +in all countries and at all times, that even police, who know not much +from philosophy, come to know it empirically, that _it is_. That is to +be empiric. The criminal always work at one crime--that is the true +criminal who seems predestinate to crime, and who will of none other. +This criminal has not full man-brain. He is clever and cunning and +resourceful; but he be not of man-stature as to brain. He be of +child-brain in much. Now this criminal of ours is predestinate to crime +also; he, too, have child-brain, and it is of the child to do what he +have done. The little bird, the little fish, the little animal learn not +by principle, but empirically; and when he learn to do, then there is to +him the ground to start from to do more. '_Dos pou sto_,' said +Archimedes. 'Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world!' To do once, +is the fulcrum whereby child-brain become man-brain; and until he have +the purpose to do more, he continue to do the same again every time, +just as he have done before! Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes are +opened, and that to you the lightning flash show all the leagues," for +Mrs. Harker began to clap her hands and her eyes sparkled. He went on:-- + +"Now you shall speak. Tell us two dry men of science what you see with +those so bright eyes." He took her hand and held it whilst she spoke. +His finger and thumb closed on her pulse, as I thought instinctively and +unconsciously, as she spoke:-- + +"The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would +so classify him, and _quâ_ criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind. +Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit. His past is a +clue, and the one page of it that we know--and that from his own +lips--tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call a +'tight place,' he went back to his own country from the land he had +tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself +for a new effort. He came again better equipped for his work; and won. +So he came to London to invade a new land. He was beaten, and when all +hope of success was lost, and his existence in danger, he fled back over +the sea to his home; just as formerly he had fled back over the Danube +from Turkey Land." + +"Good, good! oh, you so clever lady!" said Van Helsing, +enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand. A moment later he +said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick-room +consultation:-- + +"Seventy-two only; and in all this excitement. I have hope." Turning to +her again, he said with keen expectation:-- + +"But go on. Go on! there is more to tell if you will. Be not afraid; +John and I know. I do in any case, and shall tell you if you are right. +Speak, without fear!" + +"I will try to; but you will forgive me if I seem egotistical." + +"Nay! fear not, you must be egotist, for it is of you that we think." + +"Then, as he is criminal he is selfish; and as his intellect is small +and his action is based on selfishness, he confines himself to one +purpose. That purpose is remorseless. As he fled back over the Danube, +leaving his forces to be cut to pieces, so now he is intent on being +safe, careless of all. So his own selfishness frees my soul somewhat +from the terrible power which he acquired over me on that dreadful +night. I felt it! Oh, I felt it! Thank God, for His great mercy! My soul +is freer than it has been since that awful hour; and all that haunts me +is a fear lest in some trance or dream he may have used my knowledge for +his ends." The Professor stood up:-- + +"He has so used your mind; and by it he has left us here in Varna, +whilst the ship that carried him rushed through enveloping fog up to +Galatz, where, doubtless, he had made preparation for escaping from us. +But his child-mind only saw so far; and it may be that, as ever is in +God's Providence, the very thing that the evil-doer most reckoned on for +his selfish good, turns out to be his chiefest harm. The hunter is taken +in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says. For now that he think he +is free from every trace of us all, and that he has escaped us with so +many hours to him, then his selfish child-brain will whisper him to +sleep. He think, too, that as he cut himself off from knowing your mind, +there can be no knowledge of him to you; there is where he fail! That +terrible baptism of blood which he give you makes you free to go to him +in spirit, as you have as yet done in your times of freedom, when the +sun rise and set. At such times you go by my volition and not by his; +and this power to good of you and others, as you have won from your +suffering at his hands. This is now all the more precious that he know +it not, and to guard himself have even cut himself off from his +knowledge of our where. We, however, are not selfish, and we believe +that God is with us through all this blackness, and these many dark +hours. We shall follow him; and we shall not flinch; even if we peril +ourselves that we become like him. Friend John, this has been a great +hour; and it have done much to advance us on our way. You must be scribe +and write him all down, so that when the others return from their work +you can give it to them; then they shall know as we do." + +And so I have written it whilst we wait their return, and Mrs. Harker +has written with her typewriter all since she brought the MS. to us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DR. SEWARD'S DIARY + + +_29 October._--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz. Last +night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset. Each of us +had done his work as well as he could; so far as thought, and endeavour, +and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our journey, and +for our work when we get to Galatz. When the usual time came round Mrs. +Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort; and after a longer and +more serious effort on the part of Van Helsing than has been usually +necessary, she sank into the trance. Usually she speaks on a hint; but +this time the Professor had to ask her questions, and to ask them pretty +resolutely, before we could learn anything; at last her answer came:-- + +"I can see nothing; we are still; there are no waves lapping, but only a +steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser. I can hear +men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in +the rowlocks. A gun is fired somewhere; the echo of it seems far away. +There is tramping of feet overhead, and ropes and chains are dragged +along. What is this? There is a gleam of light; I can feel the air +blowing upon me." + +Here she stopped. She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she lay +on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if lifting a +weight. Van Helsing and I looked at each other with understanding. +Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her intently, whilst +Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of his Kukri. There +was a long pause. We all knew that the time when she could speak was +passing; but we felt that it was useless to say anything. Suddenly she +sat up, and, as she opened her eyes, said sweetly:-- + +"Would none of you like a cup of tea? You must all be so tired!" We +could only make her happy, and so acquiesced. She bustled off to get +tea; when she had gone Van Helsing said:-- + +"You see, my friends. _He_ is close to land: he has left his +earth-chest. But he has yet to get on shore. In the night he may lie +hidden somewhere; but if he be not carried on shore, or if the ship do +not touch it, he cannot achieve the land. In such case he can, if it be +in the night, change his form and can jump or fly on shore, as he did +at Whitby. But if the day come before he get on shore, then, unless he +be carried he cannot escape. And if he be carried, then the customs men +may discover what the box contain. Thus, in fine, if he escape not on +shore to-night, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him. +We may then arrive in time; for if he escape not at night we shall come +on him in daytime, boxed up and at our mercy; for he dare not be his +true self, awake and visible, lest he be discovered." + +There was no more to be said, so we waited in patience until the dawn; +at which time we might learn more from Mrs. Harker. + +Early this morning we listened, with breathless anxiety, for her +response in her trance. The hypnotic stage was even longer in coming +than before; and when it came the time remaining until full sunrise was +so short that we began to despair. Van Helsing seemed to throw his whole +soul into the effort; at last, in obedience to his will she made +reply:-- + +"All is dark. I hear lapping water, level with me, and some creaking as +of wood on wood." She paused, and the red sun shot up. We must wait till +to-night. + +And so it is that we are travelling towards Galatz in an agony of +expectation. We are due to arrive between two and three in the morning; +but already, at Bucharest, we are three hours late, so we cannot +possibly get in till well after sun-up. Thus we shall have two more +hypnotic messages from Mrs. Harker; either or both may possibly throw +more light on what is happening. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Sunset has come and gone. Fortunately it came at a time when +there was no distraction; for had it occurred whilst we were at a +station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation. +Mrs. Harker yielded to the hypnotic influence even less readily than +this morning. I am in fear that her power of reading the Count's +sensations may die away, just when we want it most. It seems to me that +her imagination is beginning to work. Whilst she has been in the trance +hitherto she has confined herself to the simplest of facts. If this goes +on it may ultimately mislead us. If I thought that the Count's power +over her would die away equally with her power of knowledge it would be +a happy thought; but I am afraid that it may not be so. When she did +speak, her words were enigmatical:-- + +"Something is going out; I can feel it pass me like a cold wind. I can +hear, far off, confused sounds--as of men talking in strange tongues, +fierce-falling water, and the howling of wolves." She stopped and a +shudder ran through her, increasing in intensity for a few seconds, +till, at the end, she shook as though in a palsy. She said no more, even +in answer to the Professor's imperative questioning. When she woke from +the trance, she was cold, and exhausted, and languid; but her mind was +all alert. She could not remember anything, but asked what she had said; +when she was told, she pondered over it deeply for a long time and in +silence. + + * * * * * + +_30 October, 7 a. m._--We are near Galatz now, and I may not have time +to write later. Sunrise this morning was anxiously looked for by us all. +Knowing of the increasing difficulty of procuring the hypnotic trance, +Van Helsing began his passes earlier than usual. They produced no +effect, however, until the regular time, when she yielded with a still +greater difficulty, only a minute before the sun rose. The Professor +lost no time in his questioning; her answer came with equal quickness:-- + +"All is dark. I hear water swirling by, level with my ears, and the +creaking of wood on wood. Cattle low far off. There is another sound, a +queer one like----" She stopped and grew white, and whiter still. + +"Go on; go on! Speak, I command you!" said Van Helsing in an agonised +voice. At the same time there was despair in his eyes, for the risen sun +was reddening even Mrs. Harker's pale face. She opened her eyes, and we +all started as she said, sweetly and seemingly with the utmost +unconcern:-- + +"Oh, Professor, why ask me to do what you know I can't? I don't remember +anything." Then, seeing the look of amazement on our faces, she said, +turning from one to the other with a troubled look:-- + +"What have I said? What have I done? I know nothing, only that I was +lying here, half asleep, and heard you say go on! speak, I command you!' +It seemed so funny to hear you order me about, as if I were a bad +child!" + +"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, sadly, "it is proof, if proof be needed, of +how I love and honour you, when a word for your good, spoken more +earnest than ever, can seem so strange because it is to order her whom I +am proud to obey!" + +The whistles are sounding; we are nearing Galatz. We are on fire with +anxiety and eagerness. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--Mr. Morris took me to the hotel where our rooms had been +ordered by telegraph, he being the one who could best be spared, since +he does not speak any foreign language. The forces were distributed +much as they had been at Varna, except that Lord Godalming went to the +Vice-Consul, as his rank might serve as an immediate guarantee of some +sort to the official, we being in extreme hurry. Jonathan and the two +doctors went to the shipping agent to learn particulars of the arrival +of the _Czarina Catherine_. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Lord Godalming has returned. The Consul is away, and the +Vice-Consul sick; so the routine work has been attended to by a clerk. +He was very obliging, and offered to do anything in his power. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October._--At nine o'clock Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and I called +on Messrs. Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm of +Hapgood. They had received a wire from London, in answer to Lord +Godalming's telegraphed request, asking us to show them any civility in +their power. They were more than kind and courteous, and took us at once +on board the _Czarina Catherine_, which lay at anchor out in the river +harbour. There we saw the Captain, Donelson by name, who told us of his +voyage. He said that in all his life he had never had so favourable a +run. + +"Man!" he said, "but it made us afeard, for we expeckit that we should +have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to keep up the +average. It's no canny to run frae London to the Black Sea wi' a wind +ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on yer sail for his +ain purpose. An' a' the time we could no speer a thing. Gin we were nigh +a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi' us, +till when after it had lifted and we looked out, the deil a thing could +we see. We ran by Gibraltar wi'oot bein' able to signal; an' till we +came to the Dardanelles and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we +never were within hail o' aught. At first I inclined to slack off sail +and beat about till the fog was lifted; but whiles, I thocht that if the +Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it +whether we would or no. If we had a quick voyage it would be no to our +miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic; an' the Old Mon who +had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no +hinderin' him." This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition +and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said:-- + +"Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some; and +he know when he meet his match!" The skipper was not displeased with the +compliment, and went on:-- + +"When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them, +the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had +been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started +frae London. I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa +fingers when they saw him, to guard against the evil eye. Man! but the +supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot +their business pretty quick; but as just after a fog closed in on us I +felt a wee bit as they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it was +agin the big box. Well, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up for +five days I joost let the wind carry us; for if the Deil wanted to get +somewheres--well, he would fetch it up a'reet. An' if he didn't, well, +we'd keep a sharp lookout anyhow. Sure eneuch, we had a fair way and +deep water all the time; and two days ago, when the mornin' sun came +through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite Galatz. +The Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take out the +box and fling it in the river. I had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a +handspike; an' when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in +his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the +property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the +river Danube. They had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to +fling in, and as it was marked Galatz _via_ Varna, I thocht I'd let it +lie till we discharged in the port an' get rid o't althegither. We +didn't do much clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor; +but in the mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sun-up, a man came +aboard wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box +marked for one Count Dracula. Sure eneuch the matter was one ready to +his hand. He had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the +dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it. If the Deil +did have any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither +than that same!" + +"What was the name of the man who took it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing with +restrained eagerness. + +"I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and, stepping down to his +cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim." Burgen-strasse +16 was the address. We found out that this was all the Captain knew; so +with thanks we came away. + +We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi +Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez. His arguments were +pointed with specie--we doing the punctuation--and with a little +bargaining he told us what he knew. This turned out to be simple but +important. He had received a letter from Mr. de Ville of London, telling +him to receive, if possible before sunrise so as to avoid customs, a box +which would arrive at Galatz in the _Czarina Catherine_. This he was to +give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks +who traded down the river to the port. He had been paid for his work by +an English bank note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube +International Bank. When Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him to +the ship and handed over the box, so as to save porterage. That was all +he knew. + +We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him. One of his +neighbours, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he had +gone away two days before, no one knew whither. This was corroborated by +his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house +together with the rent due, in English money. This had been between ten +and eleven o'clock last night. We were at a standstill again. + +Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped out that +the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the churchyard of +St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as if by some wild +animal. Those we had been speaking with ran off to see the horror, the +women crying out "This is the work of a Slovak!" We hurried away lest we +should have been in some way drawn into the affair, and so detained. + +As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion. We were all +convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to somewhere; but where +that might be we would have to discover. With heavy hearts we came home +to the hotel to Mina. + +When we met together, the first thing was to consult as to taking Mina +again into our confidence. Things are getting desperate, and it is at +least a chance, though a hazardous one. As a preliminary step, I was +released from my promise to her. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_30 October, evening._--They were so tired and worn out and dispirited +that there was nothing to be done till they had some rest; so I asked +them all to lie down for half an hour whilst I should enter everything +up to the moment. I feel so grateful to the man who invented the +"Traveller's" typewriter, and to Mr. Morris for getting this one for +me. I should have felt quite; astray doing the work if I had to write +with a pen.... + +It is all done; poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered, +what must he be suffering now. He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to +breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse. His brows are knit; his +face is drawn with pain. Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I can +see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his thoughts. Oh! +if I could only help at all.... I shall do what I can. + +I have asked Dr. Van Helsing, and he has got me all the papers that I +have not yet seen.... Whilst they are resting, I shall go over all +carefully, and perhaps I may arrive at some conclusion. I shall try to +follow the Professor's example, and think without prejudice on the facts +before me.... + + * * * * * + +I do believe that under God's providence I have made a discovery. I +shall get the maps and look over them.... + + * * * * * + +I am more than ever sure that I am right. My new conclusion is ready, so +I shall get our party together and read it. They can judge it; it is +well to be accurate, and every minute is precious. + + +_Mina Harker's Memorandum._ + +(Entered in her Journal.) + +_Ground of inquiry._--Count Dracula's problem is to get back to his own +place. + +(_a_) He must be _brought back_ by some one. This is evident; for had he +power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or wolf, +or bat, or in some other way. He evidently fears discovery or +interference, in the state of helplessness in which he must be--confined +as he is between dawn and sunset in his wooden box. + +(_b_) _How is he to be taken?_--Here a process of exclusions may help +us. By road, by rail, by water? + +1. _By Road._--There are endless difficulties, especially in leaving the +city. + +(_x_) There are people; and people are curious, and investigate. A hint, +a surmise, a doubt as to what might be in the box, would destroy him. + +(_y_) There are, or there may be, customs and octroi officers to pass. + +(_z_) His pursuers might follow. This is his highest fear; and in order +to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled, so far as he can, even +his victim--me! + +2. _By Rail._--There is no one in charge of the box. It would have to +take its chance of being delayed; and delay would be fatal, with enemies +on the track. True, he might escape at night; but what would he be, if +left in a strange place with no refuge that he could fly to? This is not +what he intends; and he does not mean to risk it. + +3. _By Water._--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but with most +danger in another. On the water he is powerless except at night; even +then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves. But were +he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless; and he would +indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land; but if it were +unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would +still be desperate. + +We know from the record that he was on the water; so what we have to do +is to ascertain _what_ water. + +The first thing is to realise exactly what he has done as yet; we may, +then, get a light on what his later task is to be. + +_Firstly._--We must differentiate between what he did in London as part +of his general plan of action, when he was pressed for moments and had +to arrange as best he could. + +_Secondly_ we must see, as well as we can surmise it from the facts we +know of, what he has done here. + +As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent +invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of +exit from England; his immediate and sole purpose then was to escape. +The proof of this, is the letter of instructions sent to Immanuel +Hildesheim to clear and take away the box _before sunrise_. There is +also the instruction to Petrof Skinsky. These we must only guess at; but +there must have been some letter or message, since Skinsky came to +Hildesheim. + +That, so far, his plans were successful we know. The _Czarina Catherine_ +made a phenomenally quick journey--so much so that Captain Donelson's +suspicions were aroused; but his superstition united with his canniness +played the Count's game for him, and he ran with his favouring wind +through fogs and all till he brought up blindfold at Galatz. That the +Count's arrangements were well made, has been proved. Hildesheim cleared +the box, took it off, and gave it to Skinsky. Skinsky took it--and here +we lose the trail. We only know that the box is somewhere on the water, +moving along. The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have been +avoided. + +Now we come to what the Count must have done after his arrival--_on +land_, at Galatz. + +The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise. At sunrise the Count could +appear in his own form. Here, we ask why Skinsky was chosen at all to +aid in the work? In my husband's diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing +with the Slovaks who trade down the river to the port; and the man's +remark, that the murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general +feeling against his class. The Count wanted isolation. + +My surmise is, this: that in London the Count decided to get back to his +castle by water, as the most safe and secret way. He was brought from +the castle by Szgany, and probably they delivered their cargo to Slovaks +who took the boxes to Varna, for there they were shipped for London. +Thus the Count had knowledge of the persons who could arrange this +service. When the box was on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he +came out from his box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to +arranging the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and +he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he thought, +by murdering his agent. + +I have examined the map and find that the river most suitable for the +Slovaks to have ascended is either the Pruth or the Sereth. I read in +the typescript that in my trance I heard cows low and water swirling +level with my ears and the creaking of wood. The Count in his box, then, +was on a river in an open boat--propelled probably either by oars or +poles, for the banks are near and it is working against stream. There +would be no such sound if floating down stream. + +Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but we may +possibly investigate further. Now of these two, the Pruth is the more +easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at Fundu, joined by the Bistritza +which runs up round the Borgo Pass. The loop it makes is manifestly as +close to Dracula's castle as can be got by water. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal--continued._ + +When I had done reading, Jonathan took me in his arms and kissed me. The +others kept shaking me by both hands, and Dr. Van Helsing said:-- + +"Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have been where +we were blinded. Now we are on the track once again, and this time we +may succeed. Our enemy is at his most helpless; and if we can come on +him by day, on the water, our task will be over. He has a start, but he +is powerless to hasten, as he may not leave his box lest those who carry +him may suspect; for them to suspect would be to prompt them to throw +him in the stream where he perish. This he knows, and will not. Now men, +to our Council of War; for, here and now, we must plan what each and all +shall do." + +"I shall get a steam launch and follow him," said Lord Godalming. + +"And I, horses to follow on the bank lest by chance he land," said Mr. +Morris. + +"Good!" said the Professor, "both good. But neither must go alone. There +must be force to overcome force if need be; the Slovak is strong and +rough, and he carries rude arms." All the men smiled, for amongst them +they carried a small arsenal. Said Mr. Morris:-- + +"I have brought some Winchesters; they are pretty handy in a crowd, and +there may be wolves. The Count, if you remember, took some other +precautions; he made some requisitions on others that Mrs. Harker could +not quite hear or understand. We must be ready at all points." Dr. +Seward said:-- + +"I think I had better go with Quincey. We have been accustomed to hunt +together, and we two, well armed, will be a match for whatever may come +along. You must not be alone, Art. It may be necessary to fight the +Slovaks, and a chance thrust--for I don't suppose these fellows carry +guns--would undo all our plans. There must be no chances, this time; we +shall, not rest until the Count's head and body have been separated, and +we are sure that he cannot re-incarnate." He looked at Jonathan as he +spoke, and Jonathan looked at me. I could see that the poor dear was +torn about in his mind. Of course he wanted to be with me; but then the +boat service would, most likely, be the one which would destroy the ... +the ... the ... Vampire. (Why did I hesitate to write the word?) He was +silent awhile, and during his silence Dr. Van Helsing spoke:-- + +"Friend Jonathan, this is to you for twice reasons. First, because you +are young and brave and can fight, and all energies may be needed at the +last; and again that it is your right to destroy him--that--which has +wrought such woe to you and yours. Be not afraid for Madam Mina; she +will be my care, if I may. I am old. My legs are not so quick to run as +once; and I am not used to ride so long or to pursue as need be, or to +fight with lethal weapons. But I can be of other service; I can fight in +other way. And I can die, if need be, as well as younger men. Now let +me say that what I would is this: while you, my Lord Godalming and +friend Jonathan go in your so swift little steamboat up the river, and +whilst John and Quincey guard the bank where perchance he might be +landed, I will take Madam Mina right into the heart of the enemy's +country. Whilst the old fox is tied in his box, floating on the running +stream whence he cannot escape to land--where he dares not raise the lid +of his coffin-box lest his Slovak carriers should in fear leave him to +perish--we shall go in the track where Jonathan went,--from Bistritz +over the Borgo, and find our way to the Castle of Dracula. Here, Madam +Mina's hypnotic power will surely help, and we shall find our way--all +dark and unknown otherwise--after the first sunrise when we are near +that fateful place. There is much to be done, and other places to be +made sanctify, so that that nest of vipers be obliterated." Here +Jonathan interrupted him hotly:-- + +"Do you mean to say, Professor Van Helsing, that you would bring Mina, +in her sad case and tainted as she is with that devil's illness, right +into the jaws of his death-trap? Not for the world! Not for Heaven or +Hell!" He became almost speechless for a minute, and then went on:-- + +"Do you know what the place is? Have you seen that awful den of hellish +infamy--with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every +speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo? +Have you felt the Vampire's lips upon your throat?" Here he turned to +me, and as his eyes lit on my forehead he threw up his arms with a cry: +"Oh, my God, what have we done to have this terror upon us!" and he sank +down on the sofa in a collapse of misery. The Professor's voice, as he +spoke in clear, sweet tones, which seemed to vibrate in the air, calmed +us all:-- + +"Oh, my friend, it is because I would save Madam Mina from that awful +place that I would go. God forbid that I should take her into that +place. There is work--wild work--to be done there, that her eyes may not +see. We men here, all save Jonathan, have seen with their own eyes what +is to be done before that place can be purify. Remember that we are in +terrible straits. If the Count escape us this time--and he is strong and +subtle and cunning--he may choose to sleep him for a century, and then +in time our dear one"--he took my hand--"would come to him to keep him +company, and would be as those others that you, Jonathan, saw. You have +told us of their gloating lips; you heard their ribald laugh as they +clutched the moving bag that the Count threw to them. You shudder; and +well may it be. Forgive me that I make you so much pain, but it is +necessary. My friend, is it not a dire need for the which I am giving, +possibly my life? If it were that any one went into that place to stay, +it is I who would have to go to keep them company." + +"Do as you will," said Jonathan, with a sob that shook him all over, "we +are in the hands of God!" + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked. +How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true, and +so brave! And, too, it made me think of the wonderful power of money! +What can it not do when it is properly applied; and what might it do +when basely used. I felt so thankful that Lord Godalming is rich, and +that both he and Mr. Morris, who also has plenty of money, are willing +to spend it so freely. For if they did not, our little expedition could +not start, either so promptly or so well equipped, as it will within +another hour. It is not three hours since it was arranged what part each +of us was to do; and now Lord Godalming and Jonathan have a lovely steam +launch, with steam up ready to start at a moment's notice. Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris have half a dozen good horses, well appointed. We have +all the maps and appliances of various kinds that can be had. Professor +Van Helsing and I are to leave by the 11:40 train to-night for Veresti, +where we are to get a carriage to drive to the Borgo Pass. We are +bringing a good deal of ready money, as we are to buy a carriage and +horses. We shall drive ourselves, for we have no one whom we can trust +in the matter. The Professor knows something of a great many languages, +so we shall get on all right. We have all got arms, even for me a +large-bore revolver; Jonathan would not be happy unless I was armed like +the rest. Alas! I cannot carry one arm that the rest do; the scar on my +forehead forbids that. Dear Dr. Van Helsing comforts me by telling me +that I am fully armed as there may be wolves; the weather is getting +colder every hour, and there are snow-flurries which come and go as +warnings. + + * * * * * + +_Later._--It took all my courage to say good-bye to my darling. We may +never meet again. Courage, Mina! the Professor is looking at you keenly; +his look is a warning. There must be no tears now--unless it may be that +God will let them fall in gladness. + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_October 30. Night._--I am writing this in the light from the furnace +door of the steam launch: Lord Godalming is firing up. He is an +experienced hand at the work, as he has had for years a launch of his +own on the Thames, and another on the Norfolk Broads. Regarding our +plans, we finally decided that Mina's guess was correct, and that if any +waterway was chosen for the Count's escape back to his Castle, the +Sereth and then the Bistritza at its junction, would be the one. We took +it, that somewhere about the 47th degree, north latitude, would be the +place chosen for the crossing the country between the river and the +Carpathians. We have no fear in running at good speed up the river at +night; there is plenty of water, and the banks are wide enough apart to +make steaming, even in the dark, easy enough. Lord Godalming tells me to +sleep for a while, as it is enough for the present for one to be on +watch. But I cannot sleep--how can I with the terrible danger hanging +over my darling, and her going out into that awful place.... My only +comfort is that we are in the hands of God. Only for that faith it would +be easier to die than to live, and so be quit of all the trouble. Mr. +Morris and Dr. Seward were off on their long ride before we started; +they are to keep up the right bank, far enough off to get on higher +lands where they can see a good stretch of river and avoid the following +of its curves. They have, for the first stages, two men to ride and lead +their spare horses--four in all, so as not to excite curiosity. When +they dismiss the men, which shall be shortly, they shall themselves look +after the horses. It may be necessary for us to join forces; if so they +can mount our whole party. One of the saddles has a movable horn, and +can be easily adapted for Mina, if required. + +It is a wild adventure we are on. Here, as we are rushing along through +the darkness, with the cold from the river seeming to rise up and strike +us; with all the mysterious voices of the night around us, it all comes +home. We seem to be drifting into unknown places and unknown ways; into +a whole world of dark and dreadful things. Godalming is shutting the +furnace door.... + + * * * * * + +_31 October._--Still hurrying along. The day has come, and Godalming is +sleeping. I am on watch. The morning is bitterly cold; the furnace heat +is grateful, though we have heavy fur coats. As yet we have passed only +a few open boats, but none of them had on board any box or package of +anything like the size of the one we seek. The men were scared every +time we turned our electric lamp on them, and fell on their knees and +prayed. + + * * * * * + +_1 November, evening._--No news all day; we have found nothing of the +kind we seek. We have now passed into the Bistritza; and if we are wrong +in our surmise our chance is gone. We have over-hauled every boat, big +and little. Early this morning, one crew took us for a Government boat, +and treated us accordingly. We saw in this a way of smoothing matters, +so at Fundu, where the Bistritza runs into the Sereth, we got a +Roumanian flag which we now fly conspicuously. With every boat which we +have over-hauled since then this trick has succeeded; we have had every +deference shown to us, and not once any objection to whatever we chose +to ask or do. Some of the Slovaks tell us that a big boat passed them, +going at more than usual speed as she had a double crew on board. This +was before they came to Fundu, so they could not tell us whether the +boat turned into the Bistritza or continued on up the Sereth. At Fundu +we could not hear of any such boat, so she must have passed there in the +night. I am feeling very sleepy; the cold is perhaps beginning to tell +upon me, and nature must have rest some time. Godalming insists that he +shall keep the first watch. God bless him for all his goodness to poor +dear Mina and me. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--It is broad daylight. That good fellow would not +wake me. He says it would have been a sin to, for I slept peacefully and +was forgetting my trouble. It seems brutally selfish to me to have slept +so long, and let him watch all night; but he was quite right. I am a new +man this morning; and, as I sit here and watch him sleeping, I can do +all that is necessary both as to minding the engine, steering, and +keeping watch. I can feel that my strength and energy are coming back to +me. I wonder where Mina is now, and Van Helsing. They should have got to +Veresti about noon on Wednesday. It would take them some time to get the +carriage and horses; so if they had started and travelled hard, they +would be about now at the Borgo Pass. God guide and help them! I am +afraid to think what may happen. If we could only go faster! but we +cannot; the engines are throbbing and doing their utmost. I wonder how +Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris are getting on. There seem to be endless +streams running down the mountains into this river, but as none of them +are very large--at present, at all events, though they are terrible +doubtless in winter and when the snow melts--the horsemen may not have +met much obstruction. I hope that before we get to Strasba we may see +them; for if by that time we have not overtaken the Count, it may be +necessary to take counsel together what to do next. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_2 November._--Three days on the road. No news, and no time to write it +if there had been, for every moment is precious. We have had only the +rest needful for the horses; but we are both bearing it wonderfully. +Those adventurous days of ours are turning up useful. We must push on; +we shall never feel happy till we get the launch in sight again. + + * * * * * + +_3 November._--We heard at Fundu that the launch had gone up the +Bistritza. I wish it wasn't so cold. There are signs of snow coming; and +if it falls heavy it will stop us. In such case we must get a sledge and +go on, Russian fashion. + + * * * * * + +_4 November._--To-day we heard of the launch having been detained by an +accident when trying to force a way up the rapids. The Slovak boats get +up all right, by aid of a rope and steering with knowledge. Some went up +only a few hours before. Godalming is an amateur fitter himself, and +evidently it was he who put the launch in trim again. Finally, they got +up the rapids all right, with local help, and are off on the chase +afresh. I fear that the boat is not any better for the accident; the +peasantry tell us that after she got upon smooth water again, she kept +stopping every now and again so long as she was in sight. We must push +on harder than ever; our help may be wanted soon. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_31 October._--Arrived at Veresti at noon. The Professor tells me that +this morning at dawn he could hardly hypnotise me at all, and that all I +could say was: "dark and quiet." He is off now buying a carriage and +horses. He says that he will later on try to buy additional horses, so +that we may be able to change them on the way. We have something more +than 70 miles before us. The country is lovely, and most interesting; if +only we were under different conditions, how delightful it would be to +see it all. If Jonathan and I were driving through it alone what a +pleasure it would be. To stop and see people, and learn something of +their life, and to fill our minds and memories with all the colour and +picturesqueness of the whole wild, beautiful country and the quaint +people! But, alas!-- + + * * * * * + +_Later._--Dr. Van Helsing has returned. He has got the carriage and +horses; we are to have some dinner, and to start in an hour. The +landlady is putting us up a huge basket of provisions; it seems enough +for a company of soldiers. The Professor encourages her, and whispers to +me that it may be a week before we can get any good food again. He has +been shopping too, and has sent home such a wonderful lot of fur coats +and wraps, and all sorts of warm things. There will not be any chance of +our being cold. + + * * * * * + +We shall soon be off. I am afraid to think what may happen to us. We are +truly in the hands of God. He alone knows what may be, and I pray Him, +with all the strength of my sad and humble soul, that He will watch over +my beloved husband; that whatever may happen, Jonathan may know that I +loved him and honoured him more than I can say, and that my latest and +truest thought will be always for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL + + +_1 November._--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The +horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go +willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many +changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to +think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic; +he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well +to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea; and +off we go. It is a lovely country; full of beauties of all imaginable +kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full +of nice qualities. They are _very, very_ superstitious. In the first +house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my +forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to +keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an +extra amount of garlic into our food; and I can't abide garlic. Ever +since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have +escaped their suspicions. We are travelling fast, and as we have no +driver with us to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal; but I daresay +that fear of the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the way. The +Professor seems tireless; all day he would not take any rest, though he +made me sleep for a long spell. At sunset time he hypnotised me, and he +says that I answered as usual "darkness, lapping water and creaking +wood"; so our enemy is still on the river. I am afraid to think of +Jonathan, but somehow I have now no fear for him, or for myself. I write +this whilst we wait in a farmhouse for the horses to be got ready. Dr. +Van Helsing is sleeping, Poor dear, he looks very tired and old and +grey, but his mouth is set as firmly as a conqueror's; even in his sleep +he is instinct with resolution. When we have well started I must make +him rest whilst I drive. I shall tell him that we have days before us, +and we must not break down when most of all his strength will be +needed.... All is ready; we are off shortly. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, morning._--I was successful, and we took turns driving all +night; now the day is on us, bright though cold. There is a strange +heaviness in the air--I say heaviness for want of a better word; I mean +that it oppresses us both. It is very cold, and only our warm furs keep +us comfortable. At dawn Van Helsing hypnotised me; he says I answered +"darkness, creaking wood and roaring water," so the river is changing as +they ascend. I do hope that my darling will not run any chance of +danger--more than need be; but we are in God's hands. + + * * * * * + +_2 November, night._--All day long driving. The country gets wilder as +we go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at Veresti seemed +so far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to gather round us +and tower in front. We both seem in good spirits; I think we make an +effort each to cheer the other; in the doing so we cheer ourselves. Dr. +Van Helsing says that by morning we shall reach the Borgo Pass. The +houses are very few here now, and the Professor says that the last horse +we got will have to go on with us, as we may not be able to change. He +got two in addition to the two we changed, so that now we have a rude +four-in-hand. The dear horses are patient and good, and they give us no +trouble. We are not worried with other travellers, and so even I can +drive. We shall get to the Pass in daylight; we do not want to arrive +before. So we take it easy, and have each a long rest in turn. Oh, what +will to-morrow bring to us? We go to seek the place where my poor +darling suffered so much. God grant that we may be guided aright, and +that He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both, +and who are in such deadly peril. As for me, I am not worthy in His +sight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deign +to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred +His wrath. + + +_Memorandum by Abraham Van Helsing._ + +_4 November._--This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D., of +Purfleet, London, in case I may not see him. It may explain. It is +morning, and I write by a fire which all the night I have kept +alive--Madam Mina aiding me. It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey +heavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all +winter as the ground is hardening to receive it. It seems to have +affected Madam Mina; she has been so heavy of head all day that she was +not like herself. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps! She who is usual +so alert, have done literally nothing all the day; she even have lost +her appetite. She make no entry into her little diary, she who write so +faithful at every pause. Something whisper to me that all is not well. +However, to-night she is more _vif_. Her long sleep all day have refresh +and restore her, for now she is all sweet and bright as ever. At sunset +I try to hypnotise her, but alas! with no effect; the power has grown +less and less with each day, and to-night it fail me altogether. Well, +God's will be done--whatever it may be, and whithersoever it may lead! + +Now to the historical, for as Madam Mina write not in her stenography, I +must, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so each day of us may not go +unrecorded. + +We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday morning. When I +saw the signs of the dawn I got ready for the hypnotism. We stopped our +carriage, and got down so that there might be no disturbance. I made a +couch with furs, and Madam Mina, lying down, yield herself as usual, but +more slow and more short time than ever, to the hypnotic sleep. As +before, came the answer: "darkness and the swirling of water." Then she +woke, bright and radiant and we go on our way and soon reach the Pass. +At this time and place, she become all on fire with zeal; some new +guiding power be in her manifested, for she point to a road and say:-- + +"This is the way." + +"How know you it?" I ask. + +"Of course I know it," she answer, and with a pause, add: "Have not my +Jonathan travelled it and wrote of his travel?" + +At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be only one +such by-road. It is used but little, and very different from the coach +road from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more wide and hard, and +more of use. + +So we came down this road; when we meet other ways--not always were we +sure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect and light snow +have fallen--the horses know and they only. I give rein to them, and +they go on so patient. By-and-by we find all the things which Jonathan +have note in that wonderful diary of him. Then we go on for long, long +hours and hours. At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep; she try, and +she succeed. She sleep all the time; till at the last, I feel myself to +suspicious grow, and attempt to wake her. But she sleep on, and I may +not wake her though I try. I do not wish to try too hard lest I harm +her; for I know that she have suffer much, and sleep at times be +all-in-all to her. I think I drowse myself, for all of sudden I feel +guilt, as though I have done something; I find myself bolt up, with the +reins in my hand, and the good horses go along jog, jog, just as ever. I +look down and find Madam Mina still sleep. It is now not far off sunset +time, and over the snow the light of the sun flow in big yellow flood, +so that we throw great long shadow on where the mountain rise so steep. +For we are going up, and up; and all is oh! so wild and rocky, as though +it were the end of the world. + +Then I arouse Madam Mina. This time she wake with not much trouble, and +then I try to put her to hypnotic sleep. But she sleep not, being as +though I were not. Still I try and try, till all at once I find her and +myself in dark; so I look round, and find that the sun have gone down. +Madam Mina laugh, and I turn and look at her. She is now quite awake, +and look so well as I never saw her since that night at Carfax when we +first enter the Count's house. I am amaze, and not at ease then; but she +is so bright and tender and thoughtful for me that I forget all fear. I +light a fire, for we have brought supply of wood with us, and she +prepare food while I undo the horses and set them, tethered in shelter, +to feed. Then when I return to the fire she have my supper ready. I go +to help her; but she smile, and tell me that she have eat already--that +she was so hungry that she would not wait. I like it not, and I have +grave doubts; but I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of it. She +help me and I eat alone; and then we wrap in fur and lie beside the +fire, and I tell her to sleep while I watch. But presently I forget all +of watching; and when I sudden remember that I watch, I find her lying +quiet, but awake, and looking at me with so bright eyes. Once, twice +more the same occur, and I get much sleep till before morning. When I +wake I try to hypnotise her; but alas! though she shut her eyes +obedient, she may not sleep. The sun rise up, and up, and up; and then +sleep come to her too late, but so heavy that she will not wake. I have +to lift her up, and place her sleeping in the carriage when I have +harnessed the horses and made all ready. Madam still sleep, and she look +in her sleep more healthy and more redder than before. And I like it +not. And I am afraid, afraid, afraid!--I am afraid of all things--even +to think but I must go on my way. The stake we play for is life and +death, or more than these, and we must not flinch. + + * * * * * + +_5 November, morning._--Let me be accurate in everything, for though you +and I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first think +that I, Van Helsing, am mad--that the many horrors and the so long +strain on nerves has at the last turn my brain. + +All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains, and +moving into a more and more wild and desert land. There are great, +frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have held +sometime her carnival. Madam Mina still sleep and sleep; and though I +did have hunger and appeased it, I could not waken her--even for food. I +began to fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon her, tainted as +she is with that Vampire baptism. "Well," said I to myself, "if it be +that she sleep all the day, it shall also be that I do not sleep at +night." As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient and +imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept. Again I waked +with a sense of guilt and of time passed, and found Madam Mina still +sleeping, and the sun low down. But all was indeed changed; the frowning +mountains seemed further away, and we were near the top of a +steep-rising hill, on summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell +of in his diary. At once I exulted and feared; for now, for good or ill, +the end was near. + +I woke Madam Mina, and again tried to hypnotise her; but alas! +unavailing till too late. Then, ere the great dark came upon us--for +even after down-sun the heavens reflected the gone sun on the snow, and +all was for a time in a great twilight--I took out the horses and fed +them in what shelter I could. Then I make a fire; and near it I make +Madam Mina, now awake and more charming than ever, sit comfortable amid +her rugs. I got ready food: but she would not eat, simply saying that +she had not hunger. I did not press her, knowing her unavailingness. But +I myself eat, for I must needs now be strong for all. Then, with the +fear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so big for her comfort, round +where Madam Mina sat; and over the ring I passed some of the wafer, and +I broke it fine so that all was well guarded. She sat still all the +time--so still as one dead; and she grew whiter and ever whiter till the +snow was not more pale; and no word she said. But when I drew near, she +clung to me, and I could know that the poor soul shook her from head to +feet with a tremor that was pain to feel. I said to her presently, when +she had grown more quiet:-- + +"Will you not come over to the fire?" for I wished to make a test of +what she could. She rose obedient, but when she have made a step she +stopped, and stood as one stricken. + +"Why not go on?" I asked. She shook her head, and, coming back, sat +down in her place. Then, looking at me with open eyes, as of one waked +from sleep, she said simply:-- + +"I cannot!" and remained silent. I rejoiced, for I knew that what she +could not, none of those that we dreaded could. Though there might be +danger to her body, yet her soul was safe! + +Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their tethers till I +came to them and quieted them. When they did feel my hands on them, they +whinnied low as in joy, and licked at my hands and were quiet for a +time. Many times through the night did I come to them, till it arrive to +the cold hour when all nature is at lowest; and every time my coming was +with quiet of them. In the cold hour the fire began to die, and I was +about stepping forth to replenish it, for now the snow came in flying +sweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the dark there was a light of +some kind, as there ever is over snow; and it seemed as though the +snow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of women with +trailing garments. All was in dead, grim silence only that the horses +whinnied and cowered, as if in terror of the worst. I began to +fear--horrible fears; but then came to me the sense of safety in that +ring wherein I stood. I began, too, to think that my imaginings were of +the night, and the gloom, and the unrest that I have gone through, and +all the terrible anxiety. It was as though my memories of all Jonathan's +horrid experience were befooling me; for the snow flakes and the mist +began to wheel and circle round, till I could get as though a shadowy +glimpse of those women that would have kissed him. And then the horses +cowered lower and lower, and moaned in terror as men do in pain. Even +the madness of fright was not to them, so that they could break away. I +feared for my dear Madam Mina when these weird figures drew near and +circled round. I looked at her, but she sat calm, and smiled at me; when +I would have stepped to the fire to replenish it, she caught me and held +me back, and whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so low +it was:-- + +"No! No! Do not go without. Here you are safe!" I turned to her, and +looking in her eyes, said:-- + +"But you? It is for you that I fear!" whereat she laughed--a laugh, low +and unreal, and said:-- + +"Fear for _me_! Why fear for me? None safer in all the world from them +than I am," and as I wondered at the meaning of her words, a puff of +wind made the flame leap up, and I see the red scar on her forehead. +Then, alas! I knew. Did I not, I would soon have learned, for the +wheeling figures of mist and snow came closer, but keeping ever without +the Holy circle. Then they began to materialise till--if God have not +take away my reason, for I saw it through my eyes--there were before me +in actual flesh the same three women that Jonathan saw in the room, when +they would have kissed his throat. I knew the swaying round forms, the +bright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous +lips. They smiled ever at poor dear Madam Mina; and as their laugh came +through the silence of the night, they twined their arms and pointed to +her, and said in those so sweet tingling tones that Jonathan said were +of the intolerable sweetness of the water-glasses:-- + +"Come, sister. Come to us. Come! Come!" In fear I turned to my poor +Madam Mina, and my heart with gladness leapt like flame; for oh! the +terror in her sweet eyes, the repulsion, the horror, told a story to my +heart that was all of hope. God be thanked she was not, yet, of them. I +seized some of the firewood which was by me, and holding out some of the +Wafer, advanced on them towards the fire. They drew back before me, and +laughed their low horrid laugh. I fed the fire, and feared them not; for +I knew that we were safe within our protections. They could not +approach, me, whilst so armed, nor Madam Mina whilst she remained within +the ring, which she could not leave no more than they could enter. The +horses had ceased to moan, and lay still on the ground; the snow fell on +them softly, and they grew whiter. I knew that there was for the poor +beasts no more of terror. + +And so we remained till the red of the dawn to fall through the +snow-gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror; but +when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again. +At the first coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in the +whirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom moved away +towards the castle, and were lost. + +Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina, intending +to hypnotise her; but she lay in a deep and sudden sleep, from which I +could not wake her. I tried to hypnotise through her sleep, but she made +no response, none at all; and the day broke. I fear yet to stir. I have +made my fire and have seen the horses, they are all dead. To-day I have +much to do here, and I keep waiting till the sun is up high; for there +may be places where I must go, where that sunlight, though snow and mist +obscure it, will be to me a safety. + +I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my terrible +work. Madam Mina still sleeps; and, God be thanked! she is calm in her +sleep.... + + +_Jonathan Harker's Journal._ + +_4 November, evening._--The accident to the launch has been a terrible +thing for us. Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago; +and by now my dear Mina would have been free. I fear to think of her, +off on the wolds near that horrid place. We have got horses, and we +follow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready. We +have our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean fight. Oh, if only +Morris and Seward were with us. We must only hope! If I write no more +Good-bye, Mina! God bless and keep you. + + +_Dr. Seward's Diary._ + +_5 November._--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashing +away from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded it in a +cluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is falling lightly +and there is a strange excitement in the air. It may be our own +feelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the howling of +wolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and there are +dangers to all of us, and from all sides. The horses are nearly ready, +and we are soon off. We ride to death of some one. God alone knows who, +or where, or what, or when, or how it may be.... + + +_Dr. Van Helsing's Memorandum._ + +_5 November, afternoon._--I am at least sane. Thank God for that mercy +at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I left +Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the castle. +The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from Veresti was +useful; though the doors were all open I broke them off the rusty +hinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close them, so that +being entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter experience served +me here. By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel, for I +knew that here my work lay. The air was oppressive; it seemed as if +there was some sulphurous fume, which at times made me dizzy. Either +there was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar off the howl of wolves. +Then I bethought me of my dear Madam Mina, and I was in terrible plight. +The dilemma had me between his horns. + +Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe from the +Vampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf! I +resolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we must +submit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death and +freedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself the +choice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in than +the grave of the Vampire! So I make my choice to go on with my work. + +I knew that there were at least three graves to find--graves that are +inhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She lay in her +Vampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I shudder as +though I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in old time, when +such things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as mine, +found at the last his heart fail him, and then his nerve. So he delay, +and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of the +wanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain on and on, till sunset +come, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the beautiful eyes of the fair +woman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a +kiss--and man is weak. And there remain one more victim in the Vampire +fold; one more to swell the grim and grisly ranks of the Un-Dead!... + +There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presence +of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age and +heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour such +as the lairs of the Count have had. Yes, I was moved--I, Van Helsing, +with all my purpose and with my motive for hate--I was moved to a +yearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties and to clog my +very soul. It may have been that the need of natural sleep, and the +strange oppression of the air were beginning to overcome me. Certain it +was that I was lapsing into sleep, the open-eyed sleep of one who yields +to a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled air a +long, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me like the sound +of a clarion. For it was the voice of my dear Madam Mina that I heard. + +Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by wrenching +away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one. I dared not +pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should +begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find in +a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sister +which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of +the mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so +exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls +some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl +with new emotion. But God be thanked, that soul-wail of my dear Madam +Mina had not died out of my ears; and, before the spell could be wrought +further upon me, I had nerved myself to my wild work. By this time I had +searched all the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell; and as +there had been only three of these Un-Dead phantoms around us in the +night, I took it that there were no more of active Un-Dead existent. +There was one great tomb more lordly than all the rest; huge it was, and +nobly proportioned. On it was but one word + + DRACULA. + +This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so many more +were due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what I knew. +Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through my +awful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished +him from it, Un-Dead, for ever. + +Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it. Had it been but one, it +had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I had +been through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweet +Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survived +through centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of the +years; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives.... + +Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work; had I not been nerved by +thoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung such a pall of +fear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble even yet, though +till all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand. Had I not seen +the repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole over it just +ere the final dissolution came, as realisation that the soul had been +won, I could not have gone further with my butchery. I could not have +endured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging of +writhing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled in terror and +left my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls, I can pity them +now and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of death +for a short moment ere fading. For, friend John, hardly had my knife +severed the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away and +crumble in to its native dust, as though the death that should have come +centuries agone had at last assert himself and say at once and loud "I +am here!" + +Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never more can +the Count enter there Un-Dead. + +When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke from her +sleep, and, seeing, me, cried out in pain that I had endured too much. + +"Come!" she said, "come away from this awful place! Let us go to meet my +husband who is, I know, coming towards us." She was looking thin and +pale and weak; but her eyes were pure and glowed with fervour. I was +glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the +fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep. + +And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go eastward to meet +our friends--and _him_--whom Madam Mina tell me that she _know_ are +coming to meet us. + + +_Mina Harker's Journal._ + +_6 November._--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I +took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming. We did +not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to take +heavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility of being +left without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take some of our +provisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as we +could see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign of +habitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavy +walking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw where the +clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so deep under +the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective of the +Carpathian mountains was far below it. We saw it in all its grandeur, +perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice, and with +seemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the adjacent mountain +on any side. There was something wild and uncanny about the place. We +could hear the distant howling of wolves. They were far off, but the +sound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was +full of terror. I knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching about +that he was trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be less +exposed in case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; we +could trace it through the drifted snow. + +In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and joined +him. He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow in a rock, +with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders. He took me by the +hand and drew me in: "See!" he said, "here you will be in shelter; and +if the wolves do come I can meet them one by one." He brought in our +furs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some provisions and +forced them upon me. But I could not eat; to even try to do so was +repulsive to me, and, much as I would have liked to please him, I could +not bring myself to the attempt. He looked very sad, but did not +reproach me. Taking his field-glasses from the case, he stood on the top +of the rock, and began to search the horizon. Suddenly he called out:-- + +"Look! Madam Mina, look! look!" I sprang up and stood beside him on the +rock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow was now falling +more heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginning +to blow. However, there were times when there were pauses between the +snow flurries and I could see a long way round. From the height where we +were it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond the +white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon in +kinks and curls as it wound its way. Straight in front of us and not far +off--in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before--came a +group of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a +long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail +wagging, with each stern inequality of the road. Outlined against the +snow as they were, I could see from the men's clothes that they were +peasants or gypsies of some kind. + +On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw it, for I +felt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing close, and +well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then imprisoned +there, would take new freedom and could in any of many forms elude all +pursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor; to my consternation, +however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him below me. Round +the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found shelter in last +night. When he had completed it he stood beside me again, saying:-- + +"At least you shall be safe here from _him_!" He took the glasses from +me, and at the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us. +"See," he said, "they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, and +galloping as hard as they can." He paused and went on in a hollow +voice:-- + +"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will be +done!" Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole +landscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and once more his +glasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden cry:-- + +"Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming up from the +south. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look before the snow +blots it all out!" I took it and looked. The two men might be Dr. Seward +and Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan. +At the same time I _knew_ that Jonathan was not far off; looking around +I saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding at +break-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took, +of course, to be Lord Godalming. They, too, were pursuing the party with +the cart. When I told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy, +and, after looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, he +laid his Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at the +opening of our shelter. "They are all converging," he said. "When the +time comes we shall have gypsies on all sides." I got out my revolver +ready to hand, for whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came +louder and closer. When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again. +It was strange to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us, +and beyond, the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank down +towards the far mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I could +see here and there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger +numbers--the wolves were gathering for their prey. + +Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now in +fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us in +circling eddies. At times we could not see an arm's length before us; +but at others, as the hollow-sounding wind swept by us, it seemed to +clear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off. We had of +late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that we knew +with fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that before long the +sun would set. It was hard to believe that by our watches it was less +than an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the various +bodies began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercer +and more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seemingly +had driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts, +the snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each +party, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did +not seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they +seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower +and lower on the mountain tops. + +Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behind +our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determined +that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of our +presence. + +All at once two voices shouted out to: "Halt!" One was my Jonathan's, +raised in a high key of passion; the other Mr. Morris' strong resolute +tone of quiet command. The gypsies may not have known the language, but +there was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the words were +spoken. Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant Lord Godalming +and Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris on the +other. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid-looking fellow who sat his +horse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a fierce voice gave to his +companions some word to proceed. They lashed the horses which sprang +forward; but the four men raised their Winchester rifles, and in an +unmistakable way commanded them to stop. At the same moment Dr. Van +Helsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them. +Seeing that they were surrounded the men tightened their reins and drew +up. The leader turned to them and gave a word at which every man of the +gypsy party drew what weapon he carried, knife or pistol, and held +himself in readiness to attack. Issue was joined in an instant. + +The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out in +front, and pointing first to the sun--now close down on the hill +tops--and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand. +For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their horses +and dashed towards the cart. I should have felt terrible fear at seeing +Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have been +upon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild, +surging desire to do something. Seeing the quick movement of our +parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command; his men instantly +formed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined endeavour, each one +shouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness to carry out the +order. + +In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring +of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it was +evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun +should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither the +levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, nor +the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their +attention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his +purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they +cowered, aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon the +cart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great +box, and flung it over the wheel to the ground. In the meantime, Mr. +Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring of +Szgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had, +with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and had +seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them, and +they cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at first +I thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he sprang +beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could see that +with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the blood was +spurting through his fingers. He did not delay notwithstanding this, for +as Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked one end of the chest, +attempting to prize off the lid with his great Kukri knife, he attacked +the other frantically with his bowie. Under the efforts of both men the +lid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, and +the top of the box was thrown back. + +By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters, +and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and made +no resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the +shadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow. I saw the Count +lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from +the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen +image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I +knew too well. + +As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them +turned to triumph. + +But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. +I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same +moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart. + +It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in the +drawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed from +our sight. + +I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final +dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never +could have imagined might have rested there. + +The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone +of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the +setting sun. + +The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinary +disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away as +if for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped upon the +leiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them. The wolves, +which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their wake, leaving +us alone. + +Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his +hand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through his fingers. I +flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the +two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his +head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand +in that of his own which was unstained. He must have seen the anguish of +my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said:-- + +"I am only too happy to have been of any service! Oh, God!" he cried +suddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and pointing to me, "It was +worth for this to die! Look! look!" + +The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams +fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse +the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all +as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger. The dying man +spoke:-- + +"Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not +more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!" + +And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a +gallant gentleman. + + + + + NOTE + + +Seven years ago we all went through the flames; and the happiness of +some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured. It +is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same +day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the +secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into +him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together; but +we call him Quincey. + +In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania, and went +over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid and +terrible memories. It was almost impossible to believe that the things +which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears were +living truths. Every trace of all that had been was blotted out. The +castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation. + +When we got home we were talking of the old time--which we could all +look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are both happily +married. I took the papers from the safe where they had been ever since +our return so long ago. We were struck with the fact, that in all the +mass of material of which the record is composed, there is hardly one +authentic document; nothing but a mass of typewriting, except the later +note-books of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van Helsing's memorandum. +We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as +proofs of so wild a story. Van Helsing summed it all up as he said, with +our boy on his knee:-- + +"We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy will some day +know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is. Already he knows her +sweetness and loving care; later on he will understand how some men so +loved her, that they did dare much for her sake." + +JONATHAN HARKER. + + THE END + + * * * * * + + _There's More to Follow!_ + + More stories of the sort you like; more, probably, by the author of + this one; more than 500 titles all told by writers of world-wide + reputation, in the Authors' Alphabetical List which you will find + on the _reverse side_ of the wrapper of this book. Look it over + before you lay it aside. There are books here you are sure to + want--some, possibly, that you have _always_ wanted. + + It is a _selected_ list; every book in it has achieved a certain + measure of _success_. + + The Grosset & Dunlap list is not only the greatest Index of Good + Fiction available, it represents in addition a generally accepted + Standard of Value. It will pay you to + + _Look on the Other Side of the Wrapper!_ + + _In case the wrapper is lost write to the publishers for a complete + catalog_ + + * * * * * + +DETECTIVE STORIES BY J. S. FLETCHER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +THE SECRET OF THE BARBICAN + +THE ANNEXATION SOCIETY + +THE WOLVES AND THE LAMB + +GREEN INK + +THE KING versus WARGRAVE + +THE LOST MR. LINTHWAITE + +THE MILL OF MANY WINDOWS + +THE HEAVEN-KISSED HILL + +THE MIDDLE TEMPLE MURDER + +RAVENSDENE COURT + +THE RAYNER-SLADE AMALGAMATION + +THE SAFETY PIN + +THE SECRET WAY + +THE VALLEY OF HEADSTRONG MEN + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +in a very simply way=> in a very simple way {pg 68} + +"The Westminister Gazette," 25 September.=> "The Westminster Gazette," +25 September. {pg 165} + +It have told him=> She must have told him {pg 169} + +from md sight=> from my sight {pg}184 + +Goldaming=> Godalming {pg 226} + +I I did not want to hinder him=> I did not want to hinder him {pg 267} + +They lay in a sort of or-orderly=> They lay in a sort of orderly {pg +279} + +Translyvania=> Transylvania {pg 294} + +this mrrning from Dardanelles=> this morning from Dardanelles {pg 313} + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRACULA *** + +***** This file should be named 345-8.txt or 345-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/345/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20bdbdb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt @@ -0,0 +1,887 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven +Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition + Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes + +Author: Edgar Allan Poe + +Release Date: May 19, 2008 [EBook #25525] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Contents and Index of Five Volumes + + +THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE + +TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX OF THE FIVE VOLUMES + +The Raven Edition + + +Project Gutenberg Volumes: +#2147, #2148, #2149, #2150, #2151 + + + +CONTENTS + +INDEX + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME 1 + +EDGAR ALLAN POE + +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE + +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL + +THE GOLD-BUG + +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD + +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE + +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET + +THE BALLOON-HOAX + +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE + +THE OVAL PORTRAIT + +VOLUME 2 + +THE PURLOINED LETTER + +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE + +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM. + +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY + +MESMERIC REVELATION + +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR + +THE BLACK CAT. + +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER + +SILENCE—A FABLE + +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. + +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. + +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE + +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY + +THE ASSIGNATION + +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM + +THE PREMATURE BURIAL + +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM + +LANDOR'S COTTAGE + +WILLIAM WILSON + +THE TELL-TALE HEART. + +BERENICE + +ELEONORA + +VOLUME 3 +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM + +CHAPTER 1 + +CHAPTER 2 + +CHAPTER 3 + +CHAPTER 4 + +CHAPTER 5 + +CHAPTER 6 + +CHAPTER 7 + +CHAPTER 8 + +CHAPTER 9 + +CHAPTER 10 + +CHAPTER 11 + +CHAPTER 12 + +CHAPTER 13 + +CHAPTER 14 + +CHAPTER 15 + +CHAPTER 16 + +CHAPTER 17 + +CHAPTER 18 + +CHAPTER 19 + +CHAPTER 20 + +CHAPTER 21 + +CHAPTER 22 + +CHAPTER 23 + +CHAPTER 24 + +CHAPTER 25 + +Notes + +LIGEIA + +MORELLA + +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS + +THE SPECTACLES + +KING PEST. + +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK + +VOLUME 4 + +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY + +LIONIZING + +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +METZENGERSTEIN + +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER + +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. + +A PREDICAMENT + +MYSTIFICATION + +DIDDLING + +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD + +MELLONTA TAUTA + +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. + +THE OBLONG BOX. + +LOSS OF BREATH + +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. + +THE BUSINESS MAN + +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN + +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER + +THE POWER OF WORDS + +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA + +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION + +SHADOW—A PARABLE + +VOLUME 5 + +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. + +A TALE OF JERUSALEM + +THE SPHINX + +HOP-FROG + +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. + +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD + +THOU ART THE MAN + +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING + +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. + +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE + +OLD ENGLISH POETRY + +POEMS + +PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE + +THE RAVEN. + +THE BELLS. + +ULALUME + +TO HELEN + +ANNABEL LEE. + +A VALENTINE. + +AN ENIGMA + +FOR ANNIE + +TO F——. + +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD + +ELDORADO. + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + +THE SLEEPER. + +NOTES + +POEMS OF MANHOOD + +LENORE + +TO ONE IN PARADISE. + +THE COLISEUM. + +THE HAUNTED PALACE. + +THE CONQUEROR WORM. + +SILENCE + +DREAM-LAND + +HYMN + +TO ZANTE + +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" + +POEMS OF YOUTH + +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 + +LETTER TO MR. B—. + +SONNET—TO SCIENCE + +AL AARAAF + +TAMERLANE + +TO HELEN + +THE VALLEY OF UNREST + +ISRAFEL + +TO —— + +TO —— + +TO THE RIVER—— + +SONG + +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD + +A DREAM + +ROMANCE + +FAIRY-LAND + +THE LAKE —— TO—— + +EVENING STAR + +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." + +IMITATION + +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS + +DREAMS + +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +NOTES + +DOUBTFUL POEMS + +ALONE + +TO ISADORE + +THE VILLAGE STREET + +THE FOREST REVERIE + +NOTES + + + +INDEX + +PROSE +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD +THE ASSIGNATION +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. +THE BUSINESS MAN +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE +EDGAR ALLAN POE +THE BALLOON-HOAX +THE BLACK CAT. +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD +BERENICE +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY +DIDDLING +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. +ELEONORA +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING +THE GOLD-BUG +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM +HOP-FROG +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY +A TALE OF JERUSALEM +KING PEST. +LANDOR'S COTTAGE +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN +LIGEIA +LIONIZING +LOSS OF BREATH +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. +MELLONTA TAUTA +MESMERIC REVELATION +METZENGERSTEIN +MORELLA +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET +MYSTIFICATION +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD +THE OBLONG BOX. +THE OVAL PORTRAIT +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM +THE POWER OF WORDS +A PREDICAMENT +THE PREMATURE BURIAL +THE PURLOINED LETTER +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS +SHADOW—A PARABLE +SILENCE—A FABLE +THE SPECTACLES +THE SPHINX +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER +THE TELL-TALE HEART. +THOU ART THE MAN +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY +WILLIAM WILSON +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +POETRY +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE +OLD ENGLISH POETRY PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE +ANNABEL LEE. +FOR ANNIE +THE BELLS. +THE CITY IN THE SEA. +ELDORADO. +AN ENIGMA +TO F——. +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD +TO HELEN +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +THE RAVEN. +THE SLEEPER. +ULALUME +A VALENTINE. + +POEMS OF MANHOOD +THE COLISEUM. +THE CONQUEROR WORM. +DREAM-LAND +THE HAUNTED PALACE. +HYMN +LENORE +TO ONE IN PARADISE. +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" +SILENCE +TO ZANTE + +POEMS OF YOUTH +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 +LETTER TO MR. B—. +AL AARAAF +A DREAM +DREAMS +EVENING STAR +FAIRY-LAND +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." +TO HELEN +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS +IMITATION +ISRAFEL +THE LAKE —— TO—— +SONG +SONNET—TO SCIENCE +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD +TAMERLANE +TO —— +TO —— +TO THE RIVER—— +ROMANCE +THE VALLEY OF UNREST +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +DOUBTFUL POEMS +ALONE +THE FOREST REVERIE +TO ISADORE +THE VILLAGE STREET + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The +Raven Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + +***** This file should be named 25525-8.txt or 25525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/2/25525/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4046579 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +{ + "id": "bb123cd4567", + "head": "v0001", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v0001": { + "created": "2019-08-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee0af16 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0001/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3cd8ec2e8388b3c0fce51a754a9334c7365fc77a564805a3c4f326cdb3632fed inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0002/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0002/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e36e237 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0002/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +{ + "id": "bb123cd4567", + "head": "v0002", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v0001": { + "created": "2019-08-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0002": { + "created": "2019-09-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/a_second_copy_of_dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0002/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0002/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e28ff7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0002/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +15f8d059472b473e0a9984e1159c8bd485b7e62d3f397257fd314591daeb111a inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83f0fd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt @@ -0,0 +1,888 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven +Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition + Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes + +Author: Edgar Allan Poe + +Release Date: May 19, 2008 [EBook #25525] + +Language: English + +This version of the work has had this line inserted to test OCFL object generation. No other changes have been made. + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Contents and Index of Five Volumes + + +THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE + +TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX OF THE FIVE VOLUMES + +The Raven Edition + + +Project Gutenberg Volumes: +#2147, #2148, #2149, #2150, #2151 + + + +CONTENTS + +INDEX + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME 1 + +EDGAR ALLAN POE + +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE + +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL + +THE GOLD-BUG + +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD + +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE + +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET + +THE BALLOON-HOAX + +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE + +THE OVAL PORTRAIT + +VOLUME 2 + +THE PURLOINED LETTER + +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE + +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM. + +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY + +MESMERIC REVELATION + +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR + +THE BLACK CAT. + +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER + +SILENCE—A FABLE + +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. + +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. + +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE + +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY + +THE ASSIGNATION + +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM + +THE PREMATURE BURIAL + +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM + +LANDOR'S COTTAGE + +WILLIAM WILSON + +THE TELL-TALE HEART. + +BERENICE + +ELEONORA + +VOLUME 3 +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM + +CHAPTER 1 + +CHAPTER 2 + +CHAPTER 3 + +CHAPTER 4 + +CHAPTER 5 + +CHAPTER 6 + +CHAPTER 7 + +CHAPTER 8 + +CHAPTER 9 + +CHAPTER 10 + +CHAPTER 11 + +CHAPTER 12 + +CHAPTER 13 + +CHAPTER 14 + +CHAPTER 15 + +CHAPTER 16 + +CHAPTER 17 + +CHAPTER 18 + +CHAPTER 19 + +CHAPTER 20 + +CHAPTER 21 + +CHAPTER 22 + +CHAPTER 23 + +CHAPTER 24 + +CHAPTER 25 + +Notes + +LIGEIA + +MORELLA + +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS + +THE SPECTACLES + +KING PEST. + +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK + +VOLUME 4 + +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY + +LIONIZING + +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +METZENGERSTEIN + +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER + +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. + +A PREDICAMENT + +MYSTIFICATION + +DIDDLING + +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD + +MELLONTA TAUTA + +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. + +THE OBLONG BOX. + +LOSS OF BREATH + +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. + +THE BUSINESS MAN + +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN + +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER + +THE POWER OF WORDS + +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA + +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION + +SHADOW—A PARABLE + +VOLUME 5 + +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. + +A TALE OF JERUSALEM + +THE SPHINX + +HOP-FROG + +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. + +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD + +THOU ART THE MAN + +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING + +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. + +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE + +OLD ENGLISH POETRY + +POEMS + +PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE + +THE RAVEN. + +THE BELLS. + +ULALUME + +TO HELEN + +ANNABEL LEE. + +A VALENTINE. + +AN ENIGMA + +FOR ANNIE + +TO F——. + +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD + +ELDORADO. + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + +THE SLEEPER. + +NOTES + +POEMS OF MANHOOD + +LENORE + +TO ONE IN PARADISE. + +THE COLISEUM. + +THE HAUNTED PALACE. + +THE CONQUEROR WORM. + +SILENCE + +DREAM-LAND + +HYMN + +TO ZANTE + +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" + +POEMS OF YOUTH + +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 + +LETTER TO MR. B—. + +SONNET—TO SCIENCE + +AL AARAAF + +TAMERLANE + +TO HELEN + +THE VALLEY OF UNREST + +ISRAFEL + +TO —— + +TO —— + +TO THE RIVER—— + +SONG + +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD + +A DREAM + +ROMANCE + +FAIRY-LAND + +THE LAKE —— TO—— + +EVENING STAR + +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." + +IMITATION + +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS + +DREAMS + +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +NOTES + +DOUBTFUL POEMS + +ALONE + +TO ISADORE + +THE VILLAGE STREET + +THE FOREST REVERIE + +NOTES + + + +INDEX + +PROSE +THE ANGEL OF THE ODD +THE ASSIGNATION +HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE. +THE BUSINESS MAN +DEATH OF EDGAR A. POE +EDGAR ALLAN POE +THE BALLOON-HOAX +THE BLACK CAT. +THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. +THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA +THE CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION +THE DOMAIN OF ARNHEIM +THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR +FOUR BEASTS IN ONE—THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD +BERENICE +A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. +THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY +DIDDLING +THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. +ELEONORA +THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER +WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING +THE GOLD-BUG +NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM +HOP-FROG +THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE +THE ISLAND OF THE FAY +A TALE OF JERUSALEM +KING PEST. +LANDOR'S COTTAGE +THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN +LIGEIA +LIONIZING +LOSS OF BREATH +MAELZEL'S CHESS-PLAYER +THE MAN OF THE CROWD. +THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. +MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE +THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. +MELLONTA TAUTA +MESMERIC REVELATION +METZENGERSTEIN +MORELLA +THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE +THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET +MYSTIFICATION +NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD +THE OBLONG BOX. +THE OVAL PORTRAIT +PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE. +THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM +THE POWER OF WORDS +A PREDICAMENT +THE PREMATURE BURIAL +THE PURLOINED LETTER +A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS +SHADOW—A PARABLE +SILENCE—A FABLE +THE SPECTACLES +THE SPHINX +THREE SUNDAYS IN A WEEK +THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER +THE TELL-TALE HEART. +THOU ART THE MAN +THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE +THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS PFAAL +VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY +WILLIAM WILSON +SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. +X-ING A PARAGRAPH + +POETRY +THE POETIC PRINCIPLE +OLD ENGLISH POETRY PREFACE + +POEMS OF LATER LIFE +ANNABEL LEE. +FOR ANNIE +THE BELLS. +THE CITY IN THE SEA. +ELDORADO. +AN ENIGMA +TO F——. +TO FRANCES S. OSGOOD +TO HELEN +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW) +THE RAVEN. +THE SLEEPER. +ULALUME +A VALENTINE. + +POEMS OF MANHOOD +THE COLISEUM. +THE CONQUEROR WORM. +DREAM-LAND +THE HAUNTED PALACE. +HYMN +LENORE +TO ONE IN PARADISE. +SCENES FROM "POLITIAN" +SILENCE +TO ZANTE + +POEMS OF YOUTH +INTRODUCTION TO POEMS—1831 +LETTER TO MR. B—. +AL AARAAF +A DREAM +DREAMS +EVENING STAR +FAIRY-LAND +"THE HAPPIEST DAY." +TO HELEN +HYMN TO ARISTOGEITON AND HARMODIUS +IMITATION +ISRAFEL +THE LAKE —— TO—— +SONG +SONNET—TO SCIENCE +SPIRITS OF THE DEAD +TAMERLANE +TO —— +TO —— +TO THE RIVER—— +ROMANCE +THE VALLEY OF UNREST +"IN YOUTH I HAVE KNOWN ONE" + +DOUBTFUL POEMS +ALONE +THE FOREST REVERIE +TO ISADORE +THE VILLAGE STREET + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The +Raven Edition, by Edgar Allan Poe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDGAR ALLEN POE INDEX *** + +***** This file should be named 25525-8.txt or 25525-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/2/25525/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dbbae --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +{ + "id": "bb123cd4567", + "head": "v0003", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ], + "618ea77f3a74558493f2df1d82fee18073f6458573d58e6b65bade8bd65227fb": [ + "v0003/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v0001": { + "created": "2019-08-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0002": { + "created": "2019-09-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/a_second_copy_of_dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0003": { + "created": "2019-10-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "618ea77f3a74558493f2df1d82fee18073f6458573d58e6b65bade8bd65227fb": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8978ad3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0003/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +32b9358d13dec62912d7c0015ffd15fc3e0b41c8a661f04fd3715d95f5a388d9 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/content/my_content/dunwich.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/content/my_content/dunwich.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6542979 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/content/my_content/dunwich.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2115 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dunwich Horror, by H. P. Lovecraft + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Dunwich Horror + +Author: H. P. Lovecraft + +Release Date: October 4, 2015 [EBook #50133] + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUNWICH HORROR *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _The_ Dunwich Horror + + by H. P. LOVECRAFT + + + "Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras--dire stories of Celæno and + the Harpies--may reproduce themselves in the brain of + superstition--_but they were there before_. They are transcripts, + types--the archetypes are in us, and eternal. How else should the + recital of that which we know in a waking sense to be false come + to affect us at all? Is it that we naturally conceive terror from + such objects, considered in their capacity of being able to + inflict upon us bodily injury? Oh, least of all! _These terrors + are of older standing. They date beyond body_--or without the + body, they would have been the same.... That the kind of fear here + treated is purely spiritual--that it is strong in proportion as it + is objectless on earth, that it predominates in the period of our + sinless infancy--are difficulties the solution of which might + afford some probable insight into our ante-mundane condition, and + a peep at least into the shadowland of pre-existence."--Charles + Lamb: _Witches and Other Night-Fears_. + + +1 + +When a traveler in north central Massachusetts takes the wrong fork +at the junction of the Aylesbury pike just beyond Dean's Corners he +comes upon a lonely and curious country. The ground gets higher, and +the brier-bordered stone walls press closer and closer against the ruts +of the dusty, curving road. The trees of the frequent forest belts +seem too large, and the wild weeds, brambles, and grasses attain a +luxuriance not often found in settled regions. At the same time the +planted fields appear singularly few and barren; while the sparsely +scattered houses wear a surprizing uniform aspect of age, squalor, and +dilapidation. Without knowing why, one hesitates to ask directions +from the gnarled, solitary figures spied now and then on crumbling +doorsteps or in the sloping, rock-strewn meadows. Those figures are +so silent and furtive that one feels somehow confronted by forbidden +things, with which it would be better to have nothing to do. When a +rise in the road brings the mountains in view above the deep woods, +the feeling of strange uneasiness is increased. The summits are too +rounded and symmetrical to give a sense of comfort and naturalness, and +sometimes the sky silhouettes with especial clearness the queer circles +of tall stone pillars with which most of them are crowned. + +Gorges and ravines of problematical depth intersect the way, and the +crude wooden bridges always seem of dubious safety. When the road +dips again there are stretches of marshland that one instinctively +dislikes, and indeed almost fears at evening when unseen whippoorwills +chatter and the fireflies come out in abnormal profusion to dance to +the raucous, creepily insistent rhythms of stridently piping bullfrogs. +The thin, shining line of the Miskatonic's upper reaches has an oddly +serpentlike suggestion as it winds close to the feet of the domed hills +among which it rises. + +As the hills draw nearer, one heeds their wooded sides more than their +stone-crowned tops. Those sides loom up so darkly and precipitously +that one wishes they would keep their distance, but there is no road by +which to escape them. Across a covered bridge one sees a small village +huddled between the stream and the vertical slope of Round Mountain, +and wonders at the cluster of rotting gambrel roofs bespeaking an +earlier architectural period than that of the neighboring region. It +is not reassuring to see, on a closer glance, that most of the houses +are deserted and falling to ruin, and that the broken-steepled church +now harbors the one slovenly mercantile establishment of the hamlet. +One dreads to trust the tenebrous tunnel of the bridge, yet there is no +way to avoid it. Once across, it is hard to prevent the impression of a +faint, malign odor about the village street, as of the massed mold and +decay of centuries. It is always a relief to get clear of the place, +and to follow the narrow road around the base of the hills and across +the level country beyond till it rejoins the Aylesbury pike. Afterward +one sometimes learns that one has been through Dunwich. + +Outsiders visit Dunwich as seldom as possible, and since a certain +season of horror all the signboards pointing toward it have been taken +down. The scenery, judged by any ordinary esthetic canon, is more +than commonly beautiful; yet there is no influx of artists or summer +tourists. Two centuries ago, when talk of witch-blood, Satan-worship, +and strange forest presences was not laughed at, it was the custom to +give reasons for avoiding the locality. In our sensible age--since +the Dunwich horror of 1928 was hushed up by those who had the town's +and the world's welfare at heart--people shun it without knowing +exactly why. Perhaps one reason--though it can not apply to uninformed +strangers--is that the natives are now repellently decadent, having +gone far along that path of retrogression so common in many New England +backwaters. They have come to form a race by themselves, with the +well-defined mental and physical stigmata of degeneracy and inbreeding. +The average of their intelligence is wofully low, whilst their annals +reek of overt viciousness and of half-hidden murders, incests, and +deeds of almost unnamable violence and perversity. The old gentry, +representing the two or three armigerous families which came from +Salem in 1692, have kept somewhat above the general level of decay; +though many branches are sunk into the sordid populace so deeply that +only their names remain as a key to the origin they disgrace. Some of +the Whateleys and Bishops still send their eldest sons to Harvard and +Miskatonic, though those sons seldom return to the moldering gambrel +roofs under which they and their ancestors were born. + +No one, even those who have the facts concerning the recent horror, +can say just what is the matter with Dunwich; though old legends speak +of unhallowed rites and conclaves of the Indians, amidst which they +called forbidden shapes of shadow out of the great rounded hills, and +made wild orgiastic prayers that were answered by loud crackings and +rumblings from the ground below. In 1747 the Reverend Abijah Hoadley, +newly come to the Congregational Church at Dunwich Village, preached a +memorable sermon on the close presence of Satan and his imps, in which +he said: + + It must be allow'd that these Blasphemies of an infernall Train + of Dæmons are Matters of too common Knowledge to be deny'd; the + cursed Voices of _Azazel_ and _Buzrael_, of _Beelzebub_ and + _Belial_, being heard from under Ground by above a Score of + credible Witnesses now living. I myself did not more than a + Fortnight ago catch a very plain Discourse of evill Powers in the + Hill behind my House; wherein there were a Rattling and Rolling, + Groaning, Screeching, and Hissing, such as no Things of this Earth + cou'd raise up, and which must needs have come from those Caves + that only black Magick can discover, and only the Divell unlock. + +Mr. Hoadley disappeared soon after delivering this sermon; but the +text, printed in Springfield, is still extant. Noises in the hills +continued to be reported from year to year, and still form a puzzle to +geologists and physiographers. + +Other traditions tell of foul odors near the hill-crowning circles of +stone pillars, and of rushing airy presences to be heard faintly at +certain hours from stated points at the bottom of the great ravines; +while still others try to explain the Devil's Hop Yard--a bleak, +blasted hillside where no tree, shrub, or grass-blade will grow. Then, +too, the natives are mortally afraid of the numerous whippoorwills +which grow vocal on warm nights. It is vowed that the birds are +psychopomps lying in wait for the souls of the dying, and that they +time their eery cries in unison with the sufferer's struggling breath. +If they can catch the fleeing soul when it leaves the body, they +instantly flutter away chittering in demoniac laughter; but if they +fail, they subside gradually into a disappointed silence. + +These tales, of course, are obsolete and ridiculous; because they come +down from very old times. Dunwich is indeed ridiculously old--older by +far than any of the communities within thirty miles of it. South of the +village one may still spy the cellar walls and chimney of the ancient +Bishop house, which was built before 1700; whilst the ruins of the mill +at the falls, built in 1806, form the most modern piece of architecture +to be seen. Industry did not flourish here, and the Nineteenth Century +factory movement proved short-lived. Oldest of all are the great +rings of rough-hewn stone columns on the hilltops, but these are more +generally attributed to the Indians than to the settlers. Deposits of +skulls and bones, found within these circles and around the sizable +table-like rock on Sentinel Hill, sustain the popular belief that such +spots were once the burial-places of the Pocumtucks; even though many +ethnologists, disregarding the absurd improbability of such a theory, +persist in believing the remains Caucasian. + + +2 + +It was in the township of Dunwich, in a large and partly inhabited +farmhouse set against a hillside four miles from the village and a mile +and a half from any other dwelling, that Wilbur Whateley was born at 5 +a. m. on Sunday, the second of February, 1913. This date was recalled +because it was Candlemas, which people in Dunwich curiously observe +under another name; and because the noises in the hills had sounded, +and all the dogs of the countryside had barked persistently, throughout +the night before. Less worthy of notice was the fact that the mother +was one of the decadent Whateleys, a somewhat deformed, unattractive +albino woman of 35, living with an aged and half-insane father +about whom the most frightful tales of wizardry had been whispered +in his youth. Lavinia Whateley had no known husband, but according +to the custom of the region made no attempt to disavow the child; +concerning the other side of whose ancestry the country folk might--and +did--speculate as widely as they chose. On the contrary, she seemed +strangely proud of the dark, goatish-looking infant who formed such a +contrast to her own sickly and pink-eyed albinism, and was heard to +mutter many curious prophecies about its unusual powers and tremendous +future. + +Lavinia was one who would be apt to mutter such things, for she was a +lone creature given to wandering amidst thunderstorms in the hills and +trying to read the great odorous books which her father had inherited +through two centuries of Whateleys, and which were fast falling to +pieces with age and worm-holes. She had never been to school, but was +filled with disjointed scraps of ancient lore that Old Whateley had +taught her. The remote farmhouse had always been feared because of Old +Whateley's reputation for black magic, and the unexplained death by +violence of Mrs. Whateley when Lavinia was twelve years old had not +helped to make the place popular. Isolated among strange influences, +Lavinia was fond of wild and grandiose daydreams and singular +occupations; nor was her leisure much taken up by household cares in a +home from which all standards of order and cleanliness had long since +disappeared. + +There was a hideous screaming which echoed above even the hill noises +and the dogs' barking on the night Wilbur was born, but no known doctor +or midwife presided at his coming. Neighbors knew nothing of him till +a week afterward, when Old Whateley drove his sleigh through the snow +into Dunwich Village and discoursed incoherently to the group of +loungers at Osborn's general store. There seemed to be a change in the +old man--an added element of furtiveness in the clouded brain which +subtly transformed him from an object to a subject of fear--though he +was not one to be perturbed by any common family event. Amidst it all +he showed some trace of the pride later noticed in his daughter, and +what he said of the child's paternity was remembered by many of his +hearers years afterward. + +"I dun't keer what folks think--ef Lavinny's boy looked like his pa, he +wouldn't look like nothin' ye expeck. Ye needn't think the only folks +is the folks hereabouts. Lavinny's read some, an' has seed some things +the most o' ye only tell abaout. I calc'late her man is as good a +husban' as ye kin find this side of Aylesbury; an' ef ye knowed as much +abaout the hills as I dew, ye wouldn't ast no better church weddin' nor +her'n. Let me tell ye suthin'--_some day yew folks'll hear a child o' +Lavinny's a-callin' its father's name on the top o' Sentinel Hill!_" + +The only persons who saw Wilbur during the first month of his life +were old Zechariah Whateley, of the undecayed Whateleys, and Earl +Sawyer's common-law wife, Mamie Bishop. Mamie's visit was frankly one +of curiosity, and her subsequent tales did justice to her observations; +but Zechariah came to lead a pair of Alderney cows which Old Whateley +had bought of his son Curtis. This marked the beginning of a course of +cattle-buying on the part of small Wilbur's family which ended only +in 1928, when the Dunwich horror came and went; yet at no time did +the ramshackle Whateley barn seem over-crowded with livestock. There +came a period when people were curious enough to steal up and count +the herd that grazed precariously on the steep hillside above the old +farmhouse, and they could never find more than ten or twelve anemic, +bloodless-looking specimens. Evidently some blight or distemper, +perhaps sprung from the unwholesome pasturage or the diseased fungi +and timbers of the filthy barn, caused a heavy mortality amongst the +Whateley animals. Odd wounds or sores, having something of the aspect +of incisions, seemed to afflict the visible cattle; and once or twice +during the earlier months certain callers fancied they could discern +similar sores about the throats of the gray, unshaven old man and his +slatternly, crinkly-haired albino daughter. + +In the spring after Wilbur's birth Lavinia resumed her customary +rambles in the hills, bearing in her misproportioned arms the swarthy +child. Public interest in the Whateleys subsided after most of the +country folk had seen the baby, and no one bothered to comment on the +swift development which that newcomer seemed every day to exhibit. +Wilbur's growth was indeed phenomenal, for within three months of his +birth he had attained a size and muscular power not usually found in +infants under a full year of age. His motions and even his vocal sounds +showed a restraint and deliberateness highly peculiar in an infant, +and no one was really unprepared when, at seven months, he began to +walk unassisted, with falterings which another month was sufficient to +remove. + +It was somewhat after this time--on Hallowe'en--that a great blaze was +seen at midnight on the top of Sentinel Hill where the old table-like +stone stands amidst its tumulus of ancient bones. Considerable talk +was started when Silas Bishop--of the undecayed Bishops--mentioned +having seen the boy running sturdily up that hill ahead of his mother +about an hour before the blaze was remarked. Silas was rounding up a +stray heifer, but he nearly forgot his mission when he fleetingly spied +the two figures in the dim light of his lantern. They darted almost +noiselessly through the underbrush, and the astonished watcher seemed +to think they were entirely unclothed. Afterward he could not be sure +about the boy, who may have had some kind of a fringed belt and a pair +of dark blue trunks or trousers on. Wilbur was never subsequently seen +alive and conscious without complete and tightly buttoned attire, the +disarrangement or threatened disarrangement of which always seemed to +fill him with anger and alarm. His contrast with his squalid mother and +grandfather in this respect was thought very notable until the horror +of 1928 suggested the most valid of reasons. + +The next January gossips were mildly interested in the fact that +"Lavinny's black brat" had commenced to talk, and at the age of only +eleven months. His speech was somewhat remarkable both because of its +difference from the ordinary accents of the region, and because it +displayed a freedom from infantile lisping of which many children of +three or four might well be proud. The boy was not talkative, yet when +he spoke he seemed to reflect some elusive element wholly unpossessed +by Dunwich and its denizens. The strangeness did not reside in what he +said, or even in the simple idioms he used; but seemed vaguely linked +with his intonation or with the internal organs that produced the +spoken sounds. His facial aspect, too, was remarkable for its maturity; +for though he shared his mother's and grandfather's chinlessness, his +firm and precociously shaped nose united with the expression on his +large, dark, almost Latin eyes to give him an air of quasi-adulthood +and well-nigh preternatural intelligence. He was, however, exceedingly +ugly despite his appearance of brilliancy; there being something almost +goatish or animalistic about his thick lips, large-pored, yellowish +skin, coarse crinkly hair, and oddly elongated ears. He was soon +disliked even more decidedly than his mother and grandsire, and all +conjectures about him were spiced with references to the bygone magic +of Old Whateley, and how the hills once shook when he shrieked the +dreadful name of _Yog-Sothoth_ in the midst of a circle of stones with +a great book open in his arms before him. Dogs abhorred the boy, and +he was always obliged to take various defensive measures against their +barking menace. + + +3 + +Meanwhile Old Whateley continued to buy cattle without measurably +increasing the size of his herd. He also cut timber and began to +repair the unused parts of his house--a spacious, peaked-roofed affair +whose rear end was buried entirely in the rocky hillside, and whose +three least-ruined ground-floor rooms had always been sufficient for +himself and his daughter. There must have been prodigious reserves +of strength in the old man to enable him to accomplish so much hard +labor; and though he still babbled dementedly at times, his carpentry +seemed to show the effects of sound calculation. It had really begun +as soon as Wilbur was born, when one of the many tool-sheds had been +put suddenly in order, clapboarded, and fitted with a stout fresh lock. +Now, in restoring the abandoned upper story of the house, he was a no +less thorough craftsman. His mania showed itself only in his tight +boarding-up of all the windows in the reclaimed section--though many +declared that it was a crazy thing to bother with the reclamation at +all. Less inexplicable was his fitting-up of another downstairs room +for his new grandson--a room which several callers saw, though no one +was ever admitted to the closely-boarded upper story. This chamber +he lined with tall, firm shelving; along which he began gradually to +arrange, in apparently careful order, all the rotting ancient books and +parts of books which during his own day had been heaped promiscuously +in odd corners of the various rooms. + +"I made some use of 'em," he would say as he tried to mend a torn +black-letter page with paste prepared on the rusty kitchen stove, "but +the boy's fitten to make better use of 'em. He'd orter hev 'em as well +sot as he kin for they're goin' to be all of his larnin'." + +When Wilbur was a year and seven months old--in September of 1914--his +size and accomplishments were almost alarming. He had grown as large as +a child of four, and was a fluent and incredibly intelligent talker. +He ran freely about the fields and hills, and accompanied his mother +on all her wanderings. At home he would pore diligently over the queer +pictures and charts in his grandfather's books, while Old Whateley +would instruct and catechize him through long, hushed afternoons. By +this time the restoration of the house was finished, and those who +watched it wondered why one of the upper windows had been made into a +solid plank door. It was a window in the rear of the east gable end, +close against the hill; and no one could imagine why a cleated wooden +runway was built up to it from the ground. About the period of this +work's completion people noticed that the old tool-house, tightly +locked and windowlessly clapboarded since Wilbur's birth, had been +abandoned again. The door swung listlessly open, and when Earl Sawyer +once stepped within after a cattle-selling call on Old Whateley he was +quite discomposed by the singular odor he encountered--such a stench, +he averred, as he had never before smelt in all his life except near +the Indian circles on the hills, and which could not come from anything +sane or of this earth. But then, the homes and sheds of Dunwich folk +have never been remarkable for olfactory immaculateness. + +The following months were void of visible events, save that everyone +swore to a slow but steady increase in the mysterious hill noises. On +May Eve of 1915 there were tremors which even the Aylesbury people +felt, whilst the following Hallowe'en produced an underground rumbling +queerly synchronized with bursts of flame--"them witch Whateleys' +doin's"--from the summit of Sentinel Hill. Wilbur was growing up +uncannily, so that he looked like a boy of ten as he entered his +fourth year. He read avidly by himself now; but talked much less than +formerly. A settled taciturnity was absorbing him, and for the first +time people began to speak specifically of the dawning look of evil in +his goatish face. He would sometimes mutter an unfamiliar jargon, and +chant in bizarre rhythms which chilled the listener with a sense of +unexplainable terror. The aversion displayed toward him by dogs had now +become a matter of wide remark, and he was obliged to carry a pistol +in order to traverse the countryside in safety. His occasional use of +the weapon did not enhance his popularity amongst the owners of canine +guardians. + +The few callers at the house would often find Lavinia alone on the +ground floor, while odd cries and footsteps resounded in the boarded-up +second story. She would never tell what her father and the boy were +doing up there, though once she turned pale and displayed an abnormal +degree of fear when a jocose fish-peddler tried the locked door leading +to the stairway. That peddler told the store loungers at Dunwich +Village that he thought he heard a horse stamping on that floor above. +The loungers reflected, thinking of the door and runway, and of +the cattle that so swiftly disappeared. Then they shuddered as they +recalled tales of Old Whateley's youth, and of the strange things that +are called out of the earth when a bullock is sacrificed at the proper +time to certain heathen gods. It had for some time been noticed that +dogs had begun to hate and fear the whole Whateley place as violently +as they hated and feared young Wilbur personally. + +In 1917 the war came, and Squire Sawyer Whateley, as chairman of the +local draft board, had hard work finding a quota of young Dunwich men +fit even to be sent to a development camp. The government, alarmed at +such signs of wholesale regional decadence, sent several officers and +medical experts to investigate; conducting a survey which New England +newspaper readers may still recall. It was the publicity attending this +investigation which set reporters on the track of the Whateleys, and +caused the _Boston Globe_ and _Arkham Advertiser_ to print flamboyant +Sunday stories of young Wilbur's precociousness, Old Whateley's black +magic, the shelves of strange books, the sealed second story of the +ancient farmhouse, and the weirdness of the whole region and its hill +noises. Wilbur was four and a half then, and looked like a lad of +fifteen. His lip and cheek were fuzzy with a coarse dark down, and his +voice had begun to break. Earl Sawyer went out to the Whateley place +with both sets of reporters and camera men, and called their attention +to the queer stench which now seemed to trickle down from the sealed +upper spaces. It was, he said, exactly like a smell he had found in the +tool-shed abandoned when the house was finally repaired, and like the +faint odors which he sometimes thought he caught near the stone circles +on the mountains. Dunwich folk read the stories when they appeared, and +grinned over the obvious mistakes. They wondered, too, why the writers +made so much of the fact that Old Whateley always paid for his cattle +in gold pieces of extremely ancient date. The Whateleys had received +their visitors with ill-concealed distaste, though they did not dare +court further publicity by a violent resistance or refusal to talk. + + +4 + +For a decade the annals of the Whateleys sink indistinguishably into +the general life of a morbid community used to their queer ways and +hardened to their May Eve and All-Hallow orgies. Twice a year they +would light fires on the top of Sentinel Hill, at which times the +mountain rumblings would recur with greater and greater violence; while +at all seasons there were strange and portentous doings at the lonely +farmhouse. In the course of time callers professed to hear sounds +in the sealed upper story even when all the family were downstairs, +and they wondered how swiftly or how lingeringly a cow or bullock +was usually sacrificed. There was talk of a complaint to the Society +for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; but nothing ever came of +it, since Dunwich folk are never anxious to call the outside world's +attention to themselves. + +About 1923, when Wilbur was a boy of ten whose mind, voice, stature, +and bearded face gave all the impressions of maturity, a second great +siege of carpentry went on at the old house. It was all inside the +sealed upper part, and from bits of discarded lumber people concluded +that the youth and his grandfather had knocked out all the partitions +and even removed the attic floor, leaving only one vast open void +between the ground story and the peaked roof. They had torn down the +great central chimney, too, and fitted the rusty range with a flimsy +outside tin stove-pipe. + +In the spring after this event Old Whateley noticed the growing number +of whippoorwills that would come out of Cold Spring Glen to chirp under +his window at night. He seemed to regard the circumstance as one of +great significance, and told the loungers at Osborn's that he thought +his time had almost come. + +"They whistle jest in tune with my breathin' naow," he said, "an' I +guess they're gittin' ready to ketch my soul. They know it's a-goin' +aout, an' dun't calc'late to miss it. Yew'll know, boys, arter I'm +gone, whether they git me er not. Ef they dew, they'll keep up +a-singin' an' laffin' till break o' day. Ef they dun't, they'll kinder +quiet daown like. I expeck them an' the souls they hunts fer hev some +pretty tough tussles sometimes." + +On Lammas Night, 1924, Dr. Houghton of Aylesbury was hastily summoned +by Wilbur Whateley, who had lashed his one remaining horse through the +darkness and telephoned from Osborn's in the village. He found Old +Whateley in a very grave state, with a cardiac action and stertorous +breathing that told of an end not far off. The shapeless albino +daughter and oddly bearded grandson stood by the bedside, whilst from +the vacant abyss overhead there came a disquieting suggestion of +rhythmical surging or lapping, as of the waves on some level beach. The +doctor, though, was chiefly disturbed by the chattering night birds +outside; a seemingly limitless legion of whippoorwills that cried their +endless message in repetitions timed diabolically to the wheezing gasps +of the dying man. It was uncanny and unnatural--too much, thought Dr. +Houghton, like the whole of the region he had entered so reluctantly in +response to the urgent call. + +Toward 1 o'clock Old Whateley gained consciousness, and interrupted his +wheezing to choke out a few words to his grandson. + +"More space, Willy, more space soon. Yew grows--an' _that_ grows +faster. It'll be ready to sarve ye soon, boy. Open up the gates to +Yog-Sothoth with the long chant that ye'll find on page 751 _of the +complete edition_, an' _then_ put a match to the prison. Fire from +airth can't burn it nohaow!" + +He was obviously quite mad. After a pause, during which the flock of +whippoorwills outside adjusted their cries to the altered tempo while +some indications of the strange hill noises came from afar off, he +added another sentence or two. + +"Feed it reg'lar, Willy, an' mind the quantity; but dun't let it grow +too fast fer the place, fer ef it busts quarters or gits aout afore ye +opens to Yog-Sothoth, it's all over an' no use. Only them from beyont +kin make it multiply an' work.... Only them, the old uns as wants to +come back...." + +But speech gave place to gasps again, and Lavinia screamed at the +way the whippoorwills followed the change. It was the same for more +than an hour, when the final throaty rattle came. Dr. Houghton drew +shrunken lids over the glazing gray eyes as the tumult of birds faded +imperceptibly to silence. Lavinia sobbed, but Wilbur only chuckled +whilst the hill noises rumbled faintly. + +"They didn't git him," he muttered in his heavy bass voice. + +Wilbur was by this time a scholar of really tremendous erudition in +his one-sided way, and was quietly known by correspondence to many +librarians in distant places where rare and forbidden books of old days +are kept. He was more and more hated and dreaded around Dunwich because +of certain youthful disappearances which suspicion laid vaguely at his +door; but was always able to silence inquiry through fear or through +use of that fund of old-time gold which still, as in his grandfather's +time, went forth regularly and increasingly for cattle-buying. He +was now tremendously mature of aspect, and his height, having reached +the normal adult limit, seemed inclined to wax beyond that figure. In +1925, when a scholarly correspondent from Miskatonic University called +upon him one day and departed pale and puzzled, he was fully six and +three-quarters feet tall. + +Through all the years Wilbur had treated his half-deformed albino +mother with a growing contempt, finally forbidding her to go to the +hills with him on May Eve and Hallowmass; and in 1926 the poor creature +complained to Mamie Bishop of being afraid of him. + +"They's more abaout him as I knows than I kin tell ye, Mamie," she +said, "an' naowadays they's more nor what I know myself. I vaow afur +Gawd, I dun't know what he wants nor what he's a-tryin' to dew." + +That Hallowe'en the hill noises sounded louder than ever, and fire +burned on Sentinel Hill as usual, but people paid more attention +to the rhythmical screaming of vast flocks of unnaturally belated +whippoorwills which seemed to be assembled near the unlighted Whateley +farmhouse. After midnight their shrill notes burst into a kind of +pandemoniac cachinnation which filled all the countryside, and not +until dawn did they finally quiet down. Then they vanished, hurrying +southward where they were fully a month overdue. What this meant, no +one could quite be certain till later. None of the countryfolk seemed +to have died--but poor Lavinia Whateley, the twisted albino, was never +seen again. + +In the summer of 1927 Wilbur repaired two sheds in the farmyard and +began moving his books and effects out to them. Soon afterward Earl +Sawyer told the loungers at Osborn's that more carpentry was going on +in the Whateley farmhouse. Wilbur was closing all the doors and windows +on the ground floor, and seemed to be taking out partitions as he and +his grandfather had done upstairs four years before. He was living +in one of the sheds, and Sawyer thought he seemed unusually worried +and tremulous. People generally suspected him of knowing something +about his mother's disappearance, and very few ever approached his +neighborhood now. His height had increased to more than seven feet, and +showed no signs of ceasing its development. + + +5 + +The following winter brought an event no less strange than Wilbur's +first trip outside the Dunwich region. Correspondence with the Widener +Library at Harvard, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the British +Museum, the University of Buenos Aires, and the Library of Miskatonic +University at Arkham had failed to get him the loan of a book he +desperately wanted; so at length he set out in person, shabby, dirty, +bearded, and uncouth of dialect, to consult the copy at Miskatonic, +which was the nearest to him geographically. Almost eight feet tall, +and carrying a cheap new valise from Osborn's general store, this +dark and goatish gargoyle appeared one day in Arkham in quest of the +dreaded volume kept under lock and key at the college library--the +hideous _Necronomicon_ of the mad Arab Alhazred in Olaus Wormius' Latin +version, as printed in Spain in the Seventeenth Century. He had never +seen a city before, but had no thought save to find his way to the +university grounds; where, indeed, he passed heedlessly by the great +white-fanged watchdog that barked with unnatural fury and enmity, and +tugged frantically at its stout chain. + +Wilbur had with him the priceless but imperfect copy of Dr. Dee's +English version which his grandfather had bequeathed him, and upon +receiving access to the Latin copy he at once began to collate the two +texts with the aim of discovering a certain passage which would have +come on the 751st page of his own defective volume. This much he could +not civilly refrain from telling the librarian--the same erudite Henry +Armitage (A. M. Miskatonic, Ph. D. Princeton, Litt. D. Johns Hopkins) +who had once called at the farm, and who now politely plied him with +questions. He was looking, he had to admit, for a kind of formula or +incantation containing the frightful name _Yog-Sothoth_, and it puzzled +him to find discrepancies, duplications, and ambiguities which made +the matter of determination far from easy. As he copied the formula +he finally chose, Dr. Armitage looked involuntarily over his shoulder +at the open pages; the left-hand one of which, in the Latin version, +contained such monstrous threats to the peace and sanity of the world. + + Nor is it to be thought [ran the text as Armitage mentally + translated it] that man is either the oldest or the last of earth's + masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. + The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not + in the spaces we know, but _between_ them. They walk serene and + primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. _Yog-Sothoth_ knows the + gate. _Yog-Sothoth_ is the gate. _Yog-Sothoth_ is the key and + guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in + _Yog-Sothoth_. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, + and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have + trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no + one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes + know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, _saving + only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind_; and + of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man's + truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is + _They_. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words + have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. + The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with + Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet + may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the + cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice + desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones + whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen + city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? + Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. _Iä + Shub-Niggurath!_ As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at + your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one + with your guarded threshold. _Yog-Sothoth_ is the key to the gate, + whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They + shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, and + after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall + They reign again. + +Dr. Armitage, associating what he was reading with what he had heard +of Dunwich and its brooding presences, and of Wilbur Whateley and his +dim, hideous aura that stretched from a dubious birth to a cloud of +probable matricide, felt a wave of fright as tangible as a draft of the +tomb's cold clamminess. The bent, goatish giant before him seemed like +the spawn of another planet or dimension; like something only partly of +mankind, and linked to black gulfs of essence and entity that stretch +like titan fantasms beyond all spheres of force and matter, space and +time. + +Presently Wilbur raised his head and began speaking in that strange, +resonant fashion which hinted at sound-producing organs unlike the run +of mankind's. + +"Mr. Armitage," he said, "I calc'late I've got to take that book home. +They's things in it I've got to try under sarten conditions that I +can't git here, an' it 'ud be a mortal sin to let a red-tape rule hold +me up. Let me take it along, sir, an' I'll swar they wun't nobody know +the difference. I dun't need to tell ye I'll take good keer of it. It +wa'n't me that put this Dee copy in the shape it is...." + +He stopped as he saw firm denial on the librarian's face, and his own +goatish features grew crafty. Armitage, half ready to tell him he might +make a copy of what parts he needed, thought suddenly of the possible +consequences and checked himself. There was too much responsibility +in giving such a being the key to such blasphemous outer spheres. +Whateley saw how things stood, and tried to answer lightly. + +"Wal, all right, ef ye feel that way abaout it. Maybe Harvard wun't be +so fussy as yew be." And without saying more he rose and strode out of +the building, stooping at each doorway. + +Armitage heard the savage yelping of the great watchdog, and studied +Whateley's gorilla-like lope as he crossed the bit of campus visible +from the window. He thought of the wild tales he had heard, and +recalled the old Sunday stories in the _Advertiser_; these things, and +the lore he had picked up from Dunwich rustics and villagers during +his one visit there. Unseen things not of earth--or at least not of +tri-dimensional earth--rushed fetid and horrible through New England's +glens, and brooded obscenely on the mountain tops. Of this he had +long felt certain. Now he seemed to sense the close presence of some +terrible part of the intruding horror, and to glimpse a hellish advance +in the black dominion of the ancient and once passive nightmare. He +locked away the _Necronomicon_ with a shudder of disgust, but the room +still reeked with an unholy and unidentifiable stench. "As a foulness +shall ye know them," he quoted. Yes--the odor was the same as that +which had sickened him at the Whateley farmhouse less than three years +before. He thought of Wilbur, goatish and ominous, once again, and +laughed mockingly at the village rumors of his parentage. + +"Inbreeding?" Armitage muttered half aloud to himself. "Great God, what +simpletons! Show them Arthur Machen's _Great God Pan_ and they'll think +it a common Dunwich scandal! But what thing--what cursed shapeless +influence on or off this three-dimensioned earth--was Wilbur Whateley's +father? Born on Candlemas--nine months after May Eve of 1912, when the +talk about the queer earth noises reached clear to Arkham--what walked +on the mountains that May Night? What Roodmas horror fastened itself on +the world in half-human flesh and blood?" + +During the ensuing weeks Dr. Armitage set about to collect all possible +data on Wilbur Whateley and the formless presences around Dunwich. He +got in communication with Dr. Houghton of Aylesbury, who had attended +Old Whateley in his last illness, and found much to ponder over in the +grandfather's last words as quoted by the physician. A visit to Dunwich +Village failed to bring out much that was new; but a close survey of +the _Necronomicon_, in those parts which Wilbur had sought so avidly, +seemed to supply new and terrible clues to the nature, methods, and +desires of the strange evil so vaguely threatening this planet. Talks +with several students of archaic lore in Boston, and letters to many +others elsewhere, gave him a growing amazement which passed slowly +through varied degrees of alarm to a state of really acute spiritual +fear. As the summer drew on he felt dimly that something ought to be +done about the lurking terrors of the upper Miskatonic valley, and +about the monstrous being known to the human world as Wilbur Whateley. + + +6 + +The Dunwich horror itself came between Lammas and the equinox in 1928, +and Dr. Armitage was among those who witnessed its monstrous prologue. +He had heard, meanwhile, of Whateley's grotesque trip to Cambridge, +and of his frantic efforts to borrow or copy from the _Necronomicon_ +at the Widener Library. Those efforts had been in vain, since Armitage +had issued warnings of the keenest intensity to all librarians having +charge of the dreaded volume. Wilbur had been shockingly nervous at +Cambridge; anxious for the book, yet almost equally anxious to get +home again, as if he feared the results of being away long. + +Early in August the half-expected outcome developed, and in the small +hours of the third Dr. Armitage was awakened suddenly by the wild, +fierce cries of the savage watchdog on the college campus. Deep and +terrible, the snarling, half-mad growls and barks continued; always +in mounting volume, but with hideously significant pauses. Then there +rang out a scream from a wholly different throat--such a scream as +roused half the sleepers of Arkham and haunted their dreams ever +afterward--such a scream as could come from no being born of earth, or +wholly of earth. + +Armitage hastened into some clothing and rushed across the street and +lawn to the college buildings, saw that others were ahead of him; and +heard the echoes of a burglar-alarm still shrilling from the library. +An open window showed black and gaping in the moonlight. What had come +had indeed completed its entrance; for the barking and the screaming, +now fast fading into a mixed low growling and moaning, proceeded +unmistakably from within. Some instinct warned Armitage that what was +taking place was not a thing for unfortified eyes to see, so he brushed +back the crowd with authority as he unlocked the vestibule door. Among +the others he saw Professor Warren Rice and Dr. Francis Morgan, men to +whom he had told some of his conjectures and misgivings; and these two +he motioned to accompany him inside. The inward sounds, except for a +watchful, droning whine from the dog, had by this time quite subsided; +but Armitage now perceived with a sudden start that a loud chorus of +whippoorwills among the shrubbery had commenced a damnably rhythmical +piping, as if in unison with the last breath of a dying man. + +The building was full of a frightful stench which Dr. Armitage knew +too well, and the three men rushed across the hall to the small +genealogical reading-room whence the low whining came. For a second +nobody dared to turn on the light; then Armitage summoned up his +courage and snapped the switch. One of the three--it is not certain +which--shrieked aloud at what sprawled before them among disordered +tables and overturned chairs. Professor Rice declares that he wholly +lost consciousness for an instant, though he did not stumble or fall. + +The thing that lay half-bent on its side in a fetid pool of +greenish-yellow ichor and tarry stickiness was almost nine feet tall, +and the dog had torn off all the clothing and some of the skin. It +was not quite dead, but twitched silently and spasmodically while its +chest heaved in monstrous unison with the mad piping of the expectant +whippoorwills outside. Bits of shoe-leather and fragments of apparel +were scattered about the room, and just inside the window an empty +canvas sack lay where it had evidently been thrown. Near the central +desk a revolver had fallen, a dented but undischarged cartridge later +explaining why it had not been fired. The thing itself, however, +crowded out all other images at the time. It would be trite and not +wholly accurate to say that no human pen could describe it, but one may +properly say that it could not be vividly visualized by anyone whose +ideas of aspect and contour are too closely bound up with the common +life-forms of this planet and of the three known dimensions. It was +partly human, beyond a doubt, with very manlike hands and head, and the +goatish, chinless face had the stamp of the Whateleys upon it. But the +torso and lower parts of the body were teratologically fabulous, so +that only generous clothing could ever have enabled it to walk on earth +unchallenged or uneradicated. + +Above the waist it was semi-anthropomorphic; though its chest, where +the dog's rending paws still rested watchfully, had the leathery, +reticulated hide of a crocodile or alligator. The back was piebald +with yellow and black, and dimly suggested the squamous covering of +certain snakes. Below the waist, though, it was the worst; for here +all human resemblance left off and sheer fantasy began. The skin was +thickly covered with coarse black fur, and from the abdomen a score of +long greenish-gray tentacles with red sucking mouths protruded limply. +Their arrangement was odd, and seemed to follow the symmetries of some +cosmic geometry unknown to earth or the solar system. On each of the +hips, deep set in a kind of pinkish, ciliated orbit, was what seemed to +be a rudimentary eye; whilst in lieu of a tail there depended a kind of +trunk or feeler with purple annular markings, and with many evidences +of being an undeveloped mouth or throat. The limbs, save for their +black fur, roughly resembled the hind legs of prehistoric earth's giant +saurians; and terminated in ridgy-veined pads that were neither hooves +nor claws. When the thing breathed, its tail and tentacles rhythmically +changed color, as if from some circulatory cause normal to the +non-human side of its ancestry. In the tentacles this was observable as +a deepening of the greenish tinge, whilst in the tail it was manifest +as a yellowish appearance which alternated with a sickly grayish-white +in the spaces between the purple rings. Of genuine blood there was +none; only the fetid greenish-yellow ichor which trickled along the +painted floor beyond the radius of the stickiness, and left a curious +discoloration behind it. + +As the presence of the three men seemed to rouse the dying thing, it +began to mumble without turning or raising its head. Dr. Armitage +made no written record of its mouthings, but asserts confidently that +nothing in English was uttered. At first the syllables defied all +correlation with any speech of earth, but toward the last there came +some disjointed fragments evidently taken from the _Necronomicon_, +that monstrous blasphemy in quest of which the thing had perished. +Those fragments, as Armitage recalls them, ran something like "_N'gai, +n'gha'ghaa, bugg-shoggog, y'hah; Yog-Sothoth, Yog-Sothoth...._" +They trailed off into nothingness as the whippoorwills shrieked in +rhythmical crescendoes of unholy anticipation. + +Then came a halt in the gasping, and the dog raised his head in a long, +lugubrious howl. A change came over the yellow, goatish face of the +prostrate thing, and the great black eyes fell in appallingly. Outside +the window the shrilling of the whippoorwills had suddenly ceased, and +above the murmurs of the gathering crowd there came the sound of a +panic-struck whirring and fluttering. Against the moon vast clouds of +feathery watchers rose and raced from sight, frantic at that which they +had sought for prey. + +All at once the dog started up abruptly, gave a frightened bark, and +leaped nervously out the window by which it had entered. A cry rose +from the crowd, and Dr. Armitage shouted to the men outside that no +one must be admitted till the police or medical examiner came. He was +thankful that the windows were just too high to permit of peering +in, and drew the dark curtains carefully down over each one. By this +time two policemen had arrived; and Dr. Morgan, meeting them in the +vestibule, was urging them for their own sakes to postpone entrance to +the stench-filled reading-room till the examiner came and the prostrate +thing could be covered up. + +Meanwhile frightful changes were taking place on the floor. One need +not describe the _kind_ and _rate_ of shrinkage and disintegration that +occurred before the eyes of Dr. Armitage and Professor Rice; but it is +permissible to say that, aside from the external appearance of face +and hands, the really human elements in Wilbur Whateley must have been +very small. When the medical examiner came, there was only a sticky +whitish mass on the painted boards, and the monstrous odor had nearly +disappeared. Apparently Whateley had had no skull or bony skeleton; at +least, in any true or stable sense. He had taken somewhat after his +unknown father. + + +7 + +Yet all this was only the prologue of the actual Dunwich horror. +Formalities were gone through by bewildered officials, abnormal details +were duly kept from press and public, and men were sent to Dunwich +and Aylesbury to look up property and notify any who might be heirs +of the late Wilbur Whateley. They found the countryside in great +agitation, both because of the growing rumblings beneath the domed +hills, and because of the unwonted stench and the surging, lapping +sounds which came increasingly from the great empty shell formed by +Whateley's boarded-up farmhouse. Earl Sawyer, who tended the horse and +cattle during Wilbur's absence, had developed a wofully acute case +of nerves. The officials devised excuses not to enter the noisome +boarded place; and were glad to confine their survey of the deceased's +living quarters, the newly mended sheds, to a single visit. They filed +a ponderous report at the court-house in Aylesbury, and litigations +concerning heirship are said to be still in progress amongst the +innumerable Whateleys, decayed and undecayed, of the upper Miskatonic +valley. + +An almost interminable manuscript in strange characters, written in a +huge ledger and adjudged a sort of diary because of the spacing and +the variations in ink and penmanship, presented a baffling puzzle to +those who found it on the old bureau which served as its owner's +desk. After a week of debate it was sent to Miskatonic University, +together with the deceased's collection of strange books, for study +and possible translation; but even the best linguists soon saw that it +was not likely to be unriddled with ease. No trace of the ancient gold +with which Wilbur and Old Whateley always paid their debts has yet been +discovered. + +It was in the dark of September ninth that the horror broke loose. +The hill noises had been very pronounced during the evening, and dogs +barked frantically all night. Early risers on the tenth noticed a +peculiar stench in the air. About 7 o'clock Luther Brown, the hired boy +at George Corey's, between Cold Spring Glen and the village, rushed +frenziedly back from his morning trip to Ten-Acre Meadow with the cows. +He was almost convulsed with fright as he stumbled into the kitchen; +and in the yard outside the no less frightened herd were pawing and +lowing pitifully, having followed the boy back in the panic they shared +with him. Between gasps Luther tried to stammer out his tale to Mrs. +Corey. + +"Up thar in the rud beyont the glen, Mis' Corey--they's suthin' ben +thar! It smells like thunder, an' all the bushes an' little trees is +pushed back from the rud like they'd a haouse ben moved along of it. +An' that ain't the wust, nuther. They's _prints_ in the rud, Mis' +Corey--great raound prints as big as barrel-heads, all sunk daown deep +like a elephant had ben along, _only they's a sight more nor four feet +could make_. I looked at one or two afore I run, an' I see every one +was covered with lines spreadin' aout from one place, like as if big +palm-leaf fans--twict or three times as big as any they is--hed of ben +paounded daown into the rud. An' the smell was awful, like what it is +araound Wizard Whateley's ol' haouse...." + +Here he faltered, and seemed to shiver afresh with the fright that had +sent him flying home. Mrs. Corey, unable to extract more information, +began telephoning the neighbors; thus starting on its rounds the +overture of panic that heralded the major terrors. When she got Sally +Sawyer, housekeeper at Seth Bishop's, the nearest place to Whateley's, +it became her turn to listen instead of transmit; for Sally's boy +Chauncey, who slept poorly, had been up on the hill toward Whateley's, +and had dashed back in terror after one look at the place, and at the +pasturage where Mr. Bishop's cows had been left out all night. + +"Yes, Mis' Corey," came Sally's tremulous voice over the party wire, +"Cha'ncey he just come back a-post-in', and couldn't haff talk fer +bein' scairt! He says Ol' Whateley's haouse is all blowed up, with +the timbers scattered raound like they'd ben dynamite inside; only +the bottom floor ain't through, but is all covered with a kind o' +tarlike stuff that smells awful an' drips daown offen the aidges onto +the graoun' whar the side timbers is blowed away. An' they's awful +kinder marks in the yard, tew--great raound marks bigger raound than a +hogshead, an' all sticky with stuff like is on the blowed-up haouse. +Cha'ncey he says they leads off into the medders, whar a great swath +wider'n a barn is matted daown, an' all the stun walls tumbled every +which way wherever it goes. + +"An' he says, says he, Mis' Corey, as haow he sot to look fer Seth's +caows, frighted ez he was; an' faound 'em in the upper pasture nigh the +Devil's Hop Yard in an awful shape. Haff on 'em's clean gone, an' nigh +haff o' them that's left is sucked most dry o' blood, with sores on 'em +like they's ben on Whateley's cattle ever senct Lavinny's black brat +was born. Seth he's gone aout naow to look at 'em, though I'll vaow he +wun't keer ter git very nigh Wizard Whateley's! Cha'ncey didn't look +keerful ter see whar the big matted-daown swath led arter it leff the +pasturage, but he says he thinks it p'inted towards the glen rud to the +village. + +"I tell ye, Mis' Corey, they's suthin' abroad as hadn't orter be +abroad, an' I fer one think that black Wilbur Whateley, as come to +the bad eend he desarved, is at the bottom of the breedin' of it. He +wa'n't all human hisself, I allus says to everybody; an' I think he an' +Ol' Whateley must a raised suthin' in that there nailed-up haouse as +ain't even so human as he was. They's allus ben unseen things araound +Dunwich--livin' things--as ain't human an' ain't good fer human folks. + +"The graoun' was a'talkin' lass night, an' towards mornin' Cha'ncey +he heerd the whippoorwills so laoud in Col' Spring Glen he couldn't +sleep none. Then he thought he heerd another faintlike saound over +towards Wizard Whateley's--a kinder rippin' or tearin' o' wood, like +some big box or crate was bein' opened fur off. What with this an' +that, he didn't git to sleep at all till sunup, an' no sooner was he +up this mornin', but he's got to go over to Whateley's an' see what's +the matter. He see enough, I tell ye, Mis' Corey! This dun't mean no +good, an' I think as all the men-folks ought to git up a party an' +do suthin'. I know suthin' awful's abaout, an' feel my time is nigh, +though only Gawd knows jest what it is. + +"Did your Luther take accaount o' whar them big tracks led tew? No? +Wal, Mis' Corey, ef they was on the glen rud this side o' the glen, +an' ain't got to your haouse yet, I calc'late they must go into the +glen itself. They would do that. I allus says Col' Spring Glen ain't no +healthy nor decent place. The whippoorwills an' fireflies there never +did act like they was creaters o' Gawd, an' they's them as says ye kin +hear strange things a-rushin' an' a-talkin' in the air daown thar ef ye +stand in the right place, atween the rock falls an' Bear's Den." + + * * * * * + +By that noon fully three-quarters of the men and boys of Dunwich were +trooping over the roads and meadows between the new-made Whateley ruins +and Cold Spring Glen; examining in horror the vast, monstrous prints, +the maimed Bishop cattle, the strange, noisome wreck of the farmhouse, +and the bruised, matted vegetation of the fields and road-sides. +Whatever had burst loose upon the world had assuredly gone down into +the great sinister ravine; for all the trees on the banks were bent and +broken, and a great avenue had been gouged in the precipice-hanging +underbrush. It was as though a house, launched by an avalanche, had +slid down through the tangled growths of the almost vertical slope. +From below no sound came, but only a distant, undefinable fetor; and +it is not to be wondered at that the men preferred to stay on the edge +and argue, rather than descend and beard the unknown Cyclopean horror +in its lair. Three dogs that were with the party had barked furiously +at first, but seemed cowed and reluctant when near the glen. Someone +telephoned the news to the _Aylesbury Transcript_; but the editor, +accustomed to wild tales from Dunwich, did no more than concoct a +humorous paragraph about it; an item soon afterward reproduced by the +Associated Press. + +That night everyone went home, and every house and barn was barricaded +as stoutly as possible. Needless to say, no cattle were allowed to +remain in open pasturage. About 2 in the morning a frightful stench and +the savage barking of the dogs awakened the household at Elmer Frye's, +on the eastern edge of Cold Spring Glen, and all agreed that they +could hear a sort of muffled swishing or lapping sound from somewhere +outside. Mrs. Frye proposed telephoning the neighbors, and Elmer was +about to agree when the noise of splintering wood burst in upon their +deliberations. It came, apparently, from the barn; and was quickly +followed by a hideous screaming and stamping amongst the cattle. The +dogs slavered and crouched close to the feet of the fear-numbed family. +Frye lit a lantern through force of habit, but knew it would be death +to go out into that black farmyard. The children and the women-folk +whimpered, kept from screaming by some obscure, vestigial instinct +of defense which told them their lives depended on silence. At last +the noise of the cattle subsided to a pitiful moaning, and a great +snapping, crashing, and crackling ensued. The Fryes, huddled together +in the sitting-room, did not dare to move until the last echoes died +away far down in Cold Spring Glen. Then, amidst the dismal moans from +the stable and the demoniac piping of late whippoorwills in the glen, +Selina Frye tottered to the telephone and spread what news she could of +the second phase of the horror. + +The next day all the countryside was in a panic; and cowed, +uncommunicative groups came and went where the fiendish thing had +occurred. Two titan swaths of destruction stretched from the glen +to the Frye farmyard, monstrous prints covered the bare patches of +ground, and one side of the old red barn had completely caved in. Of +the cattle, only about a quarter could be found and identified. Some of +these were in curious fragments, and all that survived had to be shot. +Earl Sawyer suggested that help be asked from Aylesbury or Arkham, but +others maintained it would be of no use. Old Zebulon Whateley, of a +branch that hovered about half-way between soundness and decadence, +made darkly wild suggestions about rites that ought to be practised on +the hilltops. He came of a line where tradition ran strong, and his +memories of chantings in the great stone circles were not altogether +connected with Wilbur and his grandfather. + +Darkness fell upon a stricken countryside too passive to organize +for real defense. In a few cases closely related families would band +together and watch in the gloom under one roof; but, in general there +was only a repetition of the barricading of the night before, and a +futile, ineffective gesture of loading muskets and setting pitchforks +handily about. Nothing, however, occurred except some hill noises; and +when the day came there were many who hoped that the new horror had +gone as swiftly as it had come. There were even bold souls who proposed +an offensive expedition down in the glen, though they did not venture +to set an actual example to the still reluctant majority. + +When night came again the barricading was repeated, though there was +less huddling together of families. In the morning both the Frye and +the Seth Bishop households reported excitement among the dogs and vague +sounds and stenches from afar, while early explorers noted with horror +a fresh set of the monstrous tracks in the road skirting Sentinel Hill. +As before, the sides of the road showed a bruising indicative of the +blasphemously stupendous bulk of the horror; whilst the conformation +of the tracks seemed to argue a passage in two directions, as if the +moving mountain had come from Cold Spring Glen and returned to it along +the same path. At the base of the hill a thirty-foot swath of crushed +shrubbery and saplings led steeply upward, and the seekers gasped when +they saw that even the most perpendicular places did not deflect the +inexorable trail. Whatever the horror was, it could scale a sheer stony +cliff of almost complete verticality; and as the investigators climbed +around to the hill's summit by safer routes they saw that the trail +ended--or rather, reversed--there. + +It was here that the Whateleys used to build their hellish fires and +chant their hellish rituals by the table-like stone on May Eve and +Hallowmass. Now that very stone formed the center of a vast space +thrashed around by the mountainous horror, whilst upon its slightly +concave surface was a thick fetid deposit of the same tarry stickiness +observed on the floor of the ruined Whateley farmhouse when the horror +escaped. Men looked at one another and muttered. Then they looked down +the hill. Apparently the horror had descended by a route much the same +as that of its ascent. To speculate was futile. Reason, logic, and +normal ideas of motivation stood confounded. Only old Zebulon, who +was not with the group, could have done justice to the situation or +suggested a plausible explanation. + +Thursday night began much like the others, but it ended less happily. +The whippoorwills in the glen had screamed with such unusual +persistence that many could not sleep, and about 3 a. m. all the party +telephones rang tremulously. Those who took down their receivers +heard a fright-mad voice shriek out, "Help, oh, my Gawd!..." and some +thought a crashing sound followed the breaking off of the exclamation. +There was nothing more. No one dared do anything, and no one knew +till morning whence the call came. Then those who had heard it called +everyone on the line, and found that only the Fryes did not reply. The +truth appeared an hour later, when a hastily assembled group of armed +men trudged out to the Frye place at the head of the glen. It was +horrible, yet hardly a surprize. There were more swaths and monstrous +prints, but there was no longer any house. It had caved in like an +egg-shell, and amongst the ruins nothing living or dead could be +discovered--only a stench and a tarry stickiness. The Elmer Fryes had +been erased from Dunwich. + + +8 + +In the meantime a quieter yet even more spiritually poignant phase of +the horror had been blackly unwinding itself behind the closed door of +a shelf-lined room in Arkham. The curious manuscript record or diary of +Wilbur Whateley, delivered to Miskatonic University for translation, +had caused much worry and bafflement among the experts in languages +both ancient and modern; its very alphabet, notwithstanding a general +resemblance to the heavily shaded Arabic used in Mesopotamia, being +absolutely unknown to any available authority. The final conclusion of +the linguists was that the text represented an artificial alphabet, +giving the effect of a cipher; though none of the usual methods of +cryptographic solution seemed to furnish any clue, even when applied +on the basis of every tongue the writer might conceivably have used. +The ancient books taken from Whateley's quarters, while absorbingly +interesting and in several cases promising to open up new and terrible +lines of research among philosophers and men of science, were of no +assistance whatever in this matter. One of them, a heavy tome with +an iron clasp, was in another unknown alphabet--this one of a very +different cast, and resembling Sanskrit more than anything else. The +old ledger was at length given wholly into the charge of Dr. Armitage, +both because of his peculiar interest in the Whateley matter, and +because of his wide linguistic learning and skill in the mystical +formulæ of antiquity and the Middle Ages. + +Armitage had an idea that the alphabet might be something esoterically +used by certain forbidden cults which have come down from old times, +and which have inherited many forms and traditions from the wizards of +the Saracenic world. That question, however, he did not deem vital; +since it would be unnecessary to know the origin of the symbols if, +as he suspected, they were used as a cipher in a modern language. It +was his belief that, considering the great amount of text involved, the +writer would scarcely have wished the trouble of using another speech +than his own, save perhaps in certain special formulæ and incantations. +Accordingly he attacked the manuscript with the preliminary assumption +that the bulk of it was in English. + +Dr. Armitage knew, from the repeated failures of his colleagues, that +the riddle was a deep and complex one, and that no simple mode of +solution could merit even a trial. All through late August he fortified +himself with the massed lore of cryptography, drawing upon the fullest +resources of his own library, and wading night after night amidst the +arcana of Trithemius' _Poligraphia_, Giambattista Porta's _De Furtivis +Literarum Notis_, De Vigenere's _Traité des Chiffres_, Falconer's +_Cryptomenysis Patefacta_, Davys' and Thicknesse's Eighteenth Century +treatises, and such fairly modern authorities as Blair, von Marten, +and Klüber's _Kryptographik_. He interspersed his study of the books +with attacks on the manuscript itself, and in time became convinced +that he had to deal with one of those subtlest and most ingenious of +cryptograms, in which many separate lists of corresponding letters are +arranged like the multiplication table, and the message built up with +arbitrary key-words known only to the initiated. The older authorities +seemed rather more helpful than the newer ones, and Armitage concluded +that the code of the manuscript was one of great antiquity, no doubt +handed down through a long line of mystical experimenters. Several +times he seemed near daylight, only to be set back by some unforeseen +obstacle. Then, as September approached, the clouds began to clear. +Certain letters, as used in certain parts of the manuscript, emerged +definitely and unmistakably; and it became obvious that the text was +indeed in English. + +On the evening of September second the last major barrier gave way, and +Dr. Armitage read for the first time a continuous passage of Wilbur +Whateley's annals. It was in truth a diary, as all had thought; and +it was couched in a style clearly showing the mixed occult erudition +and general illiteracy of the strange being who wrote it. Almost the +first long passage that Armitage deciphered, an entry dated November +26, 1916, proved highly startling and disquieting. It was written, he +remembered, by a child of three and a half who looked like a lad of +twelve or thirteen. + + Today learned the Aklo for the Sabaoth, [it ran] which did not + like, it being answerable from the hill and not from the air. That + upstairs more ahead of me than I had thought it would be, and is + not like to have much earth brain. Shot Elam Hutchins's collie + Jack when he went to bite me, and Elam says he would kill me if he + dast. I guess he won't. Grandfather kept me saying the Dho formula + last night, and I think I saw the inner city at the 2 magnetic + poles. I shall go to those poles when the earth is cleared off, if + I can't break through with the Dho-Hna formula when I commit it. + They from the air told me at Sabbat that it will be years before I + can clear off the earth, and I guess Grandfather will be dead then, + so I shall have to learn all the angles of the planes and all the + formulas between the Yr and the Nhhngr. They from outside will + help, but they can not take body without human blood. That upstairs + looks it will have the right cast. I can see it a little when I + make the Yoorish sign or blow the power of Ibn Ghazi at it, and it + is near like them at May Eve on the Hill. The other face may wear + off some. I wonder how I shall look when the earth is cleared and + there are no earth beings on it. He that came with the Aklo Sabaoth + said I may be transfigured, there being much of outside to work on. + +Morning found Dr. Armitage in a cold sweat of terror and a frenzy of +wakeful concentration. He had not left the manuscript all night, but +sat at his table under the electric light turning page after page +with shaking hands as fast as he could decipher the cryptic text. He +had nervously telephoned his wife he would not be home, and when she +brought him a breakfast from the house he could scarcely dispose of a +mouthful. All that day he read on, now and then halted maddeningly as +a reapplication of the complex key became necessary. Lunch and dinner +were brought him, but he ate only the smallest fraction of either. +Toward the middle of the next night he drowsed off in his chair, but +soon woke out of a tangle of nightmares almost as hideous as the truths +and menaces to man's existence that he had uncovered. + +On the morning of September fourth Professor Rice and Dr. Morgan +insisted on seeing him for a while, and departed trembling and +ashen-gray. That evening he went to bed, but slept only fitfully. +Wednesday--the next day--he was back at the manuscript, and began to +take copious notes both from the current sections and from those he had +already deciphered. In the small hours of that night he slept a little +in an easy-chair in his office, but was at the manuscript again before +dawn. Some time before noon his physician, Dr. Hartwell, called to see +him and insisted that he cease work. He refused, intimating that it was +of the most vital importance for him to complete the reading of the +diary, and promising an explanation in due course of time. + +That evening, just as twilight fell, he finished his terrible perusal +and sank back exhausted. His wife, bringing his dinner, found him in a +half-comatose state; but he was conscious enough to warn her off with +a sharp cry when he saw her eyes wander toward the notes he had taken. +Weakly rising, he gathered up the scribbled papers and sealed them all +in a great envelope, which he immediately placed in his inside coat +pocket. He had sufficient strength to get home, but was so clearly in +need of medical aid that Dr. Hartwell was summoned at once. As the +doctor put him to bed he could only mutter over and over again, "_But +what, in God's name, can we do?_" + +Dr. Armitage slept, but was partly delirious the next day. He made +no explanations to Hartwell, but in his calmer moments spoke of the +imperative need of a long conference with Rice and Morgan. His wilder +wanderings were very startling indeed, including frantic appeals +that something in a boarded-up farmhouse be destroyed, and fantastic +references to some plan for the extirpation of the entire human race +and all animal and vegetable life from the earth by some terrible elder +race of beings from another dimension. He would shout that the world +was in danger, since the Elder Things wished to strip it and drag it +away from the solar system and cosmos of matter into some other plane +or phase of entity from which it had once fallen, vigintillions of eons +ago. At other times he would call for the dreaded _Necronomicon_ and +the _Dæmonolatreia_ of Remigius, in which he seemed hopeful of finding +some formula to check the peril he conjured up. + +"Stop them, stop them!" he would shout. "Those Whateleys meant to let +them in, and the worst of all is left! Tell Rice and Morgan we must do +something--it's a blind business, but I know how to make the powder.... +It hasn't been fed since the second of August, when Wilbur came here to +his death, and at that rate...." + +But Armitage had a sound physique despite his seventy-three years, and +slept off his disorder that night without developing any real fever. He +woke late Friday, clear of head, though sober, with a gnawing fear and +tremendous sense of responsibility. Saturday afternoon he felt able to +go over to the library and summon Rice and Morgan for a conference, and +the rest of that day and evening the three men tortured their brains +in the wildest speculation and the most desperate debate. Strange and +terrible books were drawn voluminously from the stack shelves and from +secure places of storage, and diagrams and formulæ were copied with +feverish haste and in bewildering abundance. Of skepticism there was +none. All three had seen the body of Wilbur Whateley as it lay on the +floor in a room of that very building, and after that not one of them +could feel even slightly inclined to treat the diary as a madman's +raving. + +Opinions were divided as to notifying the Massachusetts State Police, +and the negative finally won. There were things involved which simply +could not be believed by those who had not seen a sample, as indeed was +made clear during certain subsequent investigations. Late at night the +conference disbanded without having developed a definite plan, but all +day Sunday Armitage was busy comparing formulæ and mixing chemicals +obtained from the college laboratory. The more he reflected on the +hellish diary, the more he was inclined to doubt the efficacy of any +material agent in stamping out the entity which Wilbur Whateley had +left behind him--the earth-threatening entity which, unknown to him, +was to burst forth in a few hours and become the memorable Dunwich +horror. + +Monday was a repetition of Sunday with Dr. Armitage, for the task +in hand required an infinity of research and experiment. Further +consultations of the monstrous diary brought about various changes of +plan, and he knew that even in the end a large amount of uncertainty +must remain. By Tuesday he had a definite line of action mapped out, +and believed he would try a trip to Dunwich within a week. Then, on +Wednesday, the great shock came. Tucked obscurely away in a corner of +the _Arkham Advertiser_ was a facetious little item from the Associated +Press, telling what a record-breaking monster the bootleg whisky of +Dunwich had raised up. Armitage, half stunned, could only telephone +for Rice and Morgan. Far into the night they discussed, and the next +day was a whirlwind of preparation on the part of them all. Armitage +knew he would be meddling with terrible powers, yet saw that there was +no other way to annul the deeper and more malign meddling which others +had done before him. + + +9 + +Friday morning Armitage, Rice and Morgan set out by motor for Dunwich, +arriving at the village about 1 in the afternoon. The day was pleasant, +but even in the brightest sunlight a kind of quiet dread and portent +seemed to hover about the strangely domed hills and the deep, shadowy +ravines of the stricken region. Now and then on some mountain top a +gaunt circle of stones could be glimpsed against the sky. From the +air of hushed fright at Osborn's store they knew something hideous +had happened, and soon learned of the annihilation of the Elmer Frye +house and family. Throughout that afternoon they rode around Dunwich, +questioning the natives concerning all that had occurred, and seeing +for themselves with rising pangs of horror the drear Frye ruins with +their lingering traces of the tarry stickiness, the blasphemous tracks +in the Frye yard, the wounded Seth Bishop cattle, and the enormous +swaths of disturbed vegetation in various places. The trail up and down +Sentinel Hill seemed to Armitage of almost cataclysmic significance, +and he looked long at the sinister altarlike stone on the summit. + +At length the visitors, apprised of a party of State Police which had +come from Aylesbury that morning in response to the first telephone +reports of the Frye tragedy, decided to seek out the officers and +compare notes as far as practicable. This, however, they found more +easily planned than performed; since no sign of the party could be +found in any direction. There had been five of them in a car, but now +the car stood empty near the ruins in the Frye yard. The natives, all +of whom had talked with the policemen, seemed at first as perplexed as +Armitage and his companions. Then old Sam Hutchins thought of something +and turned pale, nudging Fred Farr and pointing to the dank, deep +hollow that yawned close by. + +"Gawd," he gasped, "I telled 'em not ter go daown into the glen, an' I +never thought nobody'd dew it with them tracks an' that smell an' the +whippoorwills a-screechin' daown thar in the dark o' noonday...." + +A cold shudder ran through natives and visitors alike, and every ear +seemed strained in a kind of instinctive, unconscious listening. +Armitage, now that he had actually come upon the horror and its +monstrous work, trembled with the responsibility he felt to be +his. Night would soon fall, and it was then that the mountainous +blasphemy lumbered upon its eldritch course. _Negotium perambulans in +tenebris...._ The old librarian rehearsed the formulæ he had memorized, +and clutched the paper containing the alternative ones he had not +memorized. He saw that his electric flashlight was in working order. +Rice, beside him, took from a valise a metal sprayer of the sort used +in combating insects; whilst Morgan uncased the big-game rifle on which +he relied despite his colleague's warnings that no material weapon +would be of help. + +Armitage, having read the hideous diary, knew painfully well what kind +of a manifestation to expect, but he did not add to the fright of the +Dunwich people by giving any hints or clues. He hoped that it might +be conquered without any revelation to the world of the monstrous +thing it had escaped. As the shadows gathered, the natives commenced +to disperse homeward, anxious to bar themselves indoors despite the +present evidence that all human locks and bolts were useless before a +force that could bend trees and crush houses when it chose. They shook +their heads at the visitors' plan to stand guard at the Frye ruins near +the glen; and as they left, had little expectancy of ever seeing the +watchers again. + +There were rumblings under the hills that night, and the whippoorwills +piped threateningly. Once in a while a wind, sweeping up out of Cold +Spring Glen, would bring a touch of ineffable fetor to the heavy night +air; such a fetor as all three of the watchers had smelled once before, +when they stood above a dying thing that had passed for fifteen years +and a half as a human being. But the looked-for terror did not appear. +Whatever was down there in the glen was biding its time, and Armitage +told his colleagues it would be suicidal to try to attack it in the +dark. + +Morning came wanly, and the night-sounds ceased. It was a gray, bleak +day, with now and then a drizzle of rain; and heavier and heavier +clouds seemed to be piling themselves up beyond the hills to the +northwest. The men from Arkham were undecided what to do. Seeking +shelter from the increasing rainfall beneath one of the few undestroyed +Frye outbuildings, they debated the wisdom of waiting, or of taking the +aggressive and going down into the glen in quest of their nameless, +monstrous quarry. The downpour waxed in heaviness, and distant peals of +thunder sounded from far horizons. Sheet lightning shimmered, and then +a forky bolt flashed near at hand, as if descending into the accursed +glen itself. The sky grew very dark, and the watchers hoped that the +storm would prove a short, sharp one followed by clear weather. + +It was still gruesomely dark when, not much over an hour later, a +confused babel of voices sounded down the road. Another moment brought +to view a frightened group of more than a dozen men, running, shouting, +and even whimpering hysterically. Someone in the lead began sobbing out +words, and the Arkham men started violently when those words developed +a coherent form. + +"Oh, my Gawd, my Gawd!" the voice choked out; "it's a-goin' agin, _an' +this time by day_! It's aout--it's aout an' a-movin' this very minute, +an' only the Lord knows when it'll be on us all!" + +The speaker panted into silence, but another took up his message. + +"Nigh on a haour ago Zeb Whateley here heerd the 'phone a-ringin', an' +it was Mis' Corey, George's wife that lives daown by the junction. +She says the hired boy Luther was aout drivin' in the caows from the +storm arter the big bolt, when he see all the trees a-bendin' at the +maouth o' the glen--opposite side ter this--an' smelt the same awful +smell like he smelt when he faound the big tracks las' Monday mornin'. +An' she says he says they was a swishin', lappin' saound, more nor +what the bendin' trees an' bushes could make, an' all on a suddent the +trees along the rud begun ter git pushed one side, an' they was a awful +stompin' an' splashin' in the mud. But mind ye, Luther he didn't see +nothin' at all, only jest the bendin' trees an' underbrush. + +"Then fur ahead where Bishop's Brook goes under the rud he heerd a +awful creakin' an' strainin' on the bridge, an' says he could tell the +saound o' wood a-startin' to crack an' split. An' all the whiles he +never see a thing, only them trees an' bushes a-bendin'. An' when the +swishin' saound got very fur off--on the rud towards Wizard Whateley's +an' Sentinel Hill--Luther he had the guts ter step up whar he'd heerd +it fust an' look at the graound. It was all mud an' water, an' the sky +was dark, an' the rain was wipin' aout all tracks abaout as fast as +could be; but beginnin' at the glen maouth, whar the trees bed moved, +they was still some o' them awful prints big as bar'ls like he seen +Monday." + +At this point the first excited speaker interrupted. + +"But _that_ ain't the trouble naow--that was only the start. Zeb here +was callin' folks up an' everybody was a-listenin' in when a call from +Seth Bishop's cut in. His haousekeeper Sally was carryin' on fit ter +kill--she'd jest seed the trees a-bendin' beside the rud, an' says +they was a kind o' mushy saound, like a elephant puffin' an' treadin', +a-headin' fer the haouse. Then she up an' spoke suddent of a fearful +smell, an' says her boy Cha'ncey was a-screamin' as haow it was jest +like what he smelt up to the Whateley rewins Monday mornin'. An' the +dogs was all barkin' an' whinin' awful. + +"An' then she let aout a turrible yell, an' says the shed daown the +rud hed jest caved in like the storm hed blowed it over, only the wind +wa'n't strong enough to dew that. Everybody was a-listenin', an' ye +could hear lots o' folks on the wire a-gaspin'. All to onct Sally she +yelled agin, an' says the front yard picket fence bed jest crumpled up, +though they wa'n't no sign o' what done it. Then everybody on the line +could hear Cha'ncey an' ol' Seth Bishop a-yellin', tew, an' Sally was +shriekin' aout that suthin' heavy hed struck the haouse--not lightnin' +nor nothin', but suthin' heavy agin' the front, that kep' a-launchin' +itself agin an' agin, though ye couldn't see nuthin' aout the front +winders. An' then ... an' then...." + +Lines of fright deepened on every face; and Armitage, shaken as he was, +had barely poise enough to prompt the speaker. + +"An' then ... Sally she yelled aout, 'O help, the haouse is a-cavin' +in' ... an' on the wire we could hoar a turrible crashin', an' a hull +flock o' screamin' ... jest like when Elmer Frye's place was took, only +wuss...." + +The man paused, and another of the crowd spoke. + +"That's all--not a saound nor squeak over the 'phone arter that. Jest +still-like. We that heerd it got aout Fords an' wagons an' raounded +up as many able-bodied men-folks as we could get, at Corey's place, +an' come up here ter see what yew thought best ter dew. Not but what I +think it's the Lord's judgment fer our iniquities, that no mortal kin +ever set aside." + +Armitage saw that the time for positive action had come, and spoke +decisively to the faltering group of frightened rustics. + +"We must follow it, boys." He made his voice as reassuring as possible. +"I believe there's a chance of putting it out of business. You men +know that those Whateleys were wizards--well, this thing is a thing +of wizardry, and must be put down by the same means. I've seen Wilbur +Whateley's diary and read some of the strange old books he used to +read, and I think I know the right kind of a spell to recite to make +the thing fade away. Of course, one can't be sure, but we can always +take a chance. It's invisible--I knew it would be--but there's a powder +in this long-distance sprayer that might make it show up for a second. +Later on we'll try it. It's a frightful thing to have alive, but it +isn't as bad as what Wilbur would have let in if he'd lived longer. +You'll never know what the world has escaped. Now we've only this one +thing to fight, and it can't multiply. It can, though, do a lot of +harm; so we mustn't hesitate to rid the community of it. + +"We must follow it--and the way to begin is to go to the place that has +just been wrecked. Let somebody lead the way--I don't know your roads +very well, but I've an idea there might be a shorter cut across lots. +How about it?" + +The men shuffled about a moment, and then Earl Sawyer spoke softly, +pointing with a grimy finger through the steadily lessening rain. + +"I guess ye kin git to Seth Bishop's quickest by cuttin' acrost the +lower medder here, wadin' the brook at the low place, an' climbin' +through Carrier's mowin' an' the timber-lot beyont. That comes aout on +the upper rud mighty nigh Seth's--a leetle t'other side." + +Armitage, with Rice and Morgan, started to walk in the direction +indicated; and most of the natives followed slowly. The sky was growing +lighter, and there were signs that the storm had worn itself away. When +Armitage inadvertently took a wrong direction, Joe Osborn warned him +and walked ahead to show the right one. Courage and confidence were +mounting; though the twilight of the almost perpendicular wooded hill +which lay toward the end of their short cut, and among whose fantastic +ancient trees they had to scramble as if up a ladder, put these +qualities to a severe test. + +At length they emerged on a muddy road to find the sun coming out. +They were a little beyond the Seth Bishop place, but bent trees and +hideously unmistakable tracks showed what had passed by. Only a few +moments were consumed in surveying the ruins just around the bend. It +was the Frye incident all over again, and nothing dead or living was +found in either of the collapsed shells which had been the Bishop house +and barn. No one cared to remain there amidst the stench and the tarry +stickiness, but all turned instinctively to the line of horrible prints +leading on toward the wrecked Whateley farmhouse and the altar-crowned +slopes of Sentinel Hill. + +As the men passed the site of Wilbur Whateley's abode they shuddered +visibly, and seemed again to mix hesitancy with their zeal. It was +no joke tracking down something as big as a house that one could not +see, but that had all the vicious malevolence of a demon. Opposite the +base of Sentinel Hill the tracks left the road, and there was a fresh +bending and matting visible along the broad swath marking the monster's +former route to and from the summit. + +Armitage produced a pocket telescope of considerable power and scanned +the steep green side of the hill. Then he handed the instrument to +Morgan, whose sight was keener. After a moment of gazing Morgan cried +out sharply, passing the glass to Earl Sawyer and indicating a certain +spot on the slope with his finger. Sawyer, as clumsy as most non-users +of optical devices are, fumbled a while; but eventually focused the +lenses with Armitage's aid. When he did so his cry was less restrained +than Morgan's had been. + +"Gawd almighty, the grass an' bushes is a-movin'! It's a-goin' +up--slow-like--creepin' up ter the top this minute, heaven only knows +what fer!" + +Then the germ of panic seemed to spread among the seekers. It was one +thing to chase the nameless entity, but quite another to find it. +Spells might be all right--but suppose they weren't? Voices began +questioning Armitage about what he knew of the thing, and no reply +seemed quite to satisfy. Everyone seemed to feel himself in close +proximity to phases of nature and of being utterly forbidden, and +wholly outside the sane experience of mankind. + + +10 + +In the end the three men from Arkham--old, white-bearded Dr. +Armitage, stocky, iron-gray Professor Rice, and lean, youngish Dr. +Morgan--ascended the mountain alone. After much patient instruction +regarding its focusing and use, they left the telescope with the +frightened group that remained in the road; and as they climbed they +were watched closely by those among whom the glass was passed around. +It was hard going, and Armitage had to be helped more than once. High +above the toiling group the great swath trembled as its hellish maker +repassed with snail-like deliberateness. Then it was obvious that the +pursuers were gaining. + +Curtis Whateley--of the undecayed branch--was holding the telescope +when the Arkham party detoured radically from the swath. He told the +crowd that the men were evidently trying to get to a subordinate peak +which overlooked the swath at a point considerably ahead of where the +shrubbery was now bending. This, indeed, proved to be true; and the +party were seen to gain the minor elevation only a short time after the +invisible blasphemy had passed it. + +Then Wesley Corey, who had taken the glass, cried out that Armitage was +adjusting the sprayer which Rice held, and that something must be about +to happen. The crowd stirred uneasily, recalling that this sprayer was +expected to give the unseen horror a moment of visibility. Two or three +men shut their eyes, but Curtis Whateley snatched back the telescope +and strained his vision to the utmost. He saw that Rice, from the +party's point of vantage above and behind the entity, had an excellent +chance of spreading the potent powder with marvelous effect. + +Those without the telescope saw only an instant's flash of gray +cloud--a cloud about the size of a moderately large building--near the +top of the mountain. Curtis, who had held the instrument, dropped it +with a piercing shriek into the ankle-deep mud of the road. He reeled, +and would have crumpled to the ground had not two or three others +seized and steadied him. All he could do was moan half-inaudibly: + +"Oh, oh, great Gawd ... _that ... that_...." + +[Illustration: "Oh, oh, great Gawd ... that ... that."] + +There was a pandemonium of questioning, and only Henry Wheeler thought +to rescue the fallen telescope and wipe it clean of mud. Curtis was +past all coherence, and even isolated replies were almost too much for +him. + +"Bigger 'n a barn ... all made o' squirmin' ropes ... hull thing sort +o' shaped like a hen's egg bigger'n anything, with dozens o' legs like +hogsheads that haff shut up when they step ... nothin' solid abaout +it--all like jelly, an' made o' sep'rit wrigglin' ropes pushed clost +together ... great bulgin' eyes all over it ... ten or twenty maouths +or trunks a-stickin' aout all along the sides, big as stovepipes, an' +all a-tossin' an' openin' an' shuttin' ... all gray, with kinder blue +or purple rings ... _an' Gawd in Heaven--that haff face on top_!..." + +This final memory, whatever it was, proved too much for poor Curtis, +and he collapsed completely before he could say more. Fred Farr and +Will Hutchins carried him to the roadside and laid him on the damp +grass. Henry Wheeler, trembling, turned the rescued telescope on the +mountain to see what he might. Through the lenses were discernible +three tiny figures, apparently running toward the summit as fast as the +steep incline allowed. Only these--nothing more. Then everyone noticed +a strangely unseasonable noise in the deep valley behind, and even in +the underbrush of Sentinel Hill itself. It was the piping of unnumbered +whippoorwills, and in their shrill chorus there seemed to lurk a note +of tense and evil expectancy. + +Earl Sawyer now took the telescope and reported the three figures as +standing on the topmost ridge, virtually level with the altar-stone +but at a considerable distance from it. One figure, he said, seemed +to be raising its hands above its head at rhythmic intervals; and +as Sawyer mentioned the circumstance the crowd seemed to hear a +faint, half-musical sound from the distance, as if a loud chant +were accompanying the gestures. The weird silhouette on that +remote peak must have been a spectacle of infinite grotesqueness +and impressiveness, but no observer was in a mood for esthetic +appreciation. "I guess he's sayin' the spell," whispered Wheeler as +he snatched back the telescope. The whippoorwills were piping wildly, +and in a singularly curious irregular rhythm quite unlike that of the +visible ritual. + +Suddenly the sunshine seemed to lessen without the intervention of any +discernible cloud. It was a very peculiar phenomenon, and was plainly +marked by all. A rumbling sound seemed brewing beneath the hills, mixed +strangely with a concordant rumbling which clearly came from the sky. +Lightning flashed aloft, and the wondering crowd looked in vain for +the portents of storm. The chanting of the men from Arkham now became +unmistakable, and Wheeler saw through the glass that they were all +raising their arms in the rhythmic incantation. From some farmhouse far +away came the frantic barking of dogs. + +The change in the quality of the daylight increased, and the crowd +gazed about the horizon in wonder. A purplish darkness, born of +nothing more than a spectral deepening of the sky's blue, pressed down +upon the rumbling hills. Then the lightning flashed again, somewhat +brighter than before, and the crowd fancied that it had showed a +certain mistiness around the altar-stone on the distant height. No +one, however, had been using the telescope at that instant. The +whippoorwills continued their irregular pulsation, and the men of +Dunwich braced themselves tensely against some imponderable menace with +which the atmosphere seemed surcharged. + +Without warning came those deep, cracked, raucous vocal sounds which +will never leave the memory of the stricken group who heard them. Not +from any human throat were they born, for the organs of man can yield +no such acoustic perversions. Rather would one have said they came +from the pit itself, had not their source been so unmistakably the +altar-stone on the peak. It is almost erroneous to call them _sounds_ +at all, since so much of their ghastly, infra-bass timbre spoke to +dim seats of consciousness and terror far subtler than the ear; yet +one must do so, since their form was indisputably though vaguely that +of half-articulate _words_. They were loud--loud as the rumblings and +the thunder above which they echoed--yet did they come from no visible +being. And because imagination might suggest a conjectural source in +the world of non-visible beings, the huddled crowd at the mountain's +base huddled still closer, and winced as if in expectation of a blow. + +"_Ygnaiih ... ygnaiih ... thflthkh'ngha ... Yog-Sothoth...._" rang the +hideous croaking out of space. "_Y'bthnk ... h'ehye ... n'grkdl'lh...._" + +The speaking impulse seemed to falter here, as if some frightful +psychic struggle were going on. Henry Wheeler strained his eye at +the telescope, but saw only the three grotesquely silhouetted human +figures on the peak, all moving their arms furiously in strange +gestures as their incantation drew near its culmination. From what +black wells of Acherontic fear or feeling, from what unplumbed gulfs of +extra-cosmic consciousness or obscure, long-latent heredity, were those +half-articulate thunder-croakings drawn? Presently they began to gather +renewed force and coherence as they grew in stark, utter, ultimate +frenzy. + +"_Eh-ya-ya-ya-yahaah ... e'yaya-yayaaaa ... ngh'aaaa ... ngh'aaaa_ ... +h'yuh ... h'yuh ... HELP! HELP! ... _ff--ff--ff_--FATHER! FATHER! +YOG-SOTHOTH!..." + +But that was all. The pallid group in the road, still reeling at +the _indisputably English_ syllables that had poured thickly and +thunderously down from the frantic vacancy beside that shocking +altar-stone, were never to hear such syllables again. Instead, they +jumped violently at the terrific report which seemed to rend the hills; +the deafening, cataclysmic peal whose source, be it inner earth or +sky, no hearer was ever able to place. A single lightning bolt shot +from the purple zenith to the altar-stone, and a great tidal wave of +viewless force and indescribable stench swept down from the hill to +all the countryside. Trees, grass, and underbrush were whipped into a +fury; and the frightened crowd at the mountain's base, weakened by the +lethal fetor that seemed about to asphyxiate them, were almost hurled +off their feet. Dogs howled from the distance, green grass and foliage +wilted to a curious, sickly yellow-gray, and over field and forest were +scattered the bodies of dead whippoorwills. + +The stench left quickly, but the vegetation never came right again. +To this day there is something queer and unholy about the growths on +and around that fearsome hill. Curtis Whateley was only just regaining +consciousness when the Arkham men came slowly down the mountain in the +beams of a sunlight once more brilliant and untainted. They were grave +and quiet, and seemed shaken by memories and reflections even more +terrible than those which had reduced the group of natives to a state +of cowed quivering. In reply to a jumble of questions they only shook +their heads and reaffirmed one vital fact. + +"The thing has gone for ever," Armitage said. "It has been split up +into what it was originally made of, and can never exist again. It was +an impossibility in a normal world. Only the least fraction was really +matter in any sense we know. It was like its father--and most of it has +gone back to him in some vague realm or dimension outside our material +universe; some vague abyss out of which only the most accursed rites of +human blasphemy could ever have called him for a moment on the hills." + +There was a brief silence, and in that pause the scattered senses of +poor Curtis Whateley began to knit back into a sort of continuity; so +that he put his hands to his head with a moan. Memory seemed to pick +itself up where it had left off, and the horror of the sight that had +prostrated him burst in upon him again. + +"_Oh, oh, my Gawd, that haff face ... that haff face on top of it ... +that face with the red eyes an' crinkly albino hair, an' no chin, like +the Whateleys.... It was a octopus, centipede, spider kind o' thing, +but they was a haff-shaped man's face on top of it, an' it looked like +Wizard Whateley's, only it was yards an' yards acrost...._" + +He paused exhausted, as the whole group of natives stared in a +bewilderment not quite crystallized into fresh terror. Only old Zebulon +Whateley, who wanderingly remembered ancient things but who had been +silent heretofore, spoke aloud. + +"Fifteen year' gone," he rambled, "I heerd Ol' Whateley say as haow +some day we'd hear a child o' Lavinny's a-callin' its father's name on +the top o' Sentinel Hill...." + +But Joe Osborn interrupted him to question the Arkham men anew. + +"_What was it, anyhaow_, an' haowever did young Wizard Whateley call it +aout o' the air it come from?" + +Armitage chose his words carefully. + +"It was--well, it was mostly a kind of force that doesn't belong in our +part of space; a kind of force that acts and grows and shapes itself +by other laws than those of our sort of Nature. We have no business +calling in such things from outside, and only very wicked people +and very wicked cults ever try to. There was some of it in Wilbur +Whateley himself--enough to make a devil and a precocious monster of +him, and to make his passing out a pretty terrible sight. I'm going +to burn his accursed diary, and if you men are wise you'll dynamite +that altar-stone up there, and pull down all the rings of standing +stones on the other hills. Things like that brought down the beings +those Whateleys were so fond of--the beings they were going to let in +tangibly to wipe out the human race and drag the earth off to some +nameless place for some nameless purpose. + +"But as to this thing we've just sent back--the Whateleys raised it for +a terrible part in the doings that were to come. It grew fast and big +from the same reason that Wilbur grew fast and big--but it beat him +because it had a greater share of the _outsideness_ in it. You needn't +ask how Wilbur called it out of the air. He didn't call it out. _It was +his twin brother, but it looked more like the father than he did._" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dunwich Horror, by H. P. Lovecraft + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUNWICH HORROR *** + +***** This file should be named 50133-8.txt or 50133-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/1/3/50133/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you + are located before using this ebook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7c9a03 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,109 @@ +{ + "id": "bb123cd4567", + "head": "v0004", + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "contentDirectory": "content", + "manifest": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ], + "618ea77f3a74558493f2df1d82fee18073f6458573d58e6b65bade8bd65227fb": [ + "v0003/content/my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ], + "9b4566a0455e76a392c43ec4d8b8e7d636b21ff2cf83b87fe99b97d00a501de0": [ + "v0004/content/my_content/dunwich.txt" + ] + }, + "versions": { + "v0001": { + "created": "2019-08-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0002": { + "created": "2019-09-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/a_second_copy_of_dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "f512eb0a032f562225e848ce88449895f3ec19f3d4836a80df80c77c74557bab": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0003": { + "created": "2019-10-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "A message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "mailto:person@example.org" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "618ea77f3a74558493f2df1d82fee18073f6458573d58e6b65bade8bd65227fb": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ] + } + }, + "v0004": { + "created": "2019-11-12T00:00:00Z", + "message": "Ia! Ia! cthulhu fhtagn!", + "user": { + "name": "Yog-Sothoth", + "address": "mailto:all_seeing_spheres@miskatonic.edu" + }, + "state": { + "cffe55838a878a29da82a0e10b2909b7e46b6f7167ed7f815782465573e98f27": [ + "my_content/dracula.txt", + "my_content/another_directory/a_third_copy_of_dracula.txt" + ], + "618ea77f3a74558493f2df1d82fee18073f6458573d58e6b65bade8bd65227fb": [ + "my_content/poe-nevermore.txt" + ], + "9b4566a0455e76a392c43ec4d8b8e7d636b21ff2cf83b87fe99b97d00a501de0": [ + "my_content/dunwich.txt" + ] + } + } + }, + "fixity": { + "md5": { + "fccd3f96d461f495a3bef31dc1d28f01": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/dracula.txt" + ], + "d2c79c8519af858fac2993c2373b5203": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + }, + "sha1": { + "aa9e59cde167454f1f8b1f0eeeb0795e2d2f8c6f": [ + "v0001/content/my_content/poe.txt" + ] + } + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7794315 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_W004_W005_zero_padded_versions/v0004/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +6e46f466bd3cfa04e4cf5dcc4b57844c0d69ba2012cca13380a7dbffd34052ba inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..02cc66d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v003", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v002/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v001/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "v003/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v001": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Intial import", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v002": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Changes", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v003": { + "created": "2019-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "state": { + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "More changes", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb61fe0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +d6f6f1f67764fd7e73dcafe1f429c36a5a2cce1a704be61b98ffd7c1eff2bf7fd699336a63bc676261f7a4e204b1c64f31997052948214b328f05b925ccd2892 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77e801e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v001", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v001/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v001": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Intial import", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2518c58 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v001/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +46e264c4b77e82cf545bf071ab101bf92a1cb89842fbe9e884467f60e0e932dd063cc67bcd613cfd7f2f1f512c57dcc274f6ebaa4cc7e42b0f00f091b28e8cf6 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c38ee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cbc7082 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v002", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v002/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v001/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v001": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Intial import", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v002": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Changes", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3895d09 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v002/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +24d61846959779ee500fbb7f6872aa0cc8d9abec276a737a18c834ff7b6bdad4be0360e5653ef6899906b92dab91e45a44a3b4c18052e4c6419e4479b0d4cdb3 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..829781d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed again! diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..02cc66d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v003", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v002/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v001/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "v003/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v001": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Intial import", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v002": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Changes", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v003": { + "created": "2019-01-01T03:03:03Z", + "state": { + "8ed2115b36fe2d4db1b5ddad63f0deb13db339d3ff17f69fafb8cc8e9a20b89add82933d544b5512350a7f85cfae7e7235409c364060653e39ef9b18a81976fb": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "More changes", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb61fe0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W001_zero_padded_versions/v003/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +d6f6f1f67764fd7e73dcafe1f429c36a5a2cce1a704be61b98ffd7c1eff2bf7fd699336a63bc676261f7a4e204b1c64f31997052948214b328f05b925ccd2892 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6022ca0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Intial import", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2acf614 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7cbfac326b65651eebbdc2ba315ffeffd5b08bdd40a2b3819bdabbd8b2f4d9ec2f17da667f9abca9c5b60e9745d6c2c52ff6fe76e9c23a399266b1cf3e918c65 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/extra_dir/something.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/extra_dir/something.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77825cb --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/extra_dir/something.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +This is some text in a file in an extra directory. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6022ca0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Intial import", + "user": { + "name": "A person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2acf614 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W002_extra_dir_in_version_dir/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7cbfac326b65651eebbdc2ba315ffeffd5b08bdd40a2b3819bdabbd8b2f4d9ec2f17da667f9abca9c5b60e9745d6c2c52ff6fe76e9c23a399266b1cf3e918c65 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81346b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "af9a8763eac0ff815ff634c65f9d82374a0659a86290338b6dc45960e393a3c9": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "af9a8763eac0ff815ff634c65f9d82374a0659a86290338b6dc45960e393a3c9": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A log message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3363da4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +91dcbc665cdc7193dc1ea45412d09ef1dd3983b1aded5543ca93b69137bce4af inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81346b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "af9a8763eac0ff815ff634c65f9d82374a0659a86290338b6dc45960e393a3c9": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "af9a8763eac0ff815ff634c65f9d82374a0659a86290338b6dc45960e393a3c9": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A log message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3363da4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_uses_sha256/v1/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +91dcbc665cdc7193dc1ea45412d09ef1dd3983b1aded5543ca93b69137bce4af inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49758b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 2", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10791d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3900fc2040fe00c139d0676ce75c93774adb4c9da8d690d82ac7c8b2b1c05a26157140119d7df6e93111db121ae1af6e7b0040ef132934af00b99e04b9a469c3 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..47d9dd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha256", + "head": "v1", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "af9a8763eac0ff815ff634c65f9d82374a0659a86290338b6dc45960e393a3c9": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "af9a8763eac0ff815ff634c65f9d82374a0659a86290338b6dc45960e393a3c9": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha256 b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha256 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..109155e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v1/inventory.json.sha256 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +7262f65c433ffb41a65647dbb9034c83b226453ea3a131bf9aa22c056908900c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c38ee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49758b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 2", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10791d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W004_versions_diff_digests/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3900fc2040fe00c139d0676ce75c93774adb4c9da8d690d82ac7c8b2b1c05a26157140119d7df6e93111db121ae1af6e7b0040ef132934af00b99e04b9a469c3 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d914200 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "not_a_uri", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A log message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..73e7ccc --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a0f12ed1fc91b3141c8a2f7532d86f26ec60245c194f56370ff02da95bb9555cdea2f4addc82fc675591597074c79b5a9ba84a1529a17b2608b772aca80a7b75 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d914200 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "not_a_uri", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A log message", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..73e7ccc --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W005_id_not_uri/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +a0f12ed1fc91b3141c8a2f7532d86f26ec60245c194f56370ff02da95bb9555cdea2f4addc82fc675591597074c79b5a9ba84a1529a17b2608b772aca80a7b75 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de6037 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895de40 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W007_no_message_or_user/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b494789ed3f9e6f9e23bfc99c7650f2ef1ae5f9666a1ff3c3147b0fcadf2a07c69d05008320cd64dbd6572b587fedd38c345919ee0af9f2fea9cdd33102a6a42 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76337ca --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A very fine version indeed", + "user": { + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc76f5c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b48a5e89c1bf0287ec69fce2e3b88da8ae616ca92bc2c9033b8bb2eac985dceeaf4caa9cd16bb90b3684f59eda7d65e5a18d4847ef3ab8254c5c2fb850ea9d50 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76337ca --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A very fine version indeed", + "user": { + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc76f5c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W008_user_no_address/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +b48a5e89c1bf0287ec69fce2e3b88da8ae616ca92bc2c9033b8bb2eac985dceeaf4caa9cd16bb90b3684f59eda7d65e5a18d4847ef3ab8254c5c2fb850ea9d50 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..053af85 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A very fine version indeed", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "1 Wonky Way, Wibblesville, WW" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fb437e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +13729ca097f7ed76d079c9cc69fa165d3272530a4bdcc9debff2250edc54b72d7e50da95750d81bf15f06e75576be73184a34c77114f2c6b401224318cd9440c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..053af85 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "A very fine version indeed", + "user": { + "name": "A Person", + "address": "1 Wonky Way, Wibblesville, WW" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fb437e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W009_user_address_not_uri/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +13729ca097f7ed76d079c9cc69fa165d3272530a4bdcc9debff2250edc54b72d7e50da95750d81bf15f06e75576be73184a34c77114f2c6b401224318cd9440c inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..035c4ff --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "A file, text", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "mailto:person@example.org", + "name": "A. Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4eb4d94 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +64ca15f7d76c61204cb1bf9fe0ab5eacdef1c30652ae46fa7d624c65d781ba21f57ef949d8dfc642e3f550015c682cee2f94021cb203ff8512c6c9a5151a5fb3 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W010_no_version_inventory/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49758b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 2", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10791d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3900fc2040fe00c139d0676ce75c93774adb4c9da8d690d82ac7c8b2b1c05a26157140119d7df6e93111db121ae1af6e7b0040ef132934af00b99e04b9a469c3 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9af1537 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T22:22:22Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version one", + "user": { + "name": "Somebody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-1111" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4427d9a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +4ed63701539bee446d03ac235e00dc54a26455ada37fc02b76b055e01e8170b5414e53e49ce6a65d18019165ba52c0345d71d08856ad30464f9a641bce33e425 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c38ee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file that changed. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49758b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v2", + "id": "uri:something451", + "manifest": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "v2/content/a_file.txt" + ], + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T01:01:01Z", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 1", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + }, + "v2": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:02:02Z", + "state": { + "10c4f059fc9235474c75c5e4b48837d1fcd93f6bca273c1153deb568096e1ec18fe5cd13467e550ca9dcfe8d4f81b2f71d5951a169cbfb321445a9a3211be708": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "message": "Store version 2", + "user": { + "name": "Sombody", + "address": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10791d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W011_version_inv_diff_metadata/v2/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +3900fc2040fe00c139d0676ce75c93774adb4c9da8d690d82ac7c8b2b1c05a26157140119d7df6e93111db121ae1af6e7b0040ef132934af00b99e04b9a469c3 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/0=ocfl_object_1.0 b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/0=ocfl_object_1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1d62c --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/0=ocfl_object_1.0 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +ocfl_object_1.0 diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/extensions/unregistered/something_in_here b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/extensions/unregistered/something_in_here new file mode 100644 index 0000000..547a60a --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/extensions/unregistered/something_in_here @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +This would be a file that is something to do with the +unregistered extension that uses the directory "unregistered". + +Who knows what it might be? It could be something very very +interesting, or very very scary. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b9ee6d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "This fixture includes and unregistered extension", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/a_person", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2841b0e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2dd01d7a0d253c300ada588166f07f1368bda4c489dcb4e67657500038f8b6b7e516f56cebd76be23199350e1084300a4f045d6df063a72e92d20eeae45aaa68 inventory.json diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/content/a_file.txt b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/content/a_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2baefe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/content/a_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +Hello! I am a file. diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/inventory.json b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/inventory.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b9ee6d --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/inventory.json @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +{ + "digestAlgorithm": "sha512", + "head": "v1", + "id": "ark:123/abc", + "manifest": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "v1/content/a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "type": "https://ocfl.io/1.0/spec/#inventory", + "versions": { + "v1": { + "created": "2019-01-01T02:03:04Z", + "message": "This fixture includes and unregistered extension", + "state": { + "43a43fe8a8a082d3b5343dfaf2fd0c8b8e370675b1f376e92e9994612c33ea255b11298269d72f797399ebb94edeefe53df243643676548f584fb8603ca53a0f": [ + "a_file.txt" + ] + }, + "user": { + "address": "https://example.org/a_person", + "name": "A Person" + } + } + } +} diff --git a/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/inventory.json.sha512 b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/inventory.json.sha512 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2841b0e --- /dev/null +++ b/1.1/warn-objects/W013_unregistered_extension/v1/inventory.json.sha512 @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +2dd01d7a0d253c300ada588166f07f1368bda4c489dcb4e67657500038f8b6b7e516f56cebd76be23199350e1084300a4f045d6df063a72e92d20eeae45aaa68 inventory.json